Events

• 1238 – James I of Aragon founds the Kingdom of Valencia.
• 1594 – Troops of the Portuguese Empire are defeated in Sri Lanka, bringing an end to the Campaign of Danture.
• 1708 – Peter the Great defeats the Swedes at the Battle of Lesnaya.
• 1740 – Dutch colonists and Javanese natives begin a massacre of the ethnic Chinese population in Batavia, eventually killing at least 10,000.
• 1760 – Seven Years’ War: Russian and Austrian troops briefly occupy Berlin.
• 1799 – HMS Lutine sinks with the loss of 240 men and a cargo worth £1,200,000.
• 1804 – Hobart, capital of Tasmania, is founded.
• 1806 – Prussia begins the War of the Fourth Coalition against France (refer to French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars).
• 1812 – War of 1812: In a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships: HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
• 1820 – Guayaquil declares independence from Spain.
• 1854 – Crimean War: The siege of Sevastopol begins.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Union troops repel a Confederate attempt to capture Fort Pickens.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Union cavalrymen defeat Confederate forces at Toms Brook, Virginia.
• 1873 – A meeting at the US Naval Academy establishes the US Naval Institute.
• 1900 – The Cook Islands become a territory of the United Kingdom.
• 1911 – An accidental bomb explosion triggers the Wuchang Uprising against the Chinese monarchy.
• 1914 – World War I: The Siege of Antwerp comes to an end.
• 1937 – Murder of 9 Catholic priests in Zhengding, China, who protected the local population from the advancing Japanese army (refer to Second Sino-Japanese War).
• 1962 – Uganda becomes an independent Commonwealth realm.
  • Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Uganda from United Kingdom in 1962.
• 1966 – Vietnam War: South Korean troops commit the Binh Tai Massacre.
• 1967 – A day after his capture, Ernesto “Che” Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
• 1969 – In Chicago, the National Guard is called in as demonstrations continue over the trial of the “Chicago Eight”.
• 1970 – The Khmer Republic is proclaimed in Cambodia.
• 2006 – North Korea conducts its first nuclear test.
• 2016 – The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launches its first attack on Myanmar security forces along the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
• 2019 – Turkey begins its military offensive in north-eastern Syria.
• National Day of Commemorating the Holocaust (Romania).

People (Births)

• 1859 – Alfred Dreyfus, French colonel (d. 1935).
• 1864 – Reginald Dyer, British brigadier general (d. 1927).
• 1907 – Horst Wessel, German SA officer (d. 1930).
• 1908 – Werner von Haeften, German lieutenant (d. 1944).
• 1918 – Charles Read, Australian air marshal (d. 2014).
• 1924 – Immanuvel Devendrar, Indian soldier (d. 1957).
• 1933 – Bill Tidy, English soldier and cartoonist.
• 1940 – Gordon J. Humphrey, American soldier, pilot, and politician.
• 1962 – Hugh Robertson, English soldier and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics.
• 1985 – David Plummer, American swimmer.
• 1986 – Laure Manaudou, French swimmer.
• 2001 – Kyla Leibel, Canadian swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1945 – Gottlieb Hering, German captain (b. 1887).
• 1959 – Shirō Ishii, Japanese general and biologist (b. 1892).
• 1967 – André Maurois, French soldier and author (b. 1885).
• 1967 – Joseph Pilates, German-American fitness trainer, developed Pilates (b. 1883).
• 1976 – Walter Warlimont, German general (b. 1894).
• 1985 – Emílio Garrastazu Médici, Brazilian general and politician, 28th President of Brazil (b. 1905).
• 2000 – Patrick Anthony Porteous, Indian-Scottish colonel, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1918).
• 2014 – Peter A. Peyser, American soldier and politician (b. 1921).