Today:
456 – Magister militum Ricimer defeats Emperor Avitus at the Battle of Placentia, leading to Avitus’ resignation from the Roman throne.
1384 – Jadwiga is crowned King of Poland, a unique designation for a female monarch.
1793 – Marie Antoinette, former Queen of France, is guillotined during the French Revolution.
1813 – The Battle of Leipzig (Battle of Nations) begins during the Napoleonic Wars, involving many European powers.
1834 – Much of the Palace of Westminster in London is destroyed by fire.
1846 – Dentist William T. Morton successfully uses ether anesthesia for the first time during a surgery in Boston, Massachusetts.
1905 – The Partition of Bengal takes place, creating East Bengal and Assam as a separate province in British India.
1916 – The first birth control clinic in the U.S. is opened by Margaret Sanger in Brooklyn, New York.
1946 – Ten high-ranking Nazi officials are executed by hanging following the Nuremberg trials.
1964 – China detonates its first nuclear weapon, becoming the fifth nuclear-armed nation.