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Politics & Diplomacy That Happened On This Day in History
Politics & Diplomacy events in history: 3028 entries across 366 dates. Open any date for the full story.
January 1 1
- 2004 In a vote of confidence, General Pervez Musharraf wins 658 out of 1,170 votes in the Electoral College of Pakistan, and according to Article 41(8) of the Constitution of Pakistan, is "deemed to be elected" to the office of President until October 2007.
January 2 7
- 1978 On the orders of the President of Pakistan, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, paramilitary forces opened fire on peaceful protesting workers in Multan, Pakistan; it is known as 1978 massacre at Multan Colony Textile Mills.
- 1975 At the opening of a new railway line, a bomb blast at Samastipur, Bihar, India, fatally wounds Lalit Narayan Mishra, Minister of Railways.
- 1967 Ronald Reagan, past movie actor and future President of the United States, is sworn in as Governor of California.
January 3 3
- 2026 The United States conducts airstrikes across northern Venezuela, including the capital Caracas and captures Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro and first lady Cilia Flores.
- 1993 In Moscow, Russia, George H. W. Bush and Boris Yeltsin sign the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START).
- 1961 A protest by agricultural workers in Baixa de Cassanje, Portuguese Angola, turns into a revolt, opening the Angolan War of Independence, the first of the Portuguese Colonial Wars.
January 4 6
- 2006 Ehud Olmert becomes acting Prime Minister of Israel after the incumbent, Ariel Sharon, suffers a second, apparently more serious stroke.
- 2004 Mikheil Saakashvili is elected President of Georgia following the November 2003 Rose Revolution.
- 1948 Burma gains its independence from the United Kingdom, becoming an independent republic.
January 5 10
- 2022 Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev dismisses Prime Minister Asqar Mamin and declares state of emergency over the 2022 Kazakh unrest.
- 1976 The Khmer Rouge announce that the new Constitution of Democratic Kampuchea is ratified.
- 1972 US President Richard Nixon announces the Space Shuttle program.
January 6 11
- 2025 Justin Trudeau announces his resignation as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Prime Minister of Canada after nine years in office.
- 2021 Supporters of U.S. president Donald Trump storm the United States Capitol Building to disrupt certification of the 2020 presidential election, resulting in four deaths and evacuation of the U.S. Congress.
- 2019 Muhammad V of Kelantan resigns as the Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia, becoming the first monarch to do so.
January 7 10
- 2023 The longest U.S. House of Representatives speaker election since the December 1859 – February 1860 U.S. speaker election concludes and Kevin McCarthy is elected 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
- 1999 The Senate trial in the impeachment of U.S. President Bill Clinton begins.
- 1993 The Fourth Republic of Ghana is inaugurated with Jerry Rawlings as president.
January 8 12
- 2023 Supporters of former Brazil president Jair Bolsonaro storm the Brazilian Congress.
- 2004 The RMS Queen Mary 2, then the largest ocean liner ever built, is christened by her namesake's granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.
- 2002 President of the United States George W. Bush signs into law the No Child Left Behind Act.
January 9 7
- 2005 Mahmoud Abbas wins the election to succeed Yasser Arafat as President of the Palestinian National Authority, replacing interim president Rawhi Fattouh.
- 2005 The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.
- 1960 President of Egypt Gamal Abdel Nasser opens construction on the Aswan Dam by detonating ten tons of dynamite to demolish twenty tons of granite on the east bank of the Nile.
January 10 9
- 2007 A general strike begins in Guinea in an attempt to get President Lansana Conté to resign.
- 2003 North Korea withdraws from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, making it the first state to withdraw from the treaty.
- 1985 Sandinista Daniel Ortega becomes president of Nicaragua and vows to continue the transformation to socialism and alliance with the Soviet Union and Cuba.
January 11 4
- 1994 The Irish Government announces the end of a 15-year broadcasting ban on the IRA and its political arm Sinn Féin.
- 1973 Major League Baseball owners vote in approval of the American League adopting the designated hitter position.
- 1946 Enver Hoxha, Secretary General of the Communist Party of Albania, declares the People's Republic of Albania with himself as head of state.
January 12 9
- 2015 Government raids kill 143 Boko Haram fighters in Kolofata, Cameroon.
- 2012 Violent protests occur in Bucharest, Romania, as two-day-old demonstrations continue against President Traian Băsescu's economic austerity measures. Clashes are reported in numerous Romanian cities between protesters and law enforcement officers.
- 2004 The world's largest ocean liner, RMS Queen Mary 2, makes its maiden voyage.
January 13 5
- 2021 Outgoing U.S. President Donald Trump is impeached for a second time on a charge of incitement of insurrection following the January 6 United States Capitol attack one week prior.
- 1991 Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1,000 others.
- 1988 Lee Teng-hui becomes the first native Taiwanese President of the Republic of China.
January 14 7
- 2024 Queen Margrethe II abdicates as Queen of Denmark and is succeeded by her son, Frederik X.
- 1972 Queen Margrethe II of Denmark ascends the throne, the first Queen of Denmark since 1412 and the first Danish monarch not named Frederik or Christian since 1513.
- 1953 Josip Broz Tito is elected the first President of Yugoslavia.
January 15 7
- 2019 Theresa May's UK government suffers the biggest government defeat in modern times, when 432 MPs voting against the proposed European Union withdrawal agreement, giving her opponents a majority of 230.
