Battle of Marathon
490 BC Traditional date of the Battle of Marathon, where a small Athenian force defeats the Persian Empire
First Submarine Tested
1624 The first submarine is publicly tested in London on the Thames for King James I
- 1635 Sweden and Poland sign ceasefire Treaty of Stuhmsdorf
Strafford Rises to Power
1639 King Charles I recalls Thomas Wentworth, Lord Deputy of Ireland, to England, where he becomes the king's chief adviser and is soon created Earl of Strafford
Flamsteed Inspired
1662 John Flamsteed sees a partial solar eclipse, stirring his interest in astronomy
William Occupies Naarden
1673 Prince William of Orange occupies Naarden
- 1683 Austro-Ottoman War: in the Battle of Vienna, several European armies join forces to defeat the Ottoman Empire
- 1685 New York Jews petition governor Dongan for religious liberties
- 1720 Isaak of Hoornbeek is elected Dutch pension advisor
- 1722 Russian troops occupy Baku and Derbent in Persia
- 1733 Polish landowners select Stanisław Leszczyński as king
- 1751 Amsterdam refuses the establishment of a Jewish ghetto
Casanova Imprisoned
1755 Giacomo Casanova is sentenced to five years' imprisonment in Venice without trial for affronts to religion and common decency
Messier Catalogue
1758 French astronomer Charles Messier mistakes the Crab Nebula for a comet while searching for Halley's Comet, leading him to begin his Messier Catalogue
- 1759 British soldiers capture the town of Quebec
Nathan Hale's Mission
1776 Nathan Hale leaves Harlem Heights Camp disguised as a schoolteacher for his spy mission behind British lines on Long Island
Bill of Rights Rejected
1787 American statesman George Mason suggests the addition of a Bill of Rights to the Constitution, modeled on previous state declarations, but the motion is defeated
The Friend of the People
1789 Jean-Paul Marat publishes the first issue of his radical newspaper Le Publiciste Parisien, later called L'Ami du Peuple (The Friend of the People) in Paris
William Bligh and the Mutiny on the Bounty
1792 Court-martial begins for instigators of the mutiny on the Bounty on board HMS Duke in Portsmouth Harbour, presided over by Vice-Admiral Samuel Hood
- 1814 Battle of North Point is fought near Baltimore during the War of 1812
- 1824 Moreton Bay Penal Settlement established at Redcliffe, Queensland, with about 30 convicts (modern Brisbane, Australia) [1]
- 1829 Greek War of Independence ends after 8 years and 6 months
- 1846 HMS Terror and HMS Erebus, the British expedition searching for a Northwest Passage led by John Franklin, become trapped by ice near King William Island; all eventually perish [1] [2]
- 1847 Mexican–American War: the Battle of Chapultepec begins
- 1848 Switzerland becomes a Federal state
Discovery of Gold in California
1857 423 die when steamship SS Central America, the "Ship of Gold," sinks in a hurricane off Cape Romain, South Carolina, carrying tons of gold coins and bricks from the California Gold Rush (rediscovered in 1988)
Battle of Harpers Ferry
1862 US Civil War - Battle of Harpers Ferry, Virginia: Stonewall Jackson's Confederate force attacks and later captures the Union-held town
International African Association
1876 Belgian King Leopold II opens the Brussels Geographic Conference with 40 invited geographic experts and votes to establish the International African Association
- 1878 Cleopatra's Needle is installed in London
Leopold II Meets de Brazza
1882 Belgian King Leopold II receives Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza
- 1885 Highest football score recorded in any first-class soccer match: Arbroath 36–0 Bon Accord in Scotland
- 1895 Annie Londonderry [Annie Kopchovsky] arrives in Chicago to complete the first round-the-world trip by a woman on a bicycle in 15 months and collects her $10,000 prize
- 1895 Defender (US) beats Valkyrie III (England) in the 10th America's Cup
- 1897 Battle of Saragarhi: Thousands of Orakzai and Afridi tribesmen overwhelm and kill at great cost to themselves 21 British Raj Sikh Soldiers led by Havildar Ishar Singh at Tirah, North-West Frontier Province, British India
