Events Pre-1600 843 – Triumph of Orthodoxy: Empress Theodora II restores the veneration of icons in the Orthodox churches in the Byzantine Empire.Merriam-Webster (Jan 2000). Merriam-Webster's Encyclopedia of World Religions, p. 231. . 1343 – Arnošt of Pardubice becomes the last Bishop of Prague (3 March 1343 O.S.), and, a year later, the first Archbishop of Prague. 1387 – Battle of Castagnaro: Padua, led by John Hawkwood, is victorious over Giovanni Ordelaffi of Verona.
1601–1900 1641 – Guaraní forces living in the Jesuit reductions defeat bandeirantes loyal to the Portuguese Empire at the Battle of Mbororé in present-day Panambí, Argentina. 1649 – The Frondeurs and the French government sign the Peace of Rueil. 1702 – The Daily Courant, England's first national daily newspaper, is published for the first time. 1708 – Queen Anne withholds Royal Assent from the Scottish Militia Bill, the last time a British monarch vetoes legislation. 1784 – The signing of the Treaty of Mangalore brings the Second Anglo-Mysore War to an end. 1795 – The Battle of Kharda is fought between the Maratha Confederacy and the Nizam of Hyderabad, resulting in Maratha victory. 1845 – Flagstaff War: Unhappy with translational differences regarding the Treaty of Waitangi, chiefs Hōne Heke, Kawiti and Māori tribe members chop down the British flagpole for a fourth time and drive settlers out of Kororāreka, New Zealand. 1848 – Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine and Robert Baldwin become the first Prime Ministers of the Province of Canada to be democratically elected under a system of responsible government. 1851 – The first performance of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi takes place in Venice. 1861 – American Civil War: The Constitution of the Confederate States of America is adopted. 1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood kills 238 people in Sheffield, England. 1872 – Construction of the Seven Sisters Colliery, South Wales, begins; it is located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain. 1879 – Shō Tai formally abdicates his position of King of Ryūkyū, under orders from Tokyo, ending the Ryukyu Kingdom. 1888 – The Great Blizzard of 1888 begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400 people. 1892 – The Saint-Germain bombing ushers France into the Ère des attentats (1892-1894).
1901–present 1917 – World War I: Mesopotamian campaign: Baghdad falls to Anglo-Indian forces commanded by General Frederick Stanley Maude. 1927 – In New York City, Samuel Roxy Rothafel opens the Roxy Theatre. 1941 – World War II: United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act into law, allowing American-built war supplies to be shipped to the Allies on loan. 1945 – World War II: The Imperial Japanese Navy attempts a large-scale kamikaze attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet anchored at Ulithi atoll in Operation Tan No. 2. 1945 – World War II: The Empire of Vietnam, a short-lived Japanese puppet state, is established. 1946 – Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops. 1977 – The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations. 1978 – Coastal Road massacre: At least 37 are killed and more than 70 are wounded when Fatah hijack an Israeli bus, prompting Israel's Operation Litani. 1981 – Hundreds of students protest in the University of Pristina in Kosovo, then part of Yugoslavia, to give their province more political rights. The protests then became a nationwide movement. 1982 – Fifteen people are killed when Widerøe Flight 933 crashes into the Barents Sea near Gamvik, Norway. 1983 – Bob Hawke is appointed Prime Minister of Australia. 1985 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected to the position of General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, making Gorbachev the USSR's de facto, and last, head of state. 1990 – Lithuania declares independence from the Soviet Union. 1990 – Patricio Aylwin is sworn in as the first democratically elected President of Chile since 1970. 2003 – The International Criminal Court holds its inaugural session in The Hague. 2004 – Madrid train bombings: Simultaneous explosions on rush hour trains in Madrid, Spain kill 191 people. 2006 – Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile. 2008 – Space Shuttle Endeavour launches on STS-123, carrying the first component of the Japanese Kibō module to the International Space Station. 2009 – Winnenden school shooting: Fifteen are killed and nine are injured before recent graduate Tim Kretschmer shoots and kills himself, leading to tightened weapons restrictions in Germany. 2010 – Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile. Aftershocks of the 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes hit central Chile during the ceremony. 2011 – An earthquake measuring 9.0 in magnitude strikes east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people. This event also triggered the second largest nuclear accident in history, and one of only two events to be classified as a Level 7 on the International Nuclear Event Scale. 2012 – A U.S. soldier kills 16 civilians in the Panjwayi District of Afghanistan near Kandahar. 2018 – A Bombardier Challenger 604 crashes into the Zagros Mountains near the Iranian city of Shar-e-kord, killing all 11 people on board. 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic. 2021 – US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law. 2023 – The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.
