Events Pre-1600 411 BC – The Athenian coup succeeds, forming a short-lived oligarchy. 53 – The Roman emperor Nero marries Claudia Octavia. 68 – Nero dies by suicide after quoting Vergil's Aeneid, thus ending the Julio-Claudian dynasty and starting the civil war known as the Year of the Four Emperors. 721 – Odo of Aquitaine defeats the Moors in the Battle of Toulouse. 747 – Abbasid Revolution: Abu Muslim Khorasani begins an open revolt against Umayyad rule, which is carried out under the sign of the Black Standard. 1311 – Duccio's Maestà, a seminal artwork of the early Italian Renaissance, is unveiled and installed in Siena Cathedral in Siena, Italy. 1523 – The Parisian Faculty of Theology fines Simon de Colines for publishing the Biblical commentary Commentarii initiatorii in quatuor Evangelia by Jacques Lefèvre d'Étaples. 1534 – Jacques Cartier is the first European to describe and map the Saint Lawrence River.
1601–1900 1732 – James Oglethorpe is granted a royal charter for the colony of the future U.S. state of Georgia. 1772 – The British schooner Gaspee is burned in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. 1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Battles of Arklow and Saintfield. 1815 – End of the Congress of Vienna: The new European political situation is set. 1856 – Five hundred Mormons leave Iowa City, Iowa for the Mormon Trail. 1861 – The Beyoglu Protocol turns the district of Mount Lebanon into an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire and grants the Christians more power over the Druze. 1862 – American Civil War: Stonewall Jackson concludes his successful Shenandoah Valley Campaign with a victory in the Battle of Port Republic. 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Brandy Station in Virginia, the largest cavalry battle on American soil, ends Confederate cavalry dominance in the eastern theater. 1885 – Treaty of Tientsin is signed to end the Sino-French War, with China eventually giving up Tonkin and Annam – most of present-day Vietnam – to France. 1900 – Indian nationalist Birsa Munda dies of cholera in a British prison.
1901–present 1915 – William Jennings Bryan resigns as Woodrow Wilson's Secretary of State over a disagreement regarding the United States' handling of the sinking of the . 1922 – Åland's Regional Assembly convenes for its first plenary session in Mariehamn, Åland; today, the day is celebrated as Self-Government Day of Åland. 1923 – Bulgaria's military takes over the government in a coup. 1928 – Charles Kingsford Smith completes the first trans-Pacific flight in a Fokker Trimotor monoplane, the Southern Cross. 1930 – A Chicago Tribune reporter, Jake Lingle, is killed during rush hour at the Illinois Central train station by Leo Vincent Brothers, allegedly over a $100,000 gambling debt owed to Al Capone. 1944 – World War II: Ninety-nine civilians are hanged from lampposts and balconies by German troops in Tulle, France, in reprisal for maquisards attacks. 1944 – World War II: The Soviet Union invades East Karelia and the previously Finnish part of Karelia, occupied by Finland since 1941. 1948 – Foundation of the International Council on Archives under the auspices of the UNESCO. 1953 – The Flint–Worcester tornado outbreak sequence kills 94 people in Massachusetts. 1954 – Joseph N. Welch, special counsel for the United States Army, lashes out at Senator Joseph McCarthy during the Army–McCarthy hearings, giving McCarthy the famous rebuke, "You've done enough. Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?" 1957 – First ascent of Broad Peak by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl. 1958 – Aeroflot Flight 105 crashes on approach to Magdan-13 Airport, killing 24. 1959 – The is launched. It is the first nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine. 1965 – The civilian Prime Minister of South Vietnam, Phan Huy Quát, resigns after being unable to work with a junta led by Nguyễn Cao Kỳ. 1965 – Vietnam War: The Viet Cong commences combat with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam in the Battle of Đồng Xoài, one of the largest battles in the war. 1967 – Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria. 1968 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy. 1972 – Severe rainfall causes a dam in the Black Hills of South Dakota to burst, creating a flood that kills 238 people and causes $160 million in damage. 1973 – In horse racing, Secretariat wins the U.S. Triple Crown. 1978 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opens its priesthood to "all worthy men", ending a 148-year-old policy of excluding black men. 1979 – The Ghost Train fire at Luna Park Sydney, Australia, kills seven. 1995 – Ansett New Zealand Flight 703 crashes into the Tararua Range during approach to Palmerston North Airport on the North Island of New Zealand, killing four. 1999 – Kosovo War: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty. 2008 – Two bombs explode at a train station near Algiers, Algeria, killing at least 13 people. 2009 – An explosion kills 17 people and injures at least 46 at a hotel in Peshawar, Pakistan. 2010 – At least 40 people are killed and more than 70 wounded in a suicide bombing at a wedding party in Arghandab, Kandahar.
