1692: The last eight people – Martha Corey, Margaret Scott, Mary Easty, Alice Parker, Ann Pudeator, Wilmott Redd, Samuel Wardwell, and Mary Parker – are hanged for allegedly practicing witchcraft as a result of the Salem witch trials in Massachusetts Bay Colony; 19 are hanged overall, with six other deaths caused by the hysteria

1792: French First Republic is formed by the National Convention, stripping the French king of his powers

1862: US President Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, threatening to free all enslaved people in the rebel Southern states if those states fail to rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863 [1]

1965: Ceasefire between India and Pakistan goes into effect, ending the Indo-Pakistani War

1980: Iraq invades Iran in an attempt to control the Shatt al-Arab waterway

Source: Onthisday.com