Events

Up to 1900 
 AD 81  Domitian becomes Roman Emperor.
 1180  Battle of Ishibashiyama in Japan.
 1509  Constantinople is hit by an earthquake, killing 13,000.
 1515  After the Battle of Marignano and defeat to French forces, Switzerland declares itself 'for ever' neutral.
 1741  George Frideric Handel completes his oratorio Messiah.
 1752  The British Empire adopts the Gregorian Calendar. In the change, the dates from September 3 to September 13 are missed out.
 1763  Seneca warriors defeat British forces at the Battle of Devil's Hole, during Pontiac's War.
 1791  The Papal States lose Avignon to France.
 1808  Finnish War: Russian forces defeat Swedish ones in the Battle of Oravais.
 1812  Napoleonic Wars: The French Grande Armée enters Moscow.
 1814  The poem Defense of Fort McHenry is written by Francis Scott Key. The poem is later used for the words in The Star-Spangled Banner.
 1829  The Russo-Turkish War ends.
 1846  Jang Bahadur and his brothers massacre about 40 members of the Nepalese Royal Court.
 1847  Mexican-American War: Winfield Scott captures Mexico City.
 1856  Battle of San Jacinto in Nicaragua.
 1862  American Civil War: The Battle of South Mountain, part of the Maryland Campaign, is fought.
 1897  Battleship SMS Kaiser Wilhelm II is launched.

1900  2000 
 1901  President of the United States William McKinley dies more than one week after being shot by Leon Czolgosz. He is succeeded by Theodore Roosevelt, who becomes the 26th President of the United States.
 1917  Russia is officially proclaimed a Republic.
 1923  Miguel Primo de Rivera becomes dictator of Spain.
 1939  World War II: The Estonian military boards the Polish submarine ORP Orzel in Tallinn, sparking a diplomatic incident that the Soviet Union will later use to justify taking over Estonia.
 1940  The Hungarian army, supported by local Hungarians, kills 158 Romanian civilians in Ip, Salay, Transylvania.
 1944  World War II: Maastricht becomes the first Dutch city to be liberated by the Allies.
 1954  In a top-secret nuclear test, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber drops a 40-kiloton atomic weapon just north of Totskoye village.
 1958  The first two Post-World War II German rockets, designed by engineer Ernst Mohr, reach the upper atmosphere.
 1959  The Soviet Lunik 2 probe crashes onto the Moon, becoming the first man-made object to reach the Moon.
 1960  The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is founded.
 1960  With CIA help, Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power from Patrice Lumumba in the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo, suspending the parliament and constitution.
 1973  The Gauja National Park is founded in present-day Latvia.
 1975  Rembrandt van Rijn's painting, The Night Watch, is attacked and damaged by a man with a knife at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
 1975  The first American saint, Elizabeth Ann Seton, is canonized by Pope Paul VI.
 1979  President of Afghanistan Nur Muhammad Taraki is deposed and killed on the orders of Hafizullah Amin, who becomes President.
 1982  Lebanese President-elect Bachir Gemayel is shot dead.
 1982  Grace Kelly dies after becoming seriously injured in a car crash.
 1984  Joe Kittinger flies a hot-air balloon across the Atlantic Ocean, becoming the first person to do so.
 1985  The Penang Bridge, connecting the island of Penang to mainland Malaysia, is opened.
 1987  Baseball: The Toronto Blue Jays set a record for the most home runs in a single game, hitting 10 of them.
 1988  Hurricane Gilbert hits Mexico.
 1990  Start of the Human Genome Project.
 1992  The Constitutional Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina declares the break-away Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia to be illegal.
 1994  The Major League Baseball season is cancelled because of a strike.
 1999  Kiribati, Tonga and Nauru join the United Nations.
 2000  Microsoft releases Windows ME.

