• 1503: king james iv of scotland marries margaret tudor, daughter of king henry vii of england at holyrood abbey in edinburgh, scotland.
• 1588: anglo-spanish war: battle of gravelines: the naval engagement ends, ending the spanish armada's attempt to invade england.
• 1605: the city of oulu, finland, is founded by charles ix of sweden.
• 1709: bartolomeu de gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the king of portugal in lisbon, portugal.
• 1863: american civil war: following his defeat in the battle of gettysburg, general robert e. lee sends a letter of resignation to confederate president jefferson davis (which is refused upon receipt).
• 1876: thomas edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.
• 1908: wilbur wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at le mans, france. it is the wright brothers' first public flight.
• 1918: world war i: the battle of amiens begins a string of almost continuous allied victories with a push through the german front lines (hundred days offensive).
• 1942: quit india movement is launched in india against the british rule in response to mohandas gandhi's call for swaraj or complete independence.
• 1963: great train robbery: in england, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes.
• 1963: the zimbabwe african national union (zanu), the current ruling party of zimbabwe, is formed by a split from the zimbabwe african people's union.
• 1967: the association of southeast asian nations (asean) is founded by indonesia, malaysia, the philippines, singapore and thailand.
• 1969: at a zebra crossing in london, photographer iain macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the beatles' album abbey road.
• 1973: kim dae-jung, a south korean politician and later president of south korea, is kidnapped.
• 1974: president richard nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the president of the united states effective noon the next day.
• 1988: the 8888 uprising begins in rangoon (yangon), burma (myanmar). led by students, hundreds of thousands join in nationwide protests against the one-party regime. on september 18, the demonstrations end in a military crackdown, killing thousands.
• 1989: space shuttle program: sts-28 mission: space shuttle columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
• 1990: iraq occupies kuwait and the state is annexed to iraq. this would lead to the gulf war shortly afterward.
• 2000: confederate submarine h.l. hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer e. lee spence.
• 2007: an ef2 tornado touches down in kings county and richmond county, new york, the most powerful tornado in new york to date and the first in brooklyn since 1889.

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