Events

• 919 – The second Fatimid invasion of Egypt begins, when the Fatimid heir-apparent, al-Qa’im bi-Amr Allah, sets out from Raqqada at the head of his army.
• 1242 – During the Battle on the Ice of Lake Peipus, Russian forces, led by Alexander Nevsky, rebuff an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.
• 1536 – Royal Entry of Charles V into Rome: The last Roman triumph.
• 1609 – Daimyō (Lord) Shimazu Tadatsune of the Satsuma Domain in southern Kyūshū, Japan, completes his successful invasion of the Ryūkyū Kingdom in Okinawa.
• 1614 – In Virginia, Native American Pocahontas marries English colonist John Rolfe.
• 1621 – The Mayflower sets sail from Plymouth, Massachusetts on a return trip to England.
• 1795 – Peace of Basel between France and Prussia is made.
• 1818 – In the Battle of Maipú, Chile’s independence movement, led by Bernardo O’Higgins and José de San Martín, win a decisive victory over Spain, leaving 2,000 Spaniards and 1,000 Chilean patriots dead.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Yorktown begins.
• 1879 – Chile declares war on Bolivia and Peru, starting the War of the Pacific.
• 1932 – Dominion of Newfoundland: Ten thousand rioters seize the Colonial Building leading to the end of self-government.
• 1933 – Andorran Revolution: The Young Andorrans occupy the Casa de la Vall and force the government to hold democratic elections with universal male suffrage.
• 1942 – World War II: Adolf Hitler issues Fuhrer Directive No. 41 summarizing Case Blue, including the German Sixth Army’s planned assault on Stalingrad.
• 1942 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy launches a carrier-based air attack on Colombo, Ceylon during the Indian Ocean raid.
  • Port and civilian facilities are damaged and the Royal Navy cruisers HMS Cornwall and HMS Dorsetshire are sunk southwest of the island.
• 1943 – World War II: United States Army Air Forces bomber aircraft accidentally cause more than 900 civilian deaths, including 209 children, and 1,300 wounded among the civilian population of the Belgian town of Mortsel.
  • Their target was the Erla factory one kilometre from the residential area hit.
• 1945 – Cold War: Yugoslav leader Josip Broz Tito signs an agreement with the Soviet Union to allow “temporary entry of Soviet troops into Yugoslav territory”.
• 1946 – Soviet troops end their year-long occupation of the Danish island of Bornholm.
• 1946 – A Fleet Air Arm Vickers Wellington crashes into a residential area in Rabat, Malta during a training exercise, killing all 4 crew members and 16 civilians on the ground.
• 1956 – Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro declares himself at war with Cuban President Fulgencio Batista.
• 1966 – During the Buddhist Uprising, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Cao Kỳ personally attempted to lead the capture of the restive city of Đà Nẵng before backing down.
• 1969 – Vietnam War: Massive anti-war demonstrations occur in many US cities.
• 1971 – In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
• 1992 – Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force.
• 1992 – Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War.
• 2009 – North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 rocket.
  • The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of Six-party talks.

People (Births)

