Events

• 97 – Roman emperor Nerva is forced by the Praetorian Guard to adopt general Marcus Ulpius Trajanus as his heir and successor.
• 312 – Constantine I defeats Maxentius, becoming the sole Roman emperor in the West.
• 969 – The Byzantine Empire recovers Antioch from Arab rule.
• 1344 – The lower town of Smyrna is captured by Crusaders in response to Aydınid piracy.
• 1420 – Beijing is officially designated the capital of the Ming dynasty when the Forbidden City is completed.
• 1492 – Christopher Columbus lands in Cuba on his first voyage to the New World, surmising that it is Japan.
• 1516 – Second Ottoman-Mamluk War: Mamluks fail to stop the Ottoman advance towards Egypt at the Battle of Yaunis Khan.
• 1520 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Pacific Ocean.
• 1531 – Abyssinian-Adal war: The Adal Sultanate seizes southern Ethiopia.
• 1628 – French Wars of Religion: The Siege of La Rochelle ends with the surrender of the Huguenots after fourteen months.
• 1664 – The Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: British troops attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Continental Army.
• 1835 – The United Tribes of New Zealand are established with the signature of the Declaration of Independence.
• 1864 – American Civil War: A Union attack on the Confederate capital of Richmond is repulsed.
• 1886 – US president Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty.
• 1918 – World War I: A new Polish government in western Galicia is established, triggering the Polish-Ukrainian War.
• 1918 – World War I: Czech politicians peacefully take over the city of Prague, thus establishing the First Czechoslovak Republic.
• 1922 – Italian fascists led by Benito Mussolini march on Rome and take over the Italian government.
• 1940 – World War II: Greece rejects Italy’s ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania a few hours later.
• 1956 – Hungarian Revolution: A de facto ceasefire comes into effect between armed revolutionaries and Soviet troops, who begin to withdraw from Budapest.
  • Communist officials and facilities come under attack by revolutionaries.
• 1962 – The Cuban Missile Crisis ends and Premier Nikita Khrushchev orders the removal of Soviet missiles from Cuba.
• Day of the Establishment of an Independent Czecho-Slovak State, celebrates the independence of Czechoslovakia from Austria-Hungary in 1918 (Czech Republic and Slovakia).
• Anniversary of the liberation of Ukraine from the Nazis, celebrating the liberation from Nazi German troops of the territory of current Ukraine.

People (Births)

• 1690 – Peter Tordenskjold, Norwegian admiral (d. 1720).
• 1696 – Maurice de Saxe, French general (d. 1750).
• 1754 – John Laurens, American soldier (d. 1782).
• 1793 – Eliphalet Remington, American businessman, founded Remington Arms (d. 1861).
• 1837 – Tokugawa Yoshinobu, Japanese shōgun (d. 1913).
• 1860 – Kanō Jigorō, Japanese martial artist (d. 1938).
• 1886 – Noel Macklin, English soldier and engineer (d. 1946).
• 1888 – Christopher Vane, 10th Baron Barnard, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Durham (d. 1964).
• 1897 – Hans Speidel, German general (d. 1984).
• 1928 – Ion Mihai Pacepa, Romanian general (d. 2021).
• 1928 – William Rodgers, Baron Rodgers of Quarry Bank, English politician, Shadow Secretary of State for Defence.
• 1938 – Keigo Abe, Japanese martial artist and coach.
• 1949 – Caitlyn Jenner, American decathlete and actress.
• 1950 – Ludo Delcroix, Belgian cyclist.
• 1951 – Joe R. Lansdale, American martial artist and author.
• 1964 – Andrew Bridgen, English soldier and politician.
• 1989 – Camille Muffat, French swimmer (d. 2015).

People (Deaths)

• 1568 – Ashikaga Yoshihide, Japanese shōgun (b. 1539).
• 1594 – Ōkubo Tadayo, Japanese general (b. 1532).
• 1763 – Heinrich von Brühl, German general and politician (b. 1700).
• 1857 – Louis-Eugène Cavaignac, French general and politician, 26th Prime Minister of France (b. 1802).
• 1916 – Oswald Boelcke, German WWI flying ace (b. 1891).
• 1929 – Bernhard von Bülow, German soldier and politician, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1849).
• 1936 – Newton Moore, Australian soldier and politician, 8th Premier of Western Australia (b. 1870).
• 1945 – Kesago Nakajima, Japanese general (b. 1881).
• 1959 – Camilo Cienfuegos, Cuban soldier (b. 1932).
• 1976 – Aarne Juutilainen, Finnish army captain (b. 1904).
• 1987 – André Masson, French soldier and painter (b. 1896).
• 2004 – Eugene K. Bird, American colonel and author, US Commandant of Spandau Prison (b. 1926).
• 2005 – Bob Broeg, American soldier and journalist (b. 1918).
• 2011 – Tom Addington, English soldier (b. 1919).