Events Pre-1600 567 BC – Servius Tullius, the king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victory over the Etruscans. 240 BC – First recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet. 1085 – Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain, back from the Moors after a siege. 1420 – Henry the Navigator is appointed governor of the Order of Christ. 1521 – The Diet of Worms ends when Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, issues the Edict of Worms, declaring Martin Luther an outlaw.
1601–1900 1644 – Ming general Wu Sangui forms an alliance with the invading Manchus and opens the gates of the Great Wall of China at Shanhaiguan pass, letting the Manchus through towards the capital Beijing. 1659 – Richard Cromwell resigns as Lord Protector of England following the restoration of the Long Parliament, beginning a second brief period of the republican government called the Commonwealth of England. 1660 – Charles II lands at Dover at the invitation of the Convention Parliament, which marks the end of the Cromwell-proclaimed Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and begins the Restoration of the British monarchy. 1738 – A treaty between Pennsylvania and Maryland ends the Conojocular War with settlement of a boundary dispute and exchange of prisoners. 1763 – First issue of Norske Intelligenz-Seddeler, the first regular Norwegian newspaper (1763–1920). 1787 – After a delay of 11 days, the United States Constitutional Convention formally convenes in Philadelphia after a quorum of seven states is secured. 1798 – United Irishmen Rebellion: Battle of Carlow begins; executions of suspected rebels at Carnew and at Dunlavin Green take place. 1807 – Outbreak of the Kabakçı Mustafa rebellion in response to intentions of sultan Selim III to reform the Ottoman army. 1809 – Chuquisaca Revolution: Patriot revolt in Chuquisaca (modern-day Sucre) against the Spanish Empire, sparking the Latin American wars of independence. 1810 – May Revolution: Citizens of Buenos Aires expel Viceroy Baltasar Hidalgo de Cisneros during the "May Week", starting the Argentine War of Independence. 1819 – The Argentine Constitution of 1819 is promulgated. 1833 – The Chilean Constitution of 1833 is promulgated. 1865 – In Mobile, Alabama, around 300 people are killed when an ordnance depot explodes. 1878 – Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera H.M.S. Pinafore opens at the Opera Comique in London. 1895 – Playwright, poet and novelist Oscar Wilde is convicted of "committing acts of gross indecency with other male persons" and sentenced to serve two years in prison. 1895 – The Republic of Formosa is formed, with Tang Jingsong as its president.
1901–present 1914 – The House of Commons of the United Kingdom passes the Home Rule Bill for devolution in Ireland. 1925 – Scopes Trial: John T. Scopes is indicted for teaching human evolution in Tennessee. 1926 – Sholom Schwartzbard assassinates Symon Petliura, the head of the government of the Ukrainian People's Republic, which is in government-in-exile in Paris. 1933 – The Walt Disney Company cartoon Three Little Pigs premieres at Radio City Music Hall, featuring the hit song "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?" 1935 – Jesse Owens of Ohio State University breaks three world records and ties a fourth at the Big Ten Conference Track and Field Championships in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 1938 – Spanish Civil War: The bombing of Alicante kills 313 people. 1940 – World War II: The German 2nd Panzer Division captures the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer; the surrender of the last French and British troops marks the end of the Battle of Boulogne. 1946 – The Emirate of Transjordan becomes independent from the United Kingdom as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan after ratifying the Treaty of London and making their Amir, Abdullah I, their King. 1953 – Nuclear weapons testing: At the Nevada Test Site, the United States conducts its first and only nuclear artillery test. 1953 – The first public television station in the United States officially begins broadcasting as KUHT from the campus of the University of Houston. 1955 – In the United States, a night-time F5 tornado strikes the small city of Udall, Kansas as part of a larger outbreak across the Great Plains, killing 80 and injuring 273. It is the deadliest tornado ever to occur in the state and the 23rd deadliest in the U.S. 1955 – First ascent of Mount Kangchenjunga: On the British Kangchenjunga expedition led by Charles Evans, Joe Brown and George Band reach the summit of the third-highest mountain in the world (8,586 meters); Norman Hardie and Tony Streather join them the following day. 1961 – Apollo program: U.S. President John F. Kennedy announces, before a special joint session of the U.S. Congress, that the United States "should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."NASA article 1963 – The Organisation of African Unity is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. 1966 – Explorer program: Explorer 32 launches. 1968 – The Gateway Arch in St. Louis, Missouri, is dedicated. 1971 – Joetha Collier, a recent high school graduate, is killed in a shooting in Drew, Mississippi, attracting extensive attention from the media and civil rights activists. 1973 – In protest against the dictatorship in Greece, the captain and crew on Greek naval destroyer mutiny and refuse to return to Greece, instead anchoring at Fiumicino, Italy. 1977 – Star Wars (retroactively titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) is released in US theaters. 1977 – The Chinese government removes a decade-old ban on William Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966. 1978 – The first of a series of bombings orchestrated by the Unabomber detonates at Northwestern University resulting in minor injuries. 1979 – John Spenkelink, a convicted murderer, is executed in Florida; he is the first person to be executed in the state after the reintroduction of capital punishment in 1976. 1979 – American Airlines Flight 191: A McDonnell Douglas DC-10 crashes during takeoff at O'Hare International Airport, Chicago, killing all 271 on board and two people on the ground. 1981 – In Riyadh, the Gulf Cooperation Council is created between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. 1982 – Falklands War: HMS Coventry is sunk by Argentine Air Force A-4 Skyhawks. 1985 – Bangladesh is hit by a tropical cyclone and storm surge, which kills approximately 10,000 people. 1986 – The Hands Across America event takes place. 1997 – A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma. 1999 – The United States House of Representatives releases the Cox Report which details China's nuclear espionage against the U.S. over the prior two decades. 2000 – Liberation Day of Lebanon: Israel withdraws its army from Lebanese territory (with the exception of the disputed Shebaa farms zone) 18 years after the invasion of 1982. 2001 – Erik Weihenmayer becomes the first blind person to reach the summit of Mount Everest, in the Himalayas, with Dr. Sherman Bull. 2002 – China Airlines Flight 611 disintegrates in mid-air and crashes into the Taiwan Strait, with the loss of all 225 people on board. 2008 – NASA's Phoenix lander touches down in the Green Valley region of Mars to search for environments suitable for water and microbial life. 2009 – North Korea allegedly tests its second nuclear device, after which Pyongyang also conducts several missile tests, building tensions in the international community. 2011 – Oprah Winfrey airs her last show, ending her 25-year run of The Oprah Winfrey Show. 2012 – The SpaceX Dragon 1 becomes the first commercial spacecraft to successfully rendezvous and berth with the International Space Station. 2013 – Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India. 2018 – The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) becomes enforceable in the European Union. 2018 – Ireland votes to repeal the Eighth Amendment of their constitution that prohibits abortion in all but a few cases, choosing to replace it with the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.
