/year

August 17 in history

205 sourced entries recorded on August 17, from 310 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 636August 15–20 – Battle of Yarmouk: In engagements along the Yarmouk River, Muslim forces (25,000 men) of the Rashidun Caliphate, led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, decisively defeat the armies of the Byzantine Empire, effectively completing the Muslim conquest of Syria. It will be regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests, after the death of Muhammad.source
  • 682Pope Leo II succeeds Agatho as the 80th pope, after a period of sede vacante ("vacant seat") of a year and 7 months.source
  • 793Quriaqos of Tagrit is consecrated Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Antioch at Harran.source
  • 986Battle of the Gates of Trajan: Emperor Basil II leads a Byzantine expeditionary force (30,000 men) against the Bulgarians to capture the fortress city of Sredets. After a siege of 20 days, Basil is forced to retreat from the Sofia Valley towards the town of Ihtiman (through a passage known as the Gate of Trajan). The Bulgarians under Tsar Samuel ambush and defeat the Byzantine forces. Only the elite Varangian Guard escapes with heavy casualties and leads Basil to safety through secondary routes.source
  • 1178A battle occurs as a Latin force raids the vicinity of Hama, Syria.source
  • 1315Ferdinand of Majorca completes the conquest of the Principality of Achaea, one of the crusader states that had been founded in Greece during the Fourth Crusade, by capturing the capital, Andravida.source
  • 1316Brothers Albert II and Waldemar I become the joint rulers of the Principality of Anhalt-Zerbst in Germany upon the death of their father, Prince Albert I.source
  • 133217 August Parliament at Dublinsource
  • 1385English invasion of Scotland (1385): Having accomplished nothing but destruction of property, the English Army begins its withdrawal from Scotland and returns to England.source
  • 1386Karl Thopia, Prince of Albania, enters into an alliance with the Republic of Venice. Albania agrees to participate in all wars of the Republic or to pay auxiliary funds and supply grain, as well as to protect Venetian buyers in Albania. [19] In return, Venice supplies a galley to Albania and protect Albania's coast from the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1419Siege of Ceuta: After four days of battle, the Portuguese defenders of the city of Ceuta are able to force a retreat of invaders from Morocco.source
  • 1424Battle of Verneuil: An English force under John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford, defeats a larger French army under John II, Duke of Alençon, John Stewart, and Archibald, Earl of Douglas. Alençon is captured and Douglas killed.source
  • 1424The English army under John, Duke of Bedford win a major victory at the Battle of Verneuil over Franco-Scottish forces as part of the Hundred Years War.source
  • 1427The first band of Gypsies visits Paris, according to an account of the citizens of Paris.source
  • 1456Due to the political turbulence, the court moves to Coventry; Kenilworth Castle is strengthened as the King's principal residence.source
  • 1487Wiener Neustadt, the last town in Lower Austria to resist Hungary's King Matthias Corvinus, surrenders to his army.source
  • 1488The Mamluk Sultanate defeats the Ottoman Empire Army in the Battle of Aga-Cayiri fought in the Cilicia region of Asia Minor, now in Turkey.source
  • 1535Pope Paul III issues a papal bull, Sublimis Deus, to appoint a commission of five cardinals and three bishops to carry out a reform of the city of Rome and the Roman Curia, with unlimited powers to uproot and punish all spiritual and secular transgressions, abuses, and errors.source
  • 1539The revolt of Ghent begins in the Spanish Netherlands (now Belgium) as members of the city's guilds demand the right to choose their own leaders, and the resignation of the Spanish-sponsored city leaders. Within four days, the city is under the control of nine guild leaders.source
  • 1544The University of Königsberg is inaugurated in Prussia.source
  • 1544In France, Saint-Dizier surrenders to the Holy Roman Empire after a siege of more than a month.source
