- AD 69 – In the Second Battle of Bedriacum, troops loyal to Vespasian defeat those of Emperor Vitellius.[1]
- 1260 – Chartres Cathedral is dedicated in the presence of King Louis IX of France.[2]
- 1360 – The Treaty of Brétigny is ratified, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War.[3]
- 1590 – John White, the governor of the second Roanoke Colony, returns to England after an unsuccessful search for the “lost” colonists.
- 1641 – Felim O’Neill of Kinard, the leader of the Irish Rebellion, issues his Proclamation of Dungannon, justifying the uprising and declaring continued loyalty to King Charles I of England.[4]
- 1648 – The Peace of Westphalia is signed, marking the end of the Thirty Years’ War.
- 1795 – Poland is completely consumed by Russia, Prussia and Austria.
- 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow.[5]
- 1851 – William Lassell discovers the moons Umbriel and Ariel orbiting Uranus.
- 1857 – Sheffield F.C., the world’s oldest association football club still in operation, is founded in England.
- 1861 – The first transcontinental telegraph line across the United States is completed.
- 1871 – An estimated 17 to 20 Chinese immigrants are lynched in Los Angeles, California.
- 1889 – Henry Parkes delivers the Tenterfield Oration, effectively starting the federation process in Australia.[6]
- 1901 – Annie Edson Taylor becomes the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a barrel.[7]
- 1902 – Guatemala’s Santa María Volcano begins to erupt, becoming the third-largest eruption of the 20th century.
- 1911 – Orville Wright remains in the air nine minutes and 45 seconds in a glider at Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.
- 1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kirk Kilisse concludes with a Bulgarian victory against the Ottoman Empire.
- 1912 – First Balkan War: The Battle of Kumanovo concludes with the Serbian victory against the Ottoman Empire.
- 1917 – World War I: Italy suffers a disastrous defeat on the Austro-Italian front.
- 1926 – Harry Houdini‘s last performance takes place at the Garrick Theatre in Detroit.
- 1929 – “Black Thursday” on the New York Stock Exchange.
- 1930 – A bloodless coup d’état in Brazil ends the First Republic, replacing it with the Vargas Era.
- 1931 – The George Washington Bridge opens to public traffic over the Hudson River.
- 1944 – World War II: Japan’s center force is temporarily repulsed in the Battle of Leyte Gulf.
- 1945 – The United Nations Charter comes into effect.
- 1946 – A camera on board the V-2 No. 13 rocket takes the first photograph of earth from outer space.
- 1947 – Famed animator Walt Disney testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists.
- 1949 – The cornerstone of the United Nations Headquarters is laid.
- 1954 – President Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam.
- 1956 – At the request of the Stalinist regime of Ernő Gerő, a massive Soviet force invades Budapest during the Hungarian Revolution. Imre Nagy is reinstalled as Prime Minister.
- 1957 – The United States Air Force starts the X-20 Dyna-Soar manned space program.
- 1960 – A ballistic missile explodes on the launch pad in the Soviet Union, killing over 100 people.
- 1963 – An oxygen leak from an R-9 Desna missile at the Baikonur Cosmodrome triggers a fire that kills seven people.
- 1964 – Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes Zambia.[8]
- 1975 – In Iceland, 90% of women take part in a national strike, refusing to work in protest of gender inequality.[9]
- 1980 – The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
- 1986 – Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing of an El Al flight at Heathrow Airport.
- 1990 – Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian NATO force formed in 1956, intended to be activated in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion.
- 1992 – The Toronto Blue Jays become the first Major League Baseball team based outside the United States to win the World Series.
- 1998 – Deep Space 1 is launched to explore the asteroid belt and test new spacecraft technologies.
- 2002 – Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, D.C.
- 2003 – Concorde makes its last commercial flight.
- 2004 – Arsenal Football Club loses to Manchester United, ending a row of unbeaten matches at 49 matches, which is the record in the Premier League.
- 2005 – Hurricane Wilma makes landfall in Florida, resulting in 35 direct and 26 indirect fatalities and causing $20.6B USD in damage.
- 2007 – Chang’e 1, the first satellite in the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, is launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
- 2008 – “Bloody Friday” saw many of the world’s stock exchanges experience the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
- 2014 – The China National Space Administration launches an experimental lunar mission, Chang’e 5-T1, which will loop behind the Moon and return to Earth.
- 2015 – A driver crashes into the Oklahoma State Homecoming parade, killing four people and injuring 34.
- 2016 – A French surveillance aircraft flying to Libya crashes on takeoff in Malta, killing all five people on board.
-Source: wikipedia