- 1991 Elizabeth II, in her capacity as Queen of Australia, signs letters patent allowing Australia to become the first Commonwealth realm to institute its own Victoria Cross in its honours system.
- 1975 The Alvor Agreement is signed, ending the Angolan War of Independence and giving Angola independence from Portugal.
January 16 11
- 2020 The first impeachment of Donald Trump formally moves into its trial phase in the United States Senate.
- 2020 The United States Senate ratifies the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement as a replacement for NAFTA.
- 2012 The Mali War begins when Tuareg militias start fighting the Malian government for independence.
January 17 8
- 2016 President Barack Obama announces the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, an agreement intended to limit Iran's nuclear program.
- 1992 During a visit to South Korea, Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa apologizes for forcing Korean women into sexual slavery during World War II.
- 1991 Crown Prince Harald of Norway becomes King Harald V, following the death of his father, King Olav V.
January 18 6
- 2023 A helicopter crash in Ukraine leaves 14 people dead, including the country's Interior Minister, Denys Monastyrsky.
- 1993 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day is officially observed for the first time in all 50 US states.
- 1978 The European Court of Human Rights finds the United Kingdom's government guilty of mistreating prisoners in Northern Ireland, but not guilty of torture.
January 19 6
- 1977 President Gerald Ford pardons Iva Toguri D'Aquino (a.k.a. "Tokyo Rose").
- 1966 Indira Gandhi becomes India's first female prime minister.
- 1960 Japan and the United States sign the US–Japan Mutual Security Treaty
January 20 13
- 2018 Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region.
- 2001 President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.
- 1991 Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
January 21 7
- 2017 Over 400 cities across America and 160+ countries worldwide participate in a large-scale women's march, including in Portland, on Donald Trump's first full day as President of the United States.
- 2011 Anti-government demonstrations take place in Tirana, Albania. Four people die from gunshots, allegedly fired from armed police protecting the Prime Minister's office.
- 2005 In Belmopan, Belize, the unrest over the government's new taxes erupts into riots.
January 22 11
- 2024 Ram Mandir is inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh after 500 years of dispute.
- 2009 U.S. President Barack Obama signs an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp; congressional opposition will prevent it being implemented.
- 2006 Evo Morales is inaugurated as President of Bolivia, becoming the country's first indigenous president.
January 23 8
- 2022 Mutinying Burkinabè soldiers led by Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba depose and detain President Roch Marc Christian Kaboré amid widespread anti-government protests.
- 2018 The China–United States trade war begins when President Donald Trump places tariffs on Chinese solar panels and washing machines.
- 2001 Five people attempt to set themselves on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, an act that many people later claim is staged by the Chinese Communist Party to frame Falun Gong and thus escalate their persecution.
January 24 6
- 1960 Algerian War: Some units of European volunteers in Algiers stage an insurrection known as the "barricades week", during which they seize government buildings and clash with local police.
- 1933 The 20th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, changing the beginning and end of terms for all elected federal offices.
- 1916 In Brushaber v. Union Pacific Railroad Co., the Supreme Court of the United States declares the federal income tax constitutional.
January 25 6
- 2011 The first wave of the Egyptian revolution begins throughout the country, marked by street demonstrations, rallies, acts of civil disobedience, riots, labour strikes, and violent clashes.
- 1986 The National Resistance Movement topples the government of Tito Okello in Uganda.
- 1971 Idi Amin leads a coup deposing Milton Obote and becomes Uganda's president.
January 26 8
- 2009 Rioting breaks out in Antananarivo, Madagascar, sparking a political crisis that will result in the replacement of President Marc Ravalomanana with Andry Rajoelina.
- 1998 Lewinsky scandal: On American television, U.S. President Bill Clinton denies having had "sexual relations" with former White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
- 1991 Mohamed Siad Barre is removed from power in Somalia, ending centralized government, and is succeeded by Ali Mahdi.
January 27 7
- 2011 Arab Spring: The Yemeni Revolution begins as over 16,000 protestors demonstrate in Sanaa.
- 2010 The 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis ends when Porfirio Lobo Sosa becomes the new President of Honduras.
- 1996 In a military coup, Colonel Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara deposes the first democratically elected president of Niger, Mahamane Ousmane.
January 28 8
- 2026 A Learjet 45 crashes on approach to Baramati Airport in Maharashtra, killing all six occupants including the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Ajit Pawar.
- 1988 In R v Morgentaler the Supreme Court of Canada strikes down all anti-abortion laws.
- 1977 The Shining, the horror novel and the first hardcover bestseller by Stephen King, is published.
January 29 9
- 2022 Canadian truck drivers and pedestrians gathered to rally and protest on Parliament Hill against Canadian COVID-19 restrictions, which caused traffic and closures around the city.
- 2009 Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is removed from office following his conviction of several corruption charges, including solicitation of personal benefit in exchange for an appointment to the United States Senate as a replacement for then-U.S. president-elect Barack Obama.
- 2008 An Egyptian court rules that people who do not adhere to one of the three government-recognised religions, while not allowed to list any belief outside of those three, are still eligible to receive government identity documents.
January 30 7
- 1964 In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh's military junta in South Vietnam.
- 1960 The African National Party is founded in Chad, through the merger of traditionalist parties.
- 1956 In the United States, Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King Jr.'s home is bombed in retaliation for the Montgomery bus boycott.