  • 1549Battle of Sampford Courtenay in England: The Prayer Book Rebellion is quashed.source
  • 1560The Scottish Reformation Parliament adopts a Protestant confession of faith and rejects papal authority, beginning the Scottish Reformation, and disestablishing Roman Catholicism in Scotland.source
  • 1560Papal Jurisdiction Act 1560: The Scottish Reformation Parliament rejects papal authority, beginning the Scottish Reformation and disestablishing Roman Catholicism in Scotland.source
  • 1579"Yasuke", a man of African origin who has been hired as a manager by the Chancellor of the Realm, Oda Nobunaga, arrives in Japan. Called "The Black Samurai" in dramatizations of his experience, he begins a service of three years to the Chancellor, ending on June 21, 1582.source
  • 1585Antwerp, now in Belgium, is captured by Spanish forces commanded by the Duke of Parma. The Duke orders all Protestants to leave the city. As a result, over half of the 100,000 inhabitants flee to the northern provinces. Furthermore, upon hearing of the capture of Antwerp, a relief fleet sent to raise the siege instead blockades the Scheldt River, preventing any and all ships from reaching Antwerp for two centuries. This effectively destroys Antwerp's position as an important trade city and de facto capital of the Dutch provinces. Its position is taken over by various northern cities, most prominently Amsterdam.source
  • 1585The Roanoke colonists complete their construction of a fort under the direction of Ralph Lane to make the first permanent English settlement in North America.source
  • 1597Islands Voyage: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, and Sir Walter Raleigh set sail on an expedition to the Azores.source
  • 1603The Accademia dei Lincei, the oldest scientific academy in the world, is founded in Rome by Federico Cesi.source
  • 1610Christian IV of Denmark-Norway ordered the construction of Altenhus Fortress on the island of Aarøen near Alten in Finnmark county.source
  • 1647Peter Stuyvesant is appointed Director of New Netherlands, the Dutch colony in what is later the U.S. state of New York, by the Dutch West India Company to replace Willem Kieft, who departs New Amsterdam on the ship Princess Amelia.source
  • 1649The Treaty of Zboriv is signed by representatives of King John II Casimir of Poland and the representatives of the Cossacks and Crimean Khanate to partially settle the Khmelnytsky Uprising.source
  • 1666In India, General Shivaji Bhonsale, future ruler of the Maratha Empire, and his son Sambhaji escape from house arrest at the Agra Fort, where they have been held prisoner since May 12.source
  • 1668The magnitude 8.0 North Anatolia earthquake causes 8,000 deaths in northern Anatolia, Ottoman Empire, and is the most powerful earthquake recorded in Turkey.source
  • 1669A group of English settlers, led by Joseph West, departs from The Downs on the ship Carolina with instructions to make the first European settlement in the modern-day U.S. state of South Carolina. After a long voyage with stops in Ireland and Barbados, the Carolina settlers arrive at Port Royal on March 17 next.source
  • 1670A joint fleet of warships from England (commanded by Commodore Richard Beach on HMS Hampshire) and from the Dutch Republic (led by Admiral Willem Joseph van Ghent on Spiegel) rescue 250 Christian slaves and then sink six Algerian pirate ships in a battle in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast of Morocco at Cape Spartel.source
  • 1670a joint fleet of warships from England (commanded by Commodore Richard Beach on HMS Hampshire) and from the Dutch Republic (led by Admiral Willem Joseph van Ghent on Spiegel) rescue 250 Christian slaves and then sink six Barbary pirate ships in a battle in the Mediterranean Sea off of the coast of Morocco at Cape Spartel.source
  • 1676Battle of Halmstad (fought at Fyllebro): Sweden gains a decisive victory over Denmark–Norway.source
  • 1686Spanish troops attack and plunder the Scottish colony of Stuarts Town in the Province of Carolina (now Port Royal, South Carolina) and plunder the city. After three days, the Spaniards begin a march of over 75 mi toward the larger port city of Charles Town.source
