- 498 – After the death of Anastasius II, Symmachus is elected Pope in the Lateran Palace, while Laurentius is elected Pope in Santa Maria Maggiore.[1]
- 845 – The first duke of Brittany, Nominoe, defeats the Frankish king Charles the Bald at the Battle of Ballon near Redon.[2]
- 1307 – Pope Clement V issues the papal bull Pastoralis Praeeminentiae which instructed all Christian monarchs in Europe to arrest all Templars and seize their assets.[3]
- 1574 – Spanish navigator Juan Fernández discovers islands now known as the Juan Fernández Islands off Chile.[4]
- 1635 – Dutch colonial forces on Taiwan launch a pacification campaign against native villages, resulting in Dutch control of the middle and south of the island.[5]
- 1718 – Royal Navy Lieutenant Robert Maynard attacks and boards the vessels of the British pirate Edward Teach (best known as “Blackbeard“) off the coast of North Carolina. The casualties on both sides include Maynard’s first officer Mister Hyde and Teach himself.[6]
- 1837 – Canadian journalist and politician William Lyon Mackenzie calls for a rebellion against the United Kingdom in his essay “To the People of Upper Canada“, published in his newspaper The Constitution.[7]
- 1869 – In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper Cutty Sark is launched.[8]
- 1873 – The French steamer SS Ville du Havre sinks in 12 minutes after colliding with the Scottish iron clipper Loch Earn in the Atlantic, with a loss of 226 lives.
- 1908 – The Congress of Manastir establishes the Albanian alphabet.
- 1935 – The China Clipper inaugurates the first commercial transpacific air service, connecting Alameda, California with Manila.
- 1940 – World War II: Following the initial Italian invasion, Greek troops counterattack into Italian-occupied Albania and capture Korytsa.
- 1942 – World War II: Battle of Stalingrad: General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th Army is surrounded.
- 1943 – World War II: Cairo Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese Premier Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
- 1943 – Lebanon gains independence from France.
- 1948 – Chinese Civil War: Elements of the Chinese Communist Second Field Army under Liu Bocheng trap the Nationalist 12th Army, beginning the Shuangduiji Campaign, the largest engagement of the Huaihai Campaign.
- 1956 – The Summer Olympics, officially known as the games of the XVI Olympiad, are opened in Melbourne, Australia.
- 1963 – U.S. President John F. Kennedy is assassinated and Texas Governor John Connally is seriously wounded by Lee Harvey Oswald, who also kills Dallas Police officer J. D. Tippit after fleeing the scene. U.S Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in as the 36th President of the United States afterwards.
- 1967 – UN Security Council Resolution 242 is adopted, establishing a set of the principles aimed at guiding negotiations for an Arab–Israeli peace settlement.
- 1971 – In Britain’s worst mountaineering tragedy, the Cairngorm Plateau Disaster, five children and one of their leaders are found dead from exposure in the Scottish mountains.
- 1974 – The United Nations General Assembly grants the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status.
- 1975 – Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco.
- 1977 – British Airways inaugurates a regular London to New York City supersonic Concorde service.
- 1988 – In Palmdale, California, the first prototype B-2 Spirit stealth bomber is revealed.
- 1989 – In West Beirut, a bomb explodes near the motorcade of Lebanese President René Moawad, killing him.
- 1990 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdraws from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her Prime-Ministership.
- 1995 – Toy Story is released as the first feature-length film created completely using computer-generated imagery.
- 1995 – The 7.3 Mw Gulf of Aqaba earthquake shakes the Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), killing eight and injuring 30, and generating a non-destructive tsunami.
- 2002 – In Nigeria, more than 100 people are killed at an attack aimed at the contestants of the Miss World contest.
- 2003 – Baghdad DHL attempted shootdown incident: Shortly after takeoff, a DHL Express cargo plane is struck on the left wing by a surface-to-air missile and forced to land.
- 2003 – England defeats Australia in the 2003 Rugby World Cup Final, becoming the first side from the Northern Hemisphere to win the tournament.
- 2004 – The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.
- 2005 – Angela Merkel becomes the first female Chancellor of Germany.
- 2012 – Ceasefire begins between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Israel after eight days of violence and 150 deaths.
- 2015 – A landslide in Hpakant, Kachin State, northern Myanmar kills at least 116 people near a jade mine, with around 100 more missing.
-Source: wikipedia
