Events

• 371 BC – The Battle of Leuctra shatters Sparta’s reputation of military invincibility.
• 640 – Battle of Heliopolis: The Muslim Arab army under ‘Amr ibn al-‘As defeat the Byzantine forces near Heliopolis (Egypt).
• 1411 – Ming China’s Admiral Zheng He returns to Nanjing after the third treasure voyage and presents the Sinhalese king, captured during the Ming-Kotte War, to the Yongle Emperor.
• 1438 – A temporary compromise between the rebellious Transylvanian peasants and the noblemen is signed in Kolozsmonostor Abbey.
• 1484 – Portuguese sea captain Diogo Cão finds the mouth of the Congo River.
• 1495 – First Italian War: Battle of Fornovo: Charles VIII defeats the Holy League.
• 1536 – The explorer Jacques Cartier lands at St. Malo at the end of his second expedition to North America. He returns with none of the gold he expected to find.
• 1557 – King Philip II of Spain, consort of Queen Mary I of England, sets out from Dover to war with France, which eventually resulted in the loss of the City of Calais, the last English possession on the continent, and Mary I never seeing her husband again.
• 1560 – The Treaty of Edinburgh is signed by Scotland and England.
• 1573 – Córdoba, Argentina, is founded by Jerónimo Luis de Cabrera.
• 1573 – French Wars of Religion: Siege of La Rochelle ends.
• 1614 – Raid on Żejtun: The south east of Malta, and the town of Żejtun, suffer a raid from Ottoman forces. This was the last unsuccessful attempt by the Ottomans to conquer the island of Malta.
• 1630 – Thirty Years’ War: Four thousand Swedish troops under Gustavus Adolphus land in Pomerania, Germany.
• 1685 – Battle of Sedgemoor: Last battle of the Monmouth Rebellion. Troops of King James II defeat troops of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Siege of Fort Ticonderoga: After a bombardment by British artillery under General John Burgoyne, American forces retreat from Fort Ticonderoga, New York.
• 1779 – Battle of Grenada: The French defeat British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.
• 1801 – First Battle of Algeciras: Outnumbered French Navy ships defeat the Royal Navy in the fortified Spanish port of Algeciras.
• 1809 – The second day of the Battle of Wagram; France defeats the Austrian army in the largest battle to date of the Napoleonic Wars.
• 1885 – Louis Pasteur successfully tests his vaccine against rabies on Joseph Meister, a boy who was bitten by a rabid dog.
• 1887 – David Kalākaua, monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii, is forced to sign the Bayonet Constitution, which transfers much of the king’s authority to the Legislature of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
• 1917 – World War I: Arabian troops led by T.E. Lawrence (“Lawrence of Arabia”) and Auda ibu Tayi capture Aqaba from the Ottoman Empire during the Arab Revolt.
• 1918 – The Left SR uprising in Russia starts with the assassination of German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach by Cheka members.
• 1919 – The British dirigible R34 lands in New York, completing the first crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by an airship.
• 1937 – Spanish Civil War: Battle of Brunete: The battle begins with Spanish Republican troops going on the offensive against the Nationalists to relieve pressure on Madrid.
• 1941 – World War II: The German army launches its offensive to encircle several Soviet armies near Smolensk.
• 1942 – World War II: Anne Frank and her family go into hiding in the “Secret Annexe” above her father’s office in an Amsterdam warehouse.
• 1944 – Jackie Robinson refuses to move to the back of a bus, leading to a court-martial.
• 1947 – Referendum held in Sylhet to decide its fate in the Partition of India.
• 1947 – The AK-47 goes into production in the Soviet Union.
• 1962 – As a part of Operation Plowshare, the Sedan nuclear test takes place.
• 1964 – Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1966 – Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President.
• 1967 – Nigerian Civil War: Nigerian forces invade Biafra, beginning the war.
• 1975 – The Comoros declares independence from France.
• 1995 – In the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia begins its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
• 1997 – The Troubles: In response to the Drumcree dispute, five days of mass protests, riots and gun battles begin in Irish nationalist districts of Northern Ireland.
• 2006 – The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
• Independence Day (Comoros), celebrates the independence of the Comoros from France in 1975.
• Independence Day (Malawi), celebrates the independence of Malawi from United Kingdom in 1964.

People (Births)

• 1736 – Daniel Morgan, American general and politician (d. 1802).
• 1747 – John Paul Jones, Scottish-American captain (d. 1792).
• 1885 – Ernst Busch, German field marshal (d. 1945).
• 1887 – Annette Kellermann, Australian swimmer and actress (d. 1975).
• 1898 – Hanns Eisler, German-Austrian soldier and composer (d. 1962).
• 1900 – Elfriede Wever, German Olympic runner (d. 1941).
• 1907 – George Stanley, Canadian soldier, historian, and author, designed the flag of Canada (d. 2002).
• 1908 – Anton Muttukumaru, Sri Lankan general and diplomat (d. 2001).
• 1910 – René Le Grèves, French cyclist (d. 1946).
• 1915 – Leonard Birchall, Royal Canadian Air Force pilot (d. 2004).
• 1917 – Arthur Lydiard, New Zealand runner and coach (d. 2004).
• 1919 – Edward Kenna, Australian Second World War recipient of the Victoria Cross (d. 2009).
• 1923 – Wojciech Jaruzelski, Polish general and politician, 1st President of Poland (d. 2014).
• 1931 – László Tábori, Hungarian runner and coach (d. 2018).
• 1939 – Mary Peters, English-Irish pentathlete and shot putter.
• 1939 – Bruce Hunter, American swimmer (d. 2018).
• 1944 – Gunhild Hoffmeister, German runner.
• 1962 – Todd Bennett, English runner and coach (d. 2013).
• 1972 – Zhanna Pintusevich-Block, Ukrainian sprinter.
• 1987 – Manteo Mitchell, American runner.

People (Deaths)

• 887 – Wang Chongrong, Chinese warlord.
• 1758 – George Howe, 3rd Viscount Howe, English general and politician (b. 1725).
• 1802 – Daniel Morgan, American general and politician (b. 1736).
• 1809 – Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle, French general (b. 1775).
• 1835 – John Marshall, American captain and politician, 4th United States Secretary of State (b. 1755).
• 1868 – Harada Sanosuke, Japanese captain and samurai (b. 1840).
• 1934 – Nestor Makhno, Ukrainian commander (b. 1888).
• 1964 – Claude V. Ricketts, American admiral (b. 1906).
• 1976 – Zhu De, Chinese general and politician, Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (b. 1886).
• 2009 – Robert McNamara, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Defence (b. 1916).
• 2011 – Carly Hibberd, Australian road racing cyclist (b. 1985).
• 2014 – Alan J. Dixon, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 34th Illinois Secretary of State (b. 1927).