Events

• 235 – Roman emperor Severus Alexander is murdered, marking the start of the Crisis of the Third Century.
• 871 – Æthelred of Wessex is defeated by a Danish invasion army at the Battle of Marton.
• 1185 – Battle of Yashima: the Japanese forces of the Taira clan are defeated by the Minamoto clan.
• 1312 – Vox in excelso: Pope Clement V dissolves the Order of the Knights Templar.
• 1508 – Ferdinand II of Aragon commissions Amerigo Vespucci chief navigator of the Spanish Empire.
• 1621 – The Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony sign a peace treaty with Massasoit of the Wampanoags.
• 1622 – Jamestown massacre: Algonquians kill 347 English settlers around Jamestown, Virginia, a third of the colony’s population, during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War.
• 1739 – Nader Shah occupies Delhi in India and sacks the city, stealing the jewels of the Peacock Throne.
• 1765 – The British Parliament passes the Stamp Act that introduces a tax to be levied directly on its American colonies.
• 1829 – In the London Protocol, the three protecting powers (United Kingdom, France and Russia) establish the borders of Greece.
• 1849 – The Austrians defeat the Piedmontese at the Battle of Novara.
• 1896 – Charilaos Vasilakos wins the first modern Olympic marathon race with a time of three hours and 18 minutes.
• 1913 – Mystic Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed Emperor of Vietnam, is arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.
• 1916 – Yuan Shikai abdicates as Emperor of China, restoring the Republic and returning to the Presidency.
• 1920 – Azeri and Turkish army soldiers with participation of Kurdish gangs attack the Armenian inhabitants of Shushi (Nagorno Karabakh).
• 1933 – Nazi Germany opens its first concentration camp, Dachau.
• 1939 – Germany takes Memel from Lithuania.
• 1942 – World War II: In the Mediterranean Sea, the Royal Navy confronts Italy’s Regia Marina in the Second Battle of Sirte.
• 1943 – World War II: The entire village of Khatyn (in what is the present-day Republic of Belarus) is burnt alive by Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118.
• 1945 – World War II: The city of Hildesheim, Germany is heavily damaged in a British air raid, though it had little military significance and Germany was on the verge of final defeat.
• 1945 – The Arab League is founded when a charter is adopted in Cairo, Egypt.
• 1946 – The United Kingdom grants full independence to Transjordan.
• 1960 – Arthur Leonard Schawlow and Charles Hard Townes receive the first patent for a laser.
• 2004 – Ahmed Yassin, co-founder and leader of the Palestinian Sunni Islamist group Hamas, two bodyguards, and nine civilian bystanders are killed in the Gaza Strip when hit by Israeli Air Force Hellfire missiles.
• 2006 – Three Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT) hostages are freed by British forces in Baghdad after 118 days of captivity and the murder of their colleague from the US, Tom Fox.
• 2017 – Syrian civil war: 500 members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are airlifted south of the Euphrates by United States Air Force helicopters, beginning the Battle of Tabqa.

People (Births)

• 1367 – Thomas de Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk, English politician, Earl Marshal of the United Kingdom (probable; d. 1399).
• 1684 – William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath, English politician, Secretary at War (d. 1764).
• 1817 – Braxton Bragg, American general (d. 1876).
• 1868 – Robert Andrews Millikan, American colonel and physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953).
• 1869 – Emilio Aguinaldo, Filipino general and politician, 1st President of the Philippines (d. 1964).
• 1907 – James M. Gavin, American general and diplomat, United States Ambassador to France (d. 1990).
• 1924 – Yevgeny Ostashev, Russian test pilot, participant in the launch of the first artificial Earth satellite (d. 1960).
• 1937 – Armin Hary, German sprinter.
• 1966 – Artis Pabriks, Latvian academic and politician, 11th Minister for Defence of Latvia.
• 1966 – António Pinto, Portuguese runner.
• 1970 – Leontien van Moorsel, Dutch cyclist.
• 1970 – Hwang Young-cho, South Korean runner.
• 1981 – Arne Gabius, German runner.
• 1982 – Enrico Gasparotto, Italian cyclist.
• 1985 – Jakob Fuglsang, Danish cyclist.
• 1985 – Kelli Waite, Australian swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1421 – Thomas of Lancaster, 1st Duke of Clarence, English soldier and politician, Lord High Steward of England (b. 1388).
• 1820 – Stephen Decatur, American commander (b. 1779).
• 1966 – John Harlin, American mountaineer and US Air Force pilot (b. 1935).
• 1971 – Johannes Villemson, Estonian-American runner (b. 1893).
• 1981 – James Elliott, American runner and coach (b. 1915).
• 1987 – Odysseas Angelis, Greek general and politician (b. 1912).
• 1996 – Robert F. Overmyer, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1936).
• 2001 – Sabiha Gökçen, Turkish soldier and pilot (b. 1913).
• 2004 – Ahmed Yassin, Co-founded Hamas (b. 1937).
• 2006 – Pierre Clostermann, French soldier, pilot, and politician (b. 1921).
• 2014 – Thor Listau, Norwegian soldier and politician (b. 1938).
• 2014 – Tasos Mitsopoulos, Cypriot politician, Cypriot Minister of Defence (b. 1965).