• 1719 – Axel von Fersen the Elder, Swedish field marshal and politician, Lord Marshal of Sweden (d. 1794).
• 1761 – Sybil Ludington, American heroine of the American Revolutionary War (d. 1839).
• 1769 – Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, English admiral (d. 1839).
• 1795 – Henry Havelock, British general (d. 1857).
• 1810 – Sir Henry Rawlinson, British East India Company army officer and politician (d. 1895).
• 1814 – Felix Lichnowsky, Czech soldier and politician (d. 1848).
• 1848 – Ulrich Wille, Swiss army general (d. 1925).
• 1878 – Albert Champion, French cyclist (d. 1927).
• 1879 – Nikolaus zu Dohna-Schlodien, German naval officer and author (d. 1956).
• 1880 – Eric Carlberg, Swedish Army officer, diplomat, shooter, fencer and modern pentathlete (d. 1963).
• 1880 – Vilhelm Carlberg, Swedish Army officer and shooter (d. 1970).
• 1882 – Song Jiaoren, Chinese revolutionary (d. 1913).
• 1886 – Gustavo Jiménez, Peruvian colonel and politician, 73rd President of Peru (d. 1933).
• 1889 – Vicente Ferreira Pastinha, Brazilian martial artist (d. 1981).
• 1890 – William Moore, British track and field athlete (d. 1956).
• 1891 – Arnold Jackson, English runner, soldier, and lawyer (d. 1972).
• 1894 – Hans Hüttig, German SS officer (d. 1980).
• 1909 – Erwin Wegner, German hurdler (d. 1945).
• 1912 – Bill Roberts, English sprinter and soldier (d. 2001).
• 1920 – Arthur Hailey, English-Canadian soldier and author (d. 2004).
• 1923 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, Vietnamese general and politician, 5th President of South Vietnam (d. 2001).
• 1924 – Igor Borisov, Soviet rower (d. before 2005).
• 1925 – Pierre Nihant, Belgian cyclist (d. 1993).
• 1935 – Frank Schepke, German rower (d. 2017).
• 1937 – Colin Powell, American general and politician, 65th United States Secretary of State (d. 2021).
• 1944 – Willy Planckaert, Belgian cyclist.
• 1944 – Peter T. King, American soldier, lawyer, and politician.
• 1947 – Đurđica Bjedov, Yugoslav swimmer.
• 1951 – Yevgeniy Gavrilenko, Belarusian hurdler.
• 1957 – Karin Roßley, German hurdler.
• 1960 – Hiromi Taniguchi, Japanese long-distance runner.
• 1964 – Vakhtang Iagorashvili, Soviet modern pentathlete.
• 1965 – Svetlana Paramygina, Belarusian biathlete.
• 1967 – Laima Zilporytė, Soviet cyclist.
• 1969 – Viatcheslav Djavanian, Russian cyclist.
• 1969 – Pavlo Khnykin, Ukrainian swimmer.
• 1970 – Irina Timofeyeva, Russian long-distance runner.
• 1974 – Katja Holanti, Finnish biathlete.
• 1976 – Valeria Straneo, Italian long-distance runner.
• 1976 – Indrek Tobreluts, Estonian biathlete.
• 1976 – Anouska van der Zee, Dutch cyclist.
• 1978 – Dwain Chambers, British track sprinter.
• 1978 – Arnaud Tournant, French cyclist.
• 1978 – Franziska van Almsick, German swimmer.
• 1978 – Günther Weidlinger, Austrian long-distance runner.
• 1980 – Rafael Cavalcante, Brazilian mixed martial artist.
• 1980 – Rasmus Quist Hansen, Danish rower.
• 1981 – Michael A. Monsoor, American sailor, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 2006).
• 1981 – Daba Modibo Keïta, Malian taekwondo athlete.
• 1981 – Pieter Weening, Dutch cyclist.
• 1982 – Hubert Schwab, Swiss cyclist.
• 1984 – Rune Brattsveen, Norwegian biathlete.
• 1984 – Dmitry Kozonchuk, Russian cyclist.
• 1985 – Jolanda Keizer, Dutch heptathlete.
• 1985 – Kristof Vandewalle, Belgian cyclist.
• 1986 – Róbert Kasza, Hungarian Modern pentathlete.
• 1987 – Anton Kokorin, Russian sprint athlete.
• 1988 – Alexey Volkov, Russian biathlete.
• 1989 – Liemarvin Bonevacia, Dutch sprinter.
• 1990 – Chen Huijia, Chinese swimmer.
• 1993 – Maya DiRado, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1794 – François Joseph Westermann, French general (b. 1751).
• 1804 – Jean-Charles Pichegru, French general (b. 1761).
• 1865 – Manfredo Fanti, Italian general (b. 1806).
• 1873 – Milivoje Blaznavac, Serbian soldier and politician (b. 1824).
• 1900 – Osman Nuri Pasha, Ottoman field marshal and the hero of the Siege of Plevna in 1877 (b. 1832).
• 1928 – Roy Kilner, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1890).
• 1938 – Verner Lehtimäki, Finnish soldier and revolutionary (b. 1890).
• 1940 – Song Zheyuan, Chinese general (b. 1885).
• 1941 – Franciszek Kleeberg, Polish general (b. 1888).
• 1945 – Heinrich Borgmann, German officer (b. 1912).
• 1945 – Karl-Otto Koch, German SS officer (b. 1897).
• 1964 – Douglas MacArthur, American general (b. 1880).
• 1967 – Herbert Johnston, British runner (b. 1902).
• 1969 – Ain-Ervin Mere, Estonian SS officer (b. 1903).
• 1975 – Tell Berna, American middle and long-distance runner (b. 1891).
• 1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, Chinese general and politician, 1st President of the Republic of China (b. 1887).
• 1975 – Harold Osborn, American track and fielder (b. 1899).
• 1976 – Harry Wyld, British cyclist (b. 1900).
• 1984 – Hans Lunding, Danish military officer (b. 1899).
• 1991 – John Tower, American soldier, academic, and politician (b. 1925).
• 1995 – Christian Pineau, French Resistance fighter (b. 1904).
• 2004 – Sławomir Rawicz, Polish Army lieutenant (b. 1915).
• 2005 – Robert Borg, American military officer and equestrian (b. 1913).
• 2006 – Yevgeny Seredin, Russian swimmer (b. 1958).
• 2012 – Pedro Bartolomé Benoit, Dominican Republican politician military officer.
• 2014 – Mariano Díaz, Spanish cyclist (b. 1939).
• 2017 – Attilio Benfatto, Italian cyclist (b. 1943).