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1519 - Hernán Cortés enters Tenochtitlán and Aztec ruler Moctezuma welcomes him with great pomp as would befit a returning god.

1520 - Stockholm Bloodbath begins: A successful invasion of Sweden by Danish forces results in the execution of around 100 persons.

1576 - Eighty Years' War: Pacification of Ghent - The States-General of the Netherlands meet and unite to oppose Spanish occupation.

1602 - The Bodleian Library at Oxford University is opened to the public.

1620 - The Battle of White Mountain, the first battle in the Thirty Years' War, takes place near Prague, ending in a decisive Catholic victory in only two hours.

1793 - In Paris, the French Revolutionary government opens the Louvre to the public as a museum.

1837 - Mary Lyon founds Mount Holyoke Female Seminary, which would later become Mount Holyoke College

1861 - American Civil War: The "Trent Affair" – The USS San Jacinto stops the United Kingdom mailship Trent and arrests two Confederate envoys, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the UK and US.

1864 - U.S. presidential election, 1864: Abraham Lincoln is reelected in an overwhelming victory over George McClellan.

1889 - Montana is admitted as the 41st U.S. state.

1892 - U.S. presidential election, 1892: Grover Cleveland is elected over Benjamin Harrison and James B. Weaver to win the second of his non-consecutive terms.

1895 - While experimenting with electricity Wilhelm Röntgen discovers x-rays.

1899 - The Bronx Zoo opens

1917 - People's Commissars gives authority to Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin

1923 - Beer Hall Putsch: In Munich, Adolf Hitler leads the Nazis in an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow the German government.

1932 - U.S. presidential election, 1932: Franklin D. Roosevelt defeats Herbert Hoover in a landslide victory.

1933 - Great Depression: New Deal - US President Franklin D. Roosevelt unveils the Civil Works Administration, an organization designed to create jobs for more than 4 million of the unemployed.

1935 - A dozen labor leaders come together to announce the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO), an organization charged with pushing the cause for industrial unionism.

1935 - Fernand Bouisson becomes Prime Minister of France

1937 - The Nazi exhibition Der ewige Jude ("the eternal Jew") opens in Munich.

1937 - The Chinese Youth Journalist Association was created in Shanghai. The day has become Chinese Journalist Day.

1939 - Venlo Incident: Two British agents of SIS are captured by the Germans.

1939 - In Munich, Adolf Hitler narrowly escapes an assassination attempt while celebrating the 16th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch.

1941 - Albanian Communist Party founded.

1942 - Holocaust: In Ternopil, western Ukraine, German SS deport about 2,400 Jews from Ternopil ghetto to the Belzec death camp, so called "Second Aktion". When the Germans captured Ternopil, about 18,000 Jews lived in the city.

1942 - World War II: Operation Torch - United States and United Kingdom forces land in French North Africa.

1942 - World War II: French resistance coup in Algiers, by which 400 Civil French patriots neutralized Vichyst XIXth Army Corps during 15 hours, arrested vichyst generals (Juin, Darlan, etc.), and so allowed the immediate success of Operation Torch in Algiers, then, from there, to the whole French North Africa.

1950 - Korean War: United States Air Force Lt. Russell J. Brown shoots down two North Korean MiG-15s in the first jet aircraft-to-jet aircraft dogfight in history.

1950 - Pope Pius XII witnesses the "Miracle of the Sun" while at the Vatican"

1960 - U.S. presidential election, 1960: John F. Kennedy is elected over Richard M. Nixon, becoming the youngest man elected to that office.

1965 - The British Indian Ocean Territory is created, consisting of Chagos Archipelago, Aldabra, Farquhar and Des Roches islands.

1965 - The 173rd Airborne is ambushed by over 1,200 Viet Cong in Operation Hump during the Vietnam War.

1965 - The soap opera Days of Our Lives debuts on NBC in the United States.

1966 - Former Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke becomes the first African American elected to the United States Senate.

1966 - U.S. President Lyndon Johnson signs into law an antitrust exemption allowing the National Football League to merge with the upstart American Football League.

1971 - The fourth album of British rock group Led Zeppelin (Led Zeppelin IV) is released, including one of the group's most well known songs, "Stairway to Heaven".

