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1455 - Traditional date for the publication of the Gutenberg Bible, the first Western book printed from movable type.

1660 - Charles XI becomes King of Sweden.

1778 - American Revolution: Baron von Steuben arrives at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania to help to train the Continental Army.

1820 - Cato Street Conspiracy: A plot to murder all the British cabinet ministers is exposed.

1836 - The Siege of the Alamo begins in San Antonio, Texas.

1847 - Mexican-American War: Battle of Buena Vista - In Mexico, American troops defeat Mexican general Antonio López de Santa Anna.

1854 - The official independence of the Orange Free State is declared.

1861 - President-elect Abraham Lincoln arrives secretly in Washington, DC after an assassination attempt in Baltimore, Maryland.

1870 - Military control of Mississippi ends and it is readmitted to the Union.

1874 - Walter Winfield patents a game called "sphairistike", now more commonly called lawn tennis.

1883 - Alabama becomes the first U.S. state to enact an antitrust law.

1887 - The French Riviera is hit by a large earthquake, killing around 2,000.

1893 - Rudolf Diesel receives a patent for the diesel engine.

1898 - Émile Zola is imprisoned in France after writing "J'accuse", a letter accusing the French government of anti-Semitism and wrongfully placing Captain Alfred Dreyfus in jail.

1900 - In South Africa the Boers and British troops fight in the Battle of Hart's Hill.

1903 - Cuba leases Guantanamo Bay to the United States "in perpetuity".

1904 - For $10 million the United States gains control of the Panama Canal Zone.

1905 - Chicago, Illinois attorney Paul Harris and three other businessmen meet for lunch to form the Rotary Club, the world's first service club.

1909 - The Silver Dart makes the first powered flight in Canada and the British Empire.

1917 - first demonstrations in Petrograd, Russia. The beginning of the February Revolution.

1919 - Benito Mussolini forms the Fascist Party in Italy.

1927 - The Federal Radio Commission (later renamed the Federal Communications Commission) begins to regulate the use of radio frequencies.

1934 - Léopold III becomes King of Belgium.

1940 - World War II: Soviet Union troops conquer Lasi Island.

1941 - Plutonium was first produced and isolated by Dr. Glenn T. Seaborg.

1945 - World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, a group of United States Marines reach the top of Mount Suribachi on the island and are photographed raising the American flag. The photo would later win a Pulitzer Prize.

1945 - World War II: The capital of the Philippines, Manila, is liberated by American forces.

1945 - World War II: Capitulation of German garrison in Poznań, city is liberated by Soviet and Polish forces.

1945 - World War II: The German town of Pforzheim is completely destroyed by a raid of 379 British bombers.

1947 - International Organization for Standardization(ISO) is founded.

1954 - The first mass vaccination of children against polio begins in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

1955 - First meeting of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).

1955 - Edgar Faure becomes Prime Minister of France.

1956 - In a cosmic event known as the great flare, the Earth was bombarded with a burst of protons and other nuclei from a solar flare.

1957 - The founding congress of the Senegalese Popular Bloc is opened in Dakar.

1958 - Cuban rebels kidnap 5-time world driving champion Juan Manuel Fangio.

1966 - A military coup in Syria replaces the previous government.

1974 - The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.

1975 - In response to the energy crisis, daylight saving time commences nearly two months early in the United States.

1980 - Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini states that Iran's parliament would decide the fate of the American embassy hostages.

1981 - 23-F, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

1983 - The Spanish Socialist government of Felipe González and Miguel Boyer nationalizes Rumasa, a holding of José María Ruiz Mateos.

1983 - The Environmental Protection Agency announces its intent to buy out and evacuate the dioxin-contaminated community of Times Beach, Missouri.

1987 - A supernova is seen in the Large Magellanic Cloud (see Supernova 1987a).

1991 - Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabia border and enter Iraq, thus starting the ground-phase of the war.

1991 - In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.

1992 - The Socialist Labour Party is founded in Georgia.

1995 - The Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 30.28 to close at 4,003.33, closing above 4,000 for the first time.

