- 1066 – William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the Somme river, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
- 1331 – The Battle of Płowce between the Poland and the Teutonic Order is fought.
- 1422 – After the brief Gollub War, the Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with Poland and Lithuania
- 1529 – The Siege of Vienna begins when Suleiman I attacks the city.
- 1540 – The Society of Jesus (Jesuits) receives its charter from Pope Paul III.
- 1590 – Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
- 1605 – The armies of Sweden are defeated by the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
- 1669 – The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21-year-long Siege of Candia.
- 1777 – American Revolution: Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes the capital of the United States for one day after Congress evacuates Philadelphia.
- 1791 – The National Assembly votes to award full citizenship to Jews in France.
- 1822 – Jean-François Champollion announces that he has deciphered the Rosetta Stone.
- 1825 – The world’s first public railway to use steam locomotives, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, is ceremonially opened.
- 1854 – The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board.
- 1875 – The merchant sailing ship Ellen Southard is wrecked in a storm at Liverpool.
- 1903 – The Wreck of the Old 97, an American rail disaster that became the subject of a popular ballad.
- 1908 – Production of the Model T automobile begins at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit.
- 1916 – Iyasu V is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zewditu.
- 1922 – King Constantine I of Greece abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, George II.
- 1928 – The Republic of China is recognized by the United States.
- 1930 – Bobby Jones wins the (pre-Masters) Grand Slam of golf.
- 1938 – The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth is launched in Glasgow.
- 1940 – World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.
- 1941 – The Greek National Liberation Front is established with Georgios Siantos as acting leader.
- 1941 – The SS Patrick Henry is launched, becoming the first of more than 2,700 Liberty ships.
- 1942 – Last day of the Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marines barely escape after being surrounded by Japanese forces.
- 1944 – The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a USAAF group on any mission in World War II.
- 1949 – Zeng Liansong‘s design is chosen as the flag of the People’s Republic of China.
- 1956 – USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first person to exceed Mach 3. Shortly thereafter, the Bell X-2 goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
- 1959 – Typhoon Vera kills nearly 5,000 people in Japan.
- 1962 – The Yemen Arab Republic is established.
- 1962 – Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring is published, inspiring an environmental movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
- 1964 – The British TSR-2 aircraft XR219 makes its maiden flight.
- 1975 – The last use of capital punishment in Spain sparks worldwide protests.
- 1977 – Japan Airlines Flight 715 crashes on approach to Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Subang, Malaysia, killing 34 of the 79 people on board.[1]
- 1983 – Richard Stallman announces the GNU Project to develop a free Unix-like operating system.
- 1988 – The National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and others to fight dictatorship in Myanmar.
- 1993 – The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
- 1996 – The Battle of Kabul ends in a Taliban victory, who establish the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
- 1996 – Confusion on a tanker ship results in the Julie N. oil spill in Portland, Maine.
- 1998 – The Google internet search engine retroactively claims this date as its birthday.
- 2001 – In Switzerland, a gunman shoots 18 citizens, killing 14 and then himself.
- 2003 – The SMART-1 satellite is launched.[2]
- 2007 – NASA launches the Dawn probe to the asteroid belt.
- 2008 – CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk.
- 2012 – In Minneapolis, a gunman shoots seven citizens, killing five and then himself.
- 2014 – The eruption of Mount Ontake in Japan occurs.
- 2019 – Over two million people participated in worldwide strikes to protest climate change across 2,400 locations worldwide.[3][4]
-Source: wikipedia
