79: Believed until 2018 to be the date of the massive eruption of Mt. Vesuvius which buried the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae, killing untold thousands, latest evidence suggests the eruption occurred after 17 October

410: Rome is overrun by Visigoths under Alaric I for the first time in nearly 800 years, seen as the fall of the Western Roman Empire

1516: Battle of Marj Dabiq: Ottoman forces decisively defeat the Mamluk Sultanate near Aleppo, ending Egyptian control in the Middle East

1572: St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre of Protestants by Roman Catholics begins in Paris with the murder by defenestration of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny and later spreads to the French provinces

1662: Act of Uniformity requires English government and church officials to accept the Book of Common Prayer

1814: British forces capture Washington, D.C. during the War of 1812 and destroy many landmarks

1968: France becomes the world’s fifth thermonuclear power with a detonation at Mururoa Atoll in the South Pacific

Source: Onthisday.com