Events

• 411 BC – The Athenian coup succeeds, forming a short-lived oligarchy.
• 68 – Nero commits suicide, after quoting Vergil’s Aeneid, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors.
• 721 – Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors in the Battle of Toulouse.
• 747 – Abbasid Revolution: Abu Muslim Khorasani begins an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which is carried out under the sign of the Black Standard.
• 1534 – Jacques Cartier is the first European to describe and map the Saint Lawrence River.
• 1667 – Second Anglo-Dutch War: The Raid on the Medway by the Dutch fleet begins.
  • It lasts for five days and results in the worst ever defeat of the Royal Navy.
• 1732 – James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of the future US state of Georgia.
• 1772 – The British schooner Gaspee is burned in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.
• 1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battles of Arklow and Saintfield.
• 1815 – End of the Congress of Vienna: The new European political situation is set (refer to Napoleonic Wars).
• 1862 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic; his tactics during the campaign are now studied by militaries around the world.
• 1863 – American Civil War: Battle of Brandy Station, Virginia.
• 1885 – Treaty of Tientsin is signed to end the Sino-French War, with China eventually giving up Tonkin and Annam – most of present-day Vietnam – to France.
• 1915 – William Jennings Bryan resigns as Woodrow Wilson’s Secretary of State over a disagreement regarding the United States’ handling of the sinking of the RMS Lusitania.
• 1922 – Åland’s Regional Assembly convened for its first plenary session in Mariehamn, Åland; today, the day is celebrated as Self-Government Day of Åland.
• 1923 – Bulgaria’s military takes over the government in a coup.
• 1944 – World War II: Ninety-nine civilians are hanged from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in reprisal for maquisards attacks.
• 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, occupied by Finland since 1941.
• 1954 – Joseph Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army-McCarthy hearings, giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, “You’ve done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?”
• 1959 – The USS George Washington is launched.
  • It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine.
• 1965 – The civilian Prime Minister of South Vietnam, Phan Huy Quát, resigns after being unable to work with a junta led by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ (refer to the Vietnam War).
• 1965 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong commences combat with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the Battle of Đồng Xoài, one of the largest battles in the war.
• 1967 – Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria.
• 1999 – Kosovo War: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.

People (Births)

• 1754 – Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth, English general and politician, Governor of Barbados (died 1815).
• 1842 – Hazard Stevens, American military officer, mountaineer, politician and writer (died 1918).
• 1879 – Harry DeBaecke, American rower (died 1961).
• 1882 – Robert Kerr, Irish-Canadian sprinter and coach (died 1963).
• 1885 – Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, Polish general and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Poland (died 1962).
• 1916 – Jurij Brězan, German soldier and author (died 2006).
• 1916 – Siegfried Graetschus, German SS officer (died 1943).
• 1916 – Robert McNamara, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Defence (died 2009).
• 1925 – Keith Laumer, American soldier and author (died 1993).
• 1934 – Michael Mates, English colonel and politician.
• 1967 – Rubén Maza, Venezuelan runner.
• 1988 – Sara Isaković, Slovenian swimmer.
• 1992 – Yannick Agnel, French swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1716 – Banda Singh Bahadur, Indian commander (born 1670).
• 1892 – William Grant Stairs, Canadian-English captain and explorer (born 1863).
• 1956 – Ferdinand Jodl, German general (born 1896).
• 1958 – Robert Donat, English actor (born 1905); played a Canadian civilian in London, Richard Hannay, who becomes caught up in preventing an organisation of spies called “The 39 Steps” from stealing British military secrets (refer to the film ‘The 39 Steps’, 1935).
• 1973 – Erich von Manstein, German general (born 1887).
• 2012 – John Maples, Baron Maples, English lawyer and politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence (born 1943).