French composer of the late Baroque period Jean-Philippe Rameau—known for his harpsichord music and famous as a composer of operas, including the masterpiece Pygmalion (1748)—died on this day in 1764.
| 1980: | | The senior command of the Turkish army, led by General Kenan Evren, carried out a bloodless coup in their homeland. |
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| 1974: | | Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia was deposed by the Derg, a committee of revolutionary soldiers. |
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| 1959: | | The Soviet Union launched Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the Moon. |
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| 1943: | | German commandos effected the escape of Benito Mussolini to Munich during World War II. |
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| 1934: | | Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania signed the Treaty of Understanding and Cooperation, providing for mutual defense mainly against Nazi Germany, which had replaced the Soviet Union as the most likely aggressor against the Baltic states. |
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| 1919: | | | Italian nationalist poet Gabriele D'Annunzio led an occupation of the Adriatic port city of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia), bringing to the forefront the Fiume question. |
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| 1814: | | The Genevan republic was admitted to the ranks of the Swiss cantons. |
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| 1733: | | Stanis?aw I was elected king of Poland by the Sejm (Diet) of 12,000 delegates in Warsaw; the move led to the War of the Polish Succession. |
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| 1683: | | The Siege of Vienna ended after a combined force led by John III Sobieski of Poland defeated the Turkish invaders. |
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