1996 - William Bonin, first man to be executed by lethal injection in the state of california

1997 - A large fire occurs in the Russian Space station, Mir.

1998 - Tornadoes in central Florida destroy or damage 2,600 structures and kill 42.

1998 - Osama bin Laden publishes a fatwa declaring jihad against all Jews and Crusaders.

1999 - Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Öcalan is charged with treason in Ankara, Turkey.

1999 - An avalanche destroys the Austrian village of Galtür, killing 31.

2005 - Slovakia Summit 2005 begins, marking the first occasion when a sitting American President visits Slovakia; Bush and Putin are in attendance.

2005 - Vote of the controversial French law on colonialism, repealed start of 2006.

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1417 - Pope Paul II (d. 1471)

1583 - Jean-Baptiste Morin, French scientist (d. 1656)

1633 - Samuel Pepys, English naval administrator and man of letters, posthumously famous as a diarist (d. 1703)

1646 - Tokugawa Tsunayoshi, Japanese shogun (d. 1709)

1648 - Arabella Churchill, English mistress of James II of England (d. 1730)

1680 - Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, French colonizer and Governor of Louisiana (d. 1767)

1685 - Georg Friedrich Handel, German/British Baroque composer (d. 1759)

1688 - Queen Ulrika Eleonora of Sweden (d. 1741)

1723 - Richard Price, Welsh philosopher (d. 1791)

1729 - Josiah Hornblower, American statesman (d. 1809)

1743 - Mayer Amschel Rothschild, German-born banker (d. 1812)

1840 - Carl Menger, Austrian economist (d. 1921)

1868 - W.E.B. DuBois, American civil rights leader (d. 1963)

1873 - Liang Qichao, Chinese scholar (d. 1929)

1874 - Konstantin Päts, Estonian president (d. 1956)

1878 - Kazimir Malevich, Ukrainian painter and art theorist (d. 1935)

1883 - Victor Fleming, American director (d. 1949)

1883 - Karl Jaspers, German philosopher (d. 1969)

1889 - Musidora, French actress and director (d. 1957)

1899 - Erich Kästner, German writer (d. 1974)

1904 - William L. Shirer, American historian (d. 1993)

1904 - Leopold Trepper, Soviet spy (d. 1982)

1908 - William McMahon, twentieth Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1988)

1914 - Theofiel Middelkamp, Dutch cyclist (d. 2005)

1915 - Jon Hall, American actor (d. 1979)

1915 - Paul Tibbets, American pilot

1918 - Richard G. Butler, American fascist (d. 2004)

1924 - Allan McLeod Cormack, South-African born physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)

1928 - Vasili Lazarev, cosmonaut (d. 1990)

1932 - Majel Barrett, American actress

1937 - Tom Osborne, American football coach and politician

1938 - Diane Varsi, American actress (d. 1992)

1940 - Peter Fonda, American actor

1941 - Ron Hunt, baseball player

1943 - Fred Biletnikoff, American football player and coach

1944 - Johnny Winter, American musician

1945 - Allan Boesak, South African activist

1951 - Ed Jones, American football player

1951 - Patricia Richardson, American actress

1952 - Brad Whitford, American musician (Aerosmith)

1954 - Viktor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine

1955 - Tom Bodett, American voice actor, radio personality, and writer

1955 - Howard Jones, British pop singer

1958 - Tony Barrell, English writer and journalist

1958 - David Sylvian, English musician

1959 - Richard Dodds, British field hockey player

1960 - Alan Griffin, Australian politician and member for Bruce in the House of Representatives

1963 - Bobby Bonilla, former baseball player

1965 - Kristin Davis, American actress

1965 - Michael Dell, American computer manufacturer

1965 - Helena Suková, former Czech tennis player

1965 - Veronica Webb, American supermodel and actress

1969 - Marc Wauters, Belgian cyclist

1970 - Niecy Nash, American actress

1972 - Steve Holy, American country singer

1973 - André Tanneberger, German DJ

1974 - Jaime Villarreal, Mexican musician

1974 - Leko, American DJ

1975 - Michael Cornacchia, American actor

1976 - Kelly Macdonald, British actress

1977 - Kristina Šmigun, Estonian cross-country skier

1978 - Dan Snyder, Canadian hockey player (d. 2003)

