431 BC Outbreak of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC) [Trad]

1081 Alexius I Comnenus becomes Byzantine Emperor (1081-1118), father of the learned Anna

1541 Ignatius of Loyola is appointed the first Superior-General of the Jesuits

1581 Frances Drake completes the second circumnavigation of the world

1588 Christian IV, aged 10, ascends the throne of Denmark & Norway (1588-1648)

1655 Battle at Porto Farina, Tunis: English fleet defeats the Barbary pirates

1745 Battle of Hohenfriedberg: Prussians defeat the Austrians & Dutch

1776 First USN victory at sea: USS 'Columbus' captures HM Tender 'Hawke'

1854 Sloop 'Plymouth' lands a party to protect U.S. citizens in Shanghai

1862 Battle of Yorktown: First serious fighting of the Peninsular Campaign

1865 Lincoln sits in Jeff Davis' chair, in the Confederate White House1898 First Chief of USN's Bureau of Yards and Docks appointed, Mordecai Endicott

1920 Jerusalem: Arab rioters attack Jews

1933 USN Airship 'Akron' (ZRS-4) crashes off New Jersey, 73 die

1939 King Faisal II ascends to the throne of Iraq (murdered 1958)

1940 Katyn Forest: The Soviets begin mass executions of Polish military officers, police officials, and intellectuals, c. 20,000 die over several weeks

1941 RAdm Claude Bloch, COM 14th Naval District, warns Midway against Japanese surprise attack

1941 Rommel takes Benghazi

1942 Bataan: Fil-American forces fall back after Japanese breakthrough

1944 Burma: Heavy fighting around Nhpum Ga

1944 Japanese move on Kohima, having cut the road from Imphal.

1945 Heavy fighting begins in southern Okinawa.

1945 Hungary liberated from Nazi occupation

1958 Aldermaston, England: 1st anti-nuclear weapons demonstration