  • 1700The Peace of Travendal is concluded when Denmark signs a peace treaty at Traventhal House in Holstein. Denmark has to withdraw from Holstein and Sweden withdraws from Denmark. The peace will last for the next 10 years.source
  • 1705August 16–18 – In an Atlantic tropical cyclone across Cuba and Florida, four ships are lost and there are many casualties.source
  • 1717The month-long Siege of Belgrade ends, with Prince Eugene of Savoy's Austrian troops capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire.source
  • 1734Mercer's Hospital for the sick and poor in Dublin is founded under a bequest of Mary Mercer.source
  • 1740Pope Benedict XIV succeeds Pope Clement XII, as the 247th pope.source
  • 1742Accompanied by 10 French Army observers, Choctaw Indians from the French Louisiana territory cross the Tombigbee River and raid Chickasaw Indian towns in Georgia. Over three days, the attackers lose 50 men, the Chickasaw defenders about 25. For permitting the attack, the French Louisiana governor, the Sieur de Bienville, is summoned back to Paris.source
  • 1742Irish author and poet Dean Jonathan Swift is declared by a court to be "of unsound mind and memory" and confined to home treatment for the remaining three years of his life.source
  • 1754Pennsylvania becomes the first of the British colonies to address Benjamin Franklin's Albany Plan for an inter-colonial union. With Franklin absent from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania's House of Representatives votes against to not consider the Plan at all, and to not refer it to the next legislative session for debate.source
  • 1771Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis.source
  • 1779Action of 17 August 1779: The 64-gun British warship HMS Ardent is captured by France in the English Channel off of Plymouth after an ineffective attempt by the British captain to properly aim its cannons at the French frigate Junon.source
  • 1786Frederick William II, the paternal nephew of Frederick the Great, becomes King of Prussia.source
  • 179379th Regiment of Foot (Cameronian Volunteers) raised at Fort William from members of Clan Cameron by Alan Cameron of Erracht.source
  • 1795A large slave rebellion occurs in Curaçao, suppressed the following month.source
  • 1807The North River Steamboat, Robert Fulton's first American steamboat, leaves New York City for Albany on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.source
  • 1807Robert Stevenson and his workmen set out to begin construction of the Bell Rock Lighthouse from Arbroath in the Smeaton.source
  • 1807The Clermont, Robert Fulton's first American steamboat, leaves New York City for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.source
  • 1808The Finnish War: the Battle of Alavus is fought.source
  • 1808Peninsular War: Battle of Roliça: A British-Portuguese army under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeats an outnumbered French army under General Henri Delaborde.source
  • 1812August 16–18 – Battle of Smolensk: The Grande Armée (180,000 men) under Emperor Napoleon I defeats the Russian army on the road to Moscow.source
  • 1816August 12–24 – The Treaty of St. Louis, between the United States and the Council of Three Fires tribes, is signed in St. Louis.source
  • 181917 August–1 October – English poet Robert Southey joins civil engineer Thomas Telford on a tour of his Scottish projects. A replacement Highbridge near Spean Bridge, designed by Telford, is built this year.source
  • 1829August 15–22 – Cincinnati riots of 1829.source
  • 1836The Marriage Act in the United Kingdom establishes civil marriage and registration systems that permit marriages in nonconformist chapels, and a Registrar General of Births, Marriages, and Deaths.source
  • 1848The Independent Republic of Yucatán officially unites with Mexico, in exchange for Mexican help in suppressing a revolt by the indigenous Maya population.source
  • 1862The Dakota War of 1862 begins in Minnesota, as Dakota Sioux attack white settlements along the Minnesota River. They are overwhelmed by the U.S. Army six weeks later.source
  • 1863August 15–17 – Bombardment of Kagoshima: The British Royal Navy bombards the town of Kagoshima in Japan in retribution, after the Namamugi Incident of 1862.source
  • 1863August 15–17 - Bombardment of Kagoshimasource
