This date brings together events spanning nearly two centuries, reflecting turning points in politics, conflict, culture and society. Below is a chronological overview of the most notable moments recorded on this day.
1828: Ibrahim Pasha arrives in Tripoli at the head of a force of 12,000 men and orders the city’s complete destruction.
1881: Russian writer Fyodor Dostoevsky dies, leaving behind a body of work that would profoundly influence world literature.
1921: The Russo Polish conflict comes to an end with the signing of the Treaty of Riga, under which Poland renounces claims to Ukraine.
1934: The Balkan Pact is signed by Greece, Romania, Yugoslavia and Turkey, aiming to preserve peace and stability in the region.
1939: During the Spanish Civil War, rebel forces reach the borders of Catalonia.
1942: Singer and songwriter Carole King is born in Brooklyn, New York. She would later become one of the most successful hitmakers of the 1960s and 1970s.
1945: American actress Mia Farrow is born. Her birth name is Maria Lourdes Villiers.
1950: US Senator Joseph McCarthy accuses 200 officials of the US State Department of being members of the Communist Party of the United States.
1955: Compulsory military service is formally introduced in China.
1965: The United States sends its first combat troops to South Vietnam.
1973: Jamaica is proclaimed an independent state within the British Commonwealth.
1979: Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi is born.
1981: Bill Haley, widely regarded as the “father” of rock and roll, dies at the age of 56. In 1955, his song Rock Around the Clock helped shape modern popular music.
1984: Yuri Andropov, General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and President of the Soviet Union, dies. He had succeeded Leonid Brezhnev.
1990: For the first time, the German Democratic Republic acknowledges the responsibility of all Germans for the murder of Jews during the Nazi era.
1991: In Chile, a government commission holds the Pinochet dictatorship responsible for the disappearance of hundreds of people and for thousands of human rights violations during the 1970s.
1992: Romania holds its first free municipal elections after 50 years.
1993: More than 500 people living in Siberia die after consuming liqueur imported from China.
1998: An assassination attempt against Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze fails.
2001: The US submarine USS Greeneville accidentally sinks the Japanese training vessel Ehime Maru.
2007: American actress and model Anna Nicole Smith dies.
2009: Italian woman Eluana Englaro dies after spending 17 years in a coma.
2010: Phil Harris, presenter of the Discovery Channel programme Deadliest Catch, dies at the age of 53 after suffering a stroke during filming while attempting to catch a king crab.
2011: Miltiades Evert, Greek politician, dies.