Events

• 1659 – The Marathas defeat the Adilshahi forces in the Battle of Kolhapur.
• 1768 – King Taksin’s coronation achieved through conquest as a king of Thailand and established Thonburi as a capital.
• 1835 – Osceola leads his Seminole warriors in Florida into the Second Seminole War against the United States Army.
• 1836 – Spain recognises the independence of Mexico with the signing of the Santa María-Calatrava Treaty.
• 1895 – Wilhelm Röntgen publishes a paper detailing his discovery of a new type of radiation, which later will be known as x-rays.
• 1941 – World War II: Operation Anthropoid, the plot to assassinate high-ranking Nazi officer Reinhard Heydrich, commences.
• 1943 – Soviet authorities launch Operation Ulussy, beginning the deportation of the Kalmyk nation to Siberia and Central Asia.
• 1943 – World War II: After eight days of brutal house-to-house fighting, the Battle of Ortona concludes with the victory of the 1st Canadian Infantry Division over the German 1st Parachute Division and the capture of the Italian town of Ortona.
• 1956 – Chin Peng, David Marshall and Tunku Abdul Rahman meet in Baling, Malaya to try and resolve the Malayan Emergency situation.
• 1972 – The last scheduled day for induction into the military by the Selective Service System.
  • Due to the fact that President Richard Nixon declared this day a national day of mourning due to former President Harry S Truman’s death, approximately 300 men were not able to report due to most Federal offices being closed.
  • Since the draft was not resumed in 1973, they were never drafted.
• 2006 – War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops capture Mogadishu unopposed.

People (Births)

• 1665 – George FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Northumberland, English general and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (d. 1716).
• 1842 – Calixa Lavallée, Canadian-American lieutenant and composer (d. 1891).
• 1870 – Charles Bennett, English runner (d. 1949).
• 1898 – Shigematsu Sakaibara, Japanese admiral (d. 1947).
• 1911 – Wil van Beveren, Dutch sprinter and journalist (d. 2003).
• 1933 – John Y. Brown Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 55th Governor of Kentucky.
• 1940 – A. K. Antony, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Defence.
• 1942 – Roger Swerts, Belgian cyclist.
• 1959 – Hansjörg Kunze, German runner and sportscaster.
• 1964 – Maite Zúñiga, Spanish runner.
• 1970 – James Jett, American sprinter and football player.
• 1973 – Holger Blume, German sprinter.
• 1973 – Marc Blume, German sprinter.
• 1976 – Trond Nymark, Norwegian race walker.
• 1977 – Derrick Brew, American sprinter.
• 1980 – Ryta Turava, Belarusian race walker.
• 1982 – François Gourmet, Belgian decathlete.
• 1984 – Duane Solomon, American runner.
• 1990 – Ayele Abshero, Ethiopian runner.
• 1990 – Bastiaan Lijesen, Dutch swimmer.
• 1994 – Adam Peaty, English swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 925 – Wang Zongbi, general of the Chinese state of Former Shu.
• 1367 – Ashikaga Yoshiakira, Japanese shōgun (b. 1330).
• 1859 – Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, English historian and politician, Secretary at War (b. 1800).
• 1900 – Alexandre de Serpa Pinto, Portuguese soldier and explorer (b. 1846).
• 1917 – Alfred Edwin McKay, Canadian captain and pilot (b. 1892).
• 1949 – Jack Lovelock, New Zealand runner and soldier (b. 1910).
• 1959 – Ante Pavelić, Croatian fascist dictator during World War II (b. 1889).
• 1968 – David Ogilvy, 12th Earl of Airlie, Scottish peer, soldier and courtier (b. 1893).
• 1986 – John D. MacDonald, American colonel and author (b. 1916).
• 2003 – Benjamin Thurman Hacker, American admiral (b. 1935).
• 2013 – Andrew Jacobs, Jr., American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1932).