Events Pre-1600 410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days. 1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned junior king and queen of England. 1232 – Shikken Hojo Yasutoki of the Kamakura shogunate promulgates the Goseibai Shikimoku, the first Japanese legal code governing the samurai class. For date conversion, see 1353 – War of the Straits and Sardinian–Aragonese war: The Battle of Alghero results in a crushing victory of the allied Aragonese and Venetian fleet over the Genoese fleet, most of which is captured. 1557 – The Battle of St. Quentin results in Emmanuel Philibert becoming Duke of Savoy. 1593 – Pierre Barrière fails in an attempt to assassinate Henry IV of France. 1597 – Jeongyu War: Battle of Chilcheollyang: A Japanese fleet of 500 ships destroys Joseon commander Wŏn Kyun's fleet of 200 ships at Chilcheollyang. 1600 – Ishida Mitsunari's Western Army commences the Siege of Fushimi Castle, which is lightly defended by a much smaller Tokugawa garrison led by Torii Mototada.
1601–1900 1689 – The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing Empire (Julian calendar). 1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces under General William Howe flank and defeat the Continental Army under General George Washington during the Battle of Long Island, with the 1st Maryland Regiment sustaining heavy casualties to cover retreating American troops. 1791 – French Revolution: Frederick William II of Prussia and Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, issue the Declaration of Pillnitz, declaring the joint support of the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia for the French monarchy, agitating the French revolutionaries and contributing to the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition. 1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: The city of Toulon revolts against the French Republic and admits the British and Spanish fleets to seize its port, leading to the Siege of Toulon by French Revolutionary forces. 1798 – Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connacht. 1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France. 1813 – French Emperor Napoleon I defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden. 1828 – Brazil and Argentina recognize the sovereignty of Uruguay in the Treaty of Montevideo. 1832 – Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War. 1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania, leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well. 1881 – The Georgia hurricane makes landfall near Savannah, Georgia, resulting in an estimated 700 deaths. 1883 – Eruption of Krakatoa: Four enormous explosions almost completely destroy the island of Krakatoa, with a combination of tsunamis and pyroclastic flows killing more than 36,000. Climate effects are observed worldwide. 1893 – The Sea Islands hurricane strikes the United States near Savannah, Georgia, killing between 1,000 and 2,000 people. 1895 – Japanese invasion of Taiwan: Battle of Baguashan: The Empire of Japan decisively defeats a smaller Formosan army at Changhua, crippling the short-lived Republic of Formosa and leading to its surrender two months later. 1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: The shortest war in world history (09:02 to 09:40) occurs, between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1901–present 1908 – The Qing dynasty promulgates the Qinding Xianfa Dagang, the first constitutional document in the history of China, transforming the Qing empire into a constitutional monarchy. 1914 – World War I: Battle of Étreux: A British rearguard action by the Royal Munster Fusiliers during the Great Retreat. 1914 – World War I: Siege of Tsingtao: A Japanese fleet commanded by Vice Admiral Sadakichi Kato imposes a blockade along the whole coastline of German Tsingtao, initiating the Siege of Tsingtao. 1915 – Attempted assassination of Bishop Patrick Heffron, bishop of the Diocese of Winona, by Rev. Louis M. Lesches. 1916 – World War I: The Kingdom of Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, entering the war as one of the Allied nations. 1918 – Mexican Revolution: Battle of Ambos Nogales: U.S. Army forces skirmish against Mexican Carrancistas as part of the Mexican Border War. 1922 – Greco-Turkish War: The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Kingdom of Greece. 1927 – Five Canadian women file a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking: "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?" 1928 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by fifteen nations. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it. 1933 – The first Afrikaans Bible is introduced during a Bible Festival in Bloemfontein. 1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft. 1942 – The Holocaust: first day of the Sarny Massacre, perpetrated by German military forces. 1943 – World War II: Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II. 1943 – World War II: Aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe razes to the ground the village of Vorizia in Crete. 1955 – The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records is published in Great Britain. 1956 – The nuclear power station at Calder Hall in the United Kingdom was connected to the national power grid becoming the world's first commercial nuclear power station to generate electricity on an industrial scale. 1962 – The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA. 1963 – An explosion at the Cane Creek potash mine near Moab, Utah kills 18 miners. 1964 – South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh enters into a triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, who had both been involved in plots to unseat Khánh. 1971 – An attempted coup d'état fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations. 1975 – The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group. 1979 – The Troubles: Eighteen British soldiers are killed at the Warrenpoint ambush by the Provisional Irish Republican Army near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, in the deadliest attack on British forces during Operation Banner. An IRA bomb also kills British royal family member Lord Mountbatten and three others on his boat at Mullaghmore, Republic of Ireland. 1980 – South Korean presidential election: After successfully staging the Coup d'état of May Seventeenth, General Chun Doo-hwan, running unopposed, has the National Conference for Unification elect him President of the Fourth Republic of Korea. 1982 – Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altıkat is shot and killed in Ottawa. Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide claim to be avenging the massacre of million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian genocide. 1985 – Major General Muhammadu Buhari, Chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida. 1985 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on STS-51-I to deploy three communication satellites and repair a fourth malfunctioning one. 1991 – The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1991 – Moldova declares independence from the USSR. 1992 – Aeroflot Flight 2808 crashes in Lebyazhy Lug during approach to Ivanovo Yuzhny Airport, killing all 84 aboard. 2003 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing distant. 2003 – The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program. 2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, bound for Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash. 2009 – Internal conflict in Myanmar: The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies begin three days of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region. 2011 – Hurricane Irene strikes the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.
