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49 BC - Julius Caesar's general Gaius Curio is defeated in the Second Battle of the Bagradas River by the Numidians under Attius Varus and King Juba of Numidia. Curio commits suicide to avoid capture.

79 - Mount Vesuvius erupts. The cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Stabiae are buried in volcanic ash.

410 - The Visigoths under Alaric begin to pillage Rome for three days.

1215 - Pope Innocent III declares the Magna Carta invalid.

1349 - Six thousand Jews are killed in Mainz because they are blamed for the bubonic plague.

1391 - Jews massacred in Palma de Mallorca.

1456 - The printing of the Gutenberg Bible is completed.

1459 - Vlad Ţepeş (aka Dracula) had 30,000 of the merchants and officials of the Transylvanian city of Braşov impaled.

1511 - Alfonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers the Sultanate of Malacca.

1561 - Willem of Orange marries duchess Anna of Saxon.

1572 - Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre: On the orders of king Charles IX of France, a massacre of Huguenots (French Protestants) begins.

1608 - The first official English representative to India lands in Surat.

1662 - Act of Uniformity requires England to accept the Book of Common Prayer.

1682 - William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.

1690 - Calcutta, India is founded.

1814 - British troops invade Washington, D.C. and burn down the White House and several other buildings.

1816 - The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.

1821 - The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.

1831 - Charles Darwin is asked to travel on HMS ''Beagle''.

1847 - Charlotte Brontë finishes Jane Eyre.

1853 - Potato chips are first prepared.

1857 - The Panic of 1857 begins, setting off one of the most severe economic crises in U.S. history.

1858 - In Richmond, Virginia, 90 blacks are arrested for learning.

1891 - Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera.

1909 - Workers start pouring concrete for the Panama Canal.

1912 - Alaska becomes a United States territory.

1914 - World War I: German troops capture Namur.

1929 - Turkey and Persia sign a friendship treaty.

1929 - Riots in Palestine of 1929: 18 Jews in Safed, 67 in Hebron, and 22 in Jerusalem killed by Arab Palestinians.

1931 - France and the Soviet Union sign a neutrality/no attack treaty.

1931 - Resignation of the United Kingdom's Second Labour Government. Formation of the UK National Government.

1932 - Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly across the United States non-stop (from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey).

1936 - The Australian Antarctic Territory is created.

1939 - The Nazi-Soviet Pact is signed between Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin.

1942 - World War II: The Battle of the Eastern Solomons. Japanese aircraft carrier Ryūjō is sunk and US carrier Enterprise heavily damaged.

1944 - World War II: Allied troops start the attack on Paris.

1949 - The treaty creating NATO goes into effect.

1950 - Edith Sampson becomes the first black U.S. delegate to the UN.

1954 - The Communist Control Act goes into effect. The American Communist Party is outlawed.

1954 - Getúlio Dornelles Vargas, president of Brazil, commits suicide and is succeeded by João Café Filho.

1960 - A temperature of −88°C (−127°F) is measured in Vostok, Antarctica — a world-record low.

1963 - The 200-metre freestyle is swum in less than 2 minutes for the first time by Don Schollander (1:58).

1967 - Led by Abbie Hoffman, a group of hippies temporarily disrupt trading at the NYSE by throwing dollar bills from the viewing gallery, causing a cease in trading as the brokers scramble to grab them up.

1968 - France explodes its first hydrogen bomb, thus becoming the world's fifth nuclear power.

1971 - Pink Floyd performs their most famous concert, in an abandoned Pompeii amphitheatre on the 1892nd anniversary of the infamous disappearance of Pompeii.

1981 - Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon.

1989 - Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.

1989 - Cincinnati Reds manager Pete Rose is banned from baseball for gambling by Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti.

1989 - Voyager 2 passes Neptune.

1990 - A judge rules that Judas Priest are not responsible for the deaths of two youths who committed suicide after listening to the band's music.

1990 - Sinéad O'Connor refuses to perform at the Garden State Arts Plaza in Holmdel, New Jersey if "The Star-Spangled Banner" is played before her show, as is customary.

1991 - Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

1991 - Ukraine declares itself independent from the Soviet Union.

1992 - Diplomatic relations are established between the People's Republic of China and South Korea.

1992 - Hurricane Andrew hits South Florida as a Category 5 Hurricane.

1994 - Initial accord between Israel and the PLO about partial self-rule of the Palestinians on the West Bank.

