Events Pre-1600 1317 – The Nyköping Banquet: Birger, King of Sweden treacherously seizes his two brothers, dukes Valdemar and Erik, who are subsequently starved to death in the dungeon of Nyköping Castle. 1508 – The League of Cambrai is formed by Pope Julius II, Louis XII of France, Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Ferdinand II of Aragon as an alliance against Venice. 1520 – Martin Luther burns his copy of the papal bull Exsurge Domine outside Wittenberg's Elster Gate. 1541 – Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham are executed for having affairs with Catherine Howard, Queen of England and wife of Henry VIII.
1601–1900 1652 – Defeat at the Battle of Dungeness causes the Commonwealth of England to reform its navy. 1665 – The Royal Netherlands Marine Corps is founded by Michiel de Ruyter. 1684 – Isaac Newton's derivation of Kepler's laws from his theory of gravity, contained in the paper De motu corporum in gyrum, is read to the Royal Society by Edmond Halley. 1768 – The first edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica is published. 1799 – France adopts the metre as its official unit of length. 1817 – Mississippi becomes the 20th U.S. state. 1861 – American Civil War: The Confederate States of America accept a rival state government's pronouncement that declares Kentucky to be the 12th state of the Confederacy. 1861 – Forces led by Nguyễn Trung Trực, an anti-colonial guerrilla leader in southern Vietnam, sink the French lorcha L'Esperance. 1864 – American Civil War: Sherman's March to the Sea: Major General William Tecumseh Sherman's Union Army troops reach the outer Confederate defenses of Savannah, Georgia. 1877 – Russo-Turkish War: The Russian Army captures Plevna after a 5-month siege. The garrison of 25,000 surviving Turks surrenders. The Russian victory is decisive for the outcome of the war and the Liberation of Bulgaria. 1896 – Alfred Jarry's Ubu Roi premieres in Paris. A riot breaks out at the end of the performance. 1898 – Spanish–American War: The Treaty of Paris is signed, officially ending the conflict. Spain cedes administration of Cuba to the United States, and the United States agrees to pay Spain $20 million for the Philippines.
1901–present 1901 – The first Nobel Prize ceremony is held in Stockholm on the fifth anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death. 1902 – The opening of the reservoir of the Aswan Dam in Egypt. 1906 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in the mediation of the Russo-Japanese War, becoming the first American to win a Nobel Prize in any field. 1907 – The worst night of the Brown Dog riots in London, when 1,000 medical students, protesting against the existence of a memorial for animals that have been vivisected, clash with 400 police officers. 1909 – Selma Lagerlöf becomes the first female writer to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. 1932 – Thailand becomes a constitutional monarchy. 1936 – Abdication Crisis: Edward VIII signs the Instrument of Abdication. 1941 – World War II: The Royal Navy capital ships and are sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy torpedo bombers near British Malaya. 1941 – World War II: Battle of the Philippines: Imperial Japanese forces under the command of General Masaharu Homma land on Luzon. 1942 – World War II: Government of Poland in exile send Raczyński's Note (the first official report on the Holocaust) to 26 governments who signed the Declaration by United Nations. 1948 – The Human Rights Convention is signed by the United Nations. 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The People's Liberation Army begins its siege of Chengdu, the last Kuomintang-held city in mainland China, forcing President of the Republic of China Chiang Kai-shek and his government to retreat to Taiwan. 1953 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill receives the Nobel Prize in Literature. 1963 – Zanzibar gains independence from the United Kingdom as a constitutional monarchy, under Sultan Jamshid bin Abdullah. 1963 – An assassination attempt on the British High Commissioner in Aden kills two people and wounds dozens more. 1968 – Japan's biggest heist, the still-unsolved "300 million yen robbery", is carried out in Tokyo. 1978 – Arab–Israeli conflict: Prime Minister of Israel Menachem Begin and President of Egypt Anwar Sadat are jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. 1979 – Kaohsiung Incident: Taiwanese pro-democracy demonstrations are suppressed by the KMT dictatorship, and organizers are arrested. 1983 – Democracy is restored in Argentina with the inauguration of President Raúl Alfonsín. 1984 – United Nations General Assembly recognizes the Convention against Torture. 1989 – Mongolian Revolution: At the country's first open pro-democracy public demonstration, Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj announces the establishment of the Mongolian Democratic Union. 1991 – The Nagorno-Karabakh independence referendum is held, with 99.98% voting in favor of independence. 1991 – Nursultan Nazarbayev is sworn in as the 1st President of Kazakhstan. 1991 – The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic is renamed into the Republic of Kazakhstan. 1992 – Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan establishes the Marriage Fund in the United Arab Emirates in response to rising wedding prices. 1993 – The last shift leaves Wearmouth Colliery in Sunderland. The closure of the 156-year-old pit marks the end of the old County Durham coalfield, which had been in operation since the Middle Ages. 1994 – Rwandan genocide: Maurice Baril, military advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General and head of the Military Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, recommends that UNAMIR stand down. 1995 – The Israeli army withdraws from Nablus pursuant to the terms of Oslo Accord. 1996 – The new Constitution of South Africa is promulgated by Nelson Mandela. 1999 – Helen Clark is sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand, the second woman to hold the post and the first following an election. 2005 – Sosoliso Airlines Flight 1145 crashes at Port Harcourt International Airport in Nigeria, killing 108 people. 2014 – Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein is killed after the suppression of a demonstration by Israeli forces in the village (Turmus'ayya) in Ramallah. 2015 – Rojava conflict: The Syrian Democratic Council is established in Dêrik, forming the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria. 2016 – Two explosions outside a football stadium in Istanbul, Turkey, kill 38 people and injure 166 others. 2017 – ISIL is defeated in Iraq. 2019 – The Ostrava hospital attack in the Czech Republic results in eight deaths, including the perpetrator. 2021 – A widespread, deadly, and violent tornado outbreak slams the Central, Midwestern, and Southern regions of the United States. Eighty-nine people are killed by the tornadoes, with most of the fatalities occurring in Kentucky, where a single tornado kills 57 people, and injures hundreds of others. Another tornado in Edwardsville, Illinois strikes an Amazon warehouse, killing six workers.