From 2001 
 2003  Estonia approves EU membership.
 2003  In a coup in Guinea-Bissau, Kumba Iala is removed from power by Verissimo Correia Seabra, who takes measures towards democratisation of the country.
 2007  British bank Northern Rock experiences the first Bank Run in the UK for 150 years.
 2008  Sebastian Vettel becomes the youngest Formula One driver to win a Grand Prix.
 2008  Aeroflot Flight 821 crashes on approach to Perm Airport, Russia, killing all 88 people on board.
 2014  Sweden's parliamentary election ends with the Social Democrats under Stefan Löfven as the largest party.
 2015  Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott loses a vote of confidence within the Liberal Party. Malcolm Turnbull becomes the 29th Prime Minister of Australia the next day. 
 2015  The first observation of gravitational waves is made.
 2017  A series of bomb attacks near Nasiriyah, Iraq, results in 84 deaths.
 2018  Hurricane Florence, downgraded to a tropical storm, hits the states of North and South Carolina on the east coast of the United States.
 2019  An attack in Saudi Arabia affects 5% of the world's oil supply.

Births

Up to 1900 
 208  Diadumenian, son of Roman Emperor Macrinus (d. 218)
 1169  Alexios II Komnenos, Byzantine Emperor (d. 1183)
 1388  Claudius Clavus, Danish geographer (d. 1438)
 1486  Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German alchemist (d. 1535)
 1543  Claudio Aquaviva, Italian Jesuit (d. 1615)
 1547  Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, Dutch statesman (d. 1619)
 1580  Francisco de Quevedo, Spanish writer (d. 1645)
 1605  Brynjólfur Sveinsson, Icelandic bishop (d. 1675)
 1713  Johann Kies, German mathematician (d. 1781)
 1721  Eliphalet Dyer, American statesman and judge (d. 1807)
 1737  Michael Haydn, Austrian composer (d. 1806)
 1760  Luigi Cherubini, Italian composer (d. 1842)
 1769  Alexander von Humboldt, German naturalist and explorer (d. 1859)
 1774  Lord William Bentinck, British Governor-General of India (d. 1839)
 1783  Henry Johnson, Governor of Louisiana (d. 1864)
 1817  Theodor Storm, German writer (d. 1888)
 1817  Archduke Stephen, Palatine of Hungary (d. 1867)
 1827  Hermann Krone, German photographer (d. 1916)
 1836  Alfred B. Swineford, American politician (d. 1909)
 1837  Nikolai Bugaev, Russian mathematician (d. 1903)
 1847  William Edward Ayton, British physicist (d. 1908)
 1849  Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist, psychologist & physician (d. 1936)
 1853  Ponnambayalam Arunachalam, Ceylon Tamil statesman (d. 1924)
 1859  Janis Cakste, 1st President of Latvia (d. 1927)
 1860  Hamlin Garland, American author and poet (d. 1940)
 1864  Robert Cecil, 1st Viscount Cecil of Chelwood, British diplomat (d. 1958)
 1867  Charles Dana Gibson, American illustrator (d. 1944)
 1868  Theodor Botrel, French singer-songwriter and playwright (d. 1925)
 1878  Ion Dragoumis, Greek diplomat, writer and revolutionary (d. 1920)
 1879  Margaret Sanger, American birth control activist (d. 1966)
 1880  Archie Hahn, German-American runner (d. 1955) 
 1886  Jan Masaryk, Czech diplomat (d. 1948)
 1887  Paul Kochanski, Polish violinist and composer (d. 1934)
 1889  Maria Esther de Capovilla, Ecuadorean supercentenarian, World's oldest woman (d. 2006)
 1891  Ivan Mitveyevich Vinogradov, Russian mathematician (d. 1983)
 1895  Robert A. Lovett, American politician (d. 1986)
 1898  Ernest Nash, German-born archaeologist (d. 1974)
 1898  Okey L. Patteson, Governor of West Virginia (d. 1989)
 1899  Hal B. Wallis, American movie producer (d. 1986)