1981 - Gareth Barry, English footballer

1981 - Charles Tillman, American Football Player

1982 - Austin Ryan Fuentes, American heir

1983 - Mido, Egyptian footballer

1986 - Holly Brook, American musician

1994 - Dakota Fanning, American actress

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1100 - Emperor Zhezong of China (b. 1077)

1270 - Saint Isabel of France, daughter of Louis VIII of France (b. 1225)

1447 - Pope Eugene IV (b. 1383)

1447 - Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1390)

1464 - Zhengtong, Emperor of China (b. 1427)

1526 - Diego Colón, Spanish Viceroy of the Indies

1554 - Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, English poltician (executed) (bc. 1515)

1572 - Pierre Certon, French composer

1603 - Andrea Cesalpino, Italian philosopher, physician, and botanist (b. 1519)

1669 - Leo Aitzema, Dutch historian and statesman (b. 1600)

1704 - Georg Muffat, French composer (b. 1653)

1730 - Pope Benedict XIII (b. 1649)

1766 - Stanislaw Leszczynski, King of Poland (b. 1677)

1781 - George Taylor, American signer of the Declaration of Independence (bc. 1716)

1792 - Joshua Reynolds, English painter (b. 1723)

1800 - Joseph Warton, English literary critic (b. 1722)

1821 - John Keats, English poet (b. 1795)

1848 - John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States (b. 1767)

1855 - Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, astronomer, and physicist (b. 1777)

1879 - Albrecht Graf von Roon, Prime Minister of Prussia (b. 1803)

1897 - Woldemar Bargiel, German composer (b. 1828)

1908 - Johannes Friedrich August von Esmarch, German surgeon (b. 1823)

1922 - Albert Victor Bäcklund, Swedish physicist (b. 1845)

1930 - Horst Wessel, Nazi ideologue and composer (b. 1907)

1934 - Edward Elgar, English composer (b. 1857)

1946 - Tomoyuki Yamashita, Japanese general (hanged) (b. 1885)

1948 - John Robert Gregg, Irish-born publisher and inventor (b. 1866)

1955 - Paul Claudel, French poet and playwright (b. 1868).

1965 - Stan Laurel, British born actor and comedian (b. 1890)

1969 - King Saud of Saudi Arabia (b. 1902)

1973 - Dickinson W. Richards, American physician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1895)

1974 - Harry Ruby, American composer and writer (b. 1895)

1979 - W.A.C. Bennett, Canadian politician (b. 1900)

1990 - José Napoleón Duarte, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)

1995 - Melvin Franklin, American singer (The Temptations) (b. 1942)

1995 - James Herriot, English writer (b. 1916)

1997 - Tony Williams, American jazz drummer (b. 1945)

2000 - Ofra Haza, Israeli singer (b. 1957)

2000 - Stanley Matthews, English footballer (b. 1915)

2003 - Robert K. Merton, American sociologist (b. 1910)

2004 - Vijay Anand, Indian film director (b. 1934)

2004 - Carl Anderson, American singer (b. 1945)

2004 - Sikander Bakht, Governor of Kerala (b. 1918)

2004 - Don Cornell, American singer (b. 1919)

2004 - Carl Liscombe, Canadian hockey player (b. 1915)

2006 - Benno Besson, Swiss actor and film director (b. 1922)

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Roman Empire - Terminalia held in honor of Terminus.

Guyana - Mashramani-Republic Day.

Russia - Defender of the Fatherland Day (formerly Red Army Day or Day of Soviet Army and Navy).

Brunei - National Day.

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Liturgical feasts

Catholicism - Feast day of Saint Polycarp of Smyrna (died 155)
Saint Lazarus (d.867)
Saint Milburga
Blessed odilia of Mombeek