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

1790: King Gustav III leads Swedish naval forces to victory over the Russian Baltic fleet during the Second Battle of Svensksund, destroying or capturing one-third of the Russian ships and ending the Russo-Swedish War

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

1893: Surgeon Daniel Hale Williams performs the first successful open-heart surgery when he repairs the torn pericardium of knife wound patient James Cornish, without the use of penicillin or blood transfusion [1]

1917: British battleship HMS Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow due to an internal explosion caused by faulty cordite, killing 804 crew members

1971: National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger secretly 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: Onthisday.com