- 1901 Arabs attack Gadara, Palestine
- 1906 The Newport Transporter Bridge is opened in Newport, South Wales, by Viscount Tredegar
- 1908 Canada appoints a Civil Service Commission, initiating a more equitable system for selecting civil servants
- 1909 World's first patent for synthetic rubber is granted to German chemist Fritz Hofmann
Symphony of A Thousand
1910 Gustav Mahler's 8th Symphony "Symphony of a Thousand" premieres in Munich with 1,028 musicians
- 1910 United States' first known female police officer, Alice Stebbins Wells, is appointed by the LAPD
- 1911 Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitchers duel for the final time: Cy Young of the Boston Red Sox vs. Christy Mathewson of the New York Giants at South End Grounds; Giants win 11-2
- 1912 Dutch Olympic Committee forms (NOC)
- 1914 Yankees shortstop Roger Peckinpaugh, 23, becomes the youngest manager
- 1918 WWI: US forces launch an attack on German-occupied St Mihiel
Hitler Joins Worker's Party
1919 Adolf Hitler joins the obscure German Workers' Party as its seventh member, agreeing not with workers' rights but with its German nationalism and antisemitism
Italian Regency of Carnaro
1919 The poet Gabriele D'Annunzio organizes a militant nationalist group and takes Fiume (Rijeka) for Italy
- 1920 VII Summer Olympic Games close at the Olympisch Stadion in Antwerp, Belgium
- 1922 Paavo Nurmi runs a world record 5000 m (14:35.4)
- 1923 Britain takes over Southern Rhodesia from the British South Africa Company
- 1927 Sigmund Romberg's musical "My Maryland" premieres in New York City
- 1928 Katharine Hepburn's New York City stage debut in "Night Hostess"
- 1928 The Okeechobee Hurricane, or Hurricane San Felipe Segundo, makes landfall in Guadeloupe, French Antilles, as a Category 4 storm, killing 1,200; additional damage and fatalities occur on the neighboring islands of Martinique, Montserrat, and Nevis
- 1931 Inaugural Bledisloe Cup rugby match played between Australia and New Zealand at Eden Park, Auckland - NZ win 20-13
- 1932 Brooklyn catcher Al López hits a record-setting sixth pinch-hit home run
- 1932 The German government of Papen falls, and the Reichstag is dissolved
- 1933 Alejandro Lerroux forms a new Spanish government
- 1933 Dutch Parliament approves a ban on civilians wearing paramilitary uniforms
Szilárd Conceives Nuclear Chain Reaction
1933 Leó Szilárd, waiting for a red light on Southampton Row in Bloomsbury, conceives the idea of a nuclear chain reaction
- 1934 "L'Atalante," a French film directed by Jean Vigo, starring Michel Simon, Dita Parlo, and Jean Dasté, is released
- 1934 Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania sign the Baltic Entente against the USSR
Howard Hughes' Record Flight
1935 Millionaire Howard Hughes flies his self-designed H-1 racer plane at a record speed of 352.46 mph (567 km/h) in Santa Ana, California
- 1938 Adolf Hitler demands self-determination for Sudeten Germans in Czechoslovakia
Dog Unearths Cave of Antiquity
1940 Four teenagers follow their dog down a hole near Lascaux, France, and discover 17,000-year-old drawings now known as the Lascaux Cave Paintings
- 1940 Italian troops enter Egypt
- 1940 The Hercules Powder Co plant explodes in New Jersey, killing 49 people and injuring 200
- 1941 First German ship captured by US ship (Busko) in WWII
- 1942 Battle of Edson's Ridge begins on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands
- 1942 Free Poland and Belgium ask the Pope to condemn Nazi war crimes
Free French Land on Corsica
1943 General Charles de Gaulle's Free France resistance forces land on Italian-occupied Corsica
Daring Raid Frees Mussolini
1943 The Waffen-SS, led by Otto Skorzeny, frees Benito Mussolini at Gran Sasso
- 1944 Noorbeek becomes the first liberated community in the Netherlands during World War II
Second Quebec Conference