Births Pre-1600 1278 – Mary of Woodstock, daughter of Edward I of England (died c. 1332) 1544 – Torquato Tasso, Italian poet and educator (died 1595)
1601–1900 1738 – Benjamin Tupper, American general (died 1792) 1785 – John McLean, American jurist and politician (died 1861) 1806 – Louis Boulanger, French Romantic painter, lithographer and illustrator (died 1867) 1811 – Urbain Le Verrier, French mathematician and astronomer (died 1877) 1815 – Anna Bochkoltz, German operatic soprano, voice teacher and composer (died 1879) 1818 – Marius Petipa, French-Russian dancer and choreographer (died 1910) 1819 – Henry Tate, English businessman and philanthropist, founded Tate & Lyle (died 1899) 1822 – Joseph Louis François Bertrand, French mathematician, economist, and academic (died 1900) 1863 – Andrew Stoddart, English cricketer and rugby player (died 1915) 1870 – Louis Bachelier, French mathematician and theorist (died 1946) 1876 – Carl Ruggles, American composer and painter (died 1971) 1880 – Harry H. Laughlin, American eugenicist and sociologist (died 1943) 1884 – Lewi Pethrus, Swedish minister and hymn-writer (died 1974) 1885 – Malcolm Campbell, English race car driver (died 1948) 1887 – Raoul Walsh, American actor and director (died 1980) 1890 – Vannevar Bush, American engineer and academic (died 1974) 1893 – Wanda Gág, American author and illustrator (died 1946) 1897 – Henry Cowell, American pianist and composer (died 1965) 1898 – Dorothy Gish, American actress (died 1968) 1899 – Frederik IX of Denmark (died 1972) 1899 – James H. Douglas, Jr., American lawyer, and politician, United States Deputy Secretary of Defense (died 1988)
1901–present 1903 – Ronald Syme, New Zealand historian and scholar (died 1989) 1903 – Lawrence Welk, American accordion player and bandleader (died 1992)Larkin 2011, p. 1999 1907 – Jessie Matthews, English actress, singer, and dancer (died 1981) 1908 – Matti Sippala, Finnish javelin thrower (died 1997) 1910 – Robert Havemann, German chemist and academic (died 1982) 1911 – Sir Fitzroy Maclean, 1st Baronet, Scottish general and politician (died 1996) 1913 – Wolf-Dietrich Wilcke, German colonel and pilot (died 1944) 1915 – Vijay Hazare, Indian cricketer (died 2004) 1915 – J. C. R. Licklider, American computer scientist and psychologist (died 1990) 1915 – Dude Martin, American country singer, bandleader, radio and television host (died 1991) 1916 – Harold Wilson, English academic and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1995) 1920 – Nicolaas Bloembergen, Dutch-American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2017) 1921 – Astor Piazzolla, Argentine tango composer and bandoneon player (died 1992) 1922 – Cornelius Castoriadis, Greek economist and philosopher (died 1997) 1922 – Abdul Razak Hussein, Malaysian lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of Malaysia (died 1976) 1922 – José Luis López Vázquez, Spanish actor, costume designer, scenic designer and assistant director (died 2009) 1923 – Louise Brough, American tennis player (died 2014) 1925 – Margaret Oakley Dayhoff, American biochemist and academic (died 1983) 1926 – Ralph Abernathy, American minister and activist (died 1990) 1927 – Vince Boryla, American basketball player, coach, and executive (died 2016) 1927 – Freda Meissner-Blau, Austrian activist and politician (died 2015) 1927 – Robert Mosbacher, American businessman, and politician, United States Secretary of Commerce (died 2010) 1927 – Josep Maria Subirachs, Spanish sculptor and painter (died 2014) 1929 – Timothy Carey, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1994) 1929 – Jackie McGlew, South African cricketer (died 1998) 1930 – David Gentleman, English illustrator and engraver 1930 – Claude Jutra, Canadian actor, director and screenwriter (died 1986) 1931 – Rupert Murdoch, Australian-American businessman and media magnate 1932 – Leroy Jenkins, American violinist and composer (died 2007) 1932 – Nigel Lawson, English journalist and politician, Chancellor of the Exchequer (died 2023) 1934 – Sam Donaldson, American journalist 1936 – Antonin Scalia, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 2016) 1940 – Alberto Cortez, Argentinian-Spanish singer-songwriter (died 2019) 1941 – Shelly Zegart, quilt historian (died 2025) 1943 – Arturo Merzario, Italian race car driver 1945 – Dock Ellis, American baseball player and coach (died 2008) 1945 – Harvey Mandel, American guitarist 1946 – Mark Metcalf, American actor 1947 – Tristan Murail, French composer and educator 1948 – Roy Barnes, American politician, 80th Governor of Georgia 1948 – Jim McMillian, American basketball player (died 2016) 1950 – Bobby McFerrin, American singer-songwriter, producer, and conductor 1950 – Jerry Zucker, American director, producer, and screenwriter 1951 – Dominique Sanda, French model and actress 1952 – Douglas Adams, English author and playwright (died 2001) 1953 – Derek Daly, Irish-American race car driver and sportscaster 1953 – Jimmy Iovine, American record producer and businessman, co-founded Beats Electronics 1953 – Bernie LaBarge, Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist 1954 – David Newman, American composer and conductor 1954 – Gale Norton, American politician, 48th United States Secretary of the Interior 1955 – Leslie Cliff, Canadian swimmer 1955 – Nina Hagen, German singer-songwriter 1956 – Willie Banks, American triple jumper 1956 – Helen Rollason, English sports journalist and sportscaster (died 1999) 1957 – Qasem Soleimani, Former Iranian commander of the Quds Force (died 2020) 1958 – Anissa Jones, American child actress (died 1976) 1959 – Nina Hartley, American pornographic actress/director, sex educator, sex-positive feminist, and author 1960 – Warwick Taylor, New Zealand rugby player 1961 – Elias Koteas, Canadian actor 1961 – Bruce Watson, Canadian-Scottish guitaristLarkin 2011, p. 2606 1962 – Matt Mead, American politician, 32nd Governor of Wyoming 1962 – Jeffrey Nordling, American actor 1963 – Gary Barnett, English footballer and manager 1963 – Alex Kingston, English actress 1963 – David LaChapelle, American photographer and director