1901  1950 
 1901  Alex James, Scottish footballer (d. 1953)
 1901  Andrey Vlasov, Russian general (d. 1946)
 1902  Nikolay Kamov, Russian engineer (d. 1973)
 1902  Giorgos Papasideris, Greek musician (d. 1977)
 1902  Alice Tully, American music promoter and philanthropist (d. 1993)
 1907  Solomon Asch, Polish-born American psychologist (d. 1996)
 1907  Edel Quinn, Irish missionary (d. 1944)
 1909  Peter Scott, British naturalist and explorer (d. 1989)
 1909  Stuff Smith, American jazz violinist (d. 1967)
 1910  Jack Hawkins, British actor (d. 1973)
 1912  Eduard von Falz-Fein, Russian-Liechtensteiner businessman, journalist and sportsman (d. 2018)
 1913  Jacobo Arbenz, President of Guatemala (d. 1971)
 1913  Severino Varela, Uruguayan footballer (d. 1995)
 1914  Clayton Moore, American actor (d. 1999)
 1914  Pietro Germi, Italian movie director, screenwriter, actor and producer (d. 1995)
 1915  John Dobson, American astronomer (d. 2014)
 1916  Eric Bentley, English-American critic, playwright and singer
 1916  Luis Corvalán, Chilean Communist politician (d. 2010)
 1917  Rudolf Baumgartner, Swiss conductor and violinist (d. 2002)
 1917  Ettore Sottsass, Italian architect and designer (d. 2007)
 1919  Gil Langley, Australian cricketer, footballer and politician (d. 2001)
 1920  Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer (d. 2009)
 1920  Lawrence Klein, American economist (d. 2013)
 1922  Zizinho, Brazilian footballer (d. 2002)
 1923  Ram Jethmalani, Indian lawyer (d. 2019)
 1924  Jerry Coleman, American baseball player (d. 2014)
 1924  Wim Polak, Mayor of Amsterdam (d. 1999)
 1924  Abioseh Nicol, Sierra Leonean diplomat and writer (d. 2004)
 1926  Richard Ellsasser, American concert organist, composer and conductor (d. 1972)
 1926  Michel Butor, French writer (d. 2016)
 1926  Carmen Franco, 1st Duchess of Franco, Spanish noblewoman (d. 2017)
 1927  Jim Fanning, American-Canadian baseball player and manager (d. 2015)
 1927  Edmund Szoka, American cardinal (d. 2014)
 1928  Alberto Korda, Cuban photographer (d. 2001)
 1928  Angus Ogilvy, British royal (d. 2004)
 1929  Ferdinand Oyono, Cameroonian writer (d. 2010)
 1929  Larry Collins, American writer (d. 2005)
 1929  Hans Clarin, German actor (d. 2005)
 1930  George V. Hansen, American politician (d. 2014)
 1930  Eugene I. Gordon, American physicist (d. 2014)
 1932  Harry Sinden, Canadian ice hockey player
 1934  Sarah Kofman, French philosopher (d. 1994)
 1934  Kate Millett, American sculptor, activist and writer (d. 2017)
 1935  Amanda Barrie, British actress
 1936  Walter Koenig, American actor
 1936  Ferid Murad, American physician and pharmacologist
 1936  Lucas Samaras, Greek-American painter and sculptor
 1937  Renzo Piano, Italian architect
 1940  Larry Brown, American basketball player and coach
 1940  Jacques Godin, Canadian movie and television actor
 1942  Bernard MacLaverty, Northern Irish writer
 1943  Marcos Valle, Brazilian singer and musician
 1944  Günter Netzer, German footballer
 1947  Sam Neill, New Zealand actor
 1949  Steve Gaines, guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 1977)
 1949  Ed King, guitarist (Lynyrd Skynyrd) (d. 2018)
 1950  Eugene H. Trinh, Vietnamese-American astronaut

