1661French "Sun King" Louis XIV begins his personal rule of France after the death of his premier, the Cardinal Mazarin.
1735An agreement between Nader Shah and Russia is signed near Ganja, Azerbaijan and Russian troops are withdrawn from occupied territories.
1762French Huguenot Jean Calas, who had been wrongly convicted of killing his son, dies after being tortured by authorities; the event inspired Voltaire to begin a campaign for religious tolerance and legal reform.
1814Emperor Napoleon I is defeated at the Battle of Laon in France.
1830The Royal Netherlands East Indies Army is created.
1831The French Foreign Legion is created by Louis Philippe, the King of France, from the foreign regiments of the Kingdom of France.
1861El Hadj Umar Tall seizes the city of Ségou, destroying the Bamana Empire of Mali.
1873The first Azerbaijani play, The Adventures of the Vizier of the Khan of Lenkaran, prepared by Akhundov, is performed by Hassan-bey Zardabi and dramatist and Najaf-bey Vezirov.
1891Almon Strowger patents the Strowger switch, a device which led to the automation of telephone circuit switching.
1906The Courrières mine disaster, Europe's worst ever, kills 1099 miners in northern France.
1909By signing the Anglo-Siamese Treaty of 1909, Thailand relinquishes its sovereignty over the Malay states of Kedah, Kelantan, Perlis and Terengganu, which become British protectorates.
1922Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in India, tried for sedition, and sentenced to six years in prison, only to be released after nearly two years for an appendicitis operation.
1933The Long Beach earthquake affects the Greater Los Angeles Area, leaving around 108 people dead.
1944Greek Civil War: The Political Committee of National Liberation is established in Greece by the National Liberation Front.
1945World War II: The U.S. Army Air Force firebombs Tokyo, and the resulting conflagration kills more than 100,000 people, mostly civilians.
1949Mildred Gillars ("Axis Sally") is convicted of treason.
1959Tibetan uprising: Fearing an abduction attempt by China, thousands of Tibetans surround the Dalai Lama's palace to prevent his removal.
1966Military Prime Minister of South VietnamNguyễn Cao Kỳ sacks rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.
1971John Gorton resigns as Prime Minister of Australia and the leader of the Liberal Party of Australia after a secret ballot vote of confidence, being replaced in both positions by William McMahon.
19741974 Belgian general election: Elections are held in Belgium for all 212 seats in the Chamber of Representatives, the Belgian Socialist Party taking the majority with 59.
1975Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.
1977Astronomers discover the rings of Uranus.
19791979 International Women's Day protests in Tehran: Protestor involvement peaks with 15,000 Iranian women and girls performing a three‐hour-long sit‐in at the Courthouse of Tehran.
1982Syzygy: All nine planets recognized at this time — Mercury to Pluto — align on the same side of the Sun.
1989Air Ontario Flight 1363, a Fokker F-28 Fellowship, crashes at Dryden Regional Airport in Dryden, Ontario, Canada, killing 24.
1990In Haiti, Prosper Avril is ousted eighteen months after seizing power in a coup d'état in September 1988.
19911991 Salvadoran legislative election: The Nationalist Republican Alliance wins 39 of the 84 seats in the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador.
2000The Dot-com bubble peaks with the NASDAQ Composite stock market index reaching 5,048.62.
2006The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter arrives at Mars.
2017The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending her presidency.
2019Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, a Boeing 737 MAX, crashes shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 passengers and crew. This and the prior Lion Air Flight 610 led to all 387 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft being grounded worldwide.
20222022 Hungarian presidential election: The National Assembly of Hungary elects former minister for Family Affairs, Katalin Novák, as president of Hungary in a 137–51 vote, becoming the first female president in the country's history.
2023Silicon Valley Bank collapses due to a run on its deposits, in the second largest bank failure in US history. Its operations are taken over by the FDIC.
20242024 Portuguese legislative election: Elections are held in Portugal for all 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. The Partido Socialista loses its absolute majority to the Partido Social Democrata, winning 77 and 79 seats respectively.
2026Bam Adebayo of the Miami Heat recorded the second-highest scoring game in NBA history with 83 Points.
1966Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1888)
1966Frank O'Connor, Irish short story writer, novelist, and poet (born 1903)
1969Muriel Hannah, American artist active in Alaska.
1973Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale (1960 – 1973), Governor of Kenya (1952 – 1959), High Commissioner for Southern Africa (1944 – 1951), Governor of Southern Rhodesia (1942 – 1944) (born 1903)
1973Li Mi, Chinese lieutenant general and anti-communist, Taiwanese nationalist (born 1902)
1973Richard Sharples, British politician, assassinated Governor of Bermuda (born 1916)
1977E. Power Biggs, English-American organist and composer (born 1906)