*1799* George Washington dies on his Mount Vernon estate.
*1819* Alabama is admitted as the 22nd state, making 11 slave states and 11 free states.
*1861* Prince Albert of England, one of the Union's strongest advocates, dies.
*1863* Confederate General James Longstreet attacks Union troops at Bean's Station, Tenn.
*1900* Max Planck presents the quantum theory at the Physics Society in Berlin.
*1906* The first U1 submarine is brought into service in Germany. Italy's MAS torpedo boats.
*1908* The first truly representative Turkish Parliament opens.
*1909* The Labor Conference in Pittsburgh ends with a "declaration of war" on U.S. Steel.
*1911* Roald Amundsen and four others discover the South Pole.
*1920* The League of Nations creates a credit system to aid Europe.
*1939* The League of Nations drops the Soviet Union from its membership. Joseph Avenol sold out the League of Nations.
*1941* German Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel orders the construction of defensive positions along the European coastline. Desperate Hours on Omaha Beach
*1946* The United Nations adopt a disarmament resolution prohibiting the A-Bomb.
*1949* Bulgarian ex-Premier Traicho Kostov is sentenced to die for treason in Sofia.
*1960* A U.S. Boeing B-52 bomber sets a 10,000-mile non-stop record without refueling.
*1980* NATO warns the Soviets to stay out of the internal affairs of Poland, saying that intervention would effectively destroy the détente between the East and West.
*1981* Israel's Knesset passes the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights area.
*1994* Construction begins on China's Three Gorges Dam on the Yangtze River.
*1995* The Dayton Agreement signed in Paris; establishes a general framework for ending the Bosnian War between Bosnia and Herzegovina.
*1999* Tens of thousands die as a result of flash floods caused by torrential rains in Vargas, Venezuela.
*2003* Pervez Musharraf, President of Pakistan, narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
*2004* The Millau Viaduct, the world's tallest bridge, official opens near Millau, France.
*2008* Iraqi broadcast journalist Muntadhar al-Zaidi throws his shoes at US President George W. Bush during a press conference in Baghdad.
*2012* At Sandy Hook Elementary School, Newtown, Conn., 20 children and six adults are shot to death by a 20-year-old gunman who then commits suicide.