| 5509 | BC | the Creation took place, in the Byzantine Chronology |
| 0 | | Feast of St. Therese of Lisieux, Patron of Aviators |
| 891 | | Battle of Louvain: East Franks defeat the Danish Vikings |
| 1054 | | Battle of Atapuerca: King Ferdinand I "the Great" of Castile & León defeats his brother King García V of Navarre |
| 1181 | | Ubaldo Allucingoli elected Pope as Lucius III (1181-1185) |
| 1271 | | Teobaldo Visconti elected Pope as Gregory X (1271-1276), later beatified |
| 1285 | | Naval Battle of Las Rosas: Catalans defeat the French |
| 1332 | | a great bull fight was held in the Coliseum to honor King Louis of Bavaria, Matadors 18, Toros 8 |
| 1597 | | Battle of Longpre: French defeat the Spanish |
| 1614 | | Jews expelled from Frankfurt-on-Main, Germany |
| 1644 | | Battle of Tippermuir: Montrose's Roundheads defeat the Scots Covenanters. |
| 1651 | | Battle of Dundee: The English under Oliver Cromwell & George Monck defeat the Scots |
| 1661 | | First formal yacht race: King Charles II vs. his brother James |
| 1701 | | Battle of Chiari: Imperialists defeat the French |
| 1739 | | 35 Jews sentenced to life in prison, Lisbon |
| 1773 | | Phillis Wheatley’s “Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral" was published -- Learn More |
| 1774 | | Boston: British seize Massachusetts Bay Colony's store of powder & cannon |
| 1807 | | Former VP Aaron Burr found innocent of treason |
| 1814 | | USS 'Wasp' sinks HMS 'Avon' |
| 1848 | | Troops loyal the King of the Two Sicilies begin a bombardment of Messina, Sicily (which surrenders the 7th) |
| 1861 | | Brig. Gen. U.S. Grant assumes command of Federal forces at Cape Girardeau, Mo |
| 1861 | | Skirmish at Bennett's Mills, Mo |
| 1862 | | Battle of Chantilly, Virginia |
| 1862 | | Congress abolished the daily issue of grog in the US Navy -- Learn More |
| 1863 | | Atlanta Campaign: Sherman wins the Battle of Jonesborough, causing the Confederates to evacuate & burn Atlanta |
| 1863 | | Union fleet bombards Fort Sumter |
| 1863 | | Union troops capture Fort Smith, Arkansas |
| 1866 | | Manuelito surrenders at Fort Wingate, last resisting Navaho chief |
| 1870 | | Napoleon III surrenders himself and his army to the Prussians at Sedan |
| 1916 | | Bulgaria declares war on Romania |
| 1918 | | US troops land in Vladivostok, Siberia, stay until 1920 |
| 1923 | | Great Kanto Plain Earthquake devastates Tokyo, over 100,000 die |
| 1928 | | President Ahmet Zogu of Albania (1925-1928) Proclaims himself King Zog I (1928-1939) |
| 1933 | | Pulitzer Prize winning Chicago Daily News reporter Edgar Ansel Mowrer was expelled from Nazi Germany -- Learn More |
| 1934 | | Coup installs José María Velasco Ibarra as President of Ecuador, the first of his five terms (1934-1935, 1944-1947, 1952-1956, 1960-1961, 1968-1972) |
| 1938 | | GenLt Kurt Student assumed command of the newly formed 7. Flieger-Division -- Learn More |
| 1938 | | Mussolini cancels the civil rights of Italian Jews |
| 1939 | | George C. Marshall becomes Chief-of-Staff of the Army, serves until November 18, 1945 |
| 1939 | | ordering "Close your hearts to pity," Hitler invaded Poland, initiating World War II in Europe -- Learn More |
| 1939 | | Adm. Isoruku Yamamoto is appointed Commander-in-Chief of Japan's Combined Fleet |
| 1942 | | "Tokyo Express" mission to Guadalcanal evades B-17s. |
| 1942 | | A Federal court upholds detention of Japanese-Americans |
| 1942 | | German troops land on the Taman Peninsula, USSR |
| 1943 | | Espiritu Santo: Japanese sub 'I-182' is sunk by USS 'Wadsworth' (DD-516) |
| 1943 | | USN makes air and gunnery attacks on Marcus I |
| 1944 | | King George VI promoteg Bernard Law Montgomery to field marshal -- Learn More |
| 1948 | | Communists form the North China People's Republic |
| 1950 | | 13 North Korean divisions assault UN lines |
| 1951 | | The Mossad, Israel's secret service, begins operations |
| 1951 | | US, Australia, & New Zealand sign the ANZUS treaty |
| 1969 | | King Idris of Libya (1951-1969) is deposed in a coup by Col Murramar Gadhafi, who rules until 2012 |
| 1983 | | Soviets shoot down Korean Air Flight 007, a Boeing 747 that had strayed over Kamchatka |
| 1453 | | Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba -- "El Gran Capitán", Spanish general, d. 1515 -- Learn More |
| 1798 | | Richard Delafield, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1873 |
| 1824 | | Isaac Hardin Duval, Brig Gen, U.S., d. 1902 |
| 1829 | | James Conner, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1883 |
| 1875 | | Edgar Rice Burroughs, war correspondent, author ("Tarzan"), d. 1950 |
| 1878 | | John Frederick Charles Fuller, British Maj. Gen., military scrivener, historian, d. 1966 |
| 1910 | | John Edward "Jack" Hawkins, Royal Welch Fusiliers, actor ("The Cruel Sea"), d. 1973 |
| 1922 | | Melvin R Laird, Secretary of Defense (1969-73) |
| 1067 | | Count Baldwin V of Flanders (1035-1067) |
| 1159 | | Pope Adrian IV - Nicholas Breakspear (1152-1159), c. 59, the only English pope |
| 1482 | | Pier Maria II de' Rossi, Count of San Secondo (1438-1482), Condottiero, in bed at 69 |
| 1557 | | Jacques Cartier, 65, French explorer |
| 1680 | | Elector Johan Georg II of Saxon (1656-80), at 67 |
| 1715 | | Louis XIV "The Sun King" of France (1643-1715), at 76 -- Learn More |
| 1838 | | William Clark, of the Lewis & Clark Expedition, at 68 |
| 1862 | | Maj Gen Phil Kearny, 47, "the bravest man in the Union Army," kia, Chantilly |
| 1862 | | Maj. Gen. Isaac I. Stevens, U.S.A., 44, kia, Chantilly |
| 1864 | | Emmeran Bliemel, CSA, only Catholic chaplain kia in the Civil War |
| 1947 | | Frederick Russell Burnham, 86, American scout, soldier of fortune (Matabele, Boer Wars, etc.), conservationist |
| 1961 | | William Z Foster, Stalinist puppet, chairman CPUSA, 1945-57, at 80 |
| 1981 | | Albert Speer, Nazi, architect, efficiency expert, con artist, at 78 -- Learn More “Misplaced Priorities] |
| 1983 | | Lawrence Patton McDonald, physician, Democratic member of Congress from Georgia, killed at 48 when the Soviets shot down KAL 007 |