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27 BC - Gaius Julius Caesar Octavian receives the title Augustus by the Roman Senate.

550 - Gothic War (535–552): The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, conquer Rome after a long siege, by bribing the Isaurian garrison.

929 - Emir Abd-ar-rahman III of Cordoba declares himself caliph, thereby establishing the Caliphate of Cordoba.

1362 - A great storm tide in the North Sea destroys the German island of Strand and the city of Rungholt.

1412 - The Medici family are made official bankers of the Papacy.

1456 - Painter Filippo Lippi elopes with Lucrezia Buti, a young nun from the convent of Saint Margherita.

1492 - The first grammar of a modern language, in Spanish, is presented to Queen Isabella.

1547 - Ivan the Terrible becomes Tsar of Russia.

1556 - Philip II becomes King of Spain.

1572 - The Duke of Norfolk is tried for treason for his part in the Ridolfi plot to restore Catholicism in England.

1581 - English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism.

1605 - The first edition of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (Book One of Don Quixote) by Miguel de Cervantes was published in Madrid.

1761 - British capture Pondicherry, India from the French.

1777 - Vermont declares its independence from New York.

1780 - American Revolution: Battle of Cape St. Vincent.

1795 - French occupy Utrecht, Netherlands.

1809 - Peninsular War: The British defeat the French at the Battle of La Coruña.

1847 - John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.

1878 - Captain Burago with a squadron of Russian Imperial army dragoons liberates Plovdiv from the Ottoman rule.

1883 - The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, establishing the United States Civil service, is passed.

1896 - Defeat of Cymru Fydd at South Wales Liberal Federation AGM, Newport, Monmouthshire.

1900 - The United States Senate accepts the Anglo-German treaty of 1899 in which the United Kingdom renounces its claims to the Samoan islands.

1909 - Ernest Shackleton's expedition finds the magnetic South Pole.

1917 - German Foreign Secretary Arthur Zimmermann sends the Zimmermann Telegram to Mexico, proposing a German-Mexican alliance against the United States.

1919 - Temperance movement: The 18th Amendment, authorizing Prohibition, is passed by the Congress of the United States, going into effect one year later.

1920 - Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. was established on the campus of Howard University.

1945 - Adolf Hitler moves into his underground bunker, the so-called Führerbunker.

1956 - President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine.

1968 - Youth International Party (Yippies) is founded.

1969 - Czech student Jan Palach commits suicide by self-immolation in Prague, in protest against the Soviets' crushing of the Prague Spring the year before.

1969 - Metroliner train starts runing.
1970 - Buckminster Fuller receives the Gold Medal award from the American Institute of Architects.

1979 - The Shah of Iran flees Iran with his family and relocates to Egypt.

1986 - First meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force.

1991 - Gulf War: United States begins bombing Iraq in Operation Desert Storm, which began following Operation Desert Shield .

1992 - El Salvador officials and rebel leaders sign the Chapultepec Peace Accords in Mexico City that ends a 12-year civil war that claimed at least 75,000.

1995 - UPN begins broadcasting.

2001 - Congolese President Laurent-Désiré Kabila is assassinated by one of his own bodyguards.

2002 - The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, Al-Qaida, and the remaining members of the Taliban.

2003 - Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' takes off for mission STS-107 which will be its final one. Columbia disintegrates 16 days later on re-entry.

2005 - Adriana Iliescu gives birth at age 66 and becomes the oldest woman in the world to do so.

2006 - Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is sworn in as Liberia's new president. She becomes Africa's first female elected head of state.

2006 - Liu Xinjuan is committed by the Chinese government to a psychiatric hospital, allegedly for political activism.

