1429 – Armagnac–Burgundian Civil War: Joan of Arc liberates Saint-Pierre-le-Moûtier.
1501 – Catherine of Aragon (later Henry VIII’s first wife) meets Arthur Tudor, Henry VIII’s older brother – they would later marry.
1646 – Massachusetts uses death penalty for denying that Holy Bible is God’s word
1783 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.
1791 – The Western Confederacy of American Indians wins a major victory over the United States in the Battle of the Wabash.
1839 – Newport Rising: the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain.
1847 – Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform.
1847 – Jacob L Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, German pianist/composer, dies at 38
1856 – James Buchanan elected 15th US president
1861 – University of Washington founded in Seattle
1862 – Dr Richard Gatling patents Gatling machine gun (Indianapolis)
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Johnsonville – Confederate troops bombard a Union supply base and destroy millions of dollars in material.
1879 – Will Rogers, American actor and screenwriter (d. 1935) was born.
1884 – Grover Cleveland (D) beats James G Blaine (R) for his 1st presidential term. The only American president to serve 2 non-consecutive terms
1904 – First stadium built specifically for football (Harvard Stadium)
1910 – Russian Czar Nicholas II visits German Emperor Wilhelm II at Potsdam; they force tentative agreements on spheres of influence in the Middle East
1916 – Walter Cronkite, American journalist, voice actor, and producer (d. 2009) was birthed
1916 – Ruth Handler, American businesswoman, created Barbie (d. 2002) was born.
1918 – Art Carney, American actor and singer (d. 2003) was born.
1918 – Wilfred Owens, anti-war poet (Anthem for doomed youth), dies at 25
1918 – World War I: Austria-Hungary surrenders to Italy.
1921 – The Sturmabteilung or SA, whose members were known as “brownshirts”, physically assault Adolf Hitler’s opposition after his speech 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 Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.
1924 – US President Calvin Coolidge re-elected
1924 – Nellie Tayloe Ross of Wyoming is elected the first female governor in the United States.
1928 – Larry Bunker, American drummer and vibraphone player (d. 2005) was born.
1931 – Jean Genet’s “Judith” premieres in Paris
1932 – Tommy Makem, Irish-American singer-songwriter (The Clancy Brothers) (d. 2007) was born.
1933 – Hermann Goering & Georgi Dimitrov duel
1937 – Loretta Swit, American actress was born.
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: Second Battle of El Alamein – Disobeying a direct order by Adolf Hitler, General Field Marshal Erwin Rommel leads his forces on a five-month retreat.
1944 – Scherrie Payne, American singer (The Supremes) born.
1944 – Governor Thomas E. Dewey criticized President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the reason why the Second World War was prolonged. Dewey stated that the war had continued on as a result of Roosevelt’s “confused incompetence”.
1946 – Laura Bush, American educator, 50th First Lady of the United States was birthed
1946 – UN Educational, Scientific, & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) formed (First Director-General of UNESCO, Julian Huxley, whom was a Eugenicist, and whom also coined the term “transhumanism”) Huxley and Eugenics
1948 – TS Eliot wins Nobel Prize for literature
1950 – US troops vacate Pyongyang North Korea
1952 – The United States government establishes the National Security Agency, or NSA.
1953 – Rick Green, Canadian actor, producer, and screenwriter was born.
1955 – Cy Young, pitcher and MLB all-time wins leader, dies at 88
1956 – Art[hur] Tatum, US jazz pianist/composer, dies at 46
1956 – Soviet tanks and troops crush protests against Soviet rule with thousands killed and wounded, and nearly a quarter-million Hungarians fled the country..
1956 – Israel captures Straits of Tiran & reach Suez Canal Egypt
1956 – James Honeyman-Scott, English guitarist and songwriter (The Pretenders) (d. 1982) was born.
1960 – “Misfits” premieres, final movie for Clark Gable & Marilyn Monroe
1960 – At the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Dr. Jane Goodall observes chimpanzees creating tools, the first-ever observation in non-human animals.
1960 – Kathy Griffin, American comedian, actress, producer, and screenwriter was birthed
1963 – John Lennon utters his infamous “rattle your jewelry” line at a Royal Variety Performance in London
1965 – Wayne Static, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Static-X) (d. 2014) was born.
1969 – Sean Combs, American rapper, producer, and actor (Diddy – Dirty Money) was birthed.
1970 – Vietnam War: Vietnamization – The United States turns control of the Binh Thuy Air Base in the Mekong Delta over to South Vietnam.
1970 – Genie, a 13-year-old feral child is found in Los Angeles having been locked in her bedroom for most of her life.
1973 – The Netherlands experiences the first Car Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are deserted and are solely used by cyclists and roller skaters.
1979 – Iran hostage crisis: a mob of Iranians, mostly students, overruns the US embassy in Tehran and takes 90 hostages (53 of whom are American).
1980 – Former Hollywood actor and Republican Ronald Reagan wins the US presidential elections beating Democrat Jimmy Carter with a huge majority.
1981 – Vince Wilfork, American football player NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS – Born
1982 – Dominique Dunne, actress (Poltergeist), murdered by stalker at 23
1984 – Nicaragua holds first free elections in 56 years; Sandinistas win 63%
1994 - Fred “Sonic” Smith, guitarist (MC5), Husband of Patti Smith dies at 46
1995 – 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.
2003 – The most powerful solar flare as observed by satellite instrumentation is recorded.
2008 – Michael Crichton, American author, dies at 66
2008 – Barack Obama becomes the first man of African-American descent to be elected President of the United States. (allegedly)
2011 – Andy Rooney, American radio and television host (b. 1919) died.