• 457 - Leo I becomes emperor of the Byzantine Empire.
• 1074 - Battle of Montesarchio in which the prince of Benevento, Pandulf IV, is killed battling the encroaching Normans.
• 1238 - The Mongols burn the Russian city of Vladimir.
• 1301 - Edward of Caernarvon (later King Edward II of England) becomes the first English Prince of Wales.
• 1795 - The 11th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
• 1807 - Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Eylau - Napoléon's French Empire begins fighting against Russian and Prussian forces of the Fourth Coalition at Eylau, Poland.
• 1812 - The strongest in a series of earthquakes strikes New Madrid, Missouri.
• 1819 - Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles leaves Singapore after just taking it over, leaving it in the hands of William Farquhar.
• 1842 - Battle of Debre Tabor: Ras Ali Alula, Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia defeats warlord Wube Haile Maryam of Semien.
• 1856 - The colonial Tasmanian Parliament passes the first piece of legislation (the Electoral Act of 1856) anywhere in the world providing for elections by way of a secret ballot.
• 1863 - HMS Orpheus sinks off the coast of Auckland, New Zealand, killing 189.
• 1882 - The last heavyweight boxing championship bare-knuckle fight takes place in Mississippi City, Mississippi.
• 1894 - The Cripple Creek miner's strike, led by the Western Federation of Miners, begins in Cripple Creek, Colorado.
• 1898 - Émile Zola is brought to trial for libel for publishing J'Accuse.
• 1904 - A fire in Baltimore, Maryland destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
• 1907 - The Mud March was the first large procession organized by the National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies (NUWSS).
• 1944 - World War II: In Anzio, Italy, German forces launch a counteroffensive during the Allied Operation Shingle
• 1948 - Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower resigned as Army chief of staff and was succeeded by Gen. Omar Bradley.
• 1962 - The United States bans all Cuban imports and exports.
• 1964 - The Beatles arrive at JFK International Airport to begin their first tour of the United States.
• 1967 - A fire at a restaurant in Montgomery, Alabama kills 25 people.
• 1969 - The original Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse is removed from service.
• 1974 - Grenada gains independence from the United Kingdom.
• 1979 - Pluto moves inside Neptune's orbit for the first time since either was discovered.
• 1979 - The final session of the Iranian National Consultative Assembly is held.
• 1984 - Space Shuttle program: STS-41-B Mission - Astronauts Bruce McCandless II and Robert L. Stewart make the first untethered space walk using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (MMU).
• 1986 - Twenty-eight years of one-family rule end in Haiti, when President Jean-Claude Duvalier flees the Caribbean nation.
• 1990 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: The Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party agrees to give up its monopoly on power.
• 1991 - Haiti's first democratically-elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, is sworn in.
• 1991 - The IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street during a cabinet meeting.
• 1992 - The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.
• 1995 - Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
• 1999 - Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
• 2000 - Bahria University is established through Presidential Ordinance No. V of 2000 by the Government of Pakistan.

Births