Events Pre-1600 1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. 1503 – The Battle of Garigliano was fought between a Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and a French army commanded by Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo.
1601–1900 1607 – According to John Smith, Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan leader Wahunsenacawh, successfully pleads for his life after tribal leaders attempt to execute him. 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell defeat American forces under Major General Robert Howe and capture the port city of Savannah, Georgia. 1812 – , under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures off the coast of Brazil after a three-hour battle. 1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States. 1845 – The United States annexes the Republic of Texas and admits it as the 28th state. 1860 – The launch of , with her combination of screw propeller, iron hull and iron armour, renders all previous warships obsolete. 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickasaw Bayou ends in a Union defeat as forces under General William T. Sherman are repulsed with heavy losses by Confederate troops under General John C. Pemberton. 1874 – The military coup of Gen. Martinez Campos in Sagunto ends the failed First Spanish Republic and the monarchy is restored as Prince Alfonso is proclaimed King of Spain. 1876 – The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio. 1890 – Wounded Knee Massacre: On Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota are killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment.
1901–present 1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty, enthroning 8th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia. 1913 – Cecil B. DeMille starts filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man. 1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan. 1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. 1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution. 1940 – World War II: in the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, killing almost 200 civilians. 1972 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes in the Florida Everglades on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101 of the 176 people on board. 1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring more than 75. 1989 – Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-communist President of Czechoslovakia. 1989 – The Nikkei 225 for the Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87, serving as the apex of the Japanese asset price bubble.. 1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached. 1994 – Turkish Airlines Flight 278 (a Boeing 737-400) crashes on approach to Van Ferit Melen Airport in Van, Turkey, killing 57 of the 76 people on board. 1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war. 1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the Cambodian genocide that claimed over one million lives. 2003 – The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct. 2006 – The UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt. 2012 – A Tupolev Tu-204 airliner crashes in a ditch between the airport fence and the M3 highway after overshooting a runway at Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, Russia, killing five people and leaving three others critically injured. 2013 – A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kills at least 18 people and wounds 40 others. 2013 – Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher suffers a massive head injury while skiing in the French Alps. 2020 – A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hits near the town of Petrinja in Sisak-Moslavina County, Croatia, killing seven people. 2023 – South Africa files a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice over Israeli conducts in the Gaza Strip. 2024 – Jeju Air Flight 2216 crashes into a wall in Muan, South Korea, killing 179 of the 181 occupants. It is the worst aircraft accident on South Korean soil in history.
Births Pre-1600 1536 – Henry VI, German nobleman (died 1572) 1550 – García de Silva Figueroa, Spanish diplomat and traveller (died 1624)
1601–1900 1633 – Johannes Zollikofer, Swiss vicar (died 1692) 1709 – Elizabeth Petrovna, Russian empress (died 1762) 1721 – Madame de Pompadour, mistress of King Louis XV (died 1764) 1746 – Saverio Cassar, Maltese priest and rebel leader (died 1805) 1766 – Charles Macintosh, Scottish chemist and the inventor of waterproof fabric (died 1843) 1788 – Christian Jürgensen Thomsen, Danish antiquarian (died 1865) 1796 – Johann Christian Poggendorff, German physicist and journalist (died 1877) 1800 – Charles Goodyear, American chemist and engineer (died 1860) 1804 – John Langdon Sibley, American librarian (died 1885) 1808 – Andrew Johnson, American general and politician, 17th President of the United States (died 1875) 1809 – George Washington Baines, American politician, journalist and educator (died 1882) 1809 – William Ewart Gladstone, English lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1898) 1809 – Albert Pike, American author, poet, orator, editor, lawyer, jurist, and general (died 1891) 1811 – Francisco Palau, Catalan Discalced Carmelite friar and priest (died 1872) 1816 – Carl Ludwig, German physician and physiologist (died 1895) 1843 – Elisabeth of Wied (died 1916) 1844 – Womesh Chunder Bonnerjee, Indian barrister and first president of Indian National Congress (died 1906) 1855 – August Kitzberg, Estonian author and poet (died 1927) 1856 – Thomas Joannes Stieltjes, Dutch-French