1995 - Windows 95, a computer operating system by Microsoft, is released with much fanfare.

1998 - The Netherlands is selected as the site for the trial of the two Libyan suspects of the 1988 PanAm bombing.

2001 - Air Transat Flight 236 runs out of fuel over the Atlantic Ocean (en route to Lisbon from New York) and makes an emergency landing in the Azores.

2004 - Two airliners in Russia, carrying a total of 89 passengers, explode within minutes of each other after flying out of Domodedovo International Airport, near Moscow, leaving no survivors. The explosions were caused by suicide bombers (reportedly female) from the Russian Republic of Chechnya.

2006 - The International Astronomical Union (IAU) redefines the term "planet" such that Pluto is no longer considered a planet.

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1113 - Geoffrey Plantagenet, Count of Anjou (d. 1151)

1198 - King Alexander II of Scotland (d. 1249)

1358 - King John I of Castile (d. 1390)

1393 - Arthur III, Duke of Brittany (d. 1458)

1552 - Lavinia Fontana, Italian painter (d. 1614)

1580 - John Taylor, English poet (d. 1654)

1591 - Robert Herrick, English poet (d. 1674)

1635 - Peder Griffenfeld, Danish statesman (d. 1699)

1669 - Alessandro Marcello, Italian composer (d. 1747)

1759 - William Wilberforce, English campaigner against slavery (d. 1833)

1772 - King William I of the Netherlands (1814-1840)

1787 - James Weddell, Antarctica explorer (d. 1834)

1817 - Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Russian writer (d. 1875)

1837 - Théodore Dubois, French composer and teacher (d. 1924)

1852 - Deacon White, baseball player (d. 1919)

1863 - Dragutin Lerman, Croatian explorer (d. 1918)

1865 - King Ferdinand I of Romania (d. 1927)

1872 - Max Beerbohm, British parodist and caricaturist (d. 1956)

1880 - Joshua Lionel Cowen, American inventor and entrepreneur (d. 1965)

1884 - Earl Derr Biggers, American author (d. 1933)

1887 - Harry Hooper, baseball player (d. 1974)

1890 - Duke Kahanamoku, Hawaiian swimmer and surfer (d. 1968)

1890 - Jean Rhys, Dominican writer (d. 1979)

1895 - Richard Cardinal Cushing,archbishop of Boston (d. 1970)

1897 - Fred Rose, American songwriter and publishing executive (d. 1954)

1898 - Malcolm Cowley, American literary critic, writer, and editor (d. 1989)

1899 - Gaylord DuBois, American comic book writer(d. 1993)

1899 - Jorge Luis Borges, Argentine writer (d. 1986)

1901 - Preston Foster, American actor (d. 1970)

1904 - Alice White, American film actress (d. 1983)

1915 - James Tiptree, Jr., American writer (d. 1987)

1916 - Hal Smith, American actor and voice actor (d. 1994)

1916 - Léo Ferré, French composer and singer (d. 1993)

1918 - Sikander Bakht Indian politician, Cabinet Minister, Governor of Kerala (d.2004)

1922 - René Lévesque, Premier of Quebec (d. 1987)

1923 - Arthur Jensen, American psychologist

1927 - Harry Markowitz, American economist, Bank of Sweden Prize winner

1929 - Yasser Arafat, Palestinian leader, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 2004)

1934 - Kenny Baker, English actor

1936 - A. S. Byatt, English novelist

1938 - Halldór Blöndal, Icelandic politician

1938 - David Freiberg, American bassist (Quicksilver Messenger Service and Jefferson Starship)

1938 - Mason Williams, American guitarist and composer

1942 - Howard Jacobson, British novelist and newspaper columnist

1943 - John Cipollina, American guitarist (Quicksilver Messenger Service) (d. 1989)

1944 - Bill Goldsworthy, National Hockey League player (d. 1996)

1945 - Ken Hensley, English musician (Uriah Heep)

1945 - Vincent K. McMahon, American professional wrestling entrepreneur

1947 - Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author

1947 - Roger De Vlaeminck, Belgian cyclist

1948 - Kim Sung-Il, Chief of Staff of Republic of Korea Air Force

1948 - Jean-Michel Jarre, French musician

1951 - Orson Scott Card, American writer

1951 - Oscar Hijuelos, American author, Pulitzer Prize winner

1956 - John Culberson, American politician

1957 - Stephen Fry, English comedian, author, and actor

1958 - Steve Guttenberg, American actor

1958 - Tracy Harris, American artist

1960 - Cal Ripken, Jr., baseball player

1962 - Craig Kilborn, American talk show host

1962 - David Koechner, American actor

1963 - John Bush, American singer (Anthrax)

