331 BC – Alexander the Great defeats Darius III of Persia in the Battle of Gaugamela.
1688 – Prince Willem III of Orange accepts invitation of take up the British crown
1730 – Richard Stockton, US attorney/signer (Decl of Independence) Born
1800 – Spain cedes Louisiana to France via the Treaty of San Ildefonso.
1811 – The first steamboat to sail the Mississippi River arrives in New Orleans.
1814 – Opening of the Congress of Vienna, intended to redraw Europe’s political map after the defeat of Napoléon the previous spring.
1829 – South African College is founded in Cape Town, South Africa; it will later separate into the University of Cape Town and the South African College Schools.
1832 – Texian political delegates convened at San Felipe de Austin to petition for changes in the governance of Mexican Texas.
1843 – The News of the World tabloid begins publication in London.
1854 – The watch company founded in 1850 in Roxbury by Aaron Lufkin Dennison relocates to Waltham, Massachusetts, to become the Waltham Watch Company, a pioneer in the American system of watch manufacturing.
1864 – John S Staples is paid $500 as a substitute for President Lincoln
1867 – Karl Marx’ “Das Kapital” published
1880 – First electric lamp factory is opened by Thomas Edison.
1881 – William Boeing, American engineer and businessman, founded the Boeing Company (d. 1956) was born.
1908 – Ford puts the Model T car on the market at a price of US$825.
1910 – Los Angeles Times bombing: A large bomb destroys the Los Angeles Times building in downtown Los Angeles, killing 21.
1910 – Bonnie Parker, Rowena, Texas, outlaw (Bonnie and Clyde), (d. 1934)
1918 – World War I: Arab forces under T. E. Lawrence, also known as “Lawrence of Arabia”, capture Damascus.
1924 – Jimmy Carter, Plains, Georgia, 39th US President (D) (1977-81)Born
1924 – William Rehnquist, Ws, Supreme Court (1972-86)/chief justice (1987- )Born
1928 – The Soviet Union introduces its First five-year plan.
1930 – Richard Harris, Irish-English actor, singer, and producer (d. 2002) was born.
1931 – The George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York opens.
1932 – Albert Collins, Leona TX, blues guitarist (Frosty, Showdown)
1935 – Julie Andrews, English actress and singer was born.
1936 – Francisco Franco is named head of the Nationalist government of Spain.
1939 – After a one-month Siege of Warsaw, hostile Nazi forces enter the city.
1940 – The Pennsylvania Turnpike, often considered the first superhighway in the United States, opens to traffic.
1942 – USS Grouper torpedoes Lisbon Maru not knowing she is carrying British PoWs from Hong Kong
1943 – Jim Martini, rocker (Sly & Family Stone-Everyday People) Born
1943 – World War II: Naples falls to Allied soldiers.
1946 – Nazi leaders are sentenced at Nuremberg trials.
1946 – Mensa International is founded in the United Kingdom.
1947 – Dave Arneson, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (d. 2009) was born.
1949 – The People’s Republic of China is established and declared by Mao Zedong.
1950 – Randy Quaid, Houston Texas, actor (Midnight Express, Vacation, Saturday Night Live) Born
1951 – Brian Greenway, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist (April Wine and Mashmakhan) was born.
1957 – First appearance of In God we trust on U.S. paper currency.
1958 – NASA is created to replace NACA.
1961 – The United States Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) is formed, becoming the country’s first centralized military espionage organization.
1961 – Roger Maris sets record of 61 HRs (off of Tracy Stallard)
1964 – The Free Speech Movement is launched on the campus of University of California, Berkeley.
1966 – West Coast Airlines Flight 956 crashes with eighteen fatalities and no survivors 5.5 miles south of Wemme, Oregon. This accident marks the first loss of a DC-9.
1969 – Concorde breaks the sound barrier for the first time.
1971 – Walt Disney World opens near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1971 – The first brain-scan using x-ray computed tomography (CT or CAT scan) is performed at Atkinson Morley Hospital in Wimbledon, London.
1975 – Thrilla in Manila: Muhammad Ali defeats Joe Frazier in a boxing match in Manila, Philippines.
1975 – Al Jackson, Jr. (Booker T. & the M.G.’s), was shot fatally five times in the back in his own home.
1979 – Curtis Axel, American wrestler was born.
1979 – Pope John Paul II begins his first pastoral visit to the United States.
1982 – Epcot opens at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida, United States.
1982 – Sony launches the first consumer compact disc player (model CDP-101).
1985 – E. B. White, US author (New Yorker, Charlotte’s Web), dies at 86
1985 – The Israeli Air Force bombs Palestine Liberation Organization Headquarters in Tunis.
1989 – Denmark introduces the world’s first legal modern same-sex civil union called “registered partnership”.
1990 – US President Bush at UN, condemns Iraq’s takeover of Kuwait
1992 – Cartoon Network begins broadcasting.
1996 – Pat McGeown, Irish activist (b. 1956) died.
2004 – Bruce Palmer, Canadian bass player (Buffalo Springfield and The Mynah Birds) (b. 1946) died.
2004 – Richard Avedon, American photographer (b. 1923)Dies
2005 – Bombing kills 23 people in Bali.
2007 – Most of the Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 came into force in the United Kingdom.
2009 – The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords.
2013 – US Author Tom Clancy ‘The Hunt for Red October’ dies aged 66
2013 – The U.S. federal government shuts down non-essential services after it is unable to pass a budget measure.