1973 - The right ear of John Paul Getty III is delivered to a newspaper together with a ransom note, convincing his father to pay 2.9 million USD.

1974 - In Salt Lake City, Utah, Carol DaRonch narrowly escapes abduction by serial killer Ted Bundy.

1979 - Foundation of the Chilean Communist Party (Proletarian Action).

1987 - Remembrance Day Bombing: In Enniskillen, Northern Ireland, an Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb explodes, at a ceremony honouring Britain's war dead, killing eleven people.

1988 - U.S. presidential election, 1988: George H. W. Bush is elected over Michael Dukakis.

1991 - Marion Barry is reelected mayor of Washington, D.C..

1994 - For the first time in 40 years the United States Republican Party takes control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate in midterm congressional elections.

1997 - US president Bill Clinton speaks at a dinner sponsored by the Human Rights Campaign, the USA's largest gay rights organisation.

2002 - Iraq disarmament crisis: UN Security Council Resolution 1441 – The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a resolution on Iraq, forcing Saddam Hussein to disarm or face "serious consequences".

2004 - War in Iraq: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.

2005 - Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Corzine is elected governor of New Jersey.

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35 - Nerva, Roman Emperor (d. 98)

1491 - Teofilo Folengo, Italian poet (d. 1544)

1622 - King Charles X of Sweden (d. 1660)

1656 (N.S.) - Edmond Halley, British astronomer and mathematician (d. 1742)

1706 - Johann Ulrich von Cramer, German judge and philosopher (d. 1772)

1710 - Sarah Fielding, English writer (d. 1768)

1715 - Elisabeth Christine von Braunschweig-Bevern, wife of Frederick II of Prussia (d. 1797)

1723 - John Byron, British naval officer (d. 1786)

1836 - Milton Bradley, American lithographer and game manufacturer (d. 1911)

1847 - Jean Casimir-Perier, French politician (d. 1907)

1847 - Bram Stoker, Irish novelist (d. 1912)

1848 - Gottlob Frege, German mathematician and logician (d. 1925)

1854 - Johannes Rydberg, Swedish physicist (d. 1919)

1866 - Herbert Austin, English automobile pioneer (d. 1941)

1868 - Felix Hausdorff, German mathematician (d. 1942)

1869 - Zinaida Gippius, Russian woman-poet in exile in France (d. 1945)

1883 - Arnold Bax, English composer (d. 1953)

1884 - Hermann Rorschach, Swiss psychiatrist (d. 1922)

1885 - Hans Cloos, German geologist (d. 1951)

1885 - Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (d. 1946)

1893 - Clarence Williams, American jazz pianist and composer (d. 1965)

1893 - Prajadhipok, Rama VII, king of Thailand (d. 1941)

1896 - Bucky Harris, baseball player (d. 1977)

1897 - Dorothy Day, social activist (d. 1980)

1898 - Marie Prevost, Canadian actress (d. 1937)

1900 - Margaret Mitchell, American author (d. 1949)

1900 - Charlie Paddock, American athlete (d. 1943)

1904 - Cedric Belfrage English-born writer (d. 1990)

1908 - Martha Gellhorn, American writer and journalist (d. 1998)

1918 - Hermann Zapf, German designer

1919 - P. L. Deshpande, Indian author (d. 2000)

1920 - Esther Rolle, American actress (d. 1998)

1922 - Christiaan Barnard, South African heart surgeon (d. 2001)

1922 - Ademir Marques de Menezes, Brazilian footballer (d. 1996)

1923 - Jack Kilby, American electrical engineer, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physics (d. 2005)

1924 - Joe Flynn, American actor (d. 1974)

1927 - Nguyen Khanh, Prime Minister of South Vietnam

1927 - Patti Page, American singer

1929 - António Castanheira Neves, Portuguese legal philosopher

1931 - Darla Hood, American actress (d. 1979)

1931 - Morley Safer, Canadian journalist

1935 - Alain Delon, French actor

1942 - Angel Cordero Jr., Puerto Rican jockey

1943 - Martin Peters, English footballer

1945 - Don Murray, American drummer (The Turtles)

1946 - Guus Hiddink, Dutch/Korean/Australian football (soccer) coach

1946 - Roy Wood, English songwriter and musician (Electric Light Orchestra)

1947 - Minnie Riperton, American singer (d. 1979)

