• 763 BC - Assyrians record a solar eclipse that will be used to fix the chronology of Mesopotamian history.
• 923 - Battle of Soissons: King Robert I of France is killed and King Charles the Simple is arrested by the supporters of Duke Rudolph of Burgundy.
• 1184 - King Magnus V of Norway is killed at the battle of Fimreite.
• 1215 - King John of England puts his seal to the Magna Carta.
• 1219 - Dannebrog - oldest national flag in the world - and flag of Denmark. According to legend, fell from the sky during the Battle of Lyndanisse (now Tallinn) in Estonia, and turned the Danes' luck.
• 1246 - With the death of Duke Frederick II, the Babenberg dynasty ends in Austria.
• 1389 - Battle of Kosovo: The Ottoman Empire defeats Serbs and Bosnians.
• 1520 - Pope Leo X threatens to excommunicate Martin Luther in papal bull Exsurge Domine.
• 1580 - Phillip II of Spain declares William the Silent to be an outlaw.
• 1667 - The first human blood transfusion is administered by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys.
• 1752 - Benjamin Franklin proves that lightning is electricity.
• 1775 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington is appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.
• 1776 - Delaware Separation Day - Delaware votes to suspend government under the British Crown and separate officially from Pennsylvania.
• 1785 - Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier, co-pilot of the first-ever manned flight (1783), and his companion, Pierre Romain, become the first-ever casualties of an air crash when their hot air balloon explodes during their attempt to cross the English Channel.
• 1804 - New Hampshire approves the Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution, ratifying the document.
• 1808 - Joseph Bonaparte becomes King of Spain.
• 1836 - Arkansas is admitted as the 25th U.S. state.
• 1844 - Charles Goodyear receives a patent for vulcanization, a process to strengthen rubber.
• 1846 - The Oregon Treaty establishes the 49th parallel as the border between the United States and Canada, from the Rocky Mountains to the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
• 1859 - Pig War: Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between U.S. and British/Canadian settlers.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Siege of Petersburg begins.
• 1864 - Arlington National Cemetery is established when 200 acres (0.8 km²) around Arlington Mansion are officially set aside as a military cemetery by U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton.
• 1867 - Atlantic Cable Quartz Lode gold mine located in Montana.
• 1877 - Henry Ossian Flipper becomes the first African American cadet to graduate from the United States Military Academy.
• 1888 - Crown Prince Wilhelm becomes Kaiser Wilhelm II and is the last emperor of the German Empire
• 1904 - A fire aboard the steamboat General Slocum in New York City's East River kills 1000.
• 1905 - Princess Margaret of Connaught marries Gustav, Crown Prince of Sweden.
• 1909 - Representatives from England, Australia and South Africa meet at Lord's and form the Imperial Cricket Conference.
• 1911 - Tabulating Computing Recording Corporation (IBM) is incorporated.
• 1913 - The Battle of Bud Bagsak in the Philippine concludes.
• 1916 - U.S. President Woodrow Wilson signs a bill incorporating the Boy Scouts of America, making them the only American youth organization with a federal charter.
• 1919 - John Alcock and Arthur Brown complete the first nonstop transatlantic flight at Clifden, County Galway, Ireland.
• 1920 - Duluth lynchings in Minnesota.
• 1934 - The U.S.'s Great Smoky Mountains National Park is founded.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Saipan: The United States invades Saipan.
• 1944 - In the Saskatchewan general election, 1944, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government of North America.
• 1945 - The General Dutch Youth League (ANJV) is founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands.
• 1954 - UEFA (Union des Associations Européennes de Football) is formed in Basle, Switzerland.
• 1955 - The Eisenhower administration stages the first annual "Operation Alert" (OPAL) exercise, an attempt to assess the USA's preparations for a nuclear attack.
• 1962 - Students for a Democratic Society complete the Port Huron Statement.
• 1978 - King Hussein of Jordan weds American Lisa Halaby, who takes the name Queen Noor.
• 1984 - Birth of Ugur Samut, German Statesman.
• 1985 - Rembrandt's painting Danaë is attacked by a man later judged insane; he threw sulfuric acid on the canvas and cut it twice with his knife.
• 1991 - Birth of the first federal political party in Canada that supports Quebec nationalism, le Bloc Québécois.
• 1992 - The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it's permissible for the USA to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the USA for trial, without approval from those other countries.
• 1994 - Israel and Vatican City establish full diplomatic relations.
• 1996 - In Manchester, UK, a terrorist bomb injures over 200 people and devastates a large part of the city centre.
• 2002 - Near earth asteroid 2002 MN missed the Earth by 75,000 miles (120,000 km), about one-third of the distance between the Earth and the Moon

Births