• 642 - Battle of Maserfeld - Penda of Mercia defeats and kills Oswald of Bernicia.
• 910 - The last major Viking army to raid England is defeated at the Battle of Tettenhall by the allied forces of Mercia and Wessex, led by King Edward and Earl Aethelred.
• 1100 - Henry I crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.
• 1305 - William Wallace, who led Scottish resistance to England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London for trial and execution.
• 1388 - Battle of Otterburn, border skirmish between the Scottish and the English in Northern England.
• 1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes first English colony in North America, at what is now St John's, Newfoundland.
• 1620 - The Mayflower departs Southampton, England.
• 1689 - 1,500 Iroquois attack village of Lachine, in New France.
• 1716 - Battle of Petrovaradin
• 1735 - Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he published was true.
• 1763 - Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run - British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
• 1772 - The First Partition of Poland begins.
• 1812 - War of 1812: Tecumseh's Indian force ambushes Thomas Van Horne's 200 Americans at Brownstone Creek, causing them to flee and retreat.
• 1858 - Cyrus West Field and others complete the first transatlantic telegraph cable after several unsuccessful attempts. It operated for less than a month.
• 1860 - Carl IV of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
• 1861 - American Civil War: In order to help pay for the war effort, the United States government issues the first income tax as part of the Revenue Act of 1861 (3% of all incomes over US $800; rescinded in 1872).
• 1861 - The United States Army abolished flogging.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Baton Rouge - Along the Mississippi River near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Confederate troops drive Union forces back into the city.
• 1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Mobile Bay begins - At Mobile Bay near Mobile, Alabama, Admiral David Farragut leads a Union flotilla through Confederate defenses and seals one of the last major Southern ports.
• 1870 - Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
• 1874 - Japan launches its postal savings system, modeled after a similar system in England.
• 1882 - Standard Oil of New Jersey is established.
• 1882 - Martial law is enacted in Japan.
• 1884 - The cornerstone for the Statue of Liberty is laid on Bedloe's Island in New York Harbor.
• 1888 - Bertha Benz drives from Mannheim to Pforzheim in the first long distance automobile trip.
• 1901 - Peter O'Connor sets the first IAAF recognised long jump world record of 24ft 11¾ins. The record will stand for 20 years.
• 1912 - Japan's first taxicab service begins in Ginza, Tokyo.
• 1914 - In Cleveland, Ohio, the first electric traffic light is installed.
• 1925 - Plaid Cymru is formed with the aim of disseminating knowledge of the Welsh language, which is in danger of dying out.
• 1940 - World War II : Latvia is annexed by the Soviet Union.
• 1943 - World War II: During the Battle of Troina, at around 11 A.M, Mount Etna erupted sending much ash and lava miles into the sky.
• 1944 - World War II: Possibly the biggest prison breakout in history occurs as 545 Japanese POWs attempt to escape outside the town of Cowra, NSW, Australia.
• 1944 - Holocaust: Polish insurgents liberate a German labor camp in Warsaw, freeing 348 Jewish prisoners.
• 1949 - In Ecuador an earthquake destroys 50 towns and kills more than 6000.
• 1957 - American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.
• 1960 - Burkina Faso, then known as "Upper Volta", becomes independent from France.
• 1962 - Nelson Mandela is jailed. He wouldn't be released until 1990.
• 1963 - United States, United Kingdom, and Soviet Union sign a nuclear test ban treaty.
• 1964 - Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow - American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes attacked U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• 1969 - Mariner program: Mariner 7 makes its closest fly-by of Mars (3,524 kilometers).
• 1974 - Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress places a $1 billion dollar limit on military aid to South Vietnam.
• 1979 - In Afghanistan, Maoists undertake an attempted military uprising.
• 1981 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.
• 1989 - General elections are held in Nicaragua, Sandinista Front wins the majority.
• 1995 - The city of Knin, a significant Serb stronghold, is captured by Croatian forces during Operation Storm. The date is celebrated as the day of victory (Victory and Homeland Thanksgiving Day) in Croatia.
• 2003 - A car bomb explodes in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta outside the Marriott Hotel killing 12 and injuring 150.

Births