• 5509 BC - Epoch of the late Byzantine calendar.
• 462 - Possible start of first Byzantine indiction cycle.
• 1355 - Tvrtko I writes in castro nostro Vizoka vocatum from old town Visoki.
• 1532 - Lady Anne Boleyn is created Marchioness of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England.
• 1644 - Battle of Tippermuir, Montrose defeats Elcho's Covenanters, reviving Royalist cause.
• 1715 - King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years—the longest of any major European monarch.
• 1752 - The Liberty Bell arrives in Philadelphia.
• 1763 - Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow
• 1772 - Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
• 1804 - Juno, one of the largest main belt asteroids, was discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.
• 1807 - Former US Vice President Aaron Burr is acquitted of treason.
• 1836 - Narcissa Whitman, one of the first white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.
• 1859 - A solar superstorm affects electrical telegraph service.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly - Confederate forces attack retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuates Atlanta, Georgia after a four-month siege by General Sherman.
• 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.
• 1873 - Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande.
• 1875 - A murder conviction effectively forces the violent Irish anti-owner coal miners, the "Molly Maguires", to disband.
• 1894 - Great Hinckley Fire: A forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota, kills more than 400 people.
• 1897 - The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground metro in North America.
• 1902 - A Trip to the Moon, considered one of the first science fiction films, is released in France.
• 1905 - Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.
• 1906 - the International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys (FICPI) is established.
• 1914 - St. Petersburg, Russia changes its name to Petrograd.
• 1914 - The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.
• 1923 - The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.
• 1928 - Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.
• 1934 - SMJK Sam Tet was founded by Father Fourgs from the St. Michael Church, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia.
• 1939 - World War II: Nazi Germany attacks Poland, beginning the war. (See Invasion of Poland.)
• 1939 - George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
• 1939 - The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross was also instituted on this date.
• 1939 - Switzerland mobilises its forces and parliament elects Henri Guisan as head of army (an event that can only happen during war or during mobilisation)
• 1951 - The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
• 1961 - The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate
• 1962 - Channel Television launches to 54,000 households in the Channel Islands.
• 1964 - Indian Oil Corporation formed after merging Indian Oil Refineries and Indian Oil Company.
• 1969 - A revolution in Libya brings Col. Muammar al-Gaddafi to power, which was later transferred to the People's Committees.
• 1970 - Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerillas, who attacked his motorcade.
• 1972 - In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky and becomes the world chess champion.
• 1974 - The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London: 1 hour 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds.
• 1979 - The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 km.
• 1980 - Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope ends in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
• 1980 - Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea after the resignation of Choi Kyu-ha.
• 1981 - A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.
• 1982 - Canada adopts a Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms as part of its Constitution.
• 1982 - The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.
• 1983 - Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board are killed, including US Congressmen Lawrence McDonald.
• 1985 - A joint American-French expedition locates the wreck of the RMS Titanic.
• 1990 - The Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist is founded, following a split from the Communist Labour Party of Turkey.
• 1991 - Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union
• 1996 - Daniel Komen breaks the 3000 metres world record in Rieti, Italy
• 1996 - Fitzroy Football Club plays it's last ever game in the AFL merging with the Brisbane Lions Football Club. They lost to Fremantle.
• 2001 - Almost every single commercial television station in Vancouver, British Columbia switches network affiliations after a round of ownership changes in 2000 - the largest change in North America.
• 2004 - The Beslan school hostage crisis begins when armed terrorists take hundreds of school children and adults hostage in the Russian town of Beslan in North Ossetia.
• 2005 - Seven members and former members of the AFL-CIO form a new trade union organization, the Change to Win Federation.
• 2006 - Luxembourg became the first country to complete the move to all digital television broadcasting.

Births