January 31 1
- 1946 Cold War: Yugoslavia's new constitution, modeling that of the Soviet Union, establishes six constituent republics (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia).
February 1 10
- 2021 A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.
- 2009 The first cabinet of Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir was formed in Iceland, making her the country's first female prime minister and the world's first openly gay head of government.
- 2005 King Gyanendra of Nepal carries out a coup d'état to capture the democracy, becoming Chairman of the Councils of ministers.
February 2 9
- 2021 The Burmese military establishes the State Administration Council, the military junta, after deposing the democratically elected government in the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
- 2012 The ferry MV Rabaul Queen sinks off the coast of Papua New Guinea near the Finschhafen District, with an estimated 146–165 dead.
- 2005 The Government of Canada introduces the Civil Marriage Act. This legislation would become law on July 20, 2005, legalizing same-sex marriage.
February 3 10
- 1989 After a stroke two weeks previously, South African President P. W. Botha resigns as leader of the National Party, but stays on as president for six more months.
- 1989 A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
- 1960 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan speaks of "a wind of change", signalling that his Government is likely to support decolonisation.
February 4 5
- 2003 The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia adopts a new constitution, becoming a loose confederacy between Montenegro and Serbia.
- 2000 The World Summit Against Cancer for the New Millennium, Charter of Paris is signed by the President of France, Jacques Chirac and the Director General of UNESCO, Koichiro Matsuura, initiating World Cancer Day which is held on February 4 every year.
- 1992 A coup d'état is led by Hugo Chávez against Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez.
February 5 9
- 2020 United States President Donald Trump is acquitted by the United States Senate in his first impeachment trial.
- 1985 Ugo Vetere, then the mayor of Rome, and Chedli Klibi, then the mayor of Carthage, meet in Tunis to sign a treaty of friendship officially ending the Third Punic War which lasted 2,131 years.
- 1967 Cultural Revolution: The Shanghai People's Commune is formally proclaimed, with Yao Wenyuan and Zhang Chunqiao being appointed as its leaders.
February 6 14
- 2006 Stephen Harper becomes Prime Minister of Canada.
- 2000 Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
- 1976 In testimony before a United States Senate subcommittee, Lockheed Corporation president Carl Kotchian admits that the company had paid out approximately $3 million in bribes to the office of Japanese Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka.
February 7 10
- 2024 Pakistan election offices are hit by twin bombings, killing at least 24 people a day before general elections.
- 2012 President Mohamed Nasheed of the Republic of Maldives resigns, after 23 days of anti-governmental protests calling for the release of the Chief Judge unlawfully arrested by the military.
- 1999 Crown Prince Abdullah becomes the King of Jordan on the death of his father, King Hussein.
February 8 8
- 1963 The regime of Prime Minister of Iraq Abd al-Karim Qasim is overthrown by the Ba'ath Party.
- 1960 Queen Elizabeth II issues an Order-in-Council, proclaiming the House of Windsor and declaring that her descendants will take the name Mountbatten-Windsor.
- 1887 The Dawes Act is enacted, authorizing the U.S. President to divide Native American tribal land into individual allotments.
February 9 5
- 2020 Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele has the army soldiers enter the Legislative Assembly to assist in pushing for the approval for a better government security plan, causing a brief political crisis.
- 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Voters in Lithuania vote for independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1932 Prohibition law is abolished in Finland after a national referendum, where 70% voted for a repeal of the law.
February 10 7
- 1989 Ron Brown is elected chairman of the Democratic National Committee, becoming the first African American to lead a major American political party.
- 1967 The 25th Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified.
- 1954 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower warns against United States intervention in Vietnam.
February 11 11
- 2024 2024 Finnish presidential election: Alexander Stubb is elected as the 13th president of Finland.
- 2011 Arab Spring: The first wave of the Egyptian revolution culminates in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the transfer of power to the Supreme Military Council after 17 days of protests.
- 2008 Rebel East Timorese soldiers seriously wound President José Ramos-Horta. Rebel leader Alfredo Reinado is killed in the attack.
February 12 8
- 2026 In the first general election since the July Revolution in Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, led by Tarique Rahman, wins a landslide victory upon returning to power after almost 19 years. A referendum held alongside was also approved by the majority of voters.
- 2002 The trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, begins at the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands. He dies four years later before its conclusion.
- 1999 United States President Bill Clinton is acquitted by the United States Senate in his impeachment trial.
February 13 9
- 2021 Former U.S. President Donald Trump is acquitted in his second impeachment trial.
- 2011 For the first time in more than 100 years the Umatilla, an American Indian tribe, are able to hunt and harvest a bison just outside Yellowstone National Park, restoring a centuries-old tradition guaranteed by a treaty signed in 1855.
- 2008 Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd makes a historic apology to the Indigenous Australians and the Stolen Generations.
February 14 7
- 2018 Jacob Zuma resigns as President of South Africa.
- 2005 In Beirut, 23 people, including former Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, are killed when the equivalent of around 1,000 kg of TNT is detonated while Hariri's motorcade drives through the city.
- 1989 Union Carbide agrees to pay $470 million to the Indian government for damages it caused in the 1984 Bhopal disaster.
February 15 6
- 1996 Then-Prime Minister of Canada Jean Chrétien applies a chokehold to protester Bill Clennett, an incident later named the Shawinigan Handshake.
- 1972 José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.
- 1952 King George VI of the United Kingdom is buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.
