Events

Up to 1950 
 313 - Battle of Tzillarum: Emperor Licinius defeats Maximinus II and unifies the Eastern Roman Empire.
 711 – Tariq ibn Ziyad reaches Gibraltar, beginning Moorish rule in Spain.
 1492 – Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.
 1557 - Mapuche leader Lautaro is killed by Spanish forces at the Battle of Mataquito in Chile
 1789 – George Washington becomes the first President of the United States.
 1802 - The break of the Puentes Reservoir in Spain kills 608 people
 1803 – The US buys the Louisiana Territory from France, more than doubling its land area.
 1812 – Louisiana becomes a state of the US.
 1838 – Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
 1863 - A 65-man French Foreign Legion infantry patrol fights a force of nearly 2,000 Mexican soldiers to nearly the last man at Hacienda Camaron, Mexico.
 1871 - Camp Grant Massacre in the Arizona Territory.
 1885 - Governor of New York David B. Hill signs legislation creating the Niagara Reservation near Niagara Falls. It is New York's first State Park.
 1900 – Hawaii becomes a US territory, with Sanford Dole as Governor.
 1907 – Honolulu becomes an independent city.
 1908 - Japanese small cruiser Matsushima sinks after a munitions explosion near Taiwan, killing 206 out of the 347 men on board.
 1920 – Peru becomes a signatory of the Buenos Aires Convention.
 1927 – Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.
 1927 - The Federal Industrial Institute for Women opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States.
 1937 - In a referendum, women in Philippines support being given the right to vote.
 1938 - First televised FA Cup final between Huddersfield Town and Preston North End
 1939 - Start of the 1939/40 World's Fair in New York City.
 1939 - NBC inaugurates its regularly scheduled TV service in New York City.
 1941 – British steam freighter Nerissa is torpedoed near Rockall by a German U-boat, causing it to sink, with the loss of 207 lives.
 1943 - World War II: Operation Mincemeat - Submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea off Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans dressed as a British military intelligence officer.
 1945 – World War II: One day after getting married, Adolf Hitler and his wife Eva Braun commit suicide. On the same day, Red Army troops raise the Soviet flag on the Reichstag building.
 1945 – World War II: American forces take Munich.
 1947 – In Nevada, the Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam for the second time.
 1948 - The Organization of American States is formed in Bogota, Colombia.

From 1951 
 1952 – The Diary of Anne Frank is published in English.
 1961 - K-19, the first Soviet nuclear submarine with nuclear missiles, is commissioned.
 1963 - Fehmarnsundbroen, a bridge connecting the island of Fehmarn to mainland Denmark, is opened to traffic.
 1966 – The Church of Satan is founded.
 1975 – With the fall of Saigon, the Vietnam War officially comes to an end.
 1980 – Beatrix becomes Queen of the Netherlands, after the decision of her mother, Queen Juliana to abdicate the throne.
 1980 - The siege at the Iranian Embassy begins in London.
 1985 - US entrepreneur Dick Bass climbs Mount Everest, becoming the first person to successfully climb the "Seven Summits", the highest peaks on each continent.
 1993 – The World Wide Web is released for use.
 1993 – Tennis player Monica Seles is stabbed by an obsessed fan of her rival Steffi Graf, during a tournament in Germany.
 1994 – Austrian Formula 1 driver Roland Ratzenberger is killed in a crash, while practising for the San Marino Grand Prix, at which fellow driver Ayrton Senna is killed the next day.
 1995 - Bill Clinton becomes the first President of the United States to visit Northern Ireland.
 1995 - Greenpeace activists occupy the Shell Oil Company-owned oil platform Brent Spar between Shetland and Norway, to protest against its planned sinking in the North Sea.
 1999 – Cambodia joins ASEAN.
 2004 - US media release graphic photographs of US soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
 2006 – Along with her brother, Swiss ski racer Corinne Rey-Bellet is shot dead by her husband, who commits suicide a short time later.
 2009 - Chrysler files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
 2009 – Netherlands: An attempted attack is made on the Dutch Royal Family at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, as a car is driven into the crowd, killing seven spectators, and the perpetrator, Karst Tates, who dies the next day.
 2012 - A ferry capsizes on the Brahmaputra River in India, killing at least 103 people.
 2013 - Beatrix of the Netherlands abdicates the throne. Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands is the new King, the first Dutch King since 1890.
 2019 - Akihito abdicates as Emperor of Japan, passing the throne to his son Naruhito.