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1245 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England (d. 1296)

1409 - René I of Naples (d. 1480)

1477 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (d. 1547)

1501 - Anthony Denny, confidant of King Henry VIII of England (d. 1559)

1616 - François de Vendôme, duc de Beaufort, French soldier (d. 1669)

1626 - Lucas Achtschellinck, Flemish painter (d. 1699)

1634 - Dorthe Engelbrechtsdatter, Norwegian poet (d. 1716)

1675 - Louis de Rouvroy, duc de Saint-Simon, French writer (d. 1755)

1728 - Niccola Piccinni, Italian composer (d. 1800)

1821 - John C. Breckenridge, Confederate general (d. 1875)

1834 - Robert R. Hitt, American politician (d. 1906)

1838 - Franz Brentano, German philosopher and psychologist (d. 1917)

1853 - Andre Michelin, French industrialist (d. 1931)

1874 - Robert W. Service, Canadian poet (d. 1958)

1885 - Zhou Zuoren, Chinese writer (d. 1967)

1886 - John Hamilton, American actor (d. 1958)

1888 - Osip Brik, Russian writer (d. 1945)

1897 - Carlos Pellicer, Mexican poet (d. 1977)

1898 - Margaret Booth, American film editor (d. 2002)

1901 - Fulgencio Batista, Cuban leader (d. 1973)

1901 - Frank Zamboni, American inventor (d. 1988)

1902 - Eric Liddell, Scottish runner (d. 1945)

1906 - Diana Wynyard, British actress (d. 1964.

1907 - Paul Nitze, American government official (d. 2004)

1908 - Ethel Merman, American actress/singer (d. 1984)

1910 - Dizzy Dean, baseball player (d. 1974)

1911 - Roger Lapébie, French cyclist (d. 1996)

1918 - Nel Benschop, Dutch poetess (d. 2005)

1918 - Stirling Silliphant, American writer (d. 1996)

1921 - Francesco Scavullo, American fashion photographer (d. 2004)

1922 - Ernesto Bonino, Italian singer

1923 - Anthony Hecht, American poet (d. 2004)

1924 - Katy Jurado, Mexican actress (d. 2002)

1928 - William Kennedy, American author

1930 - Clarence Ray Allen, American murderer (d. 2006)

1931 - Johannes Rau, President of Germany (d. 2006)

1932 - Dian Fossey, American zoologist (d. 1985)

1933 - Susan Sontag, American writer (d. 2004)

1934 - Marilyn Horne, American mezzo-soprano

1935 - A.J. Foyt, American race car driver

1943 - Brian Ferneyhough, British composer

1943 - Ronnie Milsap, American singer/songwriter

1946 - Kabir Bedi, Indian actor

1946 - Katia Ricciarelli, Italian soprano

1947 - Laura Schlessinger, American radio talk show host

1948 - John Carpenter, American film director

1948 - Dalvanius, New Zealand entertainer (d. 2002)

1948 - Cliff Thorburn, Canadian snooker player

1948 - Ruth Reichl, editor-in-chief of Gourmet

1950 - Debbie Allen, American dancer/choreographer

1951 - Glenn Ordway, American radio talk show host

1952 - King Fuad II of Egypt

1953 - Robert Jay Mathews, White Nationalist (d. 1984)

1956 - Martin Jol, Tottenham football manager

1958 - Anatoli Boukreev, Russian climber (d. 1997)

1959 - Sade, Nigerian-born singer

1962 - Paul Webb, British musician (Talk Talk)

1963 - James May, Top Gear presenter

1966 - Maxine Jones, American singer (En Vogue)

1969 - Roy Jones Jr., American boxer

1970 - Ron Villone, Major League Baseball Player

1970 - Garth Ennis, Irish comic book author

1973 - Josie Davis, American actress

1974 - Kate Moss, English model

1974 - Marlon Anderson, Baseball player

1976 - Viktor Maslov, Russian racing driver

1977 - Jeff Foster, American basketball player

1979 - Aaliyah, American singer (d. 2001)

1979 - Brenden Morrow, Canadian hockey player

1980 - Albert Pujols, baseball player

1980 - Michelle Wild, Hungarian model

1981 - Nick Valensi, American guitarist (The Strokes)

