Events

• 814 – The death of Charlemagne, the first Holy Roman Emperor, brings about the accession of his son Louis the Pious as ruler of the Frankish Empire.
• 1069 – Robert de Comines, appointed Earl of Northumbria by William the Conqueror, rides into Durham, England, where he is defeated and killed by rebels.
  • This incident leads to the Harrying of the North.
• 1624 – Sir Thomas Warner founds the first British colony in the Caribbean, on the island of Saint Kitts.
• 1671 – Original city of Panama (founded in 1519) is destroyed by a fire when privateer Henry Morgan sacks and sets fire to it.
  • The site of the previously devastated city is still in ruins (see Panama Viejo).
• 1846 – The Battle of Aliwal, India, is won by British troops commanded by Sir Harry Smith.
• 1871 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Paris ends in French defeat and an armistice.
• 1896 – Walter Arnold of East Peckham, Kent, becomes the first person to be convicted of speeding.
  • He was fined one shilling, plus costs, for speeding at 8 mph (13 km/h), thereby exceeding the contemporary speed limit of 2 mph (3.2 km/h).
• 1908 – Members of the Portuguese Republican Party fail in their attempted coup d’état against the administrative dictatorship of Prime Minister João Franco.
• 1909 – US troops leave Cuba, with the exception of Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, after being there since the Spanish-American War.
• 1915 – An act of the US Congress creates the US Coast Guard as a branch of the US Armed Forces.
• 1918 – Finnish Civil War: The Red Guard rebels seize control of the capital, Helsinki; members of the Senate of Finland go underground.
• 1920 – Foundation of the Spanish Legion.
• 1932 – Japanese forces attack Shanghai.
• 1933 – The name Pakistan is coined by Choudhry Rahmat Ali Khan and is accepted by Indian Muslims who then thereby adopted it further for the Pakistan Movement seeking independence.
• 1941 – World War II: Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict.
  • A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
• 1945 – World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
• 1964 – An unarmed US Air Force T-39 Sabreliner on a training mission is shot down over Erfurt, East Germany, by a Soviet MiG-19.
• 1980 – USCGC Blackthorn collides with the tanker Capricorn while leaving Tampa, Florida and capsizes, killing 23 Coast Guard crewmembers.
• 1982 – US Army general James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
• Army Day (Armenia).

People (Births)

• 1712 – Tokugawa Ieshige, Japanese shōgun (d. 1761).
• 1833 – Charles George Gordon, English general and politician (d. 1885).
• 1906 – Pat O’Callaghan, Irish athlete (first athlete from Ireland to win an Olympic medal under the Irish flag rather than the British flag) (d. 1991).
• 1906 – Markos Vafiadis, Greek general and politician (d. 1992).
• 1919 – Gabby Gabreski, American colonel and pilot (d. 2002).
• 1930 – Roy Clarke, English screenwriter, comedian and soldier.
• 1939 – John M. Fabian, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut.
• 1950 – David C. Hilmers, American colonel, physician, and astronaut.
• 1951 – Leonid Kadeniuk, Ukrainian general, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2018).
• 1969 – Giorgio Lamberti, Italian swimmer.
• 1972 – Léon van Bon, Dutch cyclist.
• 1985 – Libby Trickett, Australian swimmer.
• 1986 – Jessica Ennis-Hill, English heptathlete and hurdler.

People (Deaths)

• 919 – Zhou Dewei, Chinese general.
• 947 – Jing Yanguang, Chinese general (b. 892).
• 1142 – Yue Fei, Chinese general (b. 1103).
• 1697 – Sir John Fenwick, 3rd Baronet, English general and politician (b. 1645).
• 1832 – Augustin Daniel Belliard, French general (b. 1769).
• 1918 – John McCrae, Canadian soldier, physician, and author (b. 1872).
• 1942 – Edward Siegler, American gymnast and triathlete (b. 1881).
• 1945 – Roza Shanina, Russian sergeant and sniper (b. 1924).
• 1948 – Hans Aumeier, German SS officer (b. 1906).
• 1963 – Gustave Garrigou, French cyclist (b. 1884).
• 1965 – Maxime Weygand, Belgian-French general (b. 1867).
• Judith Resnik, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (b. 1949).
• Dick Scobee, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1939).
• 2002 – Gustaaf Deloor, Belgian cyclist and soldier (b. 1913).
• 2003 – Mieke Pullen, Dutch runner (b. 1957).
• 2004 – Lloyd M. Bucher, American captain (b. 1927).
• 2007 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (b. 1929).
• 2007 – Yelena Romanova, Russian runner (b. 1963).
• 2015 – Suraj Abdurrahman, Nigerian general, architect, and engineer (b. 1954).