1963 - Hideo Kojima, Japanese video game director

1964 - Salizhan Sharipov, cosmonaut

1965 - Marlee Matlin, American actress

1965 - Reggie Miller, American basketball player

1968 - Shoichi Funaki, Japanese professional wrestler

1968 - Andreas Kisser, Brazilian guitarist (Sepultura)

1972 - Jean-Luc Brassard, Québécois freestyle skier

1973 - David Chappelle, American actor and comedian

1973 - Inge de Bruijn, Dutch swimmer

1973 - Carmine Giovinazzo, American actor

1973 - Andrew Brunette, Canadian National Hockey League player

1974 - Jennifer Lien, American actress

1975 - Mark de Vries, Surinamese-Dutch footballer

1978 - Rafael Furcal, Dominican Major League Baseball player

1981 - Chad Michael Murray, American actor

1983 - Christopher Parker, British actor

1988 - Rupert Grint, English actor

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79 - Pliny the Elder, Roman writer and naturalist (b. 23)

1042 - Michael V, Byzantine Emperor) (b. 1015)

1103 - King Magnus III of Norway (b. 1073)

1217 - Eustace the Monk, French mercenary and pirate (bc. 1170)

1540 - Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, Italian painter (b. 1503)

1542 - Gasparo Contarini, Italian diplomat and cardinal (b. 1483)

1572 - Victims of the St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre:

1572 - Gaspard de Coligny, French Huguenot leader (b. 1519)

1572 - Pierre de la Ramée, French humanist (b. 1515)

1572 - Charles de Téligny, French Huguenot soldier (bc. 1535)

1595 - Thomas Digges, English astronomer (b. 1546)

1647 - Nicholas Stone, English sculptor and architect (b. 1586)

1664 - Maria Cunitz, Silesian astronomer (bc. 1610)

1679 - Jean François Paul de Gondi, cardinal de Retz, French churchman and agitator (b. 1614)

1680 - Thomas Blood, Irish-born thief of the British crown jewels (b. 1618)

1683 - John Owen, English non-conformist theologian (b. 1616)

1759 - Ewald Christian von Kleist, German poet (b. 1715)

1779 - Kosmas Aitolos, Greek Orthodox martyr (b. 1714)

1831 - August von Gneisenau, Prussian field marshal (b. 1760)

1832 - Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot, French mathematician (b. 1796)

1841 - Theodore Edward Hook, English author (b. 1788)

1888 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist (b. 1822)

1921 - Nikolay Gumilyov, Russian poet (b. 1886)

1940 - Paul Gottlieb Nipkow, German television pioneer (b. 1860)

1946 - James Clark McReynolds, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1862)

1954 - Getúlio Vargas, President of Brazil (b. 1882)

1956 - Kenji Mizoguchi, Japanese film director (b. 1898)

1958 - Paul Henry, Northern Irish artist (b. 1876)

1967 - Henry J. Kaiser, American industrialist (b. 1882)

1967 - Lam Bun, Hong Kong radio commentator (murdered) (b. 1930)

1974 - Alexander de Seversky, Russian-American aviation pioneer (b. 1894)

1978 - Louis Prima, American band leader (b. 1910)

1979 - Hanna Reitsch, German pilot (b. 1912)

1980 - Yootha Joyce, British actress (b. 1927)

1985 - Paul Creston, American composer (b. 1906)

1987 - Malcolm Kirk, wrestler (b. 1936)

1990 - Sergei Dovlatov, Russian writer (b. 1941)

1991 - Bernard Castro, Italian inventor (b. 1904)

1995 - Alfred Eisenstaedt, German-born photographer (b. 1898)

1998 - E.G. Marshall, American actor (b. 1910)

2003 - Sir Wilfred Thesiger, British explorer (b. 1910)

2004 - Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-born psychiatrist (b. 1926)

2006 - Léopold Simoneau, French Canadian tenor (b. 1916)

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Roman festivals - first of the 3 days on which the mundus was opened.

Roman Catholic Saints - Feast day of Saint Bartholomew.

Liberia: Flag Day.

Sierra Leone: President's Birthday.

Ukraine: National Holiday, independence from the Soviet Union (1991).