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Events

390 BC - Battle of the Allia: A Roman army is defeated by raiding Gauls, leading to the subsequent sacking of Rome.

64 - Great fire of Rome: A fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control while Emperor Nero reportedly plays his lyre and sings while watching the blaze from a safe distance.

1195 - Battle of Alarcos, great victory of Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur over the Castilian King Alfonso VIII

1536 - The authority of the Pope is declared void in England.

1830 - Uruguay adopts its first constitution.

1857 - Louis Faidherbe, French governor of Senegal, arrives to relieve French forces at Kayes, effectively ending El Hajj Umar Tall's war on the French.

1863 - American Civil War: The first formal African American military unit, the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, unsuccessfully assaults Confederate-held Fort Wagner but their valiant fighting still proves the worth of African American soldiers during the war.

1872 - Britain introduces voting by secret ballot.

1873 - Oscar II of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway in Trondheim

1898 - Marie and Pierre Curie announce the discovery of a new element and proposed to call it polonium.

1914 - The United States Army's Signal Corps is formed, giving definite status to its air service for the first time.

1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.

1938 - Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan arrives in Ireland.

 
 

1942 - World War II: The Germans test fly the Messerschmitt Me-262 using only its jets for the first time.

1944 - World War II: Hideki Tojo resigns as Prime Minister of Japan due to numerous setbacks in the war effort.

1947 - President Harry S. Truman signs the Presidential Succession Act into law which places the Speaker of the House and the Senate President Pro Tempore next in the line of succession after the United States Vice President.

1966 - Gemini 10 launched.

1968 - Vietnam War: The two-day Honolulu Conference begins in Honolulu, Hawaii between US President Lyndon B. Johnson and South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu.

1968 - Intel incorporated.

1969 - After a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond and his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne, dies.

1969 - Apollo 11 makes preparations for landing on the Moon.

1976 - Gymnast Nadia Comaneci, aged 14, scores first ever perfect 10 at the Olympics.

1977 - Vietnam joins the United Nations.

1982 - 268 campesinos ("countryside people") are slain in the Plan de Sánchez massacre in Ríos Montt's Guatemala.

1984 - McDonald's massacre in San Ysidro, California: In a fast-food restaurant, James Oliver Huberty kills 21 people and injures 19 others before being shot dead by police.

1986 - A tornado is broadcast live on KARE television in Minnesota when the station's helicopter pilot makes a chance encounter.

 
 

1989 - Rebecca Schaeffer is shot by a crazed fan, prompting California to pass America's first anti-stalking law in 1990.

1992 - The ten victims of the La Cantuta massacre disappeared from their university in Lima.

1992 - 'The Late Show', starring the D-Generation debuts on ABC.

1994 - In Buenos Aires, an explosion destroys a building housing several Jewish organizations killing 85 and injuring many more.

1994 - A court upholds NBA salary cap and draft rights.

1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufriere Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital and forcing most of the population to flee.

1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River in Quebec, beginning one of Canada's costliest natural disasters ever.

1996 - In an event very similar to the Oklahoma tornado that would occur three years later, an F5 tornado hit the town of Oakfield, Wisconsin.

1997 - 8000 low-caste Indians riot in Mumbai (Bombay) following a funeral for 10 children who had been killed by police.

1998 - A 23-foot tidal wave kills nearly 3,000 people in Papua New Guinea.\

1999 - David Cone of the New York Yankees pitches the 16th perfect game in baseball history against the Expos at Yankee Stadium.

2001 - In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derails in a tunnel, sparking a fire that lasts days and virtually shuts down downtown Baltimore.

2003 - Kobe Bryant is charged with sexually assaulting a 19-year old girl.

 

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