1944 Second Quebec Conference: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and the Combined Chiefs of Staff meet in Quebec City, Canada to discuss Allied occupation zones, the Morgenthau Plan, U.S. Lend-Lease aid to Britain and the role of the Royal Navy
- 1944 US Army troops enter Germany for the first time
- 1946 Brussels military court convicts Belgian sociologist Hendrik de Man in absentia for political collaboration with Nazi occupying forces and sentences him to twenty years in prison, military degradation, and a ten-million franc fine
- 1947 Pittsburgh's future Baseball Hall of Fame left fielder Ralph Kiner hits two home runs in the Pirates' 4-3 win over the Boston Braves at Forbes Field, recording his 8th home run in 4 games
First West German Elections
1949 Theodor Heuss is elected as the first President of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) with Konrad Adenauer as the first Chancellor
- 1950 Belgian government dismisses all communist civil servants
- 1952 Noël Coward's play "Quadrille" premieres in London
- 1953 The Brooklyn Dodgers clinch the NL pennant earlier than any other team, defeating the Milwaukee Braves 5-2 and finishing the season with a record of 105-49
- 1954 MLB Chicago White Sox win 90th game, the first time they reach this many wins since 1920
- 1954 MLB Cleveland Indians sweep New York Yankees at home (Municipal Stadium) before the largest American League crowd (86,563)
- 1954 WLBZ TV Channel 2 in Bangor, Maine (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1955 KNTV TV Channel 11 in San Jose, CA (NBC) begins broadcasting
- 1956 Black students enter and are barred from Clay, Kentucky, elementary school
- 1957 Archbishop Makarios of Cyprus visits the US
First Integrated Circuit
1958 Jack Kilby demonstrates his first integrated circuit (IC) to his supervisor
- 1958 US performs a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
Little Rock Crisis
1958 US Supreme Court orders the all-white Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, to integrate
Bonanza
1959 American western series "Bonanza," starring Lorne Greene, Dan Blocker, and Michael Landon, premieres on NBC-TV
- 1959 János Kádár becomes premier of Hungary
- 1959 Luna 2 is launched by the Soviet Union, becoming the first spacecraft to impact the Moon
Church and State
1960 John F. Kennedy states he does not speak for the Roman Catholic Church, and neither does the Church speak for him
- 1961 NASA civilian pilot Joseph A. Walker takes the X-15 to 34,840 meters
- 1961 USSR performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, USSR
- 1962 Washington Senator Tom Cheney strikes out a record 21 Orioles in a 16-inning game
- 1963 WHYY TV Channel 12 in Wilmington, DE (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1964 American long jumper Ralph Boston sets a world record with a jump of 27 ft 4 1⁄4 in (8.34 m) in Los Angeles, California
- 1964 Canyonlands National Park is designated as a National Park
A Fistful of Dollars
1964 Film that starts the Spaghetti Western genre "A Fistful of Dollars," directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, premieres in Italy
- 1964 First football game at Shea Stadium: Jets defeat Denver 30-6
Emmy Awards
1965 17th Emmy Awards: "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and Dick Van Dyke win
- 1965 WCEE TV Channel 23 in Rockford, IL (CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1966 "Monkees" premieres on NBC-TV
- 1966 KPNE TV Channel 9 in North Platte, NB (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1966 NASA's Gemini XI, with Pete Conrad and Richard F. Gordon aboard, launches for a 71-hour flight
- 1966 Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan, begins teaching
- 1966 WCES TV Channel 20 in Wrens, GA (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1966 WUSF TV Channel 16 in Tampa-St Petersburg, FL (PBS) begins broadcasting
- 1968 Albania announces it is withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact
