Events Pre-1600 769 – The Lateran Council ends by condemning the Council of Hieria and anathematizing its iconoclastic rulings.; 1071 – Bari, the last Byzantine possession in southern Italy, is surrendered to the Norman Robert Guiscard. 1071 – The sharif of Mecca changes the khutbah from the Shiite Fatimid caliph in Cairo to the Sunni Abbasid Caliph in Bagdhad. 1191 – Henry VI, King of Germany, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by pope Celestine III. 1277 – The Mamluk Sultanate defeats the Mongols in the battle of Elbistan. 1450 – Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English forces, ending English domination in Northern France.
1601–1900 1632 – Battle of Rain: Swedes under Gustavus Adolphus defeat the Holy Roman Empire during the Thirty Years' War. 1642 – Irish Confederate Wars: A Confederate Irish militia is routed in the Battle of Kilrush when it attempts to halt the progress of a Royalist Army. 1715 – The Pocotaligo Massacre triggers the start of the Yamasee War in colonial South Carolina. 1736 – Foundation of the short-lived Kingdom of Corsica. 1738 – Serse, an Italian opera by George Frideric Handel, receives its premiere performance in London, England. 1755 – Samuel Johnson's A Dictionary of the English Language is published in London. 1817 – Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clerc found the American School for the Deaf (then called the Connecticut Asylum for the Education and Instruction of Deaf and Dumb Persons), the first American school for deaf students, in Hartford, Connecticut. 1861 – President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War. 1865 – President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president. 1892 – The General Electric Company is formed. 1896 – Closing ceremony of the Games of the I Olympiad in Athens, Greece. 1900 – Philippine–American War: Filipino guerrillas launch a surprise attack on U.S. infantry and begin a four-day siege of Catubig, Philippines.
1901–present 1912 – The British passenger liner sinks in the North Atlantic at 2:20 a.m., two hours and forty minutes after hitting an iceberg. Only 712 of 2,207 passengers and crew on board survive. 1920 – Two security guards are murdered during a robbery in South Braintree, Massachusetts. Anarchists Sacco and Vanzetti would be convicted of and executed for the crime, amid much controversy. 1922 – U.S. Senator John B. Kendrick of Wyoming introduces a resolution calling for an investigation of a secret land deal, which leads to the discovery of the Teapot Dome scandal. 1923 – Insulin becomes generally available for use by people with diabetes. 1923 – Racially motivated Nihon Shōgakkō fire lit by a serial arsonist kills 10 children in Sacramento, California. 1936 – First day of the Arab revolt in Mandatory Palestine. 1941 – World War II: In the Belfast Blitz, 200 bombers of the German Luftwaffe attack Belfast, killing some 1,000 people. 1942 – World War II: The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI. 1945 – Bergen-Belsen concentration camp is liberated. 1947 – Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line. 1952 – First flight of the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. 1955 – McDonald's restaurant dates its founding to the opening of a franchised restaurant by Ray Kroc, in Des Plaines, Illinois. 1960 – At Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina, Ella Baker leads a conference that results in the creation of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, one of the principal organizations of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. 1969 – The EC-121 shootdown incident: North Korea shoots down a United States Navy aircraft over the Sea of Japan, killing all 31 on board. 1970 – During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam. 1986 – The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen. 1989 – Hillsborough disaster: A human crush occurs at Hillsborough Stadium, home of Sheffield Wednesday, in the FA Cup Semi-final, resulting in the deaths of 97 Liverpool fans. 1989 – Upon Hu Yaobang's death, the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 begin in China. 1994 – Marrakesh Agreement relating to foundation of World Trade Organization is adopted. 2002 – Air China Flight 129 crashes on approach to Gimhae International Airport in Busan, South Korea, killing 129 people. 2013 – Two bombs explode near the finish line at the Boston Marathon in Boston, Massachusetts, killing three people and injuring over 500 others. 2013 – A wave of bombings across Iraq kills at least 75 people. 2014 – In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, more than 400 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals. 2019 – The cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris in France is seriously damaged by a large fire. 2021 – A mass shooting occurs at a FedEx Ground facility in Indianapolis, Indiana, killing nine and injuring seven. 2026 – Twelve people and the perpetrator are killed and twelve others injured in a mass shooting at a school in Onikişubat, Turkey.
