Today:
546 – The Ostrogoths, under King Totila, capture Rome by bribing the Byzantine garrison, during the Gothic War.
1538 – Pope Paul III excommunicates King Henry VIII of England for his role in separating the Church of England from papal authority.
1777 – France formally recognizes the United States as an independent nation, following the American victory at the Battle of Saratoga.
1790 – The Aztec calendar stone, also known as the Sun Stone, is discovered in Mexico City during the rebuilding of the city’s main square.
1833 – The national anthem of the United States, “The Star-Spangled Banner,” is officially performed for the first time.
1862 – General Ulysses S. Grant issues General Order No. 11, expelling Jews from parts of Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky during the American Civil War (later revoked by President Lincoln).
1903 – Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first successful powered flight near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, with the Wright Flyer.
1938 – Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann in Berlin discover nuclear fission of uranium, a breakthrough in physics.
1969 – The U.S. Air Force closes its Project Blue Book investigation into UFOs, concluding that none of the sightings posed a threat to national security.
2010 – Mohamed Bouazizi, a Tunisian street vendor, sets himself on fire in protest of police corruption and mistreatment, sparking the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
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