Today:
193 AD – Roman Emperor Pertinax is assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, triggering a brief civil war known as the Year of the Five Emperors.
1930 – Cities in Turkey are officially renamed: Constantinople becomes Istanbul and Angora becomes Ankara.
1939 – Spanish Civil War ends as Madrid falls to the forces of Francisco Franco, establishing a military dictatorship.
1942 – World War II: British Commandos raid the German-occupied port of Saint-Nazaire in France (Operation Chariot).
1946 – Cold War: The U.S. State Department releases the Acheson–Lilienthal Report on international control of atomic energy.
1953 – Stalin’s successor, Nikita Khrushchev, consolidates power by being named First Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
1979 – America’s worst commercial nuclear accident occurs at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania.
1990 – President H.W. Bush awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal, 10 years after Owens’ death.
2005 – The 2005 Sumatra earthquake, an 8.6 magnitude quake, strikes off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia.
2017 – The United Kingdom triggers Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, formally starting the Brexit process.