Births

Up to 1800 
 1245 – King Philip III of France (d. 1285)
 1306 - Andrea Dandolo, ruler of Venice (d. 1354)
 1310 – Casimir III of Poland (d. 1368)
 1331 – Gaston III, Count of Foix (d. 1391)
 1553 - Louise of Lorraine (d. 1601)
 1586 – Saint Rose of Lima, Peruvian saint (d. 1617)
 1602 – William Lilly, English astrologer (d. 1681)
 1623 – François de Laval, first bishop of New France (d. 1708)
 1651 – Jean-Baptiste de la Salle, French educational reformer (d. 1719)
 1662 – Queen Mary II of England (d. 1694)
 1664 – François Louis, Prince of Conti, French general (d. 1709)
 1710 – Johann Kaspar Basselet von La Rosée, Bavarian general (d. 1795)
 1721 – Roger Sherman, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (d. 1793)
 1723 - Mathurin Jacques Brisson, French naturalist (d. 1806)
 1758 - Emmanuel Vitale, Maltese commander and politician (d. 1802)
 1770 – David Thompson, English-Canadian explorer (d. 1857)
 1777 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (d. 1855)

1801  1900 
 1803 – Albrecht von Roon, Prussian politician (d. 1879)
 1812 – Kaspar Hauser, German boy whose early life is a mystery (d. 1833)
 1823 - George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll, Scottish politician (d. 1900)
 1829 - Ferdinand von Hochstetter, Austrian geologist (d. 1884)
 1831 - Romolo Gessi, Italian explorer in Africa (d. 1881)
 1839 - Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria (d. 1892)
 1852 – Tewfik Pasha, ruler of Egypt (d. 1892)
 1857 – Eugen Bleuler, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1940)
 1864 - Juhan Liiv, Estonian poet (d. 1913)
 1865 – Max Nettlau, German anarchist and historian (d. 1944)
 1869 - Hans Poelzig, German architect, painter and set designer (d. 1936)
 1870 – Franz Lehár, Austrian composer (d. 1948)
 1870 - Homer Stille Cummings, American jurist and politician (d. 1956)
 1876 - Oros Mario Corbino, Italian physicist and politician (d. 1937)
 1877 – Alice B. Toklas, American companion of Gertrude Stein (d. 1967)
 1883 – Jaroslav Hašek, Czech novelist (d. 1923)
 1883 - Luigi Russolo, Italian painter and composer (d. 1947)
 1884 - Olof Sandborg, Swedish movie and theatre actor (d. 1965)
 1887 – Anne Zernike, Dutch theologian and minister (d. 1972)
 1888 - David Jacobs, Welsh athlete (d. 1976)
 1889 - Fritz Pfeffer, German dentist and Holocaust victim (d. 1944)
 1893 – Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi foreign minister (d. 1946)
 1895 - Philippe Paneton, Canadian physician, academic and diplomat (d. 1960)
 1897 - Humberto Mauro, Brazilian director and screenwriter (d. 1983)

