• 313 - Roman emperor Licinius unifies the entire Eastern Roman Empire under his rule.
• 711 - Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
• 1006 - Supernova SN 1006, the brightest supernova in recorded history, appears in the constellation Lupus.
• 1315 - Enguerrand de Marigny is hanged on the public gallows at Montfaucon.
• 1483 - Orbital calculations suggest that on this day, Pluto moved inside Neptune's orbit until July 23, 1503.
• 1492 - Spain gives Christopher Columbus his commission of exploration.
• 1671 - Petar Zrinski, the Croatian Ban from the Zrinski family, is executed.
• 1789 - On the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York City, George Washington takes the oath of office to become the first elected President of the United States.
• 1794 - The Battle of Boulou is fought, in which French forces defeated the Spanish under General Union.
• 1803 - Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
• 1812 - The Territory of Orleans becomes the 18th U.S. state under the name Louisiana.
• 1838 - Nicaragua declares independence from the Central American Federation.
• 1856 - Battle of Rivas, Nicaragua, against North American mercenaries.
• 1863 - Mexican forces attacked the French Foreign Legion in Hacienda Camarón, Mexico.
• 1871 - The Camp Grant Massacre takes place in Arizona Territory.
• 1894 - Coxey's Army reaches Washington, D.C. to protest the unemployment caused by the Panic of 1893.
• 1900 - Hawaii becomes a territory of the United States, with Sanford B. Dole as governor.
• 1900 - Casey Jones dies in a train wreck in Vaughn, Mississippi, while trying to make up time on the Cannonball Express.
• 1904 - The Louisiana Purchase Exposition World's Fair opens in St. Louis, Missouri.
• 1907 - Honolulu, Hawaii becomes an independent city.
• 1920 - Peru becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1925 - Automaker Dodge Brothers, Inc is sold to Dillon, Read & Company for $146 million plus $50 million for charity.
• 1927 - The Federal Industrial Institute for Women, opens in Alderson, West Virginia, as the first women's federal prison in the United States.
• 1927 - Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford become the first celebrities to leave their footprints in concrete at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood.
• 1937 - The Philippines holds a plebiscite for Filipino women on whether they should be extended the right to suffrage; over 90% would vote in the affirmative.
• 1938 - The animated cartoon short Porky's Hare Hunt debuts in movie theaters, introducing Happy Rabbit.
• 1938 - The first televised FA Cup Final takes place between Huddersfield Town and Preston North End.
• 1939 - The 1939 New York World's Fair opens.
• 1939 - RCA owned NBC begins regularly scheduled television service from its New York station with the opening ceremonies of the 1939 New York World's Fair broadcast.
• 1939 - Franklin D. Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. President to appear on television during the World Fair's opening ceremonies broadcast.
• 1943 - World War II: Operation Mincemeat: The submarine HMS Seraph surfaces in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Spain to deposit a dead man planted with false invasion plans and dressed as a British military intelligence officer.
• 1945 - World War II: Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun commit suicide after being married for one day. Soviet soldiers raise the red flag over the Reichstag building.
• 1947 - In Nevada, the Boulder Dam is renamed Hoover Dam a second time.
• 1948 - In Bogotá, Colombia, the Organization of American States is established.
• 1973 - Watergate Scandal: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces that top White House aids H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and others have resigned.
• 1975 - Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Duong Van Minh.
• [1977]] - English rock band Led Zeppelin play to 76,229 paying people at the Pontiac silverdome in Michigan USA. This broke the world attendance record for a single act performance.
• 1980 - Accession of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands.
• 1993 - The World Wide Web is born at CERN.
• 1993 - Virgin Radio broadcasts for the first time in the United Kingdom.
• 1995 - U.S. President Bill Clinton became the first President to visit Northern Ireland.
• 1999 - Cambodia joins the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bringing the total members to 10.
• 2001 - The Mitchell Report on the Arab-Israeli conflict is published.
• 2002 - A referendum in Pakistan overwhelmingly approves the Presidency of Pervez Musharraf for another five years.
• 2004 - U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers abusing and sexually humiliating Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
• 2008 - Two skeletal remains found near Ekaterinburg, Russia were confirmed by Russian scientists to be the remains of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia and one of his sisters.

Births