Events

• 748 – Abbasid Revolution: The Hashimi rebels under Abu Muslim Khorasani take Merv, capital of the Umayyad province Khorasan, marking the consolidation of the Abbasid revolt.
• 842 – Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German languages.
• 1530 – Spanish conquistadores, led by Nuño de Guzmán, overthrow and execute Tangaxuan II, the last independent monarch of the Tarascan state in present-day central Mexico.
• 1655 – The Mapuches launch coordinated attacks against the Spanish in Chile beginning the Mapuche uprising of 1655.
• 1778 – The United States flag is formally recognized by a foreign naval vessel for the first time, when French Admiral Toussaint-Guillaume Picquet de la Motte renders a nine gun salute to USS Ranger, commanded by John Paul Jones.
• 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Kettle Creek is fought in Georgia.
• 1779 – James Cook is killed by Native Hawaiians near Kealakekua on the Island of Hawaii.
• 1797 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Cape St. Vincent: John Jervis, (later 1st Earl of St Vincent) and Horatio Nelson (later 1st Viscount Nelson) lead the British Royal Navy to victory over a Spanish fleet in action near Gibraltar.
• 1804 – Karađorđe leads the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire.
• 1831 – Ras Marye of Yejju marches into Tigray and defeats and kills Dejazmach Sabagadis in the Battle of Debre Abbay.
• 1876 – Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray.
• 1879 – The War of the Pacific breaks out when the Chilean Army occupies the Bolivian port city of Antofagasta.
• 1900 – Second Boer War: The British Army begins the Battle of the Tugela Heights in an effort to lift the Siege of Ladysmith.
• 1912 – The US Navy commissions its first class of diesel-powered submarines.
• 1918 – Russia adopts the Gregorian calendar.
• 1919 – The Polish-Soviet War begins.
• 1942 – World War II: Battle of Pasir Panjang contributes to the fall of Singapore.
• 1943 – World War II: Rostov-on-Don, Russia is liberated.
• 1943 – World War II: Tunisia Campaign: General Hans-Jürgen von Arnim’s Fifth Panzer Army launches a concerted attack against Allied positions in Tunisia.
• 1944 – World War II: In the action of 14 February 1944, a Royal Navy submarine sinks a German-controlled Italian Regia Marina submarine in the Strait of Malacca.
• 1945 – World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden.
• 1945 – World War II: Navigational error leads to the mistaken bombing of Prague, Czechoslovakia by a United States Army Air Forces squadron of B-17s assisting in the Soviet Red Army’s Vistula–Oder Offensive.
• 1945 – World War II: Mostar is liberated by Yugoslav partisans
• 1945 – President Franklin D. Roosevelt meets King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia aboard the USS Quincy, officially beginning US-Saudi diplomatic relations.
• 1949 – The Knesset (parliament of Israel) convenes for the first time.
• 2003 – Iraq disarmament crisis: UNMOVIC Executive Chairman Hans Blix reports to the United Nations Security Council that disarmament inspectors have found no weapons of mass destruction in Ba’athist Iraq.
• 2005 – Seven people are killed and 151 wounded in a series of bombings by suspected al-Qaeda-linked militants that hit Makati, Davao City, and General Santos City, all in the Philippines.
• 2005 – YouTube is launched by a group of college students, eventually becoming the largest video sharing website in the world and a main source for viral videos.
• 2011 – As a part of Arab Spring, the Bahraini uprising begins with a ‘Day of Rage’.

People (Births)

• 1763 – Jean Victor Marie Moreau, French general (d. 1813)
• 1819 – Christopher Latham Sholes, American journalist and politician, invented the typewriter (d. 1890)
• 1824 – Winfield Scott Hancock, American general and politician (d. 1886)
• 1846 – Julian Scott, American soldier and drummer, Medal of Honour recipient (d. 1901)
• 1892 – Radola Gajda, Czech commander and politician (d. 1948)
• 1895 – Wilhelm Burgdorf, German general (d. 1945)
• 1916 – Marcel Bigeard, French general (d. 2010)
• 1928 – Vicente T. Blaz, American general and politician (d. 2014)
• 1947 – Phạm Tuân, Vietnamese aviator and cosmonaut
• 1960 – Philip Jones, English admiral
• 1964 – Gianni Bugno, Italian cyclist and sportscaster
• 1970 – Giuseppe Guerini, Italian cyclist
• 1977 – Cadel Evans, Australian cyclist

People (Deaths)

• 945 – Lian Chongyu, Chinese general
• 1744 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (b. 1682)
• 1779 – James Cook, English captain, cartographer, and explorer (b. 1728)
• 1831 – Vicente Guerrero, Mexican general and politician, 2nd President of Mexico (b. 1782)
• 1870 – St. John Richardson Liddell, American general (b. 1815)
• 1891 – William Tecumseh Sherman, American general (b. 1820)
• 1929 – Thomas Burke, American sprinter, coach, and lawyer (b. 1875)
• 1942 – Adnan Saidi, Malayan lieutenant (b. 1915)
• 1952 – Maurice De Waele, Belgian cyclist (b. 1896)
• 1979 – Adolph Dubs, American lieutenant and diplomat, United States Ambassador to Afghanistan (b. 1920)
• 1983 – Lina Radke, German runner and coach (b. 1903)
• 2004 – Marco Pantani, Italian cyclist (b. 1970)
• 2012 – Péter Rusorán, Hungarian swimmer, water polo player, and coach (b. 1940)
• 2015 – Franjo Mihalić, Croatian-Serbian runner and coach (b. 1920)
• 2016 – Eric Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury, English lieutenant, engineer, and politician (b. 1928)