Events

• 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to Robert Guiscard.
• 1395 – Timur defeats Tokhtamysh of the Golden Horde at the Battle of the Terek River.
  • The Golden Horde capital city, Sarai, is razed to the ground and Timur installs a puppet ruler on the throne.
• 1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years’ War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
• 1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years’ War.
• 1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army.
• 1715 – The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina.
• 1736 – Foundation of the Kingdom of Corsica.
• 1755 – Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London.
• 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 Volunteers to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.
• 1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece.
• 1900 – Philippine-American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on US infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
• 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 am, two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg.
  • Only 710 of 2,224 passengers and crew on board survive.
• 1922 – US Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal.
• 1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes.
• 1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine.
• 1941 – World War II: In the Belfast Blitz, two hundred bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing around one thousand people.
• 1942 – World War II: The George Cross is awarded “to the island fortress of Malta” by King George VI.
• 1945 – World War II: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated.
• 1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress.
• 1955 – McDonald’s restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois.
• 1969 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board.
• 1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
• 1986 – The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two US servicemen.
• 2014 – In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, at least 200 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals.

People (Births)

• 1800 – James Clark Ross, English naval captain and explorer (d. 1862).
• 1828 – Jean Danjou, French Foreign Legion captain (d. 1863).
• 1883 – Stanley Bruce, Australian captain and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1967).
• 1885 – Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (d. 1947).
• 1892 – Theo Osterkamp, German general and pilot (d. 1975).
• 1892 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch-American clocksmith, Nazi resister, and author (d. 1983).
• 1894 – Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (d. 1971).
• 1898 – Harry Edward, Guyanese-English sprinter (d. 1973).
• 1912 – Kim Il-sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (d. 1994).
• 1920 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German soldier and politician, 6th President of Germany (d. 2015).
• 1921 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1995).
• 1936 – Raymond Poulidor, French cyclist (d. 2019).
• 1937 – Robert W. Gore, American engineer and businessman, co-inventor of Gore-Tex (d. 2020).
• 1943 – Hugh Thompson, Jr., American soldier and pilot (d. 2006).
• 1951 – John L. Phillips, American captain and astronaut.
• 1957 – Evelyn Ashford, American runner and coach.
• 1962 – Nawal El Moutawakel, Moroccan athlete and politician.
• 1967 – Dara Torres, American swimmer and journalist.
• 1968 – Brahim Lahlafi, Moroccan-French runner.
• 1970 – Chris Huffins, American decathlete and coach.
• 1971 – Josia Thugwane, South African runner.
• 1976 – Steve Williams, English rower.
• 1983 – Martin Pedersen, Danish cyclist.
• 1994 – Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Bahamian sprinter.

People (Deaths)

• 1898 – Te Keepa Te Rangihiwinui, New Zealand commander and politician.
• John Jacob Astor IV, American colonel, businessman, and author (b. 1864), victim of the 1912 Titanic disaster.
• 1944 – Nikolai Fyodorovich Vatutin, Russian general (b. 1901).
• 1945 – Hermann Florstedt, German SS officer (b. 1895).
• 1948 – Radola Gajda, Montenegrin-Czech general and politician (b. 1892).
• 1980 – Raymond Bailey, American actor and soldier (b. 1904).
• 1989 – Hu Yaobang, Chinese soldier and politician, former General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (b. 1915).
• 1998 – Pol Pot, Cambodian general and politician, 29th Prime Minister of Cambodia (b. 1925).