Births Pre-1600 68 BC – Gaius Maecenas, Roman politician (died 8 BC) 1282 – Frederick IV, Duke of Lorraine (died 1329) 1442 – John Paston, English noble (died 1479) 1452 – Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, and architect (died 1519) 1469 – Guru Nanak, the first Sikh guru (died 1539) 1552 – Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (died 1626) 1563 – Guru Arjan Dev, fifth Sikh leader (died 1606) 1588 – Claudius Salmasius, French author and scholar (died 1653) 1592 – Francesco Maria Brancaccio, Catholic cardinal (died 1675)
1601–1900 1641 – Robert Sibbald, Scottish physician and geographer (died 1722) 1642 – Suleiman II, Ottoman sultan (died 1691) 1646 – Christian V of Denmark (died 1699) 1684 – Catherine I of Russia (died 1727) 1688 – Johann Friedrich Fasch, German violinist and composer (died 1758) 1707 – Leonhard Euler, Swiss mathematician and physicist (died 1783) 1710 – William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist (died 1790) 1731 – William B. Whiting, New York politician (died 1796) 1741 – Charles Willson Peale, American painter and soldier (died 1827) 1771 – Nicolas Chopin, French-Polish educator (died 1844) 1772 – Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, French biologist and zoologist (died 1844) 1793 – Friedrich Georg Wilhelm von Struve, German astronomer and academic (died 1864) 1795 – Maria Schicklgruber, mother of Alois Hitler and the paternal grandmother of Adolf Hitler (died 1847) 1800 – James Clark Ross, English captain and explorer (died 1862) 1808 – William Champ, English-Australian politician, 1st Premier of Tasmania (died 1892) 1809 – Hermann Grassmann, German linguist and mathematician (died 1877) 1817 – William Crowther, Dutch-Australian politician, 14th Premier of Tasmania (died 1885) 1828 – Jean Danjou, French captain (died 1863) 1829 – Mary Harris Thompson, Mary Harris Thompson, American physician and surgeon (died 1895) 1832 – Wilhelm Busch, German poet, painter, and illustrator (died 1908) 1841 – Mary Grant Roberts, Australian zoo owner (died 1921) 1841 – Joseph E. Seagram, Canadian businessman and politician, founded the Seagram Company Ltd (died 1919) 1843 – Henry James, American novelist, short story writer, and critic (died 1916) 1856 – Jean Moréas, Greek poet and critic (died 1910) 1858 – Émile Durkheim, French sociologist, psychologist, and philosopher (died 1917) 1861 – Bliss Carman, Canadian-British poet and playwright (died 1929) 1863 – Ida Freund, Austrian-born chemist and educator (died 1914) 1874 – George Harrison Shull, American botanist and geneticist (died 1954) 1874 – Johannes Stark, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1957) 1875 – James J. Jeffries, American boxer and promoter (died 1953) 1877 – Georg Kolbe, German sculptor (died 1947) 1877 – William David Ross, Scottish philosopher (died 1971) 1878 – Robert Walser, Swiss author and playwright (died 1956) 1879 – Melville Henry Cane, American lawyer and poet (died 1980) 1883 – Stanley Bruce, Australian captain and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1967) 1885 – Tadeusz Kutrzeba, Polish general (died 1947) 1886 – Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet and critic (died 1921) 1887 – Felix Pipes, Austrian tennis player (died 1983) 1887 – William Forgan Smith, Scottish-Australian politician, 24th Premier of Queensland (died 1953) 1888 – Maximilian Kronberger, German poet and author (died 1904) 1889 – Thomas Hart Benton, American painter and educator (died 1975) 1889 – A. Philip Randolph, American activist (died 1979) 1890 – Percy Shaw, English businessman, invented the cat's eye (died 1976) 1892 – Theo Osterkamp, German general and pilot (died 1975) 1892 – Corrie ten Boom, Dutch-American clocksmith, Nazi resister, and author (died 1983) 1894 – Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician, 7th Premier of the Soviet Union (died 1971) 1894 – Bessie Smith, African-American singer and actress (died 1937) 1895 – Clark McConachy, New Zealand snooker player (died 1980) 1895 – Abigail Mejia, Dominican feminist activist, nationalist, literary critic and educator (died 1941) 1896 – Nikolay Semyonov, Russian physicist and chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1986) 1898 – Harry Edward, Guyanese-English sprinter (died 1973) 1900 – Ramón Iribarren, Spanish civil engineer (died 1967)
1901–present 1901 – Joe Davis, English snooker player (died 1978) 1901 – Ajoy Mukherjee, Indian politician, Chief Minister of West Bengal (died 1986) 1901 – René Pleven, French businessman and politician, Prime Minister of France (died 1993) 1902 – Fernando Pessa, Portuguese journalist (died 2002) 1903 – John Williams, English-American actor (died 1983) 1904 – Arshile Gorky, Armenian-American painter and illustrator (died 1948) 1907 – Nikolaas Tinbergen, Dutch-English ethologist and ornithologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1988) 1908 – eden ahbez, American songwriter and recording artist (died 1995) 1908 – Lita Grey, American actress (died 1995) 1909 – Robert Edison Fulton Jr., American inventor and adventurer (died 2004)Fulton, R. E. Jr., (1983) – The One Man Caravan of Robert E. Fulton Jr. An Autofilmography – Newtown, Connecticut: Flying Ridge 1910 – Sulo Bärlund, Finnish shot putter (died 1986) 1910 – Miguel Najdorf, Polish-Argentinian chess player and theoretician (died 1997) 1912 – William Congdon, American-Italian painter and sculptor (died 1998) 1912 – Kim Il Sung, North Korean general and politician, 1st Supreme Leader of North Korea (died 1994) 1915 – Elizabeth Catlett, African-American sculptor and illustrator (died 2012) 1916 – Alfred S. Bloomingdale, American businessman (died 1982) 1916 – Helene Hanff, American author and screenwriter (died 1997) 1917 – Hans Conried, American actor (died 1982) 1917 – Elmer Gedeon, American baseball player and bomber pilot (died 1944) 1917 – James Kee, American lawyer and politician (died 1989) 1918 – Hans Billian, German film director, screenwriter, and actor (died 2007) 1919 – Alberto Breccia, Uruguayan-Argentinian author and illustrator (died 1993) 1920 – Godfrey Stafford, English-South African physicist and academic (died 2013) 1920 – Thomas Szasz, Hungarian-American psychiatrist and academic (died 2012) 1920 – Richard von Weizsäcker, German soldier and politician, 6th President of Germany (died 2015) 1921 – Georgy Beregovoy, Ukrainian-Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (died 1995) 1921 – Angelo DiGeorge, American physician and endocrinologist (died 2009) 1922 – Michael Ansara, Syrian-American actor (died 2013) 1922 – Donn F. Draeger, American martial arts practitioner (died 1982)