1672: Peter I (the Great), Russian Tsar, was born this day in 1672 for whom the city of St. Petersburg is named. He reigned jointly or alone from 1682 to 1725 and was one of his country’s greatest statesmen, organizers, and reformers.
1983: Landslide reelection victory for Margaret Thatcher
British Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, buoyed by victory in the Falkland Islands War and by deep divisions within the opposition Labour Party, was easily reelected to a second term in office this day in 1983.
1967: Israeli forces attacked the Golan Heights in southwestern Syria.
1942: On this day the residents of the village of Lidice (now in the Czech Republic) were rounded up, most to be massacred the next day in reprisal for the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich, deputy leader of the Nazi paramilitary group SS, by Czech underground fighters.
1940: German tank forces under Major General Erwin Rommel crossed the Seine River in a push to the Atlantic coast of France during World War II.
1891: American composer and lyricist Cole Porter was born in Peru, Indiana.
1870: English writer Charles Dickens, generally considered the greatest Victorian novelist, died at Gad’s Hill near Chatham, Kent.
1815: The Final Act of the Congress of Vienna, comprising several agreements separately negotiated among various participants for the reorganization of Europe in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, was signed by representatives of Austria, France, Great Britain, Portugal, Prussia, Russia, and Sweden.
1781: English engineer George Stephenson, the principal inventor of the railroad locomotive, was born.
1358: The Jacquerie, a revolt of French peasants against abuses inflicted upon them by the nobility of northeastern France, suffered a critical defeat at Meaux.