  • 1873Law allowing the use of Dutch in courts of law.source
  • 1877Arizona blacksmith F.P. Cahill is fatally wounded by Billy the Kid. Cahill dies the next day, becoming the first person killed by the Kid.source
  • 1885the post of Secretary for Scotland is revived to be in charge of the Scottish Office, Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, being the first appointee.source
  • 1889The 9 by 5 Impression Exhibition, featuring works by Tom Roberts, Arthur Streeton and Charles Conder, was opened in Melbourne.source
  • 1893August 16–17 – Massacre of Italian workers of the Compagnie des Salins du Midi in Aigues-Mortes (France) by French villagers and workers. The New York Times, reporting from the trial of ringleaders later in the year, reported that "ten men were killed and twenty-six wounded". Anti-French riots erupt in Italy. In Rome the windows of the French Embassy were smashed and for a while the angry mob seemed to get out of hand.source
  • 1896Gold is discovered in the Yukon, prompting the Klondike gold rush.source
  • 1896Bridget Driscoll is run over by a Benz car on the grounds of The Crystal Palace, London, the world's first motoring fatality.source
  • 1899Emperor Gojong of Korea issues the 9-article International Declaration declaring that, as "the great emperor of Korea", he has "infinite military authority" as well as absolute power to enact laws.source
  • 1899A hurricane makes landfall in North Carolina's Outer Banks, completely destroying the town of Diamond City.source
  • 1903Hans Gude, painter (born 1825)source
  • 1904Russo-Japanese War: A Japanese infantry charge fails to take Port Arthur.source
  • 1908“Fantasmagorie”, an animated short film by Émile Cohl, which is widely regarded as the first animated cartoon is officially released.source
  • 1911August 17–20 – Britain's National Railway strike of 1911, its first national strike of railway workers; on August 19 it leads to the Llanelli riots in Wales which result in 6 deaths.source
  • 1912Circular No. 17 bans the teaching of the French language in Ontario schools.source
  • 1915Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched for the murder of a 13-year-old girl in Atlanta.source
  • 1916August 17 (August 4 O.S.) – WWI: The Treaty of Bucharest is signed secretly between Romania and the Entente Powers, stipulating the conditions under which Romania agrees to join the war on their side, particularly territorial promises in Austria-Hungary.source
  • 1917One of English literature's important meetings takes place, when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to Siegfried Sassoon at the Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.source
  • 1917one of English literature's most important and famous meetings takes place when Wilfred Owen introduces himself to fellow poet Siegfried Sassoon at Craiglockhart War Hospital in Edinburgh.source
  • 1919Council of Germans in Németújvár (now Güssing) declare for Austriasource
  • 1920August 13–25 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw – The Red Army is defeated.source
  • 1924August 9–17 – the 2nd World Scout Jamboree is held in Ermelunden, Denmark.source
  • 1929The League Against Usury, a single-issue party founded in response to the Great Depression.source
  • 1932Botanist John McConnell Black is awarded the Mueller Medal by the Australian and New Zealand Association for the Advancement of Science.source
  • 1942WWII: Raid on Makin Island: US Marines of the 2nd Raider Battalion (211 men) under Lt. Col. Evans Carlson embark aboard the submarines Argonaut and Nautilus at Pearl Harbor. The aim is to destroy the Japanese installations and gather intelligence. Only the first of these objectives is achieved, but the raid does boost morale and provide a test for Raider tactics.source
  • 1943The Seventh U.S. Army, under General George S. Patton, meets the Eighth British Army under Field Marshal B. L. Montgomery in Messina, Sicily, completing the Allied invasion of Sicily.source
  • 1945Proclamation of Indonesian Independence: Indonesian nationalists Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta declare the independence of the Republic of Indonesia, with Sukarno as president and Mohammad Hatta as vice-president, igniting the Indonesian National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.source