- 1970 Palestinian terrorists blow up three hijacked airliners in Jordan and continue to hold the passengers hostage in various undisclosed locations in Amman
- 1970 Soviet unmanned spacecraft Luna 16 is launched to the moon
- 1970 Supersonic airliner Concorde lands for the first time at Heathrow airport
- 1970 US LSD advocate Timothy Leary escapes from a California jail
- 1972 Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin, succeeds Avery Brundage as President of the International Olympic Committee
- 1972 TV sitcom "Maude," a spin-off of "All In The Family," starring Bea Arthur and Bill Macy, premieres on CBS
- 1973 Two bettors win the largest US Daily Double in Detroit ($19,909.60)
- 1973 USSR performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, USSR
Haile Selassie Overthrown
1974 Coup overthrows Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie on Ethiopia's National Day
- 1974 Jeff "Skunk" Baxter joins the Doobie Brothers
Wish You Were Here
1975 Pink Floyd releases their ninth album "Wish You Were Here"
- 1976 Chicago White Sox Minnie Miñoso (52) singles off California Angels Sid Monge in the second inning of a 2–1, 10-inning win for his first MLB hit after 12 years of retirement
- 1976 Seattle Seahawks play their first regular-season game (St. Louis 30, Seattle 24)
- 1977 Anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko dies in police custody from his injuries after being beaten and tortured by police
Castro Visits Ethiopia
1978 Cuban leader Fidel Castro visits Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for talks with Mengistu Haile Mariam as Cuba expands its military support for Ethiopia during the Ogaden War
Taxi
1978 Situation comedy "Taxi" premieres on ABC television, starring Judd Hirsch, Jeff Conaway, Danny Devito, Tony Danza, Marilu Henner, and Andy Kaufman
- 1979 An 8.1-magnitude earthquake hits Indonesia
- 1979 Boston Red Sox Carl Yastrzemski gets his 3,000th hit off NY Yankee Jim Beattie
- 1979 Hurricane Frederick hits Mobile Alabama, killing 5 people and causing $23 million of damage
- 1979 Indiana Pacers cut Ann Meyers, the first woman on an NBA club
Blizzard of Ozz
1980 "Blizzard of Ozz," the debut solo album by English rock musician Ozzy Osbourne, is released in the United Kingdom
The Smurfs
1981 Animated cartoon series "The Smurfs" by Hanna-Barbera is first broadcast in North America
- 1981 Red Sox rookie Bob Ojeda no-hits the Yankees for 8 innings before Rick Cerone and Dave Winfield lead off the 9th with back-to-back doubles
- 1982 European Championship marathon won by Gerard Nijboer of the Netherlands (2:15:16) and Rosa Mota of Portugal (2:36:04)
- 1983 Albert Rizzo treads water at sea for 108 hours and 9 minutes
- 1983 Security guard Victor Gerena robs a West Hartford company of $7 million
- 1983 USSR vetoes UN resolution condemning its shooting down of a Korean plane
- 1984 American country singer Barbara Mandrell is badly injured in a car accident
- 1984 Cyndi Lauper sings "She-Bop" on The Tonight Show
- 1984 Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets sets the rookie strikeout record at 251
- 1984 Ethiopia forms a socialist republic
- 1985 Flight readiness firing of Atlantis's main engines lasts 20 seconds
Blue Velvet
1986 "Blue Velvet," directed by David Lynch and starring Isabella Rossellini, Kyle MacLachlan, and Dennis Hopper, premieres in Toronto
- 1986 Limited US premiere of the film adaptation of Marsha Norman's play "'night, Mother"
- 1986 MLB Minnesota Twins fire manager Ray Miller and replace him with coach Tom Kelly
- 1986 US professor Joseph Cicippio is kidnapped and held hostage in Beirut
- 1987 Ethiopia adopts a constitution
- 1987 Vince Coleman steals his 100th base for the third consecutive year
- 1988 First NFL regular-season game played in Phoenix; Cowboys beat Cardinals
- 1988 Gilbert, the strongest hurricane ever recorded at 160 mph, devastates Jamaica
- 1989 "Life Goes On," first television series featuring a major character with Down syndrome, "Corky" Thatcher played by Chris Burke, premieres on ABC [1]
