846 raiders desecrate the Vatican, but are repulsed from the walls of Rome
1071 Battle of Manzikert: Seljuk Turks defeat Byzantine Army under emperor Romanus IV
1139 Afonso the Conqueror is proclaimed first King of Portugal (1139-1185)
1221 Battle of Mansura: Ayyubids defeat the Crusaders
1260 Guelfs capture San Zeno after a 6 month siege, to bag Alberigo da Romano and his family
1278 Battle of Durnkurut: The Habsburgs defeat the Bohemians
1278 Battle of the Marchfeld: Rudolf of Habsburg defeats Ottokar II
1346 Battle of Crecy: English longbows defeat the French
1549 Battle of Dussindale: The Earl of Warwick defeats Robert Kett
1652 Naval battle of Plymouth: The English fail to prevent a Dutch convoy from passing through the Channel into the Atlantic
1768 Capt James Cook departs Plymouth in HM Brig 'Endeavour' on his first voyage of exploration.
1775 First Congressional action on veterans' benefits
1782 French fleet captures Trincomalee from the British
1789 The "Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen" approved by the French National Assembly
1813 Battle of Dresden, Day 1: Austro-Russo-Prussians attack Napoleon
1813 Battle of the Katzbach: The Prussians defeat the French
1839 US Revenue Cutter 'Washington' seizes the Spanish ship 'Amistad', manned by self-liberated slaves, off Montauk Point
1843 USS 'Missouri', the first steam warship to cross the Atlantic, and the most powerful frigate in the world, is destroyed by fire & magazine explosion at Gibraltar
1848 Battle of Morazzone: The Garibaldini defeat the Austrians
1861 Combat at Cross Lanes/Summerville, WVa
1863 Battle of Rocky Gap/White Sulphur Springs, WVa
1883 Krakatoa erupts, kills 36,000
1914 Battle of Le Cateau: desperate British rear-guard action against the Germans
1914 Battle of Tannenberg: German Eighth Army defeats Russian Narev Army
1914 German Togoland surrenders to Anglo-French forces after a three week campaign
1914 HM Light Cruiser 'Highflyer' sinks the German armed merchant cruiser/liner 'Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse' off Rio de Oro
1915 German troops capture Brest-Litovsk, Russia
1917 Arturo Toscanini (53), conducts an Italian army band under fire to celebrate the capture of Monte Santo, on the Bainsizza Plateau
1937 Franco's Nationalists capture Santander
1939 Belgium undertakes a preventive mobilization
1942 Australian troops at Milne Bay stoutly resist Japanese landing force.
1942 Japanese troops occupy Nauru Island
1942 Ramgarh, India: US opens a training center for Chinese troops, to be flown over the Hump
1942 Russian counteroffensive begins at Moscow
1942 Vichy French police round up 7,000 Jews
1943 Italian sub 'Torelli' reaches Sumatra, with critical materials
1943 U.S. bombers in China attack Japanese installations in Hong Kong.
1944 De Gaulle marches up the Champs-Elysees to Notre Dame under fire from Nazi snipers
1944 Filipino guerrillas receive orders for the coming battle for liberation.
1945 Soviet troops occupy Matsuma, in the southern Kuriles.
1966 Battle at Omugulugwombashe: Initiates the Namibian War of Independence from South Africa