  • 1945Philippines President José P. Laurel issues an Executive Proclamation putting an end to the Second Philippine Republic, thus ending his term as President of the Philippines.source
  • 1945Proclamation of Indonesian Independencesource
  • 1945Start of the Indonesian National Revolutionsource
  • 1948August 10–23 – The Herrenchiemsee convention prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.source
  • 1948The HUAC holds a private session between Alger Hiss and Whittaker Chambers.source
  • 1949The remains of Theodor Herzl are buried in Mount Herzl in Jerusalem.source
  • 19491949 Karlıova earthquakesource
  • 1950Princess Alix marries Antoine Maria Joachim Lamoral, 14th Prince of Ligne.source
  • 1951Prince Sigvard, Duke of Uppland, Carl Johan Bernadotte, and Prince Lennart, Duke of Småland are created Counts Bernadotte af Wisborg.source
  • 1953August 15–19 – Cold War: 1953 Iranian coup d'état – Overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, by Iranian military in favour of strengthening the monarchical rule of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, with the support of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (as "Operation Ajax") and the United Kingdom.source
  • 1953The first planning session of Narcotics Anonymous is held in Southern California (see October 5).source
  • 195312 high ranking government officials are arrested and forced to confess to spying for South Korea during the Korean war in a show trial. Lee Sung Yup, the Justice minister is declared to be the ringleader, former Foreign minister Pak Hong Wong and military officer Pae Choi were declared his accomplices.source
  • 1954Ocean liner SS Southern Cross is launched by Harland and Wolff in Belfast.source
  • 1956West Germany bans the Communist Party of Germany.source
  • 1956The Nicoll Highway and Merdeka Bridge are officially opened.source
  • 1958The first Thor-Able rocket is launched, carrying Pioneer 0, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 17. The launch fails due to a first stage malfunction.source
  • 1959The 1959 Hebgen Lake earthquake in southwest Montana kills 28.source
  • 1959Miles Davis' influential jazz album Kind of Blue is released.source
  • 1960The trial of American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers begins in Moscow.source
  • 1962East German border guards kill 18-year-old Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin Wall into West Berlin, leading to mass protests on the Western side.source
  • 1964Liverpool FC play their first match in Iceland, beating KR Reykjavik 5-0source
  • 1969Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the Mississippi coast of the United States, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 USD).source
  • 1969Category 5 Hurricane Camille, the most powerful tropical cyclonic system at landfall in history, hits the Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage (1969 dollars).source
  • 1969August 15–18 – The Woodstock Festival is held near White Lake, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.source
  • 1970Venera program: Venera 7 is launched from the Soviet Union toward Venus. It later becomes the first spacecraft to transmit data from the surface of another planet successfully.source
  • 1974Petronas, the first Malaysian petroleum and gas company was founded.source
  • 1974A second Satellite Earth Station with an antenna is launched at the Sentosa Satellite Earth Station.source
  • 1975August 17–18 – Typhoon Phyllis, where hit on landslide, debris flow, flood swept hit in Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku Island, killing 77 persons and 209 persons injures, according to Japan Fire and Disaster Management official confirmed report.source
  • 1976The 8.0 Mw Moro Gulf earthquake hits off the coast of Mindanao, Philippines, triggering a destructive tsunami, killing between 5,000 and 8,000 people and leaving more than 90,000 homeless.source
  • 1977The Soviet icebreaker Arktika becomes the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.source
  • 1977Arktika, a Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker, became the first surface ship to reach the North Pole.source
