1. 1812 - Napoleon defeats the Russian army of Alexander I at the Battle of Borodino
2. 1813 - The United States gets its nickname, Uncle Sam. The name is linked to Samuel Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, who supplied barrels of beef to the United States Army during the War of 1812
3. 1822 - Brazil declares its independence from Portugal
4. 1901 - The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends with the signing of the Peking Protocol (Peace of Beijing)
5. 1936 - Buddy Holly is born
6. 1940 - The Blitz begins when the German airforce unleashes a wave of heavy bombing raids on London
7. 1979 - The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network (ESPN) makes its debut on cable TV
8. 1986 - Bishop Desmond Tutu becomes the Archbishop of Cape Town, two years after winning the Nobel Peace Prize for his non-violent opposition to apartheid in South Africa
9. 1992 - At least 24 people are killed and 150 injured when soldiers fire on an African National Congress demonstration in South Africa
10. 1996 - Actor and hip-hop recording artist Tupac Shakur is shot several times in Las Vegas, Nevada, after attending a boxing match
11. 1997 - The crowd of 12,000 football supporters gives Elton John a standing ovation as he took his seat at Watford for the first time since returning as Chairman of the club
Source: BBC, Wikipedia, historyorb.com, infoplease.com, history.co.uk, brainyhistory.com, on-this-day.com, thepeopleshistory
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