1870 - Franco-Prussian War: the Siege of Paris begins, which will result on January 28, 1871 in the surrender of Paris and a decisive Prussian victory.
1870 - Having invaded the Papal States a week earlier, the Italian Army lays siege to Rome, entering the city the next day, after which the Pope described himself as a Prisoner in the Vatican.
1893 - Women's suffrage: in New Zealand, the Electoral Act of 1893 is consented to by the governor giving all women in New Zealand the right to vote.
1900 - Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid commit their first robbery together.
1926 - The San Siro is inaugurated with a match between AC Milan and Inter.
1934 - Bruno Hauptmann is arrested for the kidnap and murder of Charles Lindbergh Jr..
1940 - Witold Pilecki is voluntarily captured and sent to Auschwitz in order to smuggle out information and start a resistance.
1942 - Holocaust in Brody, western Ukraine: About 2,500 Brody Jews are deported by the German Gestapo to the extermination camp in Belzec.
1944 - Armistice between Finland and Soviet Union is signed. (End of the Continuation War).
1945 - Lord Haw Haw (William Joyce) is sentenced to death in London.
1946 - The Council of Europe is founded following a speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich.
1952 - The United States bars Charlie Chaplin from re-entering the country after a trip to England.
1957 - First American underground nuclear bomb test.
1959 - Nikita Khrushchev is barred from visiting Disneyland.
1961 - Betty and Barney Hill claim that they saw a mysterious craft in the sky and that it tried to abduct them.
1963 - Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Inc. is founded at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland.
1970 - The first Glastonbury Festival is held at Michael Eavis's farm in Glastonbury, United Kingdom.
1972 - A parcel bomb sent to Israeli Embassy in London kills one diplomat.
1976 - Turkish Airlines Boeing 727 hits the Taurus Mountains, outskirt of Karatepe, Osmaniye, Turkey, killing all 155 passengers and crew.
1985 - A strong earthquake kills thousands and destroys about 400 buildings in Mexico City.
1985 - Tipper Gore and other political wives form the Parents Music Resource Center as Frank Zappa and other musicians testify at U.S. Congressional hearings on obscenity in rock music.
1988 - Greg Louganis suffers a head injury while qualifying for the Seoul Olympics. He goes on to win two Gold medals.
1989 - A terrorist bomb explodes UTA Flight 772 in mid-air above the Tùnùrù Desert, Niger, killing 171.
1991 - Ötzi the Iceman is discovered by German tourists.
1995 - The Washington Post and The New York Times publish the Unabomber's manifesto.
1997 - Guelb El-Kebir massacre in Algeria; 53 killed.
2006 - The Thai military stages a coup in Bangkok. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
2011 - With 434 dead, the United Nations launches a $357 million appeal for victims of the 2011 Sindh floods in Pakistan.
