Events Pre-1600 512 – Following Byzantine emperor Anastasius' deposition of Chalcedonian patriarchs and attempts to make Monophysite changes to liturgy, riots break out in Constantinople with a mob trying to proclaim Areobindus as emperor. 1354 – War of the Straits: The Genoese fleet under Paganino Doria defeats and captures the entire Venetian fleet under Niccolò Pisani at the Battle of Sapienza. 1429 – Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier. 1493 – Christopher Columbus reaches the Leeward Islands. 1501 – Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII's first wife) meets Arthur, Prince of Wales, Henry VIII's older brother – they would later marry. 1576 – Eighty Years' War: In Flanders, Spain captures Antwerp (which is nearly destroyed after three days).
1601–1900 1677 – The future Mary II marries William, Prince of Orange; they later jointly reign over England, Scotland, and Ireland as William and Mary. 1737 – The Teatro di San Carlo, the oldest working opera house in Europe, is inaugurated in Naples, Italy. 1780 – The Rebellion of Túpac Amaru II against Spanish rule in the Viceroyalty of Peru begins. 1783 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria. 1791 – Northwest Indian War: The Western Confederacy of American Indians wins a major victory over the United States in the Battle of the Wabash. 1798 – The Russo-Ottoman siege of Corfu begins. 1839 – Newport Rising: The last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain. 1847 – Sir James Young Simpson, a Scottish medical doctor, discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform. 1852 – Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, becomes the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, which soon expands to become Italy. 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in materiel at the Battle of Johnsonville. 1868 – Camagüey, Cuba, revolts against Spain during the Ten Years' War. 1890 – City and South London Railway: London's first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell.
1901–present 1918 – World War I: The Armistice of Villa Giusti between Italy and Austria-Hungary is implemented. 1921 – The Saalschutz Abteilung (hall defense detachment) of the Nazi Party is renamed the Sturmabteilung (storm detachment) after a large riot in Munich. 1921 – Japanese prime minister Hara Takashi is assassinated in Tokyo. 1922 – In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings. 1924 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming becomes the first female elected as governor in the United States. 1936 – Spanish Civil War: Largo Caballero reshuffles his war cabinet, persuading the anarcho-syndicalist CNT to join the government. 1939 – World War II: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt orders the United States Customs Service to implement the Neutrality Act of 1939, allowing cash-and-carry purchases of weapons by belligerents. 1942 – World War II: Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel begins a retreat of his forces after a costly defeat during the Second Battle of El Alamein. The retreat would ultimately last five months. 1944 – World War II: The 7th Macedonian Liberation Brigade liberates Bitola for the Allies. 1944 – World War II: Operation Pheasant, an Allied offensive to liberate North Brabant in the Netherlands, ends successfully. 1952 – The United States government establishes the National Security Agency, or NSA. 1956 – Soviet troops enter Hungary to end the Hungarian revolution against the Soviet Union that started on October 23. Thousands are killed, more are wounded, and nearly a quarter million leave the country. 1960 – At the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Jane Goodall observes chimpanzees creating tools, the first-ever observation in non-human animals. 1962 – The United States concludes Operation Fishbowl, its final above-ground nuclear weapons testing series, in anticipation of the 1963 Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. 1966 – The Arno River floods Florence, Italy, to a maximum depth of , leaving thousands homeless and destroying millions of masterpieces of art and rare books. Venice is also submerged on the same day at its record all-time acqua alta of . 1967 – Iberia Flight 062 crashes in Blackdown, West Sussex, killing all 37 people on board including British actress June Thorburn. 1970 – Vietnam War: The United States turns over control of the air base at Bình Thủy in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam. 1970 – Salvador Allende takes office as President of Chile, the first Marxist to become president of a Latin American country through open elections. 1973 – The Netherlands experiences the first car-free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are used only by cyclists and roller skaters. 1979 – Iran hostage crisis: A group of Iranian college students overruns the U.S. embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages. 1980 – Ronald Reagan is elected as the 40th President of the United States, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter. 1993 – China Airlines Flight 605, a brand-new 747-400, overruns the runway at Hong Kong Kai Tak Airport. 1995 – Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Israeli. 2002 – Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress. 2008 – Barack Obama becomes the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected as President of the United States. 2010 – Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crashes into Guasimal, Sancti Spíritus; all 68 passengers and crew are killed. 2010 – Qantas Flight 32, an Airbus A380, suffers an uncontained engine failure over Indonesia shortly after taking off from Singapore, crippling the jet. The crew manage to safely return to Singapore, saving all 469 passengers and crew. 2015 – A cargo plane crashes shortly after takeoff from Juba International Airport in Juba, South Sudan, killing at least 37 people. 2015 – A building collapses in the Pakistani city of Lahore resulting in at least 45 deaths and at least 100 injuries. 2020 – The Tigray War begins with Tigrayan rebels launching attacks on Ethiopian command centers. 2022 – The Khash massacre, which refers to the repression of protesters by Iranian security forces, resulting in 18 deaths and more than 20 injuries. 2025 – UPS Airlines Flight 2976, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11F crashes into multiple buildings during takeoff at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky, killing 15 people, including the 3 crew members.
