The British government and Irish leaders Arthur Griffith, Michael Collins, and others signed the Anglo-Irish Treaty, establishing the Irish Free State as an independent member of the British Commonwealth this day in 1921.
| 1992: | | The Babri Masjid (“Mosque of B─bur”) in Ayodhya was destroyed by Hindu fundamentalists, leading to Hindu-Muslim riots throughout India. |
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| 1973: | | | Gerald R. Ford was sworn in as vice president of the United States, succeeding Spiro T. Agnew, who had resigned. |
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| 1917: | | Finland declared itself independent of Russia, following the Bolshevik Revolution. |
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| 1534: | | Sebastián de Belalcázar, under the authority of Francisco Pizarro, occupied the Indian city of Quito in what is now Ecuador. |
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| 1421: | | | King Henry VI of England was born in Windsor, Berkshire. |
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