1901  1950 
 1901 – Simon Kuznets, Ukrainian-born economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1985)
 1902 – Theodore Schultz, American economist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
 1905 – Sergey Nikolsky, Russian mathematician (d. 2012)
 1908 – Eve Arden, American actress (d. 1990)
 1908 – Bjarni Benediktsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1970)
 1909 – Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (d. 2004)
 1913 - Ilmar Raud, Estonian chess player (d. 1941)
 1915 - Elio Toaff, Italian rabbi (d. 2015)
 1916 – Claude Shannon, American engineer and mathematician (d. 2001)
 1916 – Robert Shaw, American conductor (d. 1999)
 1917 - Bea Wain, American singer (d. 2017)
 1918 - Don McNeill, American tennis player (d. 1996)
 1923 - Al Lewis, American actor (d. 2006)
 1923 - Kagamisato Kiyoji, Japanese sumo wrestler (d. 2004)
 1925 – Johnny Horton, American musician (d. 1960)
 1925 - Corinne Calvet, French actress (d. 2001)
 1926 - Cloris Leachman, American actress (d. 2021)
 1930 - Félix Guattari, French psychologist (d. 1992)
 1932 – Antonio Tejero, Spanish coup leader
 1933 - Darwin Hindman, American politician (d. 2019)
 1938 - Lucho Avilés, Uruguayan-Argentine entertainment journalist (d. 2019)
 1938 - Gary Collins, American actor (d. 2012)
 1938 – Larry Niven, American writer
 1939 - Pieter van Vollenhoven, brother-in-law to Beatrix of the Netherlands
 1940 - Ermindo Onega, Argentine footballer
 1940 – Burt Young, American actor
 1941 – Johnny Farina, American guitarist (Santo and Johnny)
 1941 - Stavros Dimas, Greek politician
 1941 - Buddy Cianci, American politician (d. 2016)
 1942 - Maurizio Arcieri, Italian singer (d. 2015)
 1943 – Bobby Vee, American singer (d. 2016)
 1943 – Frederick Chiluba, former President of Zambia (d. 2011)
 1944 - Jon Bing, Norwegian writer and law professor (d. 2014)
 1944 – Jill Clayburgh, American actress (d. 2010)
 1944 – Rudi Assauer, German footballer (d. 2019)
 1945 – Annie Dillard, American writer
 1945 – Michael Smith, American astronaut (d. 1986)
 1945 - Lara Saint Paul, Italian-Eritrean singer (d. 2018)
 1946 – King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
 1946 – Sven Nordqvist, Swedish writer and illustrator
 1946 – Bill Plympton, American animator and director
 1946 – Don Schollander, American swimmer
 1947 - Mats Odell, Swedish politician
 1947 - Bruce Hampton, American musician (d. 2017)
 1947 - Leslie Grantham, English actor (d. 2018)
 1947 - Thomas Goppel, German politician
 1948 – Perry King, American actor
 1949 – Phil Garner, American baseball manager
 1949 – António Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations and former Prime Minister of Portugal

1951  1975 
 1951 - Ken Whiteley, Canadian folk musician
 1952 - Jacques Audiard, French movie director and screenwriter
 1953 - Merrill Osmond, American actor and singer (The Osmonds)
 1954 – Jane Campion, New Zealand movie director
 1954 - Kim Darroch, British diplomat
 1955 - Julio Cobos, Argentine politician
 1955 – Nicolas Hulot, French journalist and writer
 1956 – Jorge Chaminé, Portuguese baritone
 1956 – Lars von Trier, Danish movie director
 1957 - Aviva Chomsky, American historian and author
 1957 - Giuseppe Sannino, Italian footballer
 1958 - Charles Berling, French actor, director and producer
 1959 - Paul Gross, Canadian actor, producer, director, singer and writer
 1959 – Stephen Harper, 22nd Prime Minister of Canada
 1960 - David Miscavige, leader of the Church of Scientology
 1961 – Isiah Thomas, American basketball player, coach, and team owner
 1961 – Thomas Schaaf, German footballer
 1961 - Franky Van der Elst, Belgian footballer
 1962 - Nikolai Fomenko, Russian musician, actor and racing driver
 1964 - Lorenzo Staelens, Belgian footballer
 1964 – Barrington Levy, Jamaican musician
 1964 - Ian Healy, English cricketer
 1967 - Steven Mackintosh, English actor
 1969 – Justine Greening, English politician
 1969 – Paulo Jr., Brazilian bassist (Sepultura)
 1969 – Clark Vogeler, American guitarist (The Toadies)
 1973 – Naomi Novik, American writer
 1975 – Elliott Sadler, American race car driver
 1975 - Johnny Galecki, American actor

