Events

• AD 69 – Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero’s former general Vespasian.
• 1192 – Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade.
• 1803 – The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans.
• 1808 – Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins (refer to Napoleonic Wars).
• 1832 – HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands.
• 1860 – South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States.
• 1915 – World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli.
• 1941 – World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the “Flying Tigers”, in Kunming, China.
• 1942 – World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India.
• 1946 – An earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan causes a tsunami which kills at least one thousand people and destroys 36,000 homes.
• 1948 – Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.
• 1952 – A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87 of the 115 people on board.
• 1955 – Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, UK.
• 1973 – Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.
• 1989 – The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.
• 1995 – NATO begins peacekeeping in Bosnia.
• 1999 – Macau is handed over to China by Portugal.
  • Macau Special Administrative Region Establishment Day (Macau).
• 2019 – The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947, when the US Army Air Force became the US Air Force.

People (Births)

• 1806 – Martín Carrera, Mexican general and president (1855) (d. 1871).
• 1898 – Konstantinos Dovas, Greek general and politician, 156th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1973).
• 1907 – Paul Francis Webster, American soldier and songwriter (d. 1984).
• 1924 – Judy LaMarsh, Canadian soldier, lawyer, and politician, 42nd Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1980).
• 1927 – Kim Young-sam, South Korean soldier and politician, 7th President of South Korea (d. 2015).
• 1933 – Olavi Salonen, Finnish runner.
• 1933 – Rik Van Looy, Belgian cyclist.
• 1942 – Bob Hayes, American sprinter and football player (d. 2002).
• 1956 – Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, Mauritanian general and politician, President of Mauritania.
• 1959 – Hildegard Körner, German runner.
• 1964 – Mark Coleman, American mixed martial artist and wrestler.
• 1969 – Zahra Ouaziz, Moroccan runner.
• 1972 – Anja Rücker, German sprinter.
• 1978 – Bouabdellah Tahri, French runner.
• 1979 – Michael Rogers, Australian cyclist.

People (Deaths)

• 1740 – Richard Boyle, 2nd Viscount Shannon, English field marshal and politician, Governor of Portsmouth (b. 1675).
• 1880 – Gaspar Tochman, Polish-American colonel and lawyer (b. 1797).
• 1917 – Lucien Petit-Breton, French-Argentinian cyclist (b. 1882).
• 1935 – Martin O’Meara, Irish-Australian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1882).
• 1937 – Erich Ludendorff, German general (b. 1865).
• 1939 – Hans Langsdorff, German captain (b. 1894).
• 1961 – Earle Page, Australian soldier and politician, 11th Prime Minister of Australia (b. 1880).
• 1973 – Luis Carrero Blanco, Spanish admiral and politician, 69th President of the Government of Spain (b. 1904; assassinated).
• 1984 – Dmitry Ustinov, Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union (1976-1984) (b. 1908).
• 1991 – Albert Van Vlierberghe, Belgian cyclist (b. 1942).
• 2010 – James Robert Mann, American colonel, lawyer, and politician (b. 1920).
• 2013 – Pyotr Bolotnikov, Russian runner (b. 1930).