Births
Pre-1600 1016 – Deokjong of Goryeo, ruler of Korea (died 1034) 1424 – Blanche II of Navarre (died 1464) 1580 – Daniel Heinsius, Belgian poet and scholar (died 1655) 1588 – Johann Andreas Herbst, German composer and theorist (died 1666) 1595 – Władysław IV Vasa, Polish king (died 1648) 1597 – Pieter Jansz. Saenredam, Dutch painter (died 1665)
1601–1900
1625 – Sarah Rapelje, the "first white child" of New Netherland (died 1685) 1640 – Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (died 1705) 1661 – Feodor III of Russia (died 1682) 1672 – Peter the Great, Russian emperor (died 1725) 1686 – Andrey Osterman, German-Russian politician, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1747) 1696 – Shiva Rajaram, infant Chattrapati of the Maratha Empire (died 1726) 1732 – Giuseppe Demachi, Italian violinist and composer (died 1791) 1754 – Francis Mackenzie, 1st Baron Seaforth, English general and politician, Governor of Barbados (died 1815) 1768 – Samuel Slater, English-American engineer and businessman (died 1835) 1781 – George Stephenson, English engineer, designed the Liverpool and Manchester Railway (died 1848) 1810 – Otto Nicolai, German composer and conductor (died 1849) 1812 – Johann Gottfried Galle, German astronomer and academic (died 1910) 1836 – Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, English physician and politician (died 1917) 1837 – Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, English author (died 1919) 1837 – Michele Rua, Italian Catholic priest and saint (died 1910) 1842 – Hazard Stevens, American military officer, mountaineer, politician and writer (died 1918) 1843 – Bertha von Suttner, Austrian journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1914) 1845 – Frank Norton, American baseball player (died 1920) 1849 – Michael Ancher, Danish painter and academic (died 1927) 1851 – Charles Joseph Bonaparte, American lawyer and politician, 46th United States Attorney General (died 1921) 1861 – Pierre Duhem, French physicist, mathematician, and historian (died 1916) 1861 – Gustav Tammann, Russian-German chemist and physicist (died 1938) 1864 – Jeanne Bérangère, French actress (died 1928) 1865 – Albéric Magnard, French composer and educator (died 1914) 1865 – Carl Nielsen, Danish violinist, composer, and conductor (died 1931) 1868 – Jane Avril, French model and dancer (died 1943) 1874 – Launceston Elliot, Scottish weightlifter and wrestler (died 1930) 1875 – Henry Hallett Dale, English pharmacologist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968) 1879 – Harry DeBaecke, American rower (died 1961) 1882 – Robert Kerr, Irish-Canadian sprinter and coach (died 1963) 1885 – Felicjan Sławoj Składkowski, Polish general and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Poland (died 1962) 1890 – Leslie Banks, English actor, director, and producer (died 1952) 1891 – Cole Porter, American composer and songwriter (died 1964) 1893 – Irish Meusel, American baseball player and coach (died 1963) 1895 – Archie Weston, American football player and journalist (died 1981) 1896 – Catherine Filene Shouse, American philanthropist (Wolf Trap Institute) (died 1994) 1898 – Luigi Fagioli, Italian race car driver (died 1952) 1900 – Fred Waring, American singer, bandleader, and television host (died 1984)
1901–present 1902 – Skip James, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1969) 1903 – Felice Bonetto, Italian race car driver (died 1953) 1903 – Marcia Davenport, American author and critic (died 1996) 1906 – Robert Klark Graham, American eugenicist and businessman, founded Repository for Germinal Choice (died 1997) 1908 – Luis Kutner, American lawyer, author, and activist (died 1993) 1908 – Branch McCracken, American basketball player and coach (died 1970) 1910 – Robert Cummings, American actor, singer, and director (died 1990) 1910 – Ted Hicks, Australian public servant and diplomat, Australian High Commissioner to New Zealand (died 1984) 1912 – Ingolf Dahl, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1970) 1913 – Patrick Steptoe, English scientist (developed in vitro fertilization) (died 1988) 1915 – Jim McDonald, American football player and coach (died 1997) 1915 – Les Paul, American guitarist and songwriter (died 2009) 1916 – Jurij Brězan, German soldier and author (died 2006) 1916 – Siegfried Graetschus, German SS officer (died 1943) 1916 – Robert McNamara, American businessman and politician, 8th United States Secretary of Defense (died 2009) 1917 – Eric Hobsbawm, Egyptian-English historian and author (died 2012) 1918 – John Hospers, American philosopher and politician (died 2011) 1921 – Arthur Hertzberg, American rabbi and scholar (died 2006) 1921 – Jean Lacouture, French journalist, historian, and author (died 2015) 1922 – George Axelrod, American director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2003) 1922 – Hein Eersel, Surinamese linguist and Minister of Education (died 2022) 1922 – John Gillespie Magee Jr., Anglo-American pilot and poet (died 1941) 1922 – Fernand Seguin, Canadian biochemist and academic (died 1988) 1923 – Gerald Götting, German politician (died 2015) 1924 – Ed Farhat, American wrestler and manager (died 2003) 1925 – Keith Laumer, American soldier and author (died 1993) 1925 – Herman Sarkowsky, German-American businessman and philanthropist, co-founded the Seattle Seahawks (died 2014) 1926 – Calvin "Fuzz" Jones, American singer and bass player (died 2010) 1926 – Happy Rockefeller, American philanthropist, 31st Second Lady of the United States (died 2015) 1927 – George Nigh, American politician, 17th and 22nd Governor of Oklahoma (died 2025) 1927 – Jim Nolan, American basketball player (died 1983) 1928 – R. Geraint Gruffydd, Welsh critic and academic (died 2015) 1929 – Johnny Ace, American singer and pianist (died 1954) 1930 – Barbara, French singer (died 1997) 1930 – Jordi Pujol, Spanish physician and politician, 126th President of the Generalitat de Catalunya 1931 – Jackie Mason, American stand-up comedian (died 2021) 1931 – Nandini Satpathy, Indian author and politician, 8th Chief Minister of Odisha (died 2006) 1931 – Bill Virdon, American baseball player, coach, and manager (died 2021) 1931 – Al Cantello, American javelin thrower and coach (died 2024) 1934 – Michael Mates, English colonel and politician 1934 – Jackie Wilson, American singer-songwriter (died 1984) 1935 – Dutch Savage, American wrestler and promoter (died 2013) 1936 – Nell Dunn, English playwright, screenwriter and author 1936 – Mick O'Dwyer, Irish Gaelic footballer and manager (died 2025) 1936 – George Radda, Hungarian chemist and academic 1937 – Harald Rosenthal, German hydrobiologist and academic 1938 – Jeremy Hardie, English economist and businessman