- 1989 Poland's Sejm (National Assembly) approves the cabinet of Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki
- 1990 US, United Kingdom, France, USSR, and East and West Germany sign agreements allowing the two Germanys to merge
- 1991 Nolan Ryan's 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins is his 312th career win
- 1991 Space shuttle STS 48 (Discovery 14) is launched
- 1992 Hurricane Iniki pounds Hawaii
First African American Women in Space
1992 Mae Jemison is the first African American woman to go into space (aboard Endeavour STS-47)
- 1992 NASA launches STS-47 (Endeavour 2)
Edberg Wins US Open Marathon
1992 Stefan Edberg beats Michael Chang 6-7, 7-5, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4 in 5 hours and 26 minutes, the longest match in US Open history at the time (eclipsed in 2024)
- 1993 Paul Molitor, at 37, is the oldest player in Major League Baseball history to achieve his first 100-RBI season
- 1993 STS-51 (Discovery) launches into orbit
- 1993 Wang Junxia runs a women's 3000 m world record (8:12.29) at the Chinese National Games
- 1994 American country singer-songwriter George Jones undergoes successful triple bypass surgery
- 1994 Frank Eugene Corder crashes a Cessna plane into the South Lawn of the White House, killing himself
- 1994 Parti Québécois wins parliamentary election
- 1995 Belarusian military shoots down a hydrogen balloon, killing its two American pilots
- 1995 INXS's Michael Hutchence pleads guilty to punching a photographer
- 1997 NY Mets' John Olerud hits for the cycle
- 1997 The UN passes a resolution allowing Iraq to reach the $2.14 billion oil sales limit under its oil-for-food program
Emmy Awards
1999 51st Emmy Awards: The Practice, Ally McBeal, Dennis Franz, and Edie Falco win
- 1999 Indonesia announces it will allow international peacekeepers into East Timor
- 2000 Netherlands passes law allowing same-gender marriage, adoption, and divorce
- 2001 Ansett Australia, Australia's first commercial interstate airline, enters voluntary administartion (bankruptcy) due to increased strain on the international airline industry
- 2001 Article V of the NATO agreement is invoked for the first and only time in response to the September 11, 2001, attacks against the United States of America
- 2003 In Fallujah, US forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers
Lockerbie Bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
2003 United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after it agrees to accept responsibility and compensate the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103
- 2004 Detroit Lions beat the Chicago Bears 20-16 at Soldier Field to end their NFL-record 24-game road losing streak
- 2005 Hong Kong Disneyland opens in Penny's Bay on Lantau Island, Hong Kong
- 2005 Israel completes its unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip after dismantling Israeli settlements and withdrawing its soldiers
- 2005 Mark Messier announces on ESPN Radio that he is retiring from the NHL
- 2005 The bodies of more than 40 patients are discovered in a flooded hospital in New Orleans
- 2005 The red-green coalition, led by Jens Stoltenberg, wins the Norwegian parliamentary election, taking 87 of 169 seats in parliament
Joseph Estrada Convicted
2007 Former President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is convicted of the crime of plunder
Shinzō Abe Resigns
2007 Shinzō Abe announces his intention to resign as Prime Minister of Japan due to worsening bowel disease
- 2009 Glenn Beck's 9-12 Project organizes multiple marches and demonstrations across the USA to protest government spending
- 2009 South Africa claims its third Tri Nations Rugby Series with a 32-29 win over defending champions New Zealand in Hamilton; Steyn brothers dominate with the boot; Morné kicks two penalties, two conversions, and a drop goal; François kicks three penalties
- 2012 A factory fire in Karachi and Lahore, Pakistan, kills 314 people
- 2012 Apple unveils its iPhone 5 and iOS 6