Births Pre-1600 553 – Houzhu, emperor of the Chen dynasty (died 604) 1376 – Edmund Mortimer, English nobleman and rebel (died 1409) 1452 – Johannes Stöffler, German mathematician and astronomer (died 1531) 1472 – Anne de Mowbray, 8th Countess of Norfolk (died 1481) 1489 – Gaston of Foix, Duke of Nemours (died 1512) 1588 – Isaac Beeckman, Dutch scientist and philosopher (died 1637)
1601–1900 1610 – Adriaen van Ostade, Dutch painter (died 1685) 1654 – Giovanni Gioseffo dal Sole, Italian painter (died 1719) 1658 – Lancelot Blackburne, Archbishop of York (died 1743) 1713 – Johann Nicolaus Mempel, German cantor and organist (died 1747) 1751 – George Shaw, English botanist and zoologist (died 1813) 1776 – Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria-Este (died 1848) 1783 – María Bibiana Benítez, Puerto Rican poet and playwright (died 1873) 1787 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, American educator, founded the American School for the Deaf (died 1851) 1804 – Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, German mathematician and academic (died 1851) 1805 – William Lloyd Garrison, American journalist and activist, founded The Liberator (died 1879) 1805 – Joseph Škoda, Czech medical doctor, dermatologist and academic (died 1881) 1811 – Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer, American poet, biographer, and editor (died 1894) 1815 – Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and computer scientist (died 1852) 1821 – Nikolay Nekrasov, Russian poet and critic (died 1877) 1822 – César Franck, Belgian organist and composer (died 1890) 1824 – George MacDonald, Scottish minister, author, and poet (died 1905) 1827 – Eugene O'Keefe, Canadian businessman and philanthropist (died 1913) 1830 – Emily Dickinson, American poet (died 1886) 1851 – Melvil Dewey, American librarian, created the Dewey Decimal System (died 1931) 1866 – Louis Bolk, Dutch anatomist and biologist (died 1930) 1870 – Jadunath Sarkar, Indian historian (died 1958) 1870 – Adolf Loos, Austrian architect and theoretician (died 1933) 1870 – Pierre Louÿs, Belgian-French author and poet (died 1925) 1878 – C. Rajagopalachari, Indian lawyer and politician, 45th Governor-General of India (died 1972) 1878 – Mohammad Ali Jauhar, Indian Muslim activist (died 1931) 1882 – Otto Neurath, Austrian sociologist and philosopher (died 1945) 1882 – Shigenori Tōgō, Japanese politician, 37th Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs (died 1950) 1883 – Giovanni Messe, Italian field marshal and politician (died 1968) 1885 – Elizabeth Baker, American economist and academic (died 1973) 1885 – Marios Varvoglis, Greek composer and conductor (died 1967) 1886 – Victor McLaglen, English-American actor (died 1959) 1889 – Ray Collins, American actor (died 1965) 1890 – László Bárdossy, Hungarian politician and diplomat, 33rd Prime Minister of Hungary (died 1946) 1891 – Harold Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Tunis, English field marshal and politician, 17th Governor General of Canada (died 1969) 1891 – Arlie Mucks, American discus thrower and shot putter (died 1967) 1891 – Nelly Sachs, German-Swedish poet and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1970) 1896 – Torsten Bergström, Swedish actor and director (died 1948)
1901–present 1903 – Una Merkel, American actress (died 1986) 1904 – Antonín Novotný, Czechoslovak politician, President of Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (died 1975) 1906 – Harold Adamson, American lyricist (died 1980) 1906 – Jules Ladoumègue, French runner (died 1973) 1907 – Rumer Godden, English author and poet (died 1998) 1907 – Lucien Laurent, French footballer and coach (died 2005) 1907 – Amedeo Nazzari, Italian actor (died 1979) 1908 – Olivier Messiaen, French composer and ornithologist (died 1992) 1909 – Hermes Pan, American dancer and choreographer (died 1990) 1910 – Ambrosio Padilla, Filipino basketball player and politician (died 1996) 1911 – Chet Huntley, American journalist (died 1974) 1912 – Philip Hart, American lawyer and politician, 49th Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (died 1976) 1912 – Tetsuji Takechi, Japanese theatrical and film director, critic, and author (died 1988) 1912 – René Toribio, Guadeloupean politician (died 1990) 1913 – Pannonica de Koenigswarter, English-American jazz patron and writer (died 1988) 1913 – Morton Gould, American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1996) 1913 – Harry Locke, English actor (died 1987) 1913 – Ray Nance, American trumpeter, violinist, and singer (died 1976) 1914 – Dorothy Lamour, American actress and singer (died 1996) 1915 – Nicky Barr, Australian rugby player, soldier, and pilot (died 2006) 1916 – Walt Arfons, American race car driver (died 2013) 1918 – Anne Gwynne, American actress (died 2003) 1918 – Anatoli Tarasov, Russian ice hockey player and coach (died 1995) 1919 – Alexander Courage, American composer and conductor (died 2008) 1920 – Clarice Lispector, Ukrainian-Brazilian journalist and author (died 1977) 1920 – Reginald Rose, American screenwriter and producer (died 2002)