1401: Turko-Mongol ruler Tamerlane (Timur) destroys Baghdad, killing 20,000

1790: Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund – in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet

1868: Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights

1893: Daniel Williams repairs the torn pericardium of a knife wound patient, James Cornish, without penicillin or blood transfusion

1917: British battleship HMS Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow (the result of an internal explosion of faulty cordite), killing 804

1971: Henry Kissinger visits the People’s Republic of China to negotiate a detente between the US and China

2002: The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.

2017: Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaims victory over Islamic State forces in Mosul

Source: Οnthisday.com