February 16 4
- 1936 The Popular Front wins the 1936 Spanish general election.
- 1934 The Commission of Government is officially sworn in; ending 79 years of responsible government in Newfoundland.
- 1918 The Council of Lithuania unanimously adopts the Act of Independence, declaring Lithuania an independent state.
February 17 8
- 2008 Kosovo declares independence from Serbia.
- 1964 In Wesberry v. Sanders the Supreme Court of the United States rules that congressional districts have to be approximately equal in population.
- 1964 Gabonese president Léon M'ba is toppled by a coup and his rival, Jean-Hilaire Aubame, is installed in his place.
February 18 5
- 2014 Revolution of Dignity: At least 76 people are killed and hundreds are injured in clashes between riot police and demonstrators in Kyiv, Ukraine.
- 1972 The California Supreme Court in the case of People v. Anderson, (6 Cal.3d 628) invalidates the state's death penalty and commutes the sentences of all death row inmates to life imprisonment.
- 1957 Kenyan rebel leader Dedan Kimathi is executed by the British colonial government.
February 19 13
- 2026 The 9th Congress of the Workers' Party of Korea officially opens in Pyongyang and lasts for 7 days. (from February 19th to February 25th, 2026)
- 2021 Mya Thwe Thwe Khine, a 19-year-old protester, becomes the first known casualty of anti-coup protests that formed in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
- 1976 Executive Order 9066, which led to the relocation of Japanese Americans to internment camps, is rescinded by President Gerald Ford's Proclamation 4417.
February 20 9
- 2014 Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters die in Ukraine's capital Kyiv, many reportedly killed by snipers.
- 2005 Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.
- 1959 The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.
February 21 7
- 2022 In the prelude to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin declares the Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic as independent from Ukraine, and moves troops into the region. The action is condemned by the United Nations.
- 1972 United States President Richard Nixon visits China to normalize Sino-American relations.
- 1952 The British government, under Winston Churchill, abolishes identity cards in the UK to "set the people free".
February 22 9
- 2014 President Viktor Yanukovych of Ukraine is impeached by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine by a vote of 328–0, fulfilling a major goal of the Euromaidan rebellion.
- 1986 Start of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines.
- 1979 Saint Lucia gains independence from the United Kingdom.
February 23 7
- 2025 A snap election is held in Germany.
- 1991 In Thailand, General Sunthorn Kongsompong leads a bloodless coup d'état, deposing Prime Minister Chatichai Choonhavan.
- 1981 In Spain, Antonio Tejero attempts a coup d'état by capturing the Spanish Congress of Deputies.
February 24 15
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- 2020 Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia following an attempt to replace the Pakatan Harapan government, which triggered the 2020-2022 Malaysian political crisis.
- 2008 Fidel Castro retires as the President of Cuba and the Council of Ministers after 32 years. He would remain as head of the Communist Party for another three years.
February 25 9
- 1986 People Power Revolution: President of the Philippines Ferdinand Marcos flees the nation after 20 years of rule; Corazon Aquino becomes the Philippines' first female president.
- 1980 The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by Dési Bouterse.
- 1951 The first Pan American Games are officially opened in Buenos Aires by Argentine President Juan Perón.
February 26 6
- 2026 The government of Pakistan declares "open war" against the Taliban in Afghanistan, initiating the 2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan War.
- 1987 Iran–Contra affair: The Tower Commission rebukes President Ronald Reagan for not controlling his national security staff.
- 1935 Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe to be re-formed, violating the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles.
February 27 12
- 1991 Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".
- 1976 The former Spanish territory of Western Sahara, under the auspices of the Polisario Front declares independence as the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.
- 1973 The American Indian Movement occupies Wounded Knee in protest of the federal government.
February 28 8
- 2024 Prime Minister Modi of India inaugurates the 2nd Space Port of India - Kulasekarapattinam Spaceport.
- 1997 A Turkish military memorandum results in the collapse of the coalition government in Turkey.
- 1986 Olof Palme, 26th Prime Minister of Sweden, is assassinated in Stockholm.
February 29 9
- 2020 During a demonstration, pro-government colectivos shoot at disputed President and Speaker of the National Assembly Juan Guaidó and his supporters in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, leaving five injured.
- 2020 Muhyiddin Yassin is appointed as the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia, amid the 2020 Malaysian political crisis.
- 2004 Jean-Bertrand Aristide is removed as president of Haiti following a coup.
March 1 5
- 2005 In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the execution of juveniles found guilty of any crime is unconstitutional.
- 1992 Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
- 1971 President of Pakistan Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan.
March 2 5
- 1990 Nelson Mandela is elected deputy president of the African National Congress.
- 1962 In Burma, the army led by General Ne Win seizes power in a coup d'état.
- 1955 Norodom Sihanouk, king of Cambodia, abdicates the throne in favor of his father, Norodom Suramarit.
March 3 4
- 1991 An amateur video captures the beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers.
- 1958 Nuri al-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the eighth time.
- 1918 Russia signs the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, agreeing to withdraw from World War I, and conceding German control of the Baltic States, Belarus and Ukraine. It also conceded Turkish control of Ardahan, Kars and Batumi.
March 4 11
- 2009 The International Criminal Court (ICC) issues an arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Darfur. Al-Bashir is the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the ICC since its establishment in 2002.
- 1998 Gay rights: Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services, Inc.: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that federal laws banning on-the-job sexual harassment also apply when both parties are the same sex.
