1480: Great Stand on the Ugra river: Standoff between forces of Akhmat Khan, Khan of the Great Horde and Ivan III, Grand Prince of all Rus. Ends with a Tatar-Mongol retreat, leading to the disintegration of the Horde.

1769: Captain James Cook lands in New Zealand at Poverty Bay on the East Coast of the North Island

1856: The Second Opium War or second Anglo-Chinese War: begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River

1915: Battle of Loos on WWI Western Front ends, German forces contain British attack (85,000 casualties)

1917: Leon Trotsky named chairman of the Petrograd Soviet as Bolsheviks gain control

1945: Microwave oven patented by US inventor Percy Spencer

2001: US President George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security

Source: Onthisday.com