1982 - Samuel Preston, British singer (The Ordinary Boys)

1983 - Emanuel Pogatetz, Austrian footballer

1988 - Nicklas Bendtner, Danish footballer

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1400 - John Holland, 1st Duke of Exeter, English politician (executed)

1545 - George Spalatin, German reformer (b. 1484)

1547 - Johannes Schöner, German astronomer and cartographer (b. 1477)

1554 - Christiern Pedersen, Danish humanist

1585 - Edward Clinton, 1st Earl of Lincoln, English admiral (b. 1512)

1659 - Charles Annibal Fabrot, French lawyer (b. 1580)

1710 - Emperor Higashiyama of Japan (b. 1675)

1711 - Joseph Vaz, Apostle of Ceylon (b. 1651)

1747 - Barthold Heinrich Brockes, German poet (b. 1680)

1748 - Arnold Drakenborch, Dutch classical scholar (b. 1684)

1750 - Ivan Trubetskoy, Russian field marshall (b. 1667)

1752 - Francis Blomefield, English topographer (b. 1705)

1794 - Edward Gibbon, English historian (b. 1737)

1806 - William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1759)

1809 - John Moore, British general (b. 1761)

1815 - Emma, Lady Hamilton, English mistress of Horatio Nelson (b. 1765)

1817 - Alexander J. Dallas, American statesman (b. 1759)

1834 - Jean Nicolas Pierre Hachette, French mathematician (b. 1769)

1856 - Thaddeus William Harris, American naturalist (b. 1795)

1865 - Edmond François Valentin About, French writer (b. 1828)

1891 - Léo Delibes, French composer (b. 1836)

1898 - Charles Pelham Villiers (b. 1802), longest-serving MP in the British House of Commons

1917 - George Dewey, U.S. admiral (b. 1837)

1919 - Francisco de Paula Rodrigues Alves, President of Brazil (b. 1848)

1924 - Winifred Cochrane, Countess of Dundonald, philanthropist (b. 1859)

1936 - Albert Fish, American serial killer (b. 1870)

1942 - Carole Lombard, American actress (b. 1908)

1957 - Arturo Toscanini, Italian conductor (b. 1867)

1962 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (b. 1883)

1967 - Robert J. Van de Graaff, American nuclear physicist (b. 1901)

1969 - Jan Palach, Czech Freedom Fighter (b. 1948)

1971 - Philippe Thys, Belgian cyclist (b. 1890)

1972 - Ross Bagdasarian, American actor (b. 1919)

1979 - Ted Cassidy, American actor (b. 1932)

1979 - August Heissmeyer, German SS officer (b. 1897)

1981 - Bernard Lee, English actor (b. 1908)

1982 - Red Smith, American sports columnist (b. 1905)

1986 - Herbert W. Armstrong, American evangelist, author, and publisher (b. 1892)

1988 - Ballard Berkeley, English actor (b. 1904)

1988 - Andrija Artuković, Croatian war criminal (b. 1899)

1995 - Eric Mottram, English poet, teacher, critic, and editor (b. 1924)

1997 - Ennis Cosby, son of entertainer Bill Cosby (murdered)

2000 - John Rankin, musical entertainer (b. 1959)

2001 - Laurent-Désiré Kabila, President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (b. 1939)

2002 - Michael Bilandic, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1923)

2002 - Eddie Meduza, Swedish composer (b. 1948)

2002 - Bobo Olson, American boxer (b. 1928)

2002 - Ron Taylor, American actor (b. 1952)

2004 - Kalevi Sorsa, Prime Minister of Finland (b. 1930)

2005 - Marjorie Williams, American journalist (b. 1958)

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Teacher's Day in Thailand

National Religious Freedom Day in the United States, to commemorate the adoption of Thomas Jefferson's landmark Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786