Births
Pre-1600 1048 – Emperor Shenzong of Song (died 1085) 1320 – Toghon Temür, Mongolian emperor (died 1370) 1334 – Emperor Sukō of Japan (died 1398) 1416 – Jakobus ("James"), Count of Lichtenburg (died 1480) 1417 – Catherine of Cleves, Duchess consort regent of Guelders (died 1479) 1550 – Camillus de Lellis, Italian saint and nurse (died 1614)
1601–1900 1606 – Charles Garnier, French missionary and saint (died 1649) 1661 – Claude Buffier, Polish-French historian and philosopher (died 1737) 1713 – John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, Scottish politician, Prime Minister of Great Britain (died 1792) 1725 – Samuel Ward, American politician, 31st and 33rd Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (died 1776) 1783 – Philip P. Barbour, American farmer and politician, 12th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (died 1841) 1791 – Minh Mạng, Vietnamese emperor (died 1841) 1803 – Edward Bulwer-Lytton, English author, playwright, and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1873) 1803 – Ralph Waldo Emerson, American poet and philosopher (died 1882) 1818 – Jacob Burckhardt, Swiss historian and academic (died 1897) 1818 – Louise de Broglie, Countess d'Haussonville, French essayist and biographer (died 1882) 1830 – Trebor Mai (né Robert Williams), Welsh poet (died 1877) 1846 – Naim Frashëri, Albanian-Turkish poet and translator (died 1900) 1848 – Johann Baptist Singenberger, Swiss composer, educator, and publisher (died 1924) 1852 – William Muldoon, American wrestler and trainer (died 1933) 1856 – Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, Algerian-French general (died 1942) 1860 – James McKeen Cattell, American psychologist and academic (died 1944) 1865 – John Mott, American evangelist and saint, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1955) 1865 – Pieter Zeeman, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1943) 1865 – Mathilde Verne, English pianist and educator (died 1936) 1867 – Anders Peter Nielsen, Danish target shooter (died 1950) 1869 – Robbie Ross, Canadian journalist and art critic (died 1918) 1878 – Bill Robinson, American actor and dancer ("Bojangles") (died 1949) 1879 – Max Aitken, Lord Beaverbrook, Canadian-English businessman and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (died 1964) 1879 – C. C. Martindale, English Jesuit priest (died 1963) 1879 – William Stickney, American golfer (died 1944) 1880 – Jean Alexandre Barré, French neurologist and academic (died 1967) 1882 – Marie Doro, American actress (died 1956) 1883 – Carl Johan Lind, Swedish hammer thrower (died 1965) 1886 – Rash Behari Bose, Indian soldier and activist (died 1945) 1886 – Philip Murray, Scottish-American miner and labor leader (died 1952) 1887 – Padre Pio, Italian priest and saint (died 1968) 1888 – Miles Malleson, English actor and screenwriter (died 1969) 1889 – Günther Lütjens, German admiral (died 1941) 1889 – Igor Sikorsky, Russian-American aircraft designer, founded Sikorsky Aircraft (died 1972) 1893 – Ernest "Pop" Stoneman, American country musician (died 1968) 1897 – Alan Kippax, Australian cricketer (died 1972) 1897 – Gene Tunney, American boxer and soldier (died 1978) 1898 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher and television game show panelist; co-founded Random House (died 1971) 1899 – Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bengali poet, author, and flute player (died 1976) 1899 – Panka Pelishek, Bulgarian pianist and music teacher (died 1990) 1900 – Alain Grandbois, Canadian poet and author (died 1975) 1900 – George Lennon, Irish Republican Army leader during the Irish War of Independence and the Irish Civil War (died 1991)O'Reilly, Terence, Rebel Heart: George Lennon Flying Column Commander, p30, Mercier 2009, ISBN 1-85635-649-3
1901–present