Events

• 293 – Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Galerius as Caesar to Diocletian, beginning the period of four rulers known as the Tetrarchy.
• 878 – Syracuse, Sicily, is captured by the Muslim Aghlabids after a nine-month siege.
• 879 – Pope John VIII gives blessings to Branimir of Croatia and to the Croatian people, considered to be international recognition of the Croatian state.
• 1403 – Henry III of Castile sends Ruy González de Clavijo as ambassador to Timur to discuss the possibility of an alliance between Timur and Castile against the Ottoman Empire.
• 1659 – In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end.
• 1660 – The Battle of Long Sault concludes after five days in which French colonial militia, with their Huron and Algonquin allies, are defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy.
• 1758 – Ten-year-old Mary Campbell is abducted in Pennsylvania by Lenape during the French and Indian War.
  • She is returned six and a half years later.
• 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: The first day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling between the Austrian army led by Archduke Charles and the French army led by Napoleon I of France sees the French attack across the Danube held.
• 1863 – American Civil War: The Union Army succeeds in closing off the last escape route from Port Hudson, Louisiana, in preparation for the coming siege.
• 1864 – Russia declares an end to the Russo-Circassian War and many Circassians are forced into exile.
  • The day is designated the Circassian Day of Mourning.
• 1864 – American Civil War: The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House ends.
• 1864 – The Ionian Islands reunite with Greece.
• 1871 – French troops invade the Paris Commune and engage its residents in street fighting.
  • By the close of “Bloody Week”, some 20,000 communards have been killed and 38,000 arrested.
• 1879 – War of the Pacific: Two Chilean ships blocking the harbor of Iquique (then belonging to Peru) battle two Peruvian vessels in the Battle of Iquique.
• 1881 – The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.
• 1911 – President of Mexico Porfirio Díaz and the revolutionary Francisco Madero sign the Treaty of Ciudad Juárez to put an end to the fighting between the forces of both men, concluding the initial phase of the Mexican Revolution.
• 1917 – The Imperial War Graves Commission is established through royal charter to mark, record, and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of the British Empire’s military forces.
• 1939 – The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
• 1946 – Physicist Louis Slotin is fatally irradiated in a criticality incident during an experiment with the demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
• 1961 – American civil rights movement: Alabama Governor John Malcolm Patterson declares martial law in an attempt to restore order after race riots break out.
• 1966 – The Ulster Volunteer Force declares war on the Irish Republican Army in Northern Ireland.
• 1969 – Civil unrest in Rosario, Argentina, known as Rosariazo, following the death of a 15-year-old student.
• 1982 – Falklands War: A British amphibious assault during Operation Sutton leads to the Battle of San Carlos.
• 1991 – Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
• 1998 – President Suharto of Indonesia (military dictator) resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
• 2006 – The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence.
• 2011 – Radio broadcaster Harold Camping predicted that the world would end on this date!!!
• 2017 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus performed their final show at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
• Circassian Day of Mourning (Circassians).
• Day of Patriots and Military (Hungary).
• Navy Day (Chile).

People (Births)

• 1775 – Lucien Bonaparte, French soldier and politician (d. 1840).
• 1837 – Itagaki Taisuke, Japanese soldier and politician (d. 1919).
• 1878 – Glenn Curtiss, American cyclist and engineer (d. 1930).
• 1895 – Lázaro Cárdenas, Mexican general, president (1934-1940) and father of Cuauhtémoc Cárdenas (d. 1970).
• 1916 – Tinus Osendarp, Dutch sprinter and police officer (d. 2002).
• 1932 – Leonidas Vasilikopoulos, Greek admiral and intelligence chief (d. 2014).
• 1942 – John Konrads, Australian swimmer (d. 2021).
• 1960 – Vladimir Salnikov, Russian swimmer.
• 1966 – Tatyana Ledovskaya, Belarusian hurdler.
• 1970 – Brigita Bukovec, Slovenian hurdler.
• 1976 – Abderrahim Goumri, Moroccan runner (d. 2013).
• 1979 – Scott Smith, American mixed martial artist.
• 1985 – Mark Cavendish, Manx cyclist.
• 1985 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (d. 2012).
• 1986 – Eder Sánchez, Mexican race walker.
• 1988 – Claire Cashmore, English Paralympic swimmer.
• 1990 – Kierre Beckles, Barbadian athlete.
• 1993 – Grete Gaim, Estonian biathlete.

People (Deaths)

• 1524 – Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk, English soldier and politician, Lord High Treasurer (b. 1443).
• 1542 – Hernando de Soto, Spanish-American explorer (b. 1496).
• 1617 – Luis Fajardo, Spanish admiral and nobleman (b. c. 1556).
• 1650 – James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose, Scottish general and politician (b. 1612).
• 1664 – Elizabeth Poole, English settler, founded Taunton, Massachusetts (b. 1588).
• 1762 – Alexander Joseph Sulkowski, Polish and Saxon general (b. 1695).
• 1810 – Chevalier d’Eon, French soldier, diplomat and spy (b. 1728).
• 1858 – José de la Riva Agüero, Peruvian soldier and politician, 1st President of Peru and 2nd President of North Peru (b. 1783).
• 1879 – Arturo Prat, Chilean lawyer and commander (b. 1848).
• 1915 – Leonid Gobyato, Russian general and engineer (b. 1875).
• 1965 – Geoffrey de Havilland, English pilot and engineer, designed the de Havilland Mosquito (b. 1882).
• 1973 – Ivan Konev, Soviet Marshal and general (b. 1897).
• 1981 – Raymond McCreesh, PIRA volunteer (b. 1957).
• 1981 – Patsy O’Hara, INLA volunteer (b. 1957).
• 1995 – Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defence (b. 1938).
• 2012 – Roman Dumbadze, Georgian commander (b. 1964).
• 2015 – Annarita Sidoti, Italian race walker (b. 1969).