Events

• 655 – Battle of the Winwaed: Penda of Mercia is defeated by Oswiu of Northumbria.
• 1315 – Battle of Morgarten: The Schweizer Eidgenossenschaft ambushes the army of Leopold I.
• 1532 – Commanded by Francisco Pizarro, Spanish conquistadors under Hernando de Soto meet Inca Empire leader Atahualpa for the first time outside Cajamarca, arranging a meeting on the city plaza the following day.
• 1533 – Francisco Pizarro arrives in Cuzco, the capital of the Inca Empire.
• 1705 – Battle of Zsibó: Austrian-Danish victory over the Kurucs (Hungarians).
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: After 16 months of debate the Continental Congress approves the Articles of Confederation.
• 1806 – Pike Expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sees a distant mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains.
  • It is later named Pikes Peak.
• 1864 – American Civil War: Union General William Tecumseh Sherman begins Sherman’s March to the Sea.
• 1889 – Brazil is declared a republic by Marshal Deodoro da Fonseca as Emperor Pedro II is deposed in a military coup.
• 1920 – First assembly of the League of Nations is held in Geneva, Switzerland.
• 1920 – The Free City of Danzig is established.
• 1942 – World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal ends in a decisive Allied victory.
• 1943 – The Holocaust: German SS leader Heinrich Himmler orders that Gypsies are to be put “on the same level as Jews and placed in concentration camps”.
• 1951 – Greek resistance leader Nikos Beloyannis, along with 11 resistance members, is sentenced to death by the court-martial.
• 1967 – The only fatality of the North American X-15 programme occurs during the 191st flight when Air Force test pilot Michael J. Adams loses control of his aircraft which is destroyed mid-air over the Mojave Desert.
• 1969 – Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000-500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic “March Against Death”.
• 1983 – Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus declares independence.
  • Recognised only by Turkey.
• 1985 – The Anglo-Irish Agreement is signed at Hillsborough Castle by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Irish Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald.
• 1988 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.

People (Births)

• 1708 – William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, English soldier and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1778).
• 1874 – Dimitrios Golemis, Greek runner (d. 1941).
• 1891 – Erwin Rommel, German field marshal (d. 1944).
• 1899 – Avdy Andresson, Estonian-American soldier and diplomat, Estonian Minister of War (d. 1990).
• 1906 – Curtis LeMay, American general and politician (d. 1990).
• 1907 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German colonel (d. 1944).
• 1912 – Yi Wu, Japanese-Korean colonel (d. 1945).
• 1965 – Stefan Pfeiffer, German swimmer.
• 1979 – Brett Lancaster, Australian cyclist.
• 1982 – Giaan Rooney, Australian swimmer.
• 1983 – Dominic Carroll, Gibraltarian runner.
• 1995 – Blake Pieroni, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 165 BCE – Mattathias, Jewish resistance leader.
• 1712 – James Hamilton, 4th Duke of Hamilton, Scottish general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Lancashire (b. 1658).
• 1967 – Michael J. Adams, American soldier, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1930).
• 1971 – Rudolf Abel, English-Russian colonel (b. 1903).
• 2003 – Ray Lewis, Canadian runner (b. 1910).
• 2012 – K. C. Pant, Indian politician, 18th Indian Minister of Defence (b. 1931).
• 2014 – Reg Withers, Australian soldier and politician, Australian Minister for the Capital Territory (b. 1924).