476 – Romulus Augustulus, last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, is deposed when Odoacer proclaims himself “King of Italy”, thus ending the Western Roman Empire.
626 – Li Shimin, posthumously known as Emperor Taizong of Tang, assumes the throne over the Tang dynasty of China.
1260 – The Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of Manfred, King of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti.
1479 – The Treaty of Alcáçovas is signed by the Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon on one side and Afonso V and his son, Prince John of Portugal.
1666 – In London, England, the most destructive damage from the Great Fire occurs.
1774 – New Caledonia is first sighted by Europeans, during the second voyage of Captain James Cook.
1781 – Los Angeles is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola) by 44 Spanish settlers.
1797 – Coup of 18 Fructidor in France.
1800 – The French garrison in Valletta surrenders to British troops who had been called at the invitation of the Maltese. The islands of Malta and Gozo become the Malta Protectorate.
1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire.
1862 – American Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North.
1870 – Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared.
1882 – Thomas Edison flips the switch to the first commercial electrical power plant in history, lighting one square mile of lower Manhattan. This is considered by many as the day that began the electrical age.
1886 – American Indian Wars: After almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo, with his remaining warriors, surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona.
1888 – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
1912 – Albanian rebels succeed in their revolt when the Ottoman Empire agrees to fulfill their demands
1919 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace.
1923 – Maiden flight of the first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah.
1939 – World War II: A Bristol Blenheim is the first British aircraft to cross the German coast following the declaration of war and German ships are bombed.
1941 – World War II: A German submarine makes the first attack against a United States ship, the USS Greer.
1944 – World War II: The British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp.
1944 – World War II: Finland exits from the war with Soviet Union.
1948 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
1949 – The Peekskill riots erupt after a Paul Robeson concert in Peekskill, New York.
1950 – Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural Southern 500, the first 500-mile NASCAR race.
1951 – The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
1957 – American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis: Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Central High School.
1957 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel.
1963 – Swissair Flight 306 crashes near Dürrenäsch, Switzerland, killing all 80 people on board.
1964 – Scotland’s Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens.
1967 – Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins when U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley.
1970 – Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.
1971 – Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
1972 – Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.
1975 – The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict is signed.
1989 – In Leipzig, East Germany, the first of weekly demonstration for the legalisation of opposition groups and democratic reforms takes place.
1996 – War on Drugs: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attack a military base in Guaviare, starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare in which at least 130 Colombians are killed.
1998 – Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.
2007 – Three terrorists suspected to be a part of Al-Qaeda are arrested in Germany after allegedly planning attacks on both the Frankfurt International airport and US military installations.
