1185 – The Uprising of Asen and Peter begins on the feast day of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki and ends with the creation of the Second Bulgarian Empire.
1341 – The Byzantine civil war of 1341–47 formally begins with the proclamation of John VI Kantakouzenos as Byzantine Emperor.
1377 – Tvrtko I is crowned the first king of Bosnia.
1520 – Charles V is crowned as Holy Roman Emperor.
1597 – Imjin War: Korean Admiral Yi Sun-sin routs the Japanese Navy of 300 ships with only 13 ships at the Battle of Myeongnyang.
1640 – The Treaty of Ripon is signed, restoring peace between Covenanter Scotland and King Charles.
1689 – General Piccolomini of Austria burns down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera; he died of the disease himself soon after.
1774 – The first Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia.
1813 – War of 1812: A combined force of British regulars, Canadian militia, and Mohawks defeat the Americans in the Battle of the Chateauguay.
1825 – The Erie Canal opens, allowing direct passage from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.
1859 – The Royal Charter Storm kills at least eight hundred people in the British Isles.
1860 – The Expedition of the Thousand ends when Giuseppe Garibaldi presents his conquests to King Victor Emmanuel of Sardinia.
1892 – Ida B. Wells publishes Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.
1905 – King Oscar II recognizes the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden.
1909 – An Jung-geun assassinates Japan's Resident-General of Korea.
1912 – First Balkan War: The Ottomans lose the cities of Thessaloniki and Skopje.
1917 – First World War: Brazil declares war on the Central Powers.
1918 – Erich Ludendorff, quartermaster-general of the Imperial German Army, is dismissed by Kaiser Wilhelm II for refusing to cooperate in peace negotiations.
1936 – The first electric generator at Hoover Dam goes into full operation.
1942 – World War II: In the Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands during the Guadalcanal Campaign, one U.S. aircraft carrier is sunk and another carrier is heavily damaged, while two Japanese carriers and one cruiser are heavily damaged.
1943 – World War II: First flight of the Dornier Do 335 "Pfeil".
1944 – World War II: The Battle of Leyte Gulf ends with an overwhelming American victory.
1947 – Kashmir conflict: The Maharaja of Kashmir and Jammu signs the Instrument of Accession with India.
1955 – After the last Allied troops have left the country, and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares that it will never join a military alliance.
1955 – Ngô Đình Diệm declares himself Premier of South Vietnam.
1956 – Hungarian Revolution: In the towns of Mosonmagyaróvár and Esztergom, Hungarian secret police forces massacre civilians. As rebel strongholds in Budapest hold, fighting spreads throughout the country.
1958 – Pan American Airways makes the first commercial flight of the Boeing 707 from New York City to Paris.
1967 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran.
1968 – Soviet cosmonaut Georgy Beregovoy pilots Soyuz 3 into space for a four-day mission.
1970 – Muhammad Ali boxes for the first time after Ali's three-year hiatus due to draft evasion.
1977 – Ali Maow Maalin, the last natural case of smallpox, develops a rash in Somalia. The World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention consider this date to be the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea, is assassinated by Korean CIA head Kim Jae-gyu.
1980 – The Peter Muhlenberg Memorial in Washington, D.C. is dedicated.[1]
1985 – The Australian government returns ownership of Uluru to the local Pitjantjatjara Aboriginals.
1989 – China Airlines Flight 204 crashes after take off from Hualien Airport in Taiwan, killing all 54 people on board.[2]
1991 – Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.
1995 – Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shaqaqi in his hotel in Malta.
1995 – An avalanche hits the Icelandic village Flateyri, destroying 29 homes and burying 45 people, 20 of whom died.[3]
1999 – Britain's House of Lords votes to end the right of hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
2000 – A wave of protests forces Robert Guéï to step down as president after the Ivorian presidential election.
2000 – The SonyPlayStation 2 is launched in North American markets with 27 launch titles.
2001 – The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
2002 – Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian special forces troops storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
2003 – The Cedar Fire, the third-largest fire in California history, kills 15 people, consumes 250,000 acres (1,000 km2), and destroys 2,200 homes around San Diego.
2015 – A 7.5 magnitude earthquake strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in northeastern Afghanistan, killing 398 people and leaving 2,536 people injured.
2016 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 strikes central Italy.
Births[]
1416 – Edmund Grey, 1st Earl of Kent, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1490)
1427 – Sigismund, Archduke of Austria (d. 1496)
1431 – Ercole I d'Este, Duke of Ferrara, Italian politician (d. 1505)
1473 – Friedrich of Saxony, Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights (d. 1510)
1483 – Hans Buchner, German Renaissance composer (d. 1538)
1491 – Zhengde Emperor of China (d. 1521)
1518 – John Basset, Devonshire gentleman (d. 1541)
1529 – Anna of Hesse, princess of Hesse (d. 1591)
1551 – Charlotte de Sauve, French courtesan (d. 1617)
1556 – Ahmad Baba al Massufi, Malian academic (d. 1627)
1564 – Hans Leo Hassler, German organist and composer (d. 1612)
1609 – William Sprague, English-American settler, co-founded Charlestown, Massachusetts (d. 1675)
1612 – Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester (d. 1658)
1673 – Dimitrie Cantemir, Moldavian geographer, historian, and philosopher (d. 1723)
1684 – Kurt Christoph Graf von Schwerin, Prussian field marshal (d. 1757)
1685 – Domenico Scarlatti, Italian harpsichord player and composer (d. 1757)
1694 – Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer and academic (d. 1758)
1747 – Ivan Mane Jarnović, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1804)
1757 – Karl Leonhard Reinhold, Austrian philosopher and academic (d. 1823)
1759 – Georges Danton, French lawyer and politician, French Minister of Justice (d. 1794)
1768 – Eustachy Erazm Sanguszko, Polish general and politician (d. 1844)
1794 – Konstantin Thon, Russian architect, designed the Grand Kremlin Palace and the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (d. 1881)
1795 – Nikolaos Mantzaros, Greek composer and theorist (d. 1872)
1797 – Giuditta Pasta, Italian soprano (d. 1865)
1799 – Margaret Agnes Bunn, Scottish actress (d. 1883)
1800 – Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, Prussian field marshal (d. 1891)
1802 – Miguel I of Portugal (d. 1866)
1803 – Joseph Hansom, English architect and publisher, designed Birmingham Town Hall (d. 1882)
1842 – Vasily Vereshchagin, Russian soldier and painter (d. 1904)
1849 – Ferdinand Georg Frobenius, German mathematician and academic (d. 1917)
1850 – Grigore Tocilescu, Romanian archaeologist and historian (d. 1909)
1854 – C. W. Post, American businessman, founded Post Foods (d. 1914)
1860 – Frank Eaton, American marshal and author (d. 1958)
1865 – Benjamin Guggenheim, American businessman (d. 1912)
1869 – Washington Luís, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 13th President of Brazil (d. 1957)
1871 – Guillermo Kahlo, German-Mexican photographer (d. 1941)
1873 – A. K. Fazlul Huq, Bangladeshi-Pakistani lawyer and politician, 5th Pakistani Minister of Interior (d. 1962)
1873 – Thorvald Stauning, Danish union leader and politician, 24th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 1942)
1874 – Martin Lowry, English chemist and academic (d. 1936)
1874 – Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, American philanthropist, founded the Museum of Modern Art (d. 1948)