138 – The Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor.
1336 – Four thousand defenders of Pilėnai commit mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights.
1570 – England’s Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope
Pius V
1791 – First Bank of the United States (The President, Directors and Company, of the Bank of the United States) was chartered by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Washington.
1836 – Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.
1856 – A Peace conference opens in Paris after the Crimean War
1901 – J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.
1919 – Oregon places a one cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.
1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a broadcast license for television from the Federal Radio Commission.
1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.
1933 – The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier.
1947 – The State of Prussia ceases to exist.
1948 – The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia and the period of the Third Republic ends.
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.
1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.
1986 – People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines’ first woman president.
1991 – The Warsaw Pact is declared disbanded.
2009 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including more than 50 army officials.
