| 539 | BC | Cyrus the Great of Persia captures Babylon [or 12th, 13th, 17th] |
| 0 | | Feast of Saint Narcissus of Jerusalem, Confessor and Bishop, and that of Saint Colman mac Duagh, Abbot and Bishop |
| 0 | | National Cat Day |
| 969 | | the Byzantines captured Antioch from the Hamdanid Arabs after an eleven month siege |
| 1467 | | Battle of Bruthem: Charles the Bold of Lorraine defeats Liege |
| 1587 | | Battle of Vimory: French Catholics defeat the Huguenots |
| 1591 | | Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti elected Pope as Innocent IX (Oct 29-Dec 30, 1591) |
| 1658 | | Battle of the Sound: The Dutch Fleet defeats the Swedes |
| 1665 | | Battle of Mbwila/Ambuila/Ulanga: Portuguese defeat King Antonio I of Kongo |
| 1790 | | Little Turtle and the Ohio Indians wiped out most of the US Army in the Battle of Kekionga -- Learn More |
| 1842 | | Cadet George Stoneman wrote a friend about the arduous routine at West Point -- Learn More |
| 1851 | | Emmanuel Leutze's "Washington Crossing the Delaware" was unveiled in New York -- Learn More |
| 1861 | | Skirmish at Morgantown/Woodbury, Ky |
| 1863 | | Formation of the International Committee of the Red Cross: Nobel Peace Prize, 1917, 1944, 1963 |
| 1914 | | the Ottoman Empire entered World War I with a surprise naval bombardment of Sevastopol -- Learn More |
| 1914 | | Serbia declares war on the Ottoman Empire |
| 1918 | | German High Sea Fleet "Mutiny": Enlisted sailors prevent suicide mission planned by officers against gov't orders, are later shot anyway |
| 1922 | | King Victor Emmanuel III appoints Mussolni Prime Minister of Italy (1922-1943) |
| 1929 | | "Wall Street Lays an Egg" -- Black Tuesday, the Crash and the start of the Great Depression |
| 1941 | | Germans massacre 10,000 Jews in Kaunas, Lithuania |
| 1942 | | ALCAN Highway opens: motor road to Alaska frees shipping |
| 1942 | | Nazis murder 16,000 Jews, Pinsk, USSR |
| 1943 | | USAAF subjects Rabaul to a major air raid. |
| 1944 | | Breda liberated from the Germans |
| 1944 | | 1st Inf Div Rabbi Sidney Lefkowitz & Cantor PFC Max Fuchs conducted the first Jewish service for Allied troops on German soil, near Aachen, broadcast worldwide, with accompanying artillery fire -- Learn More |
| 1956 | | Israeli paratroopers capture the Sinai passes |
| 1957 | | Hand grenade explodes in Israel's Parliament |
| 1994 | | Francisco Duran fires on the White House, attempting to kill Pres. Clinton |
| 1507 | | Fernando Álvarez de Toledo y Pimentel, 3rd Duke of Alva, who never lost a battle, d. 1582 |
| 1704 | | John Byng, English admiral, executed "to encourage the others" 1757 |
| 1816 | | Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, King-Consort Ferdinand II of Portugal (1837-1853), d. 1885 |
| 1824 | | Joseph Horace Lewis, Brig Gen, C.S.A., d. 1904 |
| 1866 | | Antonio Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta, Filipino general, murdered by political rivals, 5 June 1899 |
| 1871 | | Queen Marie of Romania, wife to King Ferdinand, d. 1938 |
| 1878 | | Alexander von Falkenhausen, German General, military advisor to China, military governor of Belgium (1940-44), d. 1966 |
| 1879 | | Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen zu Köningen, German diplomat and politician, d. 1969 |
| 1897 | | Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propagandist, suicide 1945 -- Learn More |
| 1921 | | Bill Mauldin, soldier cartoonist ("Willy and Joe"), d. 2003 |
| 1952 | | Valeri I Tokarev, Russian colonel/cosmonaut |
| 1268 | | Conradin, the last Hohenstaufen, heir-presumptive to the throne of Naples, beheaded at 16 by the Angevins |
| 1321 | | King Stefan Uros II Milutin of the Serbs (1282-1321), c. 68 |
| 1618 | | Sir Walter Raleigh, 66, English admiral and explorer, beheaded, allegedly for treason |
| 1665 | | King António I Nvita a Nkanga of Kongo (1661-1665), executed by the Portuguese |
| 1877 | | Nathan Bedford Forrest, 56, slavetrader, Confederate cavalryman, founder of the KKK |
| 1885 | | George B McClellan, sometime General-in-Chief (1861-1862) and Presidential Candidate, at 58 -- Learn More |
| 1950 | | King Gustav V of Sweden (1907-1950), at 92 |
| 1965 | | Mehdi Ben Barka, c. 45, Moroccan socialist, murdered in Paris, possibly by the Mossad |
| 2003 | | Harry Clement Stubbs -- Hal Clement, 81, sometime B-24 pilot, sciencefictioneer ("Mission of Gravity," etc) |