mathematician and academic (died 1894) 1857 – Sydney Young, English chemist (died 1937) 1859 – Venustiano Carranza, Mexican soldier and politician, 37th President of Mexico (died 1920) 1870 – Earl Gregg Swem, American historian, bibliographer and librarian (died 1965) 1874 – François Brandt, Dutch rower and bishop (died 1949) 1876 – Pablo Casals, Catalan cellist and conductor (died 1973) 1876 – Lionel Tertis, English violist (died 1975) 1879 – Billy Mitchell, American general and pilot (died 1936) 1881 – Scott Leary, American swimmer (died 1958) 1881 – Jess Willard, American boxer (died 1968) 1885 – Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, Austrian-Russian general (died 1921) 1886 – Norman Hallows, English runner and captain (died 1968) 1886 – Georg Hermann Struve, German astronomer (died 1933) 1892 – Aku Korhonen, Finnish actor (died 1960) 1894 – J. Lister Hill, American politician (died 1984) 1895 – Oswald Freisler, German lawyer and author (died 1939) 1896 – David Alfaro Siqueiros, Mexican painter (died 1974) 1899 – Nie Rongzhen, Chinese general and politician, Mayor of Beijing (died 1992)
1901–present 1902 – Nels Stewart, Canadian ice hockey player (died 1957) 1903 – Candido Portinari, Brazilian painter (died 1962) 1904 – Kuvempu, Indian author and poet (died 1994) 1908 – Helmut Gollwitzer, German theologian and author (died 1993) 1908 – Magnus Pyke, English scientist and author (died 1992) 1910 – Ronald Coase, English-American economist, author, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013) 1911 – Klaus Fuchs, German physicist and spy (died 1988) 1914 – Zainul Abedin, Bangladeshi painter and academic (died 1976) 1914 – Billy Tipton, American pianist and saxophonist (died 1989) 1914 – Albert Tucker, Australian painter and illustrator (died 1999) 1915 – Bill Osmanski, American football player and coach (died 1996) 1915 – Robert Ruark, American hunter and author (died 1965) 1915 – Jo Van Fleet, American actress (died 1996) 1917 – Tom Bradley, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician, 38th Mayor of Los Angeles (died 1998) 1917 – Ramanand Sagar, Indian director and producer (died 2005) 1919 – Alfred de Grazia, American political scientist and author (died 2014) 1919 – Roman Vlad, Italian pianist and composer (died 2013) 1920 – Viveca Lindfors, Swedish-American actress, singer and poet (died 1995) 1921 – Robert C. Baker, American inventor and professor (died 2006) 1921 – Dobrica Ćosić, Serbian politician, 1st President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (died 2014) 1921 – Michael Horne, English structural engineer, scientist and academic (died 2000) 1922 – Little Joe Cook, American singer-songwriter (died 2014) 1922 – William Gaddis, American author and academic (died 1998) 1923 – Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, French mathematician and physicist (died 2025) 1923 – Cheikh Anta Diop, Senegalese historian, anthropologist, and physicist (died 1986) 1923 – Lily Ebert, Hungarian-born Holocaust survivor (died 2024) 1923 – Morton Estrin, American pianist and educator (died 2017) 1923 – Dina Merrill, American actress, game show panelist, socialite, heiress, and businesswoman (died 2017) 1923 – Shlomo Venezia, Greek-Italian author and Holocaust survivor (died 2012) 1924 – Joe Allbritton, American businessman and publisher, founded the Allbritton Communications Company (died 2012) 1924 – Kim Song-ae, Korean politician (died 2014) 1925 – Pete Dye, American golfer and architect (died 2020) 1927 – Andy Stanfield, American sprinter (died 1985) 1928 – Bernard Cribbins, British actor (died 2022) 1929 – Matt Murphy, American guitarist (died 2018) 1931 – Yi Ku, Korean prince (died 2005) 1931 – Stasys Stonkus, Lithuanian basketball player and coach (died 2012) 1932 – Inga Swenson, American actress and singer (died 2023) 1933 – Samuel Brittan, English journalist and author (died 2020) 1934 – Ed Flanders, American actor (died 1995) 1936 – Mary Tyler Moore, American actress and producer (died 2017) 1936 – Ray Nitschke, American football player (died 1998) 1937 – Wayne Huizenga, American businessman, founded AutoNation (died 2018) 1937 – Barbara Steele, English actress 1938 – Harvey Smith, English horse rider and sportscaster 1938 – Jon Voight, American actor and producer 1939 – Ed Bruce, American country music singer-songwriter (died 2021) 1940 – Fred Hansen, American pole vaulter 1941 – Ray Thomas, English singer-songwriter and flute player (died 2018) 1942 – Dinah Christie, English-Canadian actress and singer 1942 – Rajesh Khanna, Indian actor (died 2012) 1942 – Dorothy Morkis, American equestrian 1942 – Óscar Rodríguez Maradiaga, Honduran cardinal 1943 – Bill Aucoin, American talent manager (died 2010) 1943 – Molly Bang, American author and illustrator 1943 – Rick Danko, Canadian singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (died 1999) 1944 – Andrew Foster, British public servant 1944 – Rodney Redmond, New Zealand cricketer 1944 – Gerard Windsor, Australian author and literary critic 1945 – Birendra of Nepal, King of Nepal from 1972 to 2001 (died 2001) 1945 – Keith Milow, British artist 1946 – Marianne Faithfull, English singer-songwriter and actress (died 2025) 1946 – Laffit Pincay, Jr., Panamanian jockey 1946 – Paul Trible, American attorney, politician and academic administrator 1946 – Jackie Bezos, American philanthropist (died 2025) 1947 – Richard Crandall, American physicist and computer scientist (died 2012) 1947 – Ted Danson, American actor and producer 1947 – Leonhard Lapin, Estonian architect and poet (died 2022) 1947 – Cozy Powell, English drummer, songwriter, and producer (died 1998)