1949 - Bonnie Raitt, American singer

1952 - Jan Raas, Dutch cyclist

1952 - Christie Hefner, CEO of Playboy Enterprises; daughter of Hugh Hefner

1952 - John Denny, baseball player

1953 - Alfre Woodard, American actress

1954 - Michael D. Brown, U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency director

1954 - Rickie Lee Jones, American singer and composer

1954 - Jeanette McGruder, American musician (P Funk)

1958 - Don Byron, American clarinetist

1961 - Leif Garrett, American singer and actor

1965 - Jeff Blauser, Major League Baseball player

1967 - Courtney Thorne-Smith, American actress

1967 - Henry Rodriguez, Major League Baseball player

1966 - Gordon Ramsay, British chef

1968 - Parker Posey, American actress

1968 - Zara Whites, Dutch porn actress

1970 - José Francisco Porras, Costa Rican footballer

1971 - Carlos Atanes, Spanish film director

1972 - Gretchen Mol, American actress

1974 - Masashi Kishimoto,Japanese mangaka

1975 - Tara Reid, American actress

1976 - Brett Lee, Australian cricketer

1977 - Flo Jalin, import car model

1977 - Bucky Covington, American Idol finalist

1978 - Ali Karimi, Iranian footballer

1979 - Aaron Hughes, Northern Irish footballer

1981 - Joe Cole, English footballer

1983 - Kat Shoob, British television presenter

1983 - Blanka Vlašić, Croatian high jumper

1985 - Jack Osbourne, American TV-star, son of Ozzy Osbourne

2003 - Lady Louise Windsor, British royalty

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911 - Louis the Child, last Carolingian ruler of the East Franks (b. 893)

955 - Pope Agapetus II

1171 - Baldwin IV, Count of Hainaut (b. 1108)

1226 - King Louis VIII of France (b. 1187)

1246 - Berenguela of Castile, wife of Alfonso IX of Castile (b. 1180)

1308 - Duns Scotus, Scottish philosopher

1517 - Francisco Cardinal Jiménez de Cisneros, Spanish statesman (b. 1436)

1527 - Jerome Emser, German theologian (b. 1477)

1599 - Francisco Guerrero, Spanish composer (b. 1528)

1600 - Natsuka Masaie, Japanese warlord (b. 1562)

1605 - Robert Catesby, English conspirator (b. 1573)

1658 - Witte Corneliszoon de With, Dutch naval officer (b. 1599)

1674 - John Milton, English poet (b. 1608)

1719 - Michel Rolle, French mathematician (b. 1652)

1817 - Andrea Appiani, Italian painter (b. 1754)

1830 - King Francis I of the Two Sicilies (b. 1777)

1887 - Doc Holliday, American gambler and gunfighter (b. 1851)

1890 - César Franck, Belgian composer and organist (b. 1822)

1905 - Victor Borisov-Musatov, Russian painter (b. 1870)

1917 - Colin Blythe, English cricketer (b. 1879)

1934 - Carlos Chagas, Brazilian physician (b. 1879)

1945 - August von Mackensen, German field marshal (b. 1849)

1949 - Cyriel Verschaeve, Belgian clergyman (b. 1874)

1953 - Ivan Alekseyevich Bunin, Russian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1870)

1953 - John van Melle, South African author (b. 1887)

1968 - Wendell Corey, American actor (b. 1914)

1974 - Ivory Joe Hunter, American R&B singer, pianist and songwriter (b. 1914)

1977 - Bucky Harris, baseball player (b. 1896)

1978 - Norman Rockwell, American illustrator (b. 1894)

1985 - Nicolas Frantz, Luxembourgish cyclist (b. 1899)

1986 - Vyacheslav Molotov, Russian politician (b. 1890)

1993 - Andrey Nikolayevich Tychonoff, Russian mathematician (b. 1906)

1998 - Jean Marais, French actor (b. 1913)

1999 - Leon Štukelj, Slovenian gymnast (b. 1898)

1999 - Lester Bowie, American jazz trumpet player (b. 1941)

2002 - Jon Elia, Pakistani scholar, poet and philosopher (b. 1931)

2003 - C. Z. Guest, American socialite (b. 1920)

2005 - David Westheimer, American novelist (b. 1917)