• 86 BC - Lucius Cornelius Sulla, at the head of a Roman Republic army, enters in Athens, removing the tyrant Aristion who was supported by troops of Mithridates VI of Pontus.
• 286 - Roman Emperor Diocletian raises Maximian to the rank of Caesar.
• 293 - Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Caesares, thus beginning the Tetrarchy.
• 317 - Crispus and Constantine II, sons of Roman Emperor Constantine I, and Licinius Iunior, son of Emperor Licinius, are made Caesares
• 1457 - The Unitas Fratrum is established in the village of Kunvald, on the Bohemian-Moravian borderland. It is to date the second oldest Protestant denomination.
• 1562 - Over 1,000 Huguenots are massacred by Catholics in Wassy, France, marking the start of the French Wars of Religion.
• 1565 - The city of Rio de Janeiro is founded.
• 1593 - The Uppsala Synod is summoned to confirm the exact forms of the Lutheran Church of Sweden.
• 1628 - Writs are issued in February by Charles I of England mandating that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date.
• 1633 - Samuel de Champlain reclaims his role as commander of New France on behalf of Cardinal Richelieu.
• 1642 - Georgeana, Massachusetts (now known as York, Maine) becomes the first incorporated city in the USA.
• 1692 - Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials.
• 1700 - Sweden introduces its own Swedish calendar, in an attempt to gradually merge into the Gregorian calendar, reverts to the Julian calendar on this date in 1712, and introduces the Gregorian Calendar on this date in 1753.
• 1781 - The Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation.
• 1790 - The first United States census is authorized.
• 1803 - Ohio is admitted as the 17th U.S. state.
• 1805 - Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted at the end of his impeachment trial by the U.S. Senate.
• 1811 - Leaders of the Mameluke dynasty are killed by Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali.
• 1815 - Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba.
• 1836 - A Convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities convenes in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico.
• 1840 - Adolphe Thiers becomes prime minister of France.
• 1845 - President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.
• 1847 - The state of Michigan formally abolishes capital punishment.
• 1852 - Archibald William Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
• 1854 - German psychologist Friedrich Eduard Beneke disappears; two years later his remains are found in a canal near Charlottenburg.
• 1867 - Nebraska becomes the 37th U.S. state; Lancaster, Nebraska is renamed Lincoln and becomes the state capital.
• 1872 - Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park.
• 1873 - E. Remington and Sons in Ilion, New York begins production of the first practical typewriter.
• 1878 - First winter ascent of Aneto
• 1886 - The Anglo-Chinese School, Singapore is founded by Bishop William Oldham.
• 1896 - Battle of Adowa: an Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo–Ethiopian War.
• 1896 - Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity.
• 1912 - Albert Berry makes the first parachute jump from a moving airplane.
• 1914 - The Republic of China joins the Universal Postal Union.
• 1917 - U.S. government releases the plaintext of the Zimmermann Telegram to the public.
• 1919 - March 1st Movement begins in Korea.
• 1932 - The son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, is kidnapped.
• 1936 - The Hoover Dam is completed.
• 1936 - A strike occurs aboard the S.S. California, leading to the demise of the International Seamen's Union and the creation of the National Maritime Union.
• 1941 - World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, allying itself with the Axis powers.
• 1941 - W47NV (now known as WSM-FM) begins operations in Nashville, Tennessee becoming the first FM radio station in the U.S..
• 1943 - World War II: Battle of Bismarck Sea begins.
• 1946 - The Bank of England is nationalised.
• 1947 - The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations.
• 1949 - Indonesia seizes Yogyakarta from the Dutch.
• 1950 - Cold War: Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union by disclosing top secret atomic bomb data.
• 1953 - Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses. He dies four days later.
• 1954 - Nuclear testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States.
• 1954 - Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives. (See U.S. Capitol shooting incident (1954).)
• 1956 - The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization.
• 1956 - formation of the National People's Army
• 1958 - Samuel Alphonsus Stritch, is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first American member of the Roman Curia.
• 1961 - President of the United States John F. Kennedy establishes the Peace Corps.
• 1961 - Uganda becomes self-governing and holds its first elections.
• 1962 - American Airlines Flight 1 crashes on take off in New York.
• 1966 - Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface.
• 1966 - The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria.
• 1971 - A bomb explodes in a men's room in the United States Capitol: the Weather Underground claims responsibility.
• 1971 - Pakistani President Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
• 1972 - The Thai province of Yasothon is created after being split off from the Ubon Ratchathani province.
• 1973 - Black September terrorists storm the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan resulting in the 1973 Khartoum diplomatic assassinations.
• 1974 - Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice.
• 1975 - Colour television transmissions begin in Australia.
• 1980 - Voyager 1 probe confirms that Janus (moon of Saturn) exists.
• 1989 - The United States becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1990 - Steve Jackson Games is raided by the United States Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
• 1992 - Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Yugoslavia.
• 1995 - Polish Prime Minister Waldemar Pawlak resigns from parliament and is replaced by ex-communist Józef Oleksy.
• 2000 - The Constitution of Finland is rewritten.
• 2000 - Hans Blix assumes the position of Executive Chairman of UNMOVIC.
• 2002 - U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
• 2002 - The Envisat environmental satellite successfully reaches an orbit 800 kilometers (500 miles) above the Earth on its 11th launch, carrying the heaviest payload to date at 8500 kilograms (9.5 tons).
• 2002 - The peseta is discontinued as official currency of Spain and is replaced with the euro (€).
• 2003 - Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service move to the United States Department of Homeland Security.
• 2004 - Terry Nichols is convicted of state murder charges and being an accomplice to Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh.
• 2004 - Mohammed Bahr al-Uloum becomes President of Iraq.
• 2006 - Tarja Halonen is inaugurated as President of Finland for the second and last time.
• 2006 - English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station.
• 2007 - Tornadoes swarm across the southern United States, killing at least 20; eight of the deaths were at a high school in Enterprise, Alabama.
• 2007 - "Squatters" are evicted from Ungdomshuset in Copenhagen, Denmark, provoking the March 2007 Denmark Riots.

Births