- 1990 Lennox Sebe, President for life of the South African Bantustan of Ciskei, is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by Brigadier Oupa Gqozo.
March 5 5
- 2023 The 2023 Estonian parliamentary election is held, with two centre-right liberal parties gaining an absolute majority for the first time.
- 1970 The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons goes into effect after ratification by 43 nations.
- 1960 Indonesian President Sukarno dismisses the Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat (DPR), 1955 democratically elected parliament, and replaces it with DPR-GR, the parliament of his own selected members.
March 6 6
- 1985 Registration of the Filipino megachurch Christ's Commission Fellowship with the Philippine government, months after its first worship service in August 1984.
- 1957 the Ghana Independence Act 1957 is passed in the United Kingdom resulting in Ghana gaining independence from the British.
- 1930 International Unemployment Day demonstrations globally initiated by the Communist Party USA.
March 7 3
- 1951 Iranian prime minister Ali Razmara is assassinated by Khalil Tahmasebi, a member of the Islamic fundamentalist Fada'iyan-e Islam, outside a mosque in Tehran.
- 1931 The Parliament House of Finland is officially inaugurated in Helsinki, Finland.
- 1573 A peace treaty is signed between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice, ending the Ottoman–Venetian War and leaving Cyprus in Ottoman hands.
March 8 12
- 2021 Twenty-eight political institutions in Myanmar establish the National Unity Consultative Council, a historic alliance of ethnic armed organizations and democratically elected leaders, in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
- 2004 A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council.
- 1983 Cold War: While addressing a convention of Evangelicals, U.S. President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an "evil empire".
March 9 8
- 2020 Giuseppe Conte, Prime Minister of Italy, announces in a televised address and signs the decree imposing the first nationwide COVID-19 lockdown in the world.
- 2012 A truce between the Salvadoran government and gangs in the country goes into effect when 30 gang leaders are transferred to lower security prisons.
- 1978 President Soeharto inaugurates Jagorawi Toll Road, the first toll highway in Indonesia, connecting Jakarta, Bogor and Ciawi, West Java.
March 10 15
- 2024 2024 Portuguese legislative election: Elections are held in Portugal for all 230 seats in the Assembly of the Republic. The Partido Socialista loses its absolute majority to the Partido Social Democrata, winning 77 and 79 seats respectively.
- 2022 2022 Hungarian presidential election: The National Assembly of Hungary elects former minister for Family Affairs, Katalin Novák, as president of Hungary in a 137–51 vote, becoming the first female president in the country's history.
- 2017 The impeachment of President Park Geun-hye of South Korea in response to a major political scandal is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending her presidency.
March 11 16
- 2021 US President Joe Biden signs the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan into law.
- 2010 Economist and businessman Sebastián Piñera is sworn in as President of Chile. Aftershocks of the 2010 Pichilemu earthquakes hit central Chile during the ceremony.
- 2006 Michelle Bachelet is inaugurated as the first female president of Chile.
March 12 9
- 2004 President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its National Assembly, the first such impeachment in the nation's history.
- 2003 Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
- 1993 North Korea announces that it will withdraw from the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
March 13 8
- 2020 President Donald Trump declares the COVID-19 pandemic to be a national emergency in the United States.
- 2020 Katerina Sakellaropoulou is sworn in as the first female President of Greece amid strict COVID-19 measures.
- 1979 The New Jewel Movement, headed by Maurice Bishop, ousts the Prime Minister of Grenada, Eric Gairy, in a coup d'état.
March 14 6
- 2006 The 2006 Chadian coup d'état attempt ends in failure.
- 1982 The South African government bombs the headquarters of the African National Congress in London.
- 1967 The body of U.S. President John F. Kennedy is moved to a permanent burial place at Arlington National Cemetery.
March 15 12
- 2011 Beginning of the Syrian revolution.
- 1991 Cold War: The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany comes into effect, granting full sovereignty to the Federal Republic of Germany.
- 1990 Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first and only President of the Soviet Union.
March 16 7
- 2016 A bomb detonates in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring at least 30.
- 2014 Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.
- 1995 Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
March 17 11
- 2003 Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council, Robin Cook, resigns from the British Cabinet in disagreement with government plans for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
- 1992 A referendum to end apartheid in South Africa is passed 68.7% to 31.2%.
- 1988 Eritrean War of Independence: The Nadew Command, an Ethiopian army corps in Eritrea, is attacked on three sides by military units of the Eritrean People's Liberation Front in the opening action of the Battle of Afabet.
March 18 6
- 2014 The parliaments of Russia and Crimea sign an accession treaty.
- 1990 Germans in the German Democratic Republic vote in the first democratic elections in the former communist dictatorship.
- 1962 The Évian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had begun in 1954.
March 19 14
- 2023 The Swiss Government brokers a deal for UBS to buy out rival Credit Suisse in an attempt to calm the 2023 banking crisis.
- 2019 The first President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, resigns from office after nearly three decades, leaving Senate Chairman Kassym-Jomart Tokayev as the acting President and successor.
- 2004 March 19 Shooting Incident: The Republic of China (Taiwan) president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
March 20 9
- 2019 Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is sworn in as acting president of Kazakhstan, following the resignation of long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev.
- 2006 Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.
- 1988 Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.
March 21 7
- 1980 Cold War: American President Jimmy Carter announces a United States boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest the Soviet–Afghan War.
