1803 - Napoleonic Wars: The United Kingdom revokes the Treaty of Amiens and declares war on France.
1804 - Napoleon Bonaparte is proclaimed Emperor of the French by the French Senate.
1811 - Las Piedras Battle: first great military triumph of the revolution of the R�o de la Plata in Uruguay leaded by Jose Artigas.
1848 - Opening of the first German National Assembly (Nationalversammlung) in Frankfurt, Germany.
1863 - American Civil War: The Siege of Vicksburg begins.
1869 - Surrender and dissolution of the Ezo Republic to Japan.
1869 - The Public Credit Act is signed by Ulysses S. Grant, one of his first actions as President of the United States.
1876 - Wyatt Earp starts work in Dodge City, Kansas.
1896 - The United States Supreme Court rules in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal is constitutional.
1896 - Khodynka Tragedy: a mass panic on Khodynka Field in Moscow during the festivities of the coronation of Russian Tsar Nicholas II resulted in the deaths of 1,389 people.
1897 - Dracula, a novel by Irish author Bram Stoker is published.
1900 - The United Kingdom proclaims a protectorate over Tonga.
1910 - The Earth passes through the tail of Comet Halley.
1917 - World War I: The Selective Service Act of 1917 is passed, giving the President the power of conscription.
1926 - Evangelist Aimee Semple McPherson disappears while visiting a Venice, California, beach.
1927 - The Bath School Disaster: Forty-five people are killed by bombs planted by a disgruntled school-board member in Michigan.
1933 - New Deal: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an act creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Conclusion after seven days of the fourth battle as German paratroopers ("Fallschirmj�ger") evacuate Monte Cassino.
1944 - Deportation of Crimean Tatars by the Soviet Union government.
1944 - World War II: SS troops burn down six villages in the Brkini hills in south western Slovenia.
1948 - The First Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China officially convenes in Nanking.
1953 - Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier.
1958 - An F-104 Starfighter sets a world speed record of 1,404.19 mph (2,259.82 km/h).
1959 - Launching of the National Liberation Committee of C�te d'Ivoire in Conakry, Guinea.
1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 10 launched.
1974 - Nuclear test: Under project Smiling Buddha, India successfully detonates its first nuclear weapon becoming the sixth nation to do so.
1974 - Completion of the Warsaw radio mast, the tallest construction ever built at the time. It later collapses on August 8, 1991.
1980 - 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption: Mount St. Helens erupts in Washington, killing 57 people and causing $3 billion in damage.
1980 - Gwangju Massacre: Students in Gwangju, South Korea begin demonstrations, calling for democratic reforms.
1983 - In Ireland, the Government launched a crackdown, with the leading Dublin pirate Radio Nova being put off the air.
1990 - In France, a modified TGV train achieves a new rail world speed record - 515.3km/h
1991 - Helen Sharman from Sheffield becomes the first Briton to orbit in Space
1991 - Northern Somalia declares independence from the rest of Somalia as the Republic of Somaliland but is unrecognised by the international community.
1992 - The Archivist of the United States officially announces the 27th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1998 - United States v. Microsoft: The United States Department of Justice and 20 U.S. states file an antitrust case against Microsoft.
2006 - The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country