1940 – The evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.
451 – The Battle of Avarayr between Armenian rebels and the Sassanid Empire takes place. The Armenians are defeated militarily but are guaranteed freedom to openly practice Christianity.
1521 – Martin Luther’s writings were banned by the Edict of Worms.
1637 – Mystic Massacre: in 1st battle of Pequot War in Connecticut about 500 Pequot Native Americans are killed by Colonial forces
1647 – Alse Young becomes the first person executed as a witch in the American colonies, when she is hanged in Hartford, Connecticut
1647 – A new law banned Catholic priests from the colony of Massachusetts. The penalty was banishment or death for a second offense.
1660 – King Charles II of England landed at Dover after being exiled for nine years.
1670 – A treaty was signed in secret in Dover, England, between Charles II and Louis XIV ending the hostilities between them.
1691 – Jacob Leiser, leader of the popular uprising in support of William and Mary’s accession to the English throne, was executed for treason.
1790 – Territory South of River Ohio created by US Congress
1791 – The French Assembly forced King Louis XVI to hand over the crown and state assets.
1805 – Napoleon Bonaparte was crowned King of Italy in Milan Cathedral.
1828 – Mysterious feral child Kaspar Hauser is discovered wandering the streets of Nuremberg
1835 – A resolution was passed in the U.S. Congress stating that Congress has no authority over state slavery laws.
1836 – The U.S. House of Representatives adopted what has been called the Gag Rule.
1857 – US slave Dred Scott and family freed by owner Henry Taylor Blow, only 3 months after US courts ruled against them in Dred Scott v. Sandford
1864 – The Territory of Montana was organized.
1868 – US President Andrew Johnson is acquitted by the Senate by one vote during his impeachment trial
1896 – The last czar of Russia, Nicholas II, was crowned.
1908 – In Persia, the first oil strike was made in the Middle East.
1923 – Inaugural 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race for cars starts through public roads around Le Mans, France; inaugural winners: André Lagache and René Léonard (France) for Chenard & Walcker
1924 – US President Calvin Coolidge signs Immigration law restricting immigration
1930 – Supreme Court rules buying liquor does not violate the Constitution
1938 – The House Committee on Un-American Activities began its work of searching for subversives in the United States.
1940 – The evacuation of Allied troops from Dunkirk, France, began during World War II.
1948 – The U.S. Congress passed Public Law 557 which permanently established the Civil Air Patrol as the Auxiliary of the new U.S. Air Force.
1956 – A fire on board the aircraft carrier USS Bennington in Narragansett Bay, off Rhode Island, kills 103 crew
1956 – The first trailer bank opened for business in Locust Grove, Long Island, NY. The 46-foot-long trailer took in $100,000 in deposits its first day.
1969 – The Apollo 10 astronauts returned to Earth after a successful eight-day dress rehearsal for the first manned moon landing.
1972 – The Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I) was signed by the U.S. and USSR. The short-term agreement put a freeze on the testing and deployment of intercontinental and submarine-launched ballistic missiles for a 5-year period.
1972 – In the Republic of Ireland, the Special Criminal Court is re-instituted to deal with crimes arising out of the Northern Ireland conflict; as part of the measures trial by jury is suspended
1984 – US President Ronald Reagan rules out US military intervention in Iran-Iraq war
1987 – Sri Lanka launched Operation Liberation. It was an offensive against the Tamil rebellion in Jaffra.
1987 – US Supreme Court ruled dangerous defendants could be held without bail
1994 – U.S. President Clinton renewed trade privileges for China, and announced that his administration would no longer link China’s trade status with its human rights record.
1998 – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Ellis Island was mainly in New Jersey, not New York.
2003 – Rwandans voted to approve a new constitution that instituted a balance of power between Hutu and Tutsi.
2004 – The New York Times publishes admission of journalistic failings, claims its flawed reporting and lack of skeptism during buildup to 2003 Iraq War helped promote belief that Iraq possessed large stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction.
2011 – Ratko Mladic, the former Bosnian Serb general responsible for the massacre of over 8,000 Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, is found and arrested in Lazarevo, a farming town north of Belgrade, Serbia.
2020 – Twitter adds warning labels to warn about inaccuracies in US President Donald Trump’s tweets for the first time
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
