Source: HistoryNet.com

1812: Napoleon Bonaparte begins his retreat from Moscow.
1873: Yale, Princeton, Columbia and Rutgers universities draft the first code of football rules.
1917: The first doughnut is fried by Salvation Army volunteer women for American troops in France during World War I.
1949: The People's Republic of China is formally proclaimed.
1954: Egypt and Britain conclude a pact on the Suez Canal, ending 72 years of British military occupation. Britain agrees to withdraw its 80,000-man force within 20 months, and Egypt agrees to maintain freedom of canal navigation.
1960: Canada and the United States agree to undertake a joint Columbia River project to provide hydroelectric power and flood control.
1973: President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court demand to turn over the Watergate tapes.
1987: In retaliation for Iranian attacks on ships in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. navy disables three of Iran's offshore oil platforms.
1988: British government bans TV and radio interviews with members of Irish political group Sinn Fein and 11 paramilitary groups.
1989: The 1975 conviction of the Guilford Four overturned by British courts; the four men had been convicted in the 1974 Guilford pub bombings.
2003: Mother Teresa is beatified by Pope John Paul II for her work among "the poorest of the poor" in India.
2005: Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity begins in Baghdad.