Events

• 1568 – The Spanish Duke of Alba defeats a Dutch rebel force under William the Silent.
• 1572 – Eighty Years’ War: Three thousand Spanish soldiers wade through fifteen miles of water in one night to effect the relief of Goes.
• 1740 – France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction, and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.
• 1803 – The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
• 1818 – The Convention of 1818 is signed between the United States and the United Kingdom, which settles the Canada–United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
• 1827 – In the Battle of Navarino, a combined Turkish and Egyptian fleet is defeated by British, French and Russian naval forces in the last significant battle fought with wooden sailing ships.
• 1883 – Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru’s involvement in the War of the Pacific.
• 1904 – Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, delimiting the border between the two countries.
• 1935 – The Long March, a mammoth retreat undertaken by the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party a year prior, ends.
• 1941 – World War II: Thousands of civilians in German-occupied Serbia are murdered in the Kragujevac massacre.
• 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade.
• 1944 – World War II: American general Douglas MacArthur fulfils his promise to return to the Philippines when he comes ashore during the Battle of Leyte.
• 1952 – The Governor of Kenya declares a state of emergency and begins arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising.
• 1961 – The Soviet Union performs the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 from a Golf-class submarine.
• 1962 – China launches simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line, igniting the Sino-Indian War.
• 2011 – Libyan Civil War: Rebel forces capture Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim in his hometown of Sirte and kill him shortly thereafter, ending the first Libyan civil war.
• 2017 – Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declare victory in the Raqqa campaign.

People (Births)

• 1854 – Arthur Rimbaud, French soldier and poet (d. 1891).
• 1897 – Yi Un, South Korean general (d. 1970).
• 1918 – Martin Drewes, German soldier and pilot (d. 2013).
• 1918 – Robert Lochner, American-German soldier and journalist (d. 2003).
• 1925 – Art Buchwald, American soldier and journalist (d. 2007).
• 1942 – Bart Zoet, Dutch cyclist (d. 1992).
• 1946 – Lucien Van Impe, Belgian cyclist.
• 1949 – Valeriy Borzov, Ukrainian-Russian sprinter.
• 1971 – Kamiel Maase, Dutch runner.

People (Deaths)

• 1538 – Francesco Maria I della Rovere, Duke of Urbino, condottiero (b. 1490).
• 1865 – Champ Ferguson, American guerrilla leader (b. 1821).
• 1941 – Ken Farnes, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1911).
• 1950 – Henry L. Stimson, American colonel, lawyer, and politician, 46th United States Secretary of State (b. 1867).
• 1953 – Werner Baumbach, German colonel and pilot (b. 1916).
• 2011 – Muammar Gaddafi, Libyan colonel and politician, Prime Minister of Libya (b. 1942).
• 2011 – Mutassim Gaddafi, Libyan colonel (b. 1977).
• 2013 – Jovanka Broz, Croatian-Serbian colonel (b. 1924).
• 2015 – Ian Steel, Scottish cyclist and manager (b. 1928).
• 2016 – Robert E. Kramek, former United States Coast Guard admiral (b. 1939).