1997 – The U.S.S. Constitution, which defended the United States during the War of 1812, set sail under its own power for the first time in 116 years.
0356 BC – A young man called Herostratus set fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World
0285 – Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler
0365 – Crete Earthquake followed by tsunami around the Eastern Mediterranean allegedly destroys Alexandria
1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England
1542 – Pope Paul III begins inquisition against Protestants (Sactum Officium)
1588 – First engagement between the English fleet and the Spanish Armada off the Eddystone Rocks
1645 – Manchu Prince Grogon issues edict that all Han Chinese men shave front of their head and wear hair in queues in the Manchu style
1667 – The Treaties of Breda signed, ended the second Anglo-Dutch war after a Dutch fleet has broken the chain in England’s Medway River, reached Chatham, and captured the flagship Royal Charles.
1730 – States of Holland put death penalty on “sodomy”
1774 – Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war.
1823 – After pirate attack, LT David G. Farragut leads landing party to destroy pirate stronghold in Cuba.
1831 – Belgium became independent as Leopold I was proclaimed King of the Belgians.
1846 – Mormons found first English settlement in Calif (San Joaquin Valley)
1861 – The first major battle of the U.S. Civil War began. It was the Battle of Bull Run at Manassas Junction, VA. The Confederates won the battle.
1865 – In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western showdown
1877 – After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia
1904 – After 13 years, the 4,607-mile Trans-Siberian railway is completed
1915 – Woodrow Wilson sends the third Lusitania note, warning Germany that future infringement of American rights will be deemed ‘deliberately unfriendly’
1925 – The “Monkey Trial” ended in Dayton, TN. John T. Scopes was convicted and fined $100 for violating the state prohibition on teaching Darwin’s theory of evolution. The conviction was later overturned on a legal technicality because the judge had set the fine instead of the jury.
1930 – The Veterans Administration of the United States was established.
1940 – Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia were annexed by the Soviet Union.
1942 – 8 die as coal waste heap slides in river valley near Oakwood, Va
1944 – American forces landed on Guam during World War II.
1949 – The U.S. Senate ratified the North Atlantic Treaty.
1954 – The Geneva Conference partitioned Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
1957 – Althea Gibson became the first black woman to win a major U.S. tennis title when she won the Women’s National clay-court singles competition.
1959 – A U.S. District Court judge in New York City ruled that “Lady Chatterley’s Lover” was not a dirty book.
1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the first woman prime minister in the world, making her the first elected female national leader in the world (Sri Lanka)
1961 – Captain Virgil “Gus” Grissom became the second American to rocket into a sub-orbital pattern around the Earth. He was flying on the Liberty Bell 7.
1969 – Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin “”Buzz”” Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission. At 2:56:15 AM (GMT)
1972 – In New York, 57 murders occur in 24 hours
1973 – In the Lillehammer affair in Norway, Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in 1972’s Munich Olympics Massacre
1976 – Christopher Ewart-Biggs Brit ambassador to Ireland is assassinated
1976 – The first outbreak of “”Legionnaire’s Disease”” kills 29 in Philadelphia
1977 – Libyan–Egyptian War begins, This short war between Libya and Egypt started with Libya striking Egyptian cities. The war lasted for 2 days with a ceasefire on July 24.
1980 – Draft registration began in the United States for 19 and 20-year-old men.
1980 – Mary Eugenia Charles is elected as PM of Dominica, Her election to office made her the first female and the longest PM of the Commonwealth of Dominica. She is also the first elected female head of state in the Americas.
1983 – US announces Lebanon freed American hostage David Dodge
1994 – Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way for him to become Prime Minister in 1997
1997 – The U.S.S. Constitution, which defended the United States during the War of 1812, set sail under its own power for the first time in 116 years.
1998 – Chinese gymnast Sang Lan, 17, was paralyzed after a fall while practicing for the women’s vault competition at the Goodwill Games in New York. Spinal surgery 4 days later failed to restore sensation below her upper chest.
2002 – WorldCom Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. At the time it was the largest bankruptcy in U.S. history.
2004 – White House officials were briefed on the September 11 commission’s final report. The 575-page report concluded that hijackers exploited “deep institutional failings within our government.” The report was released to the public the next day.
2005 – A second series of four explosions took place on the London Underground and a London bus. The detonators of all four bombs exploded, but none of the main explosive charges detonated, and there were no casualties: the single injury reported at the time was later revealed to be an asthma sufferer. All suspected bombers from this failed attack escaped from the scenes but were later arrested
2008 – Bosnian Serb politician Radovan Karadžić is arrested in Serbia and indicted by the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia tribunal for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes during the 1995 Srebrenica massacre
2011 – In Florida, Space Shuttle Atlantis landed successfully at Kennedy Space Center after completing STS-135. It was the final flight of NASA’s space shuttle program.
2013 – 12 people are killed in a clash between two Muslim families in Lanao del Sur, Philippines
2018 – India scraps tax on sanitary products after campaign by activists
2019 – Puerto Rico’s governor Ricardo Rosselló says he won’t seek re-election after widespread protests over misogynistic and homophobic comments in his leaked online chats
2020 – Former Sudanese leader Omar Hassan al-Bashir goes on trial in Khartoum for the 1989 coup that toppled the government
2020 – Russian interference in British politics is ‘the new normal’ according to report by British Intelligence and Security Committee
2021 – President Xi Jinping arrives in Tibet in first official visit by a Chinese leader in 30 years
2022 – First polio case since 2013 reported in Rockford county, New York
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
