Source: HistoryNet.com
1087: William the Conqueror, Duke of Normandy and King of England, dies in Rouen while conducting a war which began when the French king made fun of him for being fat.
1513: King James IV of Scotland is defeated and killed by English at Flodden.
1776: The term "United States" is adopted by the Continental Congress to be used instead of the "United Colonies."
1786: George Washington calls for the abolition of slavery.
1850: California, in the midst of a gold rush, enters the Union as the 31st state.
1911: An airmail route opens between London and Windsor.
1915: A German zeppelin bombs London for the first time, causing little damage.
1926: The Radio Corporation of America creates the National Broadcasting Co.
1942: A Japanese float plane, launched from a submarine, makes its first bombing run on a U.S. forest near Brookings, Oregon.
1943: Allied troops land at Salerno, Italy and encounter strong resistance from German troops.
1948: Kim Il-sung declares the establishment of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
1956: Elvis Presley makes his first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show; cameras focus on his upper torso and legs to avoid showing his pelvis gyrations, which many Americans—including Ed Sullivan—thought unfit for a family show.
1965: Hurricane Betsy, the first hurricane to exceed $1 billion in damages (unadjusted), makes its second landfall, near New Orleans.
1969: Canada's Official Languages Act takes effect, making French equal to English as a language within the nation's government.
1971: Attica Prison Riot; the four-day riot leaves 39 dead.
1976: Communist Chinese leader Mao Tse-tung dies in Beijing at age 82.
1990: Sri Lankan Army massacres 184 civilians of the Tamil minority in the Batticaloa District of Sri Lanka.
1991: Tajikistan declares independence from USSR.
1993: The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) officially recognizes Israel as a legitimate state.
2001: A car bomb explodes outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing 10 people.
2001: Two al Qaeda assassins kill Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan.