Events

• 1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme river, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
• 1331 – The Battle of Płowce is fought, between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order.
  • The Poles are defeated but their leaders escape capture.
• 1422 – After the brief Gollub War, the Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with Poland and Lithuania.
• 1529 – The Siege of Vienna begins when Suleiman I attacks the city.
• 1605 – The armies of Sweden are defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
• 1669 – The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21-year-long Siege of Candia.
• 1777 – American Revolution: Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes the capital of the United States for one day after Congress evacuates Philadelphia.
• 1940 – World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.
• 1941 – The Greek National Liberation Front is established with Georgios Siantos as acting leader.
• 1941 – The SS Patrick Henry is launched, becoming the first of more than 2,700 Liberty ships.
• 1942 – Last day of the Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marines barely escape after being surrounded by Japanese forces.
• 1944 – The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a US Army Air Force group on any mission in World War II.
• 1956 – US Air Force Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first person to exceed Mach 3.
  • Shortly thereafter, the Bell X-2 goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
• 1962 – The Yemen Arab Republic is established.
• 1964 – The British TSR-2 aircraft XR219 makes its maiden flight.
• 1993 – The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
• 1996 – The Battle of Kabul ends in a Taliban victory; an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is established.
• Independence Day (Turkmenistan), celebrates the independence of Turkmenistan from USSR in 1991.

People (Births)

• 1544 – Takenaka Shigeharu, Japanese samurai (d. 1579).
• 1598 – Robert Blake, English admiral (d. 1657).
• 1765 – Antoine Philippe de La Trémoille, French general (d. 1794).
• 1783 – Agustín de Iturbide, Mexican royalist turned insurgent; first emperor of Mexico (d. 1824).
• 1803 – Samuel Francis Du Pont, American admiral (d. 1865).
• 1824 – William “Bull” Nelson, American general (d. 1862).
• 1830 – William Babcock Hazen, American general (d. 1887).
• 1838 – Lawrence Sullivan Ross, American general and politician, 19th Governor of Texas (d. 1898).
• 1879 – Frederick Schule, American hurdler and coach (d. 1962).
• 1894 – Lothar von Richthofen, German lieutenant and pilot (d. 1922).
• 1896 – Sam Ervin, American soldier and politician (d. 1985).
• 1918 – Konstantin Gerchik, Soviet military leader (1958-1961).
• 1940 – Benoni Beheyt, Belgian cyclist.
• 1944 – Ian Garnett, English admiral.
• 1985 – Massimo Bertocchi, Canadian decathlete.
• 1989 – Park Tae-hwan, South Korean swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 765 – Pugu Huai’en, Chinese general during the Tang Dynasty.
• 1876 – Braxton Bragg, American general (b. 1817).
• 1942 – Douglas Albert Munro, United States Coast Guard signalman, posthumously awarded Medal of Honour, (b. 1919).
• 1993 – Jimmy Doolittle, American general, Medal of Honour recipient (b. 1896).
• 2013 – Elvin R. Heiberg III, American general and engineer (b. 1932).
• 2016 – David Hahn, American Boy Scout famous for attempting to build a nuclear reactor in a shed in his backyard (b. 1976).