From 1976 
 1976 - Amanda Palmer, American musician and songwriter
 1978 – Tom Fulp, Newgrounds creator
 1978 – Simone Barone, Italian footballer
 1979 – Gerardo Torrado, Mexican footballer
 1980 - Sam Heughan, Scottish actor
 1980 - Jeroen Verhoeven, Dutch footballer
 1981 – Kunal Nayyar, British actor
 1981 – John O'Shea, Irish footballer
 1982 – Kirsten Dunst, American actress
 1982 – Justin Green, National Football League fullback
 1982 - Drew Seeley, Canadian-American singer-songwriter, dancer and actor
 1983 - Chris Carr, American football player
 1983 – Nenad Milijas, Serbian footballer
 1983 – Tatjana Hüfner, German luger
 1983 – Troy Williamson, American football player
 1984 - Seimone Augustus, American basketball player
 1984 - Sophie Turner, Australian model, television personality and lawyer
 1985 - Gal Gadot, Israeli model and actress
 1986 – Dianna Agron, American actress
 1987 - Rohit Sharma, Indian cricketer
 1989 - Jang Wooyoung, South Korean singer
 1989 - Baauer, American DJ and producer
 1990 - Jonny Brownlee, English triathlete
 1990 - Michael Schulte, German singer
 1991 - Kaarel Nurmsalu, Estonian ski jumper
 1992 - Marc-André ter Stegen, German footballer 
 2002 - Miguel Urdangarín y de Borbon, Spanish royal

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 65 – Lucan, Roman poet (born 39)
 1030 - Mahmud of Ghazni, Indian ruler of the Ghaznavid Dynasty (b. 971)
 1063 – Emperor Renzong of China (born 1010)
 1131 - Adjutor, French knight and saint
 1341 - John III, Duke of Brittany (born 1285)
 1439 - Richard de Beauchamp, 13th Earl of Warwick, English military leader (born 1382)
 1513 – Edmund de la Pole, Yorkist claimant to the English throne
 1544 - Thomas Audley, 1st Baron Audley of Walden, Lord Chancellor of England
 1550 - Tabinshwehti, King of Burma (born 1516)
 1555 – Pope Marcellus II (born 1501)
 1632 – King Sigismund of Sweden (born 1561)
 1632 – Johann Tserclaes, Count of Tilly, military leader in the Thirty Years' War (born 1559)
 1637 - Niwa Nagashige, Japanese daimyo (born 1571)
 1660 - Petrus Scriverius, Dutch writer (born 1576)
 1672 - Marie of the Incarnation, French-Canadian nun and saint (born 1599)
 1736 – Johann Albert Fabricius, German classical scholar and bibliographer (born 1668)
 1792 – John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, English politician (born 1718)
 1795 - Jean-Jacques Barthélemy, French numismatist (born 1716) 
 1806 - Onogawa Kisaburo, Japanese sumo wrestler (born 1758)
 1847 - Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen, Austrian nobleman and general (born 1771)
 1863 - Jean Danjou, French captain (b. 1828)
 1865 – Robert FitzRoy, British admiral and meteorologist (born 1805)
 1879 - Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, American religious leader (born 1804)
 1883 – Edouard Manet, French painter (born 1832)
 1895 – Gustav Freytag, German writer and journalist (born 1810)

1901  2000 
 1903 - Emily Stowe, Canadian physician and suffragist (born 1831)
 1906 - James E. Boyd, Irish-American politician, 8th Governor of Nebraska (born 1834)
 1926 – Bessie Coleman, American pilot (born 1892)
 1933 – Luis Miguel Sanchez Cerro, President of Peru (born 1889)
 1936 - Alfred Edward Housman, English poet (born 1859)
 1943 - Otto Jespersen, Danish linguist (born 1860)
 1945 – Eva Braun, mistress and wife of Adolf Hitler (born 1912)
 1945 – Adolf Hitler, Austrian politician, Nazi leader (born 1889)
 1956 – Alben W. Barkley, Vice President of the United States (born 1877)
 1966 - Richard Farina, American writer and singer (born 1837)
 1970 - Inger Stevens, Swedish actress (born 1934)
 1974 – Agnes Moorehead, American actress (born 1900)
 1980 - Luis Munoz Marin, Puerto Rican poet, journalist and politician (born 1898)
 1983 – George Balanchine, Georgian-born dancer and choreographer (born 1904)
 1983 – Muddy Waters, American musician (born 1915)
 1983 - Edouard Wyss-Dunant, Swiss physician and mountaineer (born 1897)
 1989 – Sergio Leone, Italian movie director (born 1929)
 1989 - Bangja, Crown Princess Eumin of Korea (born 1901)
 1990 - Mario Pizziolo, Italian footballer (born 1909)
 1993 – Mario Evaristo, Argentine footballer (born 1908)
 1994 – Roland Ratzenberger, Austrian racecar driver (born 1960)
 1994 - Richard Scarry, American children's author and illustrator (born 1919)
 1995 – Maung Maung Kha, Burmese politician (born 1920)
 1999 – Alf Ramsey, English football manager (born 1920)
 2000 - Poul Hartling, 36th Prime Minister of Denmark (born 1914)

