1305: Scottish patriot William Wallace is executed for high treason by Edward I of England at Smithfield, London

1542: Rabbi Joseph Caro completes his major work, the “Beit Yosef,” a voluminous commentary on the “Arba’ah Turim” code

1850: First US National Women’s Rights Convention convenes in Worcester, Massachusetts

1942: Battle of Stalingrad: 600 Luftwaffe planes bomb Stalingrad, killing 40,000 people

1943: Battle of Kursk, the largest tank battle in history, ends after 50 days as the Soviet Union defeats Germany; over 10,000 tanks take part, and nearly 250,000 combatants are killed

1996: Osama bin Laden issues a message entitled “A Declaration of War Against the Americans Occupying the Land of the Two Holy Places”

Source: Onthisday.com