- 1965 Martin Luther King Jr. leads 3,200 people on the start of the third and finally successful civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
- 1925 Syngman Rhee is removed from office after being impeached as the President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea.
March 22 9
- 2020 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announces the country's largest ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.
- 2020 Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announces a national lockdown and the country's first ever self-imposed curfew, in an effort to fight the spread of COVID-19.
- 2019 The Special Counsel investigation on the 2016 United States presidential election concludes when Robert Mueller submits his report to the United States Attorney General.
March 23 11
- 2020 Prime Minister Boris Johnson puts the United Kingdom into its first national lockdown in response to COVID-19.
- 2018 President of Peru Pedro Pablo Kuczynski resigns from the presidency amid a mass corruption scandal before certain impeachment by the opposition-majority Congress of Peru.
- 1999 Gunmen assassinate Paraguay's Vice President Luis María Argaña.
March 24 12
- 2024 The 2024 Senegalese presidential election is held following anti-government protests.
- 2008 Bhutan officially becomes a democracy, with its first ever general election.
- 1982 Bangladeshi President Abdus Sattar is deposed in a bloodless coup led by Army Chief Lieutenant general Hussain Muhammad Ershad, who suspends the Constitution and imposes martial law.
March 25 6
- 2006 Capitol Hill massacre: A gunman kills six people before taking his own life at a party in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood.
- 2006 Protesters demanding a new election in Belarus, following the rigged 2006 Belarusian presidential election, clash with riot police. Opposition leader Aleksander Kozulin is among several protesters arrested.
- 1965 Civil rights activists led by Martin Luther King Jr. successfully complete their four-day 50-mile (80 km) march from Selma to the capitol in Montgomery, Alabama.
March 26 9
- 2010 The South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan is torpedoed, killing 46 sailors. After an international investigation, the President of the United Nations Security Council blames North Korea.
- 1991 Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay sign the Treaty of Asunción, establishing Mercosur, the South Common Market.
- 1981 Social Democratic Party (UK) is founded as a party.
March 27 5
- 1993 Jiang Zemin is appointed President of China.
- 1993 Italian former minister and Christian Democracy leader Giulio Andreotti is accused of mafia allegiance by the tribunal of Palermo.
- 1941 World War II: Yugoslav Air Force officers topple the pro-Axis government in a bloodless coup.
March 28 7
- 2006 At least one million union members, students and unemployed take to the streets in France in protest at the government's proposed First Employment Contract law.
- 1994 In South Africa, African National Congress security guards kill dozens of Inkatha Freedom Party protesters.
- 1990 United States President George H. W. Bush posthumously awards Jesse Owens the Congressional Gold Medal.
March 29 8
- 2017 Prime Minister Theresa May invokes Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union, formally beginning the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.
- 1990 The Czechoslovak parliament is unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War.
- 1982 The Canada Act 1982 receives the Royal Assent from Queen Elizabeth II, setting the stage for the Queen of Canada to proclaim the Constitution Act, 1982.
March 30 9
- 2023 Donald Trump becomes the first former United States president to be indicted by a grand jury.
- 1981 U.S. President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley Jr.; three others are wounded in the same incident.
- 1979 Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament (MP), is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
March 31 11
- 2018 Start of the 2018 Armenian revolution.
- 1995 Selena is murdered by her fan club president Yolanda Saldívar at a Days Inn in Corpus Christi, Texas.
- 1992 The Treaty of Federation is signed in Moscow.
April 1 11
- 2006 Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on 7 October 2013.
- 2001 Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
- 1989 Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.
April 2 5
- 2025 Liberation Day tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump announces sweeping worldwide tariffs.
- 1980 United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.
- 1921 The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.
April 3 4
- 1989 The US Supreme Court upholds the jurisdictional rights of tribal courts under the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 in Mississippi Choctaw Band v. Holyfield.
- 1968 Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "I've Been to the Mountaintop" speech; he was assassinated the next day.
- 1948 Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
April 4 9
- 2025 The impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea in response to his declaration of martial law is unanimously upheld by the country's Constitutional Court, ending his presidency.
- 2002 The MPLA government of Angola and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.
- 1984 President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
April 5 13
- 2010 Up to 50 people are killed and another 100 injured in two militant suicide bombings and attacks in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan: the first on an Awami National Party rally in Timergara; the second on the U.S. Consulate in Peshawar.
- 2009 North Korea launches its controversial Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite. The satellite passed over mainland Japan, which prompted an immediate reaction from the United Nations Security Council, as well as participating states of six-party talks.
- 1992 Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force.
April 6 8
- 2005 Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
- 2004 Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
- 1994 The Rwandan genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
April 7 14
- 2022 Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed for the Supreme Court of the United States, becoming the first black female justice.
- 2018 Former Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is arrested for corruption by determination of Judge Sérgio Moro, from the "Car-Wash Operation". Lula stayed imprisoned for 580 days, before being released by the Brazilian Supreme Court.
- 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump orders the 2017 Shayrat missile strike against Syria in retaliation for the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.
April 8 7
- 2020 Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee.
- 2010 U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty.
- 1990 The conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis is elected in the Greek parliamentary election.
April 9 6
- 2009 In Tbilisi, Georgia, up to 60,000 people protest against the government of Mikheil Saakashvili.
- 1991 Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1989 Tbilisi massacre: An anti-Soviet peaceful demonstration and hunger strike in Tbilisi, demanding restoration of Georgian independence, is dispersed by the Soviet Army, resulting in 20 deaths and hundreds of injuries.