1951  1975 
 1953  Robert Wisdom, American actor
 1956  Kostas Karamanlis, former Prime Minister of Greece
 1956  Maxime Verhagen, Dutch politician
 1956  Ray Wilkins, English footballer (d. 2018)
 1958  Billy Abercromby, Scottish footballer
 1959  Morten Harket, Norwegian musician (a-ha)
 1960  Callum Keith Rennie, English-Canadian actor
 1960  Melissa Leo, American actress
 1964  Faith Ford, American actress
 1964  Stephen Dunham, American actor (d. 2012)
 1965  Mariana Briski, Argentine actress (d. 2014)
 1965  Dmitry Medvedev, Prime Minister, and former President, of Russia
 1966  Catherine West, English politician
 1967  Jens Lien, Norwegian director, producer and screenwriter
 1968  Grant Shapps, English politician
 1971  Kimberly Williams-Paisley, American actress
 1971  Andre Matos, Brazilian singer-songwriter and author
 1971  Christopher McCulloch, American voice actor, director and writer
 1972  Marc Silk, English voice actor
 1973  Nas, American rapper
 1974  Sunday Oliseh, Nigerian footballer
 1974  Hicham El-Guerrouj, Moroccan athlete

From 1976 
 1977  Yang Yang, Chinese ice skater
 1977  Malik Bendjelloul, Swedish filmmaker and actor (d. 2014)
 1977  Alexsandro de Souza, Brazilian footballer
 1978  Carmen Kass, Estonian model
 1979  Ivica Olic, Croatian footballer
 1980  Hip Hop Pantsula, South African rapper (d. 2018)
 1980  Ivan Radeljic, Croatian-Bosnian footballer
 1981  Yumi Adachi, Japanese actress, model and singer
 1981  Ashley Roberts, American singer, dancer and actress (Pussycat Dolls)
 1983  Amy Winehouse, English singer-songwriter (d. 2011)
 1983  Arash Borhani, Iranian footballer
 1984  Lethal Bizzle, English rapper
 1984  Adam Lamberg, American actor
 1984  Fernanda Vasconcellos, Brazilian actress and model
 1986  Ai Takahashi, Japanese singer (Morning Musume)
 1986  Tinchy Stryder, English rapper and singer
 1986  Steven Naismith, Scottish footballer
 1986  Jonathan Monaghan, American artist and animator
 1988  Martin Fourcade, French biathlete
 1988  Kirsten Haglund, American model
 1989  Logan Henderson, American singer-songwriter and actor
 1989  Jesse James, American actor
 1989  Lee Jong-suk, South Korean actor and model
 1989  Jimmy Butler, American basketball player
 1990  Cecilie Pedersen, Norwegian footballer
 1991  Nana, South Korean singer
 1994  Daniel O'Shaughnessy, Finnish footballer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 23  Drusus Julius Caesar, son of Tiberius (b. 13 BC)
 258  Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage
 407  John Chrysostom, Byzantine archbishop (b. 347)
 585  Emperor Bidatsu of Japan (b. 538)
 775  Constantine V, Byzantine Emperor (b. 718)
 891  Pope Stephen V
 1164  Emperor Sutoku of Japan (b. 1119)
 1214  Albert Avogadro, Italian lawyer and bishop (b. 1149)
 1321  Dante Alighieri, Italian writer (b. 1265)
 1404  Albert IV, Duke of Austria (b. 1377)
 1435  John, Duke of Bedford, regent of England (b. 1389)
 1523  Pope Adrian VI (b. 1459)
 1538  Henry III of Nassau-Breda (b. 1483)
 1605  Jan Tarnowski, Polish archbishop (b. 1550)
 1638  John Harvard, American clergyman (b. 1607)
 1712  Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Italian-born astronomer (b. 1625)
 1759  Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, French military commander (b. 1712)
 1836  Aaron Burr, Vice President of the United States (b. 1756)
 1851  James Fenimore Cooper, American writer (b. 1789)
 1852  Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, British general and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1769)
 1852  Augustus Pugin, English architect (b. 1812)
 1862  Charles Pearson, British social reformer (b. 1793)
 1898  William Seward Burroughs, American inventor (b. 1857)

