1770: Boston Massacre.
Harassed by a mob, British troops on this day in 1770 opened fire, killing Crispus Attucks and four others in the Boston Massacre, an event that galvanized anti-British feelings in the lead-up to the American Revolution.
| 1979: | | | The U.S. space probe Voyager 1 flew by Io, the innermost of Jupiter's satellites, and observed nine active volcanoes on its surface. |
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| 1953: | | Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin died in Moscow and was succeeded by Georgy Malenkov. |
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| 1946: | | | British Prime Minister Winston Churchill popularized the term “Iron Curtain”—describing the separation between Soviet and Western nations—in a speech at Fulton, Missouri. |
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| 1887: | | | Brazilian musician and Latin American composer Heitor Villa-Lobos was born in Rio de Janeiro. |
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| 1871: | | | Polish German activist Rosa Luxemburg, who played a key role in the founding of the Polish Social Democratic Party and the Spartacus League, was born in Zamo??. |
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| 1798: | | Napoleon invaded Switzerland and occupied Bern, ending the ancient ruling system of that country, the Confederation of the Thirteen Cantons. |
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