660 BC – Traditional date for the foundation of Japan by Emperor Jimmu.
AD 55 – Tiberius Claudius Caesar Britannicus, heir to the Roman emperorship, dies under mysterious circumstances in Rome. This clears the way for Nero to become Emperor.
244 – Emperor Gordian III is murdered by mutinous soldiers in Zaitha (Mesopotamia). A mound is raised at Carchemish in his memory.
1177 – John de Courcy's army defeats the native Dunleavey Clan in Ulster. The English establish themselves in Ulster.
1534 – Henry VIII of England is recognized as supreme head of the Church of England.
1626 – Emperor Susenyos I of Ethiopia and Patriarch Afonso Mendes declare the primacy of the Roman See over the Ethiopian Church, and Catholicism to be the state religion of Ethiopia.
1659 – The assault on Copenhagen by Swedish forces is beaten back with heavy losses.
1790 – The Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, petitions U.S. Congress for the abolition of slavery.
1794 – First session of United States Senate opens to the public.
1808 – Jesse Fell burns anthracite on an open grate as an experiment in heating homes with coal.
1812 – Massachusetts governor Elbridge Gerry "gerrymanders" for the first time.
1823 – Carnival tragedy of 1823: About 110 boys are killed during a stampede at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta, Malta.
1840 – Gaetano Donizetti's opera La fille du régiment receives its first performance in Paris, France.
1843 – Giuseppe Verdi's opera I Lombardi alla prima crociata receives its first performance in Milan, Italy.
1855 – Kassa Hailu is crowned Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia, by Abuna Salama III in a ceremony at the church of Derasge Maryam
1856 – The Kingdom of Awadh is annexed by the British East India Company and Wajid Ali Shah, the king of Awadh, is imprisoned and later exiled to Calcutta.
1858 – Bernadette Soubirous's first vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Lourdes, France.
1861 – American Civil War: The United States House of Representatives unanimously passes a resolution guaranteeing noninterference with slavery in any state.
1937 – A sit-down strike ends when General Motors recognizes the United Auto Workers.
1938 – BBC Television produces the world's first ever science fiction television program, an adaptation of a section of the Karel Čapek play R.U.R., that coined the term "robot".
1939 – A Lockheed P-38 Lightning flies from California to New York in 7 hours 2 minutes.
1942 –World War II: The Battle of Bukit Timah is fought in Singapore.
1943 – World War II: GeneralDwight D. Eisenhower is selected to command the allied armies in Europe.
1953 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower denies all appeals for clemency for Julius and Ethel Rosenberg.
1971 – Eighty-seven countries, including the United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union, sign the Seabed Arms Control Treaty outlawing nuclear weapons on the ocean floor in international waters.
1973 – Vietnam War: First release of American prisoners of war from Vietnam takes place.
1978 – Censorship: China lifts a ban on works by Aristotle, William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.
1979 – The Iranian Revolution establishes an Islamic theocracy under the leadership of AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini.
1981 – Around 100,000 US gallons (380 m3) of radioactive coolant leak into the containment building of TVASequoyah 1 nuclear plant in Tennessee, contaminating eight workers.
1990 – Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison outside Cape Town, South Africa after 27 years as a political prisoner.
1990 – Buster Douglas, a 42:1 underdog, knocks out Mike Tyson in ten rounds at Tokyo to win boxing's world Heavyweight title and cause the largest upset in sports history.
1997 – Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
2001 – A Dutch programmer launched the Anna Kournikova virus infecting millions of emails via a trick photo of the tennis star.
2008 – Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
2008 – Namdaemun, a 550-year-old gate in South Korea, was toppled by fire.
2011 – The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 18 days of protests.
2014 – A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.
2015 – A university student was murdered as she resisted an attempted rape in Turkey, sparking nationwide protests and public outcry against harassment and violence against women.
2016 – A man shoots six people dead at an education center in Jizan Province, Saudi Arabia.
Births[]
1261 – Otto III, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1312)
1380 – Poggio Bracciolini, Italian scholar and translator (d. 1459)
1466 – Elizabeth of York (d. 1503)
1535 – Pope Gregory XIV (d. 1591)
1568 – Honoré d'Urfé, French author and playwright (d. 1625)
1649 – William Carstares, Scottish minister and academic (d. 1715)
1657 – Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle, French poet and playwright (d. 1757)
1708 – Egidio Duni, Italian composer (d. 1775)
1755 – Albert Christoph Dies, German composer and painter (d. 1822)
1764 – Joseph Chénier, French poet and playwright (d. 1811)
1776 – Ioannis Kapodistrias, Greek politician, 1st Governor of Greece (d. 1831)
1796 – Giovanni Pacini, Italian composer and educator (d. 1867)
1799 – Basil Moreau, French priest, founded the Congregation of Holy Cross (d. 1873)
1800 – Henry Fox Talbot, English photographer and politician, invented the calotype (d. 1877)
1802 – Lydia Maria Child, American journalist, author, and activist (d. 1880)
1805 – Jean Baptiste Charbonneau, American explorer (d. 1866)
1812 – Alexander H. Stephens, American lawyer and politician, Vice President of the Confederate States of America (d. 1883)
1813 – Otto Ludwig, German author, playwright, and critic (d. 1865)
1821 – Auguste Mariette, French archaeologist and scholar (d. 1881)
1830 – Hans Bronsart von Schellendorff, Prussian pianist and composer (d. 1913)
1833 – Melville Fuller, American lawyer and jurist, 8th Chief Justice of the United States (d. 1910)
1839 – Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist, mathematician, and academic (d. 1903)
1845 – Ahmet Tevfik Pasha, Ottoman soldier and politician, 272nd Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (d. 1936)
1847 – Thomas Edison, American engineer and businessman, developed the light bulb and phonograph (d. 1931)
1855 – Ellen Day Hale, American painter and author (d. 1940)
1860 – Rachilde, French author and playwright (d. 1953)
1863 – John F. Fitzgerald, American politician; Mayor of Boston (d. 1950)
1869 – Helene Kröller-Müller, German-Dutch art collector and philanthropist, founded the Kröller-Müller Museum (d. 1939)
1869 – Else Lasker-Schüler, German poet and author (d. 1945)
1874 – Elsa Beskow, Swedish author and illustrator (d. 1953)