295 a. C.The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
43 a. C.In the wake of the murder of Julius Caesar, his nephew and heir, Octavian, uses the threat of military force to compel the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
797Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI is seized by supporters of his mother Irene, deposed and blinded.
947Abu Yazid, a Kharijite rebel leader, is defeated and killed in the Hodna Mountains in modern-day Algeria by Fatimid forces.
1153After a six-month siege, Baldwin III of Jerusalem captures Ascalon, obtaining a vast amount of plunder and securing the southern border of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1604Eighty Years War: a besieging Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange forces the Spanish garrison of Sluis to capitulate.
1659Parliamentarian forces under John Lambert defeat Royalist forces under George Booth in the battle of Winnington Bridge, ending Booth's Uprising.
1666Second Anglo-Dutch War: Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 116 to 160 merchant ships, an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire".
1691An Imperial army under Ludwig of Baden defeats the Ottomans in the battle of Slankamen.
1692Salem witch trials: In Salem, province of Massachusetts Bay, Martha Carrier, George Jacobs Sr., John Proctor, John Willard, and clergyman George Burroughs are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1725J. S. Bach leads the first performance of Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, BWV 137, a cantata setting the unchanged text of Neander's hymn.
1745Prince Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard in Glenfinnan: The start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion, known as "the 45".
1745Ottoman–Persian War: In the Battle of Kars, the Ottoman army is routed by Persian forces led by Nader Shah.
1759Battle of Lagos: Naval battle during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.
1772Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d'état, in which he assumes power and enacts a new constitution that divides power between the Riksdag and the King.
1787Sultan Abdul Hamid I declares war against the Russian Empire in an effort to regain territories lost in previous conflicts, starting the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792.
1812War of 1812: American frigate defeats the British frigate off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname "Old Ironsides".
1813Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's Second Triumvirate.
1839The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world".
1848California Gold Rush: The New York Herald breaks the news to the East Coast of the United States of the gold rush in California (although the rush started in January).
1854The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred.
1861First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest summit in the Alps.
1862Dakota War: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
1903The Transfiguration Uprising breaks out in East Thrace, resulting in the establishment of the Strandzha Commune.
1909The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opens for automobile racing. William Bourque and his mechanic are killed during the first day's events.
1920The Tambov Rebellion breaks out, in response to the Bolshevik policy of Prodrazvyorstka.
1934The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
1934The German referendum of 1934 approves Adolf Hitler's appointment as head of state with the title of Führer.
1936The Great Purge of the Soviet Union begins when the first of the Moscow Trials is convened.
1940First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
1941Germany and Romania sign the Tiraspol Agreement, rendering the region of Transnistria under control of the latter.
1942World War II: Operation Jubilee (The Dieppe Raid): The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and fails.
1944World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
1945August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1953Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1955In the Northeast United States, severe flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200 lives.
1960Cold War: In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
1960Sputnik program: Korabl-Sputnik 2: The Soviet Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka and Strelka, 40 mice, two rats and a variety of plants.
1964Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched. Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
1978In Iran, the Cinema Rex fire causes more than 300 deaths.
1980Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar burns after making an emergency landing at Riyadh International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
1980Otłoczyn railway accident: In Poland's worst post-war railway accident, 67 people lose their lives and a further 62 are injured.
1981Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F-14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
1981Silvio Santos launches a new Brazilian television channel in São Paulo, Sistema Brasileiro de Televisão.
1987Hungerford massacre: In the United Kingdom, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with a semi-automatic rifle and then commits suicide.
1989Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communistprime minister in 42 years.
1989Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
2002Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
2003A truck-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
2003Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing: A suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem, planned by Hamas, kills 23 Israelis, seven of them children.
2004Google Inc. has its initial public offering on Nasdaq.
2005The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
2009A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq, kills 101 and injures 565 others.
2010Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.
2013The Dhamara Ghat train accident kills at least 37 people in the Indian state of Bihar.
2017Tens of thousands of farmed non-native Atlantic salmon are accidentally released into the wild in Washington waters in the 2017 Cypress Island Atlantic salmon pen break.
Nacimientos (199)
232Marcus Aurelius Probus, Roman emperor (died 282)
1342Catherine of Bohemia, duchess of Austria (died 1395)
1398Íñigo López de Mendoza, 1st Marquis of Santillana, Spanish poet and politician (died 1458)
1570Salamone Rossi, Italian violinist and composer (probable; (died 1630)
1583Daišan, Chinese prince and statesman (died 1648)