1901  2000 
 1901  William McKinley, 25th President of the United States (b. 1843)
 1905  Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza, Italian-French explorer (b. 1852)
 1916  José Echegaray y Eizaguirre, Spanish writer (b. 1832)
 1927  Isadora Duncan, American dancer (b. 1877)
 1936  Irving Thalberg, American movie producer (b. 1899)
 1936  Ossip Gabrilowitsch, Russian-American pianist and conductor (b. 1878)
 1937  Tomas Masaryk, Czech politician (b. 1850)
 1951  Fritz Busch, German conductor (b. 1890)
 1952  John McPhee, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1874)
 1965  Lydia Mei, Estonian artist (b. 1896)
 1966  Nikolay Cherkasov, Soviet actor (b. 1903)
 1966  Gertrude Berg, American actress (b. 1899)
 1970  Rudolf Carnap, German philosopher (b. 1891)
 1975  Walter Herbert, German conductor and impresario (b. 1902)
 1977  Shogo Kamo, Japanese footballer (b. 1915)
 1979  Nur Muhammad Taraki, President of Afghanistan (b. 1917)
 1982  Kristjan Eldjarn, 3rd President of Iceland (b. 1916)
 1982  Bachir Gemayel, Lebanese politician (b. 1947)
 1982  Grace Kelly, American actress, Princess of Monaco (b. 1929)
 1984  Janet Gaynor, American actress (b. 1903)
 1995  Maurice K. Goddard, American state government official (b. 1912)
 1996  Juliet Prowse, British actress and dancer (b. 1937)
 1998  Yang Shangkun, Chinese leader (b. 1907)
 1999  Charles Crichton, British movie director (b. 1910)
 2000  Jerzy Giedroyc, Polish writer and activist (b. 1906)

From 2001 
 2001  Stelios Kazantzidis, Greek singer (b. 1931)
 2003  Yetunde Price, sister of Venus and Serena Williams (b. 1972)
 2005  Robert Wise, American movie director and producer (b. 1914)
 2006  Mickey Hargitay, Hungarian actor and bodybuilder (b. 1926)
 2007  Jacques Martin, French television host and producer (b. 1933)
 2009  Patrick Swayze, American actor (b. 1952)
 2009  Keith Floyd, British chef (b. 1943)
 2011  Rudolf Mössbauer, German physicist (b. 1929)
 2012  Stephen Dunham, American actor (b. 1964)
 2014  Tony Auth, American cartoonist (b. 1942)
 2014  Miroslav Hlinka, Slovakian ice hockey player (b. 1972)
 2014  Nicholas Romanov, Prince of Russia, Head of the House of Romanov (b. 1922)
 2014  Angus Lennie, Scottish actor (b. 1930)
 2014  Boris Khimichev, Russian actor (b. 1933)
 2014  Assheton Gorton, British production designer (b. 1930)
 2014  Philip Somerville, English milliner (hat maker) (b. 1930)
 2015  Corneliu Vadim Tudor, Romanian politician, journalist and writer (b. 1949)
 2015  Fred DeLuca, American businessman, co-founder of Subway (b. 1947)
 2015  Adam Purple, American environmental activist (b. 1930)
 2017  Arnold Chan, Canadian lawyer and politician (b. 1967)
 2017  Marcel Herriot, French bishop (b. 1934)
 2017  Otto Wanz, Austrian professional wrestler (b. 1943)
 2018  Alan Abel, American comedian and writer (b. 1924)
 2018  Max Bennett, American jazz bassist (b. 1928)
 2018  Anneke Grönloh, Dutch singer (b. 1942)
 2018  Zienia Merton, British actress (b. 1945)
 2018  Branko Grünbaum, Yugoslavian-American mathematician (b. 1929)
 2019  John Ralston, American football player and coach (b. 1927)

Observances 
 Hindi Day (India)
 Day of San Jacinto (Nicaragua)
 Christian Feast of the Cross

Days of the year