Events

• 1403 – Venetian-Genoese wars: The Genoese fleet under a French admiral is defeated by a Venetian fleet at the Battle of Modon.
• 1513 – War of the League of Cambrai: Spain defeats Venice.
• 1571 – The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Ottoman Navy suffers its first defeat.
• 1691 – The charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay is issued.
• 1763 – King George III issues the Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing Indigenous lands in North America north and west of the Alleghenies to white settlements.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans defeat the British in the Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights.
• 1780 – American Revolutionary War: American militia defeat royalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson in South Carolina.
• 1800 – French corsair Robert Surcouf, commander of the 18-gun ship La Confiance, captures the British 38-gun Kent.
• 1828 – Morea expedition: The city of Patras, Greece, is liberated by the French expeditionary force.
• 1864 – American Civil War: A US Navy ship captures a Confederate raider in a Brazilian seaport.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Léon Gambetta escapes the siege of Paris in a hot-air balloon.
• 1879 – Germany and Austria-Hungary sign the “Twofold Covenant” and create the Dual Alliance.
• 1913 – Ford Motor Company introduces the first moving vehicle assembly line.
• 1940 – World War II: The McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States.
• 1944 – World War II: During an uprising at Birkenau concentration camp, Jewish prisoners burn down Crematorium IV.
• 1949 – The communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is formed.
• 1958 – The 1958 Pakistani coup d’état inaugurates a prolonged period of military rule.
• 1963 – President Kennedy signs the ratification of the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.
• 1987 – Sikh nationalists declare the independence of Khalistan from India; it is not internationally recognised.
• 1991 – Croatian War of Independence: Bombing of Banski dvori in Zagreb, Croatia.
• 2000 – Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Hezbollah militants capture three Israeli Defence Force soldiers in a cross-border raid.
• 2001 – The US invasion of Afghanistan begins with an air assault and covert operations on the ground.

People (Births)

• 1597 – Captain John Underhill, English settler and soldier (d. 1672).
• 1713 – Granville Elliott, English general (d. 1759).
• 1728 – Caesar Rodney, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 4th Governor of Delaware (d. 1784).
• 1744 – Sergey Vyazmitinov, Russian general and politician, War Governor of Saint Petersburg (d. 1819).
• 1821 – Richard H. Anderson, American general (d. 1879).
• 1860 – Leonidas Paraskevopoulos, Greek general and politician (d. 1936).
• 1881 – Mikhail Drozdovsky, Ukrainian-Russian general (d. 1918).
• 1884 – Harold Geiger, American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1927).
• 1885 – Claud Ashton Jones, American admiral, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1948).
• 1900 – Heinrich Himmler, German commander and politician (d. 1945).
• 1909 – Erastus Corning 2nd, American soldier and politician, 72nd Mayor of Albany (d. 1983).
• 1920 – Georg Leber, German soldier and politician, German Federal Minister of Defence (d. 2012).
• 1923 – Irma Grese, German SS officer (d. 1945).
• 1934 – Julian Thompson, English general and historian.
• 1943 – Oliver North, American colonel, journalist, and author.
• 1950 – Jakaya Kikwete, Tanzanian colonel, economist, and politician, 4th President of Tanzania.
• 1952 – Vladimir Putin, Russian colonel and politician, 4th President of Russia.

People (Deaths)

• 1571 – Sufi Ali Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician, Ottoman Governor of Egypt.
• 1577 – George Gascoigne, English soldier, courtier, and poet (b. 1535).
• 1620 – Stanisław Żółkiewski, Polish-Lithuanian commander (b. 1547).
• 1944 – Helmut Lent, German colonel and pilot (b. 1918).
• 1969 – Léon Scieur, Belgian cyclist (b. 1888).
• 1991 – Harry W. Brown, American colonel and pilot (b. 1921).
• 2006 – Julen Goikoetxea, Spanish cyclist (b. 1985).
• 2013 – David E. Jeremiah, American admiral (b. 1934).
• 2015 – Hossein Hamadani, Iranian general (b. 1951).