• 489 - Odoacer attacks Theodoric at the Battle of Verona, and is defeated again.
• 1331 - the Battle of Plowce between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order took place.
• 1540 - The Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) receives its charter from Pope Paul III.
• 1590 - Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
• 1605 - The armies of Sweden are utterly defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
• 1777 - Lancaster, Pennsylvania is the capital of the United States, for one day.
• 1787 - The United States Constitution is delivered to the states for ratification.
• 1821 - Mexico gains its independence from Spain.
• 1822 - Jean-François Champollion announces that he's deciphered the Rosetta stone.
• 1825 - The Stockton and Darlington Railway opens, and begins operation of the world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
• 1854 - The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1903 - Wreck of the Old 97, a train crash made famous by the song of the same name.
• 1905 - The physics journal Annalen der Physik published Albert Einstein's paper "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
• 1916 - Iyasu is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zauditu.
• 1922 - King Constantine I of Greece abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, King George II.
• 1928 - The Republic of China is recognised by the United States.
• 1930 - Bobby Jones wins the U.S. Amateur Championship to complete the Grand Slam of golf. The old structure of the grand slam was The U.S Open, The British Open, and The Amateur Championships.
• 1937 - Balinese Tiger declared extinct.
• 1938 - Ocean liner Queen Elizabeth launched in Glasgow.
• 1940 - World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.
• 1941 - The SS Patrick Henry is launched becoming the first of more than 2,700 Liberty ships.
• 1941 - Foundation of EAM (National Liberation Front) in Greece.
• 1942 - Glenn Miller and his Orchestra perform for the last time before Miller enters the US Army.
• 1942 - Last day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps troops barely escape after being surrounded by Japanese forces near the Matanikau River.
• 1949 - The first Plenary Session of the National People's Congress approves the design of the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
• 1954 - The nationwide debut of Tonight! (The Tonight Show) hosted by Steve Allen on NBC.
• 1956 - USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first man to exceed Mach 3 while flying the Bell X-2. Shortly thereafter, the craft goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
• 1959 - Nearly 5000 people die on the main Japanese island of Honshū as the result of a typhoon.
• 1964 - The Warren Commission releases its report, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, assassinated President John F. Kennedy.
• 1968 - The stage musical Hair opened at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof's collapsing in July 1973.
• 1977 - The 300 metre tall CKVR-TV transmission tower in Barrie, Ontario, Canada is hit by a light aircraft in a fog, causing it to collapse. All aboard the aircraft are killed.
• 1979 - The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
• 1980 - Marvin Hagler defeats Alan Minter to claim boxing's world Middleweight championship in London. They have to be escorted away by police after a riot forms.
• 1983 - Richard Stallman announces the GNU project to develop a free Unix-like operating system.
• 1988 - The National League for Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi is founded.
• 1993 - The Sukhumi massacre takes place in Abkhazia.
• 1995 - The Government of the United States unveils the first of its redesigned bank notes with the $100 bill featuring a larger portrait of Benjamin Franklin slightly off-center.
• 1996 - In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
• 1996 - The Julie N. tanker skip crashes into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine spilling thousands of gallons of oil.
• 1997 - Communications are suddenly lost with the Mars Pathfinder space probe.
• 1998 - Google is launched.
• 1999 - The last professional baseball game is played at historic Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.
• 2002 - Timor-Leste (East Timor) joins the United Nations.
• 2003 - Smart 1 satellite is launched.

Births