  • 1978Double Eagle II becomes the first balloon to successfully cross the Atlantic Ocean, flying from Presque Isle, Maine, to Miserey, France.source
  • 1979The controversial religious satirical film Monty Python's Life of Brian premieres in the United States.source
  • 1980In Australia, baby Azaria Chamberlain disappears from a campsite at Ayers Rock (Uluru), reportedly taken by a dingo.source
  • 1982The first compact discs (CDs) are produced in Germany.source
  • 1987Rudolf Hess is found dead in his cell in Spandau Prison. Hess, 93, is believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself with an electrical flex. He was the last remaining prisoner at the complex, which is soon to be demolished.source
  • 1988Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, Arnold Lewis Raphel, are among those killed when a plane crashes and explodes near Bahawalpur.source
  • 1991August 17–20 – Hurricane Bob hits North Carolina and New England, killing 17 people and causing US$1.5 billion in damage.source
  • 1991The remains of the Prussian King Frederick the Great are re-interred in Potsdam, Germany.source
  • 1996August 16–25: Five athletes from Armenia competed at the 1996 Summer Paralympics.source
  • 1998Russia's government devalues the ruble, defaults on domestic debt, and declares a moratorium on repayment of foreign debt. This marks the beginning of 1998 Russian financial crisis.source
  • 1999The 7.6 Mw İzmit earthquake shakes northwestern Turkey with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), leaving more than 17,000 dead and around 50,000 injured.source
  • 2003Peace talks between Maoist rebels and the Nepalese government are interrupted by resumed hostilities in the Nepalese Civil War.source
  • 2010August 14–26 – Lithuania achieved 19th place in 2010 Summer Youth Olympics with 5 medal (3 golden and 2 bronze)source
  • 2013August 10 – 17 – Kazakhstan competed at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, Russia. A team of 17 athletes represented the country in the event.source
  • 2015A bombing takes place inside the Erawan Shrine at the Ratchaprasong intersection in Pathum Wan District, Bangkok, Thailand, killing 20 people and injuring 125.source
  • 2016The governments of Australia and Papua New Guinea confirm the closure of Manus Regional Processing Centre following a request by the supreme court.source
  • 2017The first observation of a collision of two neutron stars (GW170817) is hailed as a breakthrough in multi-messenger astronomy when both gravitational and electromagnetic waves from the event are detected. Data from the event provided confirmatory evidence for the r-process theory of the origin of heavy elements like gold.source
  • 20172017 Barcelona attacks: 22-year-old Younes Abouyaaqoub drives a van into pedestrians on La Rambla in Barcelona, killing 13 people and injuring at least 130 others.source
  • 2018August 10–20 – Heavy rainfall causes severe floods in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the worst flood to hit the state in a century.source
  • 2020Galapagos National Park authorities say 30 new species of invertebrates in deep water surrounding the Galapagos Islands have been discovered.source
  • 2022Turkey and Israel agree to restore full diplomatic relations after a period of tensions.source
  • 2022August 9 – August 18: Guyana at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Gamessource
  • 2023A Beechcraft 390 Premier I business jet crashes onto an expressway interchange near Elmina, Selangor, Malaysia, killing 10 people.source
  • 2023August 16–21 – Hurricane Hilary, a Category 4 Pacific Hurricane, strikes the Baja California peninsula and later causes record flooding in Southern California.source
  • 2025August 15–17 – The first World Humanoid Robot Games are held in Beijing, China.source
  • 2025August 7–17 – The 2025 World Games are held in Chengdu, China.source

Births

  • 1153William IX, count of Poitiers (died 1156)source
  • 1465Philibert I of Savoy (died 1482)source
  • 1473Richard, Duke of York, one of the Princes in the Tower (died 1483)source
  • 1501Philipp II, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg (died 1529)source
  • 1562August 17 (bapt.) – Hans Leo Hassler, German composer (died 1612)source