Births Pre-1600 865 – Rhazes, Persian polymath (died 925) 1407 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shōgun (died 1425) 1471 – George, Duke of Saxony (died 1539) 1487 – Anna of Brandenburg (died 1514) 1512 – Friedrich Staphylus, German theologian (died 1564) 1542 – John Frederick, Duke of Pomerania and Protestant Bishop of Cammin (died 1600) 1545 – Alexander Farnese, Duke of Parma (died 1592)
1601–1900 1624 – Koxinga, Chinese-Japanese Ming loyalist (died 1662) 1637 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, English politician, 2nd Proprietor of Maryland (died 1715) 1665 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (died 1751) 1669 – Anne Marie d'Orléans, queen of Sardinia (died 1728) 1677 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian general (died 1748) 1724 – John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-American pastor, planter, and politician (died 1781) 1730 – Johann Georg Hamann, German philosopher and author (died 1788) 1770 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher and academic (died 1831) 1785 – Agustín Gamarra, Peruvian general and politician, 10th and 14th President of Peru (died 1841) 1795 – Giorgio Mitrovich, Maltese politician (died 1885) 1803 – Edward Beecher, American minister and theologian (died 1895) 1809 – Hannibal Hamlin, American publisher and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (died 1891) 1812 – Bertalan Szemere, Hungarian poet and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1869) 1822 – William Hayden English, American politician, U.S. Representative from Indiana and Democratic vice-presidential nominee (died 1896) 1827 – Charles Lilley, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Queensland (died 1897) 1835 – Thomas Burberry, British fashion designer, founder of luxury brand Burberry, and inventor of gabardine (died 1926) 1845 – Ödön Lechner, Hungarian architect, designed the Museum of Applied Arts and the Church of St Elisabeth (died 1914) 1845 – Friedrich Martens, Estonian-Russian historian, lawyer, and diplomat (died 1909) 1856 – Ivan Franko, Ukrainian author and poet (died 1916) 1858 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (died 1932) 1864 – Hermann Weingärtner, German gymnast (died 1919) 1865 – James Henry Breasted, American archaeologist and historian (died 1935) 1865 – Charles G. Dawes, American general and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1951) 1868 – Hong Beom-do, Korean general and activist (died 1943) 1870 – Amado Nervo, Mexican journalist, poet, and diplomat (died 1919) 1871 – Theodore Dreiser, American novelist and journalist (died 1945) 1874 – Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1940) 1875 – Katharine McCormick, American biologist, philanthropist, and activist (died 1967) 1877 – Charles Rolls, English engineer and businessman, co-founded Rolls-Royce Limited (died 1910) 1877 – Ernst Wetter, Swiss lawyer and politician, 48th President of the Swiss Confederation (died 1963) 1878 – Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian general (died 1928) 1884 – Vincent Auriol, French lawyer and politician, President of the French Republic (died 1966) 1884 – Denis G. Lillie, British biologist, member of the 1910–1913 Terra Nova Expedition (died 1963) 1886 – Rebecca Clarke, English viola player and composer (died 1979)