From 2001 
 2003 - Wim van Est, Dutch cyclist (born 1923)
 2006 – Corinne Rey-Bellet, Swiss ski racer (born 1972)
 2007 – Gregory Lemarchal, French singer (born 1983)
 2009 - Venetia Burney, English girl who named the dwarf planet Pluto (born 1918)
 2009 - Henk Nijdam, Dutch cyclist (born 1935)
 2010 – Paul Mayer, German cardinal (born 1911)
 2011 – Ernesto Sabato, Argentine writer and physicist (born 1911)
 2011 - Dorjee Khandu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of Arunachal Pradesh (born 1955)
 2012 – Tomas Borge, Nicaraguan politician (born 1930)
 2012 – Alexander Dale Oen, Norwegian swimmer (born 1985)
 2012 - George Murdock, American actor (born 1928)
 2013 - Mike Gray, American writer, screenwriter, cinematographer and producer (b. 1935)
 2014 - Ian Ross, Australian TV news presenter (b. 1940)
 2014 - Chris Harris, English actor, director and writer (b. 1942)
 2015 - Gregory Mertens, Belgian footballer (b. 1991)
 2015 - Patachou, French actress and singer (b. 1918)
 2015 - Ben E. King, American singer (b. 1938)
 2015 - Lennart Bodström, Swedish politician (b. 1928)
 2015 - William Pfaff, American author and columnist (b. 1928)
 2015 - Ronald Senator, British composer (b. 1926)
 2015 - Nigel Terry, British actor (b. 1945)
 2015 - David Fonseca, Belizean politician (b. 1954)
 2016 - Harry Kroto, British chemist (b. 1939)
 2016 - Daniel Aaron, American writer and academic (b. 1912)
 2016 - Daniel Berrigan, American priest, poet and activist (b. 1921)
 2016 - Marisol Escobar, French-born American sculptor (b. 1930)
 2016 - Uwe Friedrichsen, German actor (b. 1934)
 2016 - Peter Thomas, American narrator (b. 1924)
 2016 - Vasily Zvyagintsev, Russian science fiction author (b. 1944)
 2017 - Ueli Steck, Swiss mountaineer and rock climber (b. 1976)
 2017 - Belchior, Brazilian singer and composer (b. 1946)
 2017 - Mbah Gotho, Indonesian claimed supercentenarian (b. claimed 1870)
 2017 - Lorna Gray, American actress (b. 1917)
 2017 - Raymond P. Kogovsek, American politician (b. 1941)
 2017 - Boris Oleynik, Ukrainian poet, translator and politician (b. 1935)
 2017 - Jean Stein, American author and editor (b. 1934)
 2018 - Joel Kovel, American environmentalist and anti-war activist (b. 1936)
 2018 - Rose Laurens, French singer-songwriter (b. 1943)
 2018 - Geneviève Claisse, French painter (b. 1935)
 2018 - Anatole Katok, Russian-American mathematician (b. 1944)
 2018 - John Treacher, British admiral (b. 1924)
 2019 - Anémone, French actress (b. 1950)
 2019 - Beth Carvalho, Brazilian samba singer (b. 1946)
 2019 - Luciano Comaschi, Italian footballer (b. 1931)
 2019 - Peter Mayhew, English-American actor (b. 1944)
 2019 - S. P. Y. Reddy, Indian politician (b. 1950)

Observances 
 Queen's Day in the Netherlands (birthday of Queen Juliana), celebrated on this date from 1949 to 2013
 King Carl XVI Gustaf's birthday, official Flag Day in Sweden
 Walpurgis Night (Central and Northern Europe)
 International Jazz Day
 Liberation Day (Vietnam)
 Children's Day (Mexico)
 Armed Forces Day (Georgia)

Days of the year