  • 1578Francesco Albani, Italian painter (died 1660)source
  • 1582John Matthew Rispoli, major Maltese philosopher of great erudition (died 1639)source
  • 1586Johann Valentin Andrea, German theologian (died 1654)source
  • 1603Lennart Torstensson, Swedish Field Marshal, Privy Councillour and Governor-General (died 1651)source
  • 1603Lennart Torstensson, Field Marshal and military engineer (died 1651)source
  • 1612Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, Polish nobleman (died 1651)source
  • 1629King John III Sobieski, of Poland (died 1696)source
  • 1669Jean-Baptiste Brutel de la Rivière, Protestant minister (died 1742)source
  • 1697Alexander Brodie, Scottish politician (died 1754)source
  • 1763Dmitry Senyavin, Russian admiral (died 1831)source
  • 1786Davy Crockett, American frontiersman (died 1836)source
  • 1786Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, mother of Queen Victoria (died 1861)source
  • 1844Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia (died 1913)source
  • 1863Gene Stratton-Porter, American author, screenwriter and naturalist (died 1924)source
  • 1887Marcus Garvey, Jamaican-born American publisher, entrepreneur and Pan Africanist (died 1940)source
  • 1891Dulcie Mary Pillers, English medical illustrator (died 1961)source
  • 1893Mae West, American actress, playwright, screenwriter and sex symbol (died 1980)source
  • 1911Mikhail Botvinnik, Russian chess player, world champion (died 1995)source
  • 1920Maureen O'Hara, Irish-American actress (died 2015)source
  • 1926Jiang Zemin, former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (paramount leader) and President of China (died 2022)source

Deaths

  • 310Eusebius, bishop of Romesource
  • 754Carloman mayor of the palace of Austrasia and brother of Pepin III (The Short)source
  • 949Li Shouzhen, Chinese general and governorsource
  • 1021Erkanbald, German abbot and archbishopsource
  • 1153Eustace IV, count of Boulogne (born 1130)source
  • 1167Nicolò Politi, Italian monk and hermit (born 1117)source
  • 1236William de Blois, English bishop and sheriffsource
  • 1304Go-Fukakusa, Japanese emperor (born 1243)source
  • 1338Nitta Yoshisada, Japanese samurai (born 1301; d. in battle)source
  • 1424John Stewart, Earl of Buchan (born c. 1381)source
  • 1424John VIII of Harcourt, nobleman and soldier (born 1396)source
  • 1424John Stewart, Earl of Buchan, leader of the Scottish troops fighting for France in the Hundred Years War (born 1381)source
  • 1498John Scrope, 5th Baron Scrope of Bolton, English baron (born 1437)source
  • 1510Richard Empson, English statesmansource
  • 1547Katharina von Zimmern, Swiss sovereign abbess (born 1478)source
  • 1556Victoria of Valois, French princess (born 1556)source
  • 1637Johann Gerhard, German Lutheran leader (born 1582)source
  • 1657Admiral Blake dies of old wounds at sea off Plymouth. His body is given a lying in state in the Queen's House, Greenwich and a full state funeral in Cromwell's presence, and he becomes one of the first commoners to be honoured by burial in Westminster Abbey (although reinterred after the Restoration).source
  • 1673Regnier de Graaf, Dutch physician and anatomist (born 1641)source
  • 1681Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church (born 1605)source
  • 1694Christian Hansen Ernst, civil servant (born c. 1660).source
  • 1765Timothy Cutler, rector of Yale College (born 1684)source
  • 1786King Frederick II of Prussia ("Frederick the Great") (born 1712)source
  • 1838Lorenzo Da Ponte, librettist for Mozart (born 1749)source
  • 1850General José de San Martín, Argentine military and South American independence hero (born 1778)source
  • 1880Ole Bull, Norwegian violinist (born 1810)source
  • 1915Leo Frank, Jewish-American factory superintendent who was lynched after the murder of Mary Phagan (born 1884)source
  • 1935Charlotte Perkins Gilman, American feminist and writer (born 1860)source
  • 1950Korean War: Hill 303 massacre – 39 U.S. soldiers are executed after being captured in battle by North Korea.source
  • 1987Rudolf Hess, 93, German Nazi official, Deputy Führer, ostensibly suicide by hanging.source
  • 1988Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, 64, Pakistani military officer, President of Pakistan (since 1978).source