April 10 8
- 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.
- 2009 President of Fiji Ratu Josefa Iloilo announces the abrogation of the constitution and assumes all governance in the country, creating a constitutional crisis.
- 1925 The Russian city of Tsaritsyn is renamed Stalingrad to honor the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Soviet Communist Party General Secretary, who had guided the defense of Tsaritsyn during the Russian Civil War in 1920.
April 11 10
- 2006 Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announces Iran's claim to have successfully enriched uranium.
- 2002 Over two hundred thousand people march in Caracas towards the presidential palace to demand the resignation of President Hugo Chávez. Nineteen protesters are killed.
- 1993 Guillem Agulló, pro-Catalan independence and anti-fascist Valencian young activist, is assassinated by a group of Spanish nationalists and neo-nazis in Montanejos.
April 12 7
- 2026 The Tisza Party, led by Péter Magyar wins the 2026 Hungarian parliamentary election, defeating Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, which had ruled the country for 16 years, marking the first change in government in Hungary for over a decade.
- 2007 A suicide bomber penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
- 1999 United States President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a civil lawsuit; he is later fined and disbarred.
April 13 5
- 2013 Salam Fayyad resigns as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority following an ongoing dispute with President Mahmoud Abbas.
- 1943 World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.
- 1943 The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth.
April 14 7
- 2005 The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County.
- 2002 Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military.
- 1991 The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
April 15 4
- 1942 World War II: The George Cross is awarded "to the island fortress of Malta" by King George VI.
- 1865 President Abraham Lincoln dies after being shot the previous evening by actor John Wilkes Booth. Vice President Andrew Johnson becomes president.
- 1861 President Abraham Lincoln calls for 75,000 militiamen to quell the insurrection that soon became the American Civil War.
April 16 8
- 2014 The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the South Korean government, media, and shipping authorities.
- 2013 The 2013 Baga massacre is started when Boko Haram militants engage government soldiers in Baga.
- 2008 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in the Baze v. Rees decision that execution by lethal injection does not violate the Eighth Amendment ban against cruel and unusual punishment.
April 17 12
- 2013 The ceremonial funeral of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher takes place at St Paul's Cathedral.
- 2003 Anneli Jäätteenmäki takes office as the first female prime minister of Finland.
- 1982 Constitution Act, 1982 Patriation of the Canadian constitution in Ottawa by Proclamation of Elizabeth II, Queen of Canada.
April 18 10
- 2018 King Mswati III of Swaziland announces that his country's name will change to Eswatini.
- 2018 Anti-government protests start in Nicaragua.
- 1980 The Republic of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia) comes into being, with Canaan Banana as the country's first President. The Zimbabwean dollar replaces the Rhodesian dollar as the official currency.
April 19 7
- 2011 Fidel Castro resigns as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba after holding the title since July 1961.
- 1973 The Portuguese Socialist Party is founded in the German town of Bad Münstereifel.
- 1971 Sierra Leone becomes a republic, and Siaka Stevens the president.
April 20 5
- 1922 The Soviet government creates the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the Georgian SSR.
- 1898 U.S. President William McKinley signs a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.
- 1876 The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.
April 21 10
- 2010 The controversial Kharkiv Pact (Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas Treaty) is signed in Kharkiv, Ukraine, by Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and Russian president Dmitry Medvedev; it was unilaterally terminated by Russia on March 31, 2014.
- 1993 The Supreme Court in La Paz, Bolivia, sentences former dictator Luis García Meza to 30 years in jail without parole for murder, theft, fraud and violating the constitution.
- 1985 The compound of the militant group The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord surrenders to federal authorities in Arkansas after a two-day government siege.
April 22 7
- 2005 Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.
- 1969 The formation of the Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) is announced at a mass rally in Calcutta.
- 1930 The United Kingdom, Japan and the United States sign the London Naval Treaty regulating submarine warfare and limiting shipbuilding.
April 23 13
- 1993 Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
- 1979 Blair Peach, a British activist, is fatally injured after being knocked unconscious during an Anti-Nazi League demonstration against a National Front election meeting in Southall, London.
- 1961 During the Algiers putsch by French generals, President Charles de Gaulle announces he has assumed emergency powers, and calls on troops and civilians to support him.
April 24 6
- 1970 The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as its first President.
- 1965 Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño overthrows the triumvirate that had been in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
- 1953 Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
April 25 6
- 2026 Shots are fired outside of the White House Correspondents' Dinner in the Washington Hilton where U.S. President Donald Trump and members of his cabinet are attending. One injury is reported and a suspect is taken into custody.
- 2005 Bulgaria and Romania sign the Treaty of Accession 2005 to join the European Union.
- 1990 Violeta Chamorro takes office as the President of Nicaragua, the first woman to hold the position.
April 26 10
- 2015 Nursultan Nazarbayev is re-elected President of Kazakhstan with 97.7% of the vote, one of the biggest vote shares in Kazakhstan's history.
- 2005 Cedar Revolution: Under international pressure, Syria withdraws the last of its 14,000 troop military garrison in Lebanon, ending its 29-year military domination of that country (Syrian occupation of Lebanon).
- 1994 South Africa begins its first multiracial election, which is won by Nelson Mandela's African National Congress.
April 27 8
- 1994 South African general election: The first democratic general election in South Africa, in which black citizens could vote. The Interim Constitution comes into force.This marked the end of Apartheid.
