138 – The Roman emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor.

1336 – Four thousand defenders of Pilėnai commit mass suicide rather than be taken captive by the Teutonic Knights.

1570 – England’s Queen Elizabeth I was excommunicated by Pope
Pius V

1791 – First Bank of the United States (The President, Directors and Company, of the Bank of the United States) was chartered by the U.S. Congress and signed by President Washington.

1836 – Samuel Colt is granted a United States patent for the Colt revolver.

1856 – A Peace conference opens in Paris after the Crimean War

1901 – J. P. Morgan incorporates the United States Steel Corporation.

1919 – Oregon places a one cent per U.S. gallon tax on gasoline, becoming the first U.S. state to levy a gasoline tax.

1928 – Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, D.C. becomes the first holder of a broadcast license for television from the Federal Radio Commission.

1932 – Adolf Hitler obtains German citizenship by naturalization, which allows him to run in the 1932 election for Reichspräsident.

1933 – The USS Ranger is launched. It is the first US Navy ship to be built solely as an aircraft carrier.

1947 – The State of Prussia ceases to exist.

1948 – The Communist Party takes control of government in Czechoslovakia and the period of the Third Republic ends.

1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.

1954 – Gamal Abdel Nasser is made premier of Egypt.

1986 – People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines’ first woman president.

1991 – The Warsaw Pact is declared disbanded.

2009 – Members of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including more than 50 army officials.