Births Pre-1600 1448 – Alfonso II of Naples (died 1495) 1512 – Hu Zongxian, Chinese general (died 1565) 1553 – Roger Wilbraham, Solicitor-General for Ireland (died 1616) 1575 – Guido Reni, Italian painter and illustrator (died 1642) 1592 – Gerard van Honthorst, Dutch painter (died 1656)
1601–1900 1631 – Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (died 1660) 1640 – Carlo Mannelli, Italian violinist and composer (died 1697) 1649 – Samuel Carpenter, Deputy Governor of colonial Pennsylvania (died 1714) 1661 – Charles III Philip, Elector Palatine, German son of Landgravine Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt (died 1742) 1740 – Augustus Toplady, English cleric and hymn writer (died 1778) 1765 – Pierre-Simon Girard, French mathematician and engineer (died 1836) 1787 – Edmund Kean, British Shakespearean stage actor (died 1833) 1809 – Benjamin Robbins Curtis, American lawyer and jurist (died 1874) 1816 – Stephen Johnson Field, American lawyer and jurist, 5th Chief Justice of California (died 1899) 1821 – Thomas Keefer, Canadian engineer and businessman (died 1915) 1836 – Henry J. Lutcher, American businessman (died 1912) 1840 – William Giblin, Australian politician, 13th Premier of Tasmania (died 1887) 1853 – Anna Bayerová, Czech medical doctor (died 1924) 1861 – Alice Gossage, American journalist (died 1929) 1862 – Rasmus Rasmussen, Norwegian actor and director (died 1932) 1868 – La Belle Otero, Spanish actress, singer, and dancer (died 1965) 1873 – Kyōka Izumi, Japanese author, poet, and playwright (died 1939) 1874 – Charles Despiau, French sculptor (died 1946) 1879 – Will Rogers, American actor and screenwriter (died 1935) 1883 – Nikolaos Plastiras, Greek general and politician 135th Prime Minister of Greece (died 1953) 1884 – Harry Ferguson, Irish engineer, invented the tractor (died 1960) 1887 – Alfred Lee Loomis, American physicist and philanthropist (died 1975) 1889 – Alton Adams, American composer and bandleader (died 1987) 1890 – Klabund, German author and poet (died 1928) 1896 – Carlos P. Garcia, Filipino lawyer and politician, 8th President of the Philippines (died 1971) 1897 – Dolly Stark, American baseball player and umpire (died 1968) 1900 – Lucrețiu Pătrășcanu, Romanian sociologist and activist (died 1954)
1901–present 1901 – Spyridon Marinatos, Greek archaeologist, author, and academic (died 1974) 1904 – Tadeusz Żyliński, Polish engineer, technician, and academic (died 1967) 1905 – Dragutin Tadijanović, Croatian poet and translator (died 2007) 1906 – Sterling North, American author and critic (died 1974) 1908 – Stanley Cortez, American cinematographer and photographer (died 1997) 1908 – Joseph Rotblat, Polish-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2005) 1909 – Evelyn Bryan Johnson, American colonel and pilot (died 2012) 1909 – Bert Patenaude, American soccer player (died 1974) 1909 – Skeeter Webb, American baseball player and manager (died 1986) 1911 – Violet Biever, American politician (died 2010) 1911 – Dixie Lee, American actress and singer (died 1952) 1912 – Botong Francisco, Filipino painter (died 1969) 1912 – Vadim Salmanov, Russian pianist and composer (died 1978) 1912 – Giff Vivian, New Zealand cricketer (died 1983) 1913 – Gig Young, American actor (died 1978) 1914 – Carlos Castillo Armas, Authoritarian ruler of Guatemala (died 1957) 1915 – Marguerite Patten, English economist and author (died 2015) 1915 – Ismail Abdul Rahman, Malaysian politician (died 1973) 1916 – John Basilone, American sergeant, Medal of Honor recipient (died 1945) 1916 – Walter Cronkite, American journalist, voice actor, and producer (died 2009) 1916 – Ruth Handler, American businesswoman, created Barbie (died 2002) 1918 – Art Carney, American actor (died 2003) 1918 – Cameron Mitchell, American actor (died 1994) 1919 – Martin Balsam, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1996) 1919 – Eric Thompson, English race car driver and businessman (died 2015) 1921 – Mary Sherman Morgan, American scientist and engineer (died 2004) 1922 – Benno Besson, Swiss-German actor, director, and screenwriter (died 2006) 1923 – Freddy Heineken, Dutch businessman (died 2002) 1923 – Howie Meeker, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and politician (died 2020) 1923 – Eugene Sledge, American soldier, author, and academic (died 2001) 1925 – Gamani Corea, Sri Lankan economist and diplomat (died 2013) 1925 – Doris Roberts, American actress (died 2016) 1926 – Carlos "Patato" Valdes, Cuban-American conga player and composer (died 2007) 1928 – Larry Bunker, American drummer and vibraphone player (died 2005) 1928 – Eugenio Lopez Jr., Filipino businessman and chairman of the ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corporation (died 1999) 1928 – Hannah Weiner, American poet and author (died 1997) 1929 – Anastasios of Albania, Greek-Albanian archbishop (died 2025) 1929 – Shakuntala Devi, Indian mathematician and astrologer (died 2013) 1930 – James E. Brewton, American painter (died 1967) 1930 – Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, Indian pharmacologist and academic (died 2015) 1930 – Dick Groat, American baseball player and sportscaster (died 2023) 1930 – Frank J. Prial, American journalist and author (died 2012) 1931 – Bernard Francis Law, Mexican-American cardinal (died 2017)