1595 – Henry IV’s army defeated the Spanish at the Battle of Fontaine-Francaise.
1752 – Benjamin Franklin flew a kite for the first time to demonstrate that lightning was a form of electricity.
1794 – The U.S. Congress prohibited citizens from serving in any foreign armed forces.
1827 – Athens fell to the Ottomans.
1884 – U.S. Civil War General William T. Sherman refused the Republican presidential nomination, saying, “I will not accept if nominated and will not serve if elected.”
1917 – American men began registering for the World War I draft.
1924 – Ernst F. W. Alexanderson transmitted the first facsimile message across the Atlantic Ocean.
1940 – During World War II, the Battle of France began when Germany began an offensive in Southern France.
1942 – In France, Pierre Laval congratulated French volunteers that were fighting in the U.S.S.R. with Germans.
1944 – The first B-29 bombing raid hit the Japanese rail line in Bangkok, Thailand.
1956 – Premier Nikita Khrushchev denounced Josef Stalin to the Soviet Communist Party Congress.
1967 – The Six Day War between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan began.
1975 – Egypt reopened the Suez Canal to international shipping, eight years after it was closed because of the 1967 war with Israel.
2004 – The U.S.S. Jimmy Carter was christened in the U.S. Navy in Groton, CT.