- 1987 The U.S. Department of Justice bars Austrian President Kurt Waldheim (and his wife, Elisabeth, who had also been a Nazi) from entering the US, charging that he had aided in the deportations and executions of thousands of Jews and others as a German Army officer during World War II.
- 1978 John Ehrlichman, a former aide to U.S. President Richard Nixon, is released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Safford, Arizona, after serving 18 months for Watergate-related crimes.
April 28 11
- 1996 Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 41⁄2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.
- 1978 The President of Afghanistan, Mohammad Daoud Khan, is overthrown and assassinated in a coup led by pro-communist rebels.
- 1970 Vietnam War: US President Richard Nixon formally authorizes American combat troops to take part in the Cambodian campaign.
April 29 5
- 1992 Riots in Los Angeles begin, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 63 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
- 1986 An assembly of Sikhs, known as a Sarbat Khalsa, officially declare independence for a state of Khalistan.
- 1974 Watergate scandal: United States President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
April 30 8
- 2013 Willem-Alexander is inaugurated as King of the Netherlands following the abdication of Beatrix.
- 2009 Seven civilians and the perpetrator are killed and another ten injured at a Queen's Day parade in Apeldoorn, Netherlands in an attempted assassination on Queen Beatrix.
- 1980 Beatrix is inaugurated as Queen of the Netherlands following the abdication of Juliana.
May 1 9
- 2004 Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia join the European Union, celebrated at the residence of the Irish President in Dublin.
- 2003 Invasion of Iraq: In what becomes known as the "Mission Accomplished" speech, on board the USS Abraham Lincoln (off the coast of California), U.S. President George W. Bush declares that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended".
- 1997 The Labour Party wins the 1997 General Election and Tony Blair is elected as Prime Minister.
May 2 8
- 2000 President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
- 1999 Panamanian general election: Mireya Moscoso becomes the first woman to be elected President of Panama.
- 1995 During the Croatian War of Independence, the Army of the Republic of Serb Krajina fires cluster bombs at Zagreb, killing seven and wounding over 175 civilians.
May 3 7
- 1979 The Conservative Party wins the United Kingdom general election. The following day, Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female British Prime Minister.
- 1971 Erich Honecker becomes First Secretary of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, remaining in power until 1989.
- 1951 The United States Senate Committee on Armed Services and United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations begin their closed door hearings into the relief of Douglas MacArthur by U.S. President Harry Truman.
May 4 6
- 1994 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO leader Yasser Arafat sign a peace accord, granting self-rule in the Gaza Strip and Jericho.
- 1990 Latvia declares independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1979 Margaret Thatcher becomes the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
May 5 5
- 2010 Mass protests in Greece erupt in response to austerity measures imposed by the government as a result of the Greek government-debt crisis.
- 2006 The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
- 1955 The General Treaty, by which France, Britain and the United States recognize the sovereignty of West Germany, comes into effect.
May 6 7
- 2023 The coronation of Charles III and Camilla as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms is held in Westminster Abbey, London.
- 1999 The first elections to the devolved Scottish Parliament and Welsh Assembly are held.
- 1997 The Bank of England is given independence from political control, the most significant change in the bank's 300-year history.
May 7 9
- 2000 Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.
- 1999 In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
- 1992 Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
May 8 6
- 1976 The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.
- 1972 Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon announces his order to place naval mines in major North Vietnamese ports in order to stem the flow of weapons and other goods to that nation.
- 1963 South Vietnamese soldiers under the Roman Catholic President Ngo Dinh Diem open fire on Buddhists defying a ban on the flying of the Buddhist flag on Vesak, killing nine and sparking the Buddhist crisis.
May 9 10
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war: United States President Joe Biden signs the 2022 Lend-Lease Act into law, a rebooted World War II-era policy attempting to expedite American equipment to Ukraine and other Eastern European countries.
- 2018 Barisan Nasional, the coalition that had governed Malaysia since the country's independence in 1957, suffer a historic defeat in the 2018 Malaysian general election.
- 1988 New Parliament House, Canberra officially opens.
May 10 7
- 2022 Queen Elizabeth II misses the State Opening of Parliament for the first time in 59 years. It was the first time that a new session of Parliament was opened by the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cambridge acting as Counsellors of State.
- 2005 A hand grenade thrown by Vladimir Arutyunian lands about 20 m from U.S. President George W. Bush while he is giving a speech to a crowd in Tbilisi, Georgia, but it malfunctions and does not detonate.
- 1994 Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.
May 11 4
- 2010 David Cameron takes office as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom as the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats form the country's first coalition government since the Second World War.
- 1973 Citing government misconduct, Daniel Ellsberg's charges for his involvement in releasing the Pentagon Papers to The New York Times are dismissed.
- 1919 Uruguay becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
May 12 8
- 2002 Former US President Jimmy Carter arrives in Cuba for a five-day visit with Fidel Castro, becoming the first President of the United States, in or out of office, to visit the island since the Cuban Revolution.
- 1978 In Zaire, rebels occupy the city of Kolwezi, the mining center of the province of Shaba (now known as Katanga); the local government asks the US, France and Belgium to restore order.
- 1937 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom are crowned in Westminster Abbey.
May 13 8
- 1980 An F3 tornado hits Kalamazoo County, Michigan. President Jimmy Carter declares it a federal disaster area.