- 241 BC – First Punic War: Battle of the Aegates: The Romans sink the Carthaginian fleet bringing the First Punic War to an end.
- 298 – Roman Emperor Maximian concludes his campaign in North Africa against the Berbers, and makes a triumphal entry into Carthage.
- 947 – The Later Han is founded by Liu Zhiyuan. He declares himself emperor and establishes the capital in Bian, present-day Kaifeng.
- 1607 – Susenyos I defeats the combined armies of Yaqob and Abuna Petros II at the Battle of Gol in Gojjam, making him Emperor of Ethiopia.
- 1629 – Charles I dissolves the Parliament of England, beginning the eleven-year period known as the Personal Rule.
- 1735 – An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from Baku.
- 1762 – French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
- 1804 – Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, Missouri, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.
- 1814 – Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
- 1816 – Crossing of the Andes: A group of royalist scouts are captured during the Action of Juncalito.
- 1830 – The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
- 1848 – The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the United States Senate, ending the Mexican–American War.
- 1861 – El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
- 1865 – Amy Spain, American slave, is executed for stealing from her owner; believed to have been the last legal execution of a female slave in America.
- 1873 – The first Azerbaijani play “The Adventures of the Vizier of the Khan of Lenkaran” prepared by Akhundov was performed by Hassan-bey Zardabi and dramatist and Najaf-bey Vezirov. [1][2]
- 1876 – The first successful test of a telephone is made by Alexander Graham Bell.
- 1891 – Almon Strowger, an undertaker in Topeka, Kansas, patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
- 1906 – The Courrières mine disaster, Europe’s worst ever, kills 1099 miners in northern France.
- 1909 – By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
- 1915 – World War I: The Battle of Neuve Chapelle begins. This is the first large-scale operation by the British Army in the war.
- 1916 – The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British official Henry McMahon concerning the Arab revolt against the Ottoman Empire ends.
- 1922 – Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.
- 1933 – The 6.4 Mw Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 115–120 people dead, and causing an estimated $40 million in damage.
- 1944 – Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front.
- 1945 – World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.[3]
- 1949 – Mildred Gillars (“Axis Sally“) is convicted of treason.[4]
- 1952 – Fulgencio Batista leads a successful coup in Cuba and appoints himself as the “provisional president”.
- 1959 – Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama‘s palace to prevent his removal.
- 1966 – Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyễn Cao Kỳ sacked rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: Battle of Lima Site 85, concluding the 11th with largest single ground combat loss of United States Air Force members (12) during that war.
- 1969 – In Memphis, Tennessee, James Earl Ray pleads guilty to assassinating Martin Luther King, Jr. He later unsuccessfully attempts to recant.
- 1970 – Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes.
- 1975 – Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.
- 1977 – Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.
- 1990 – In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted 18 months after seizing power in a coup.
- 2000 – The Nasdaq Composite stock market index peaks at 5132.52, signaling the beginning of the end of the dot-com boom.
- 2006 – The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
- 2017 – The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country’s Constitutional Court, ending her presidency.
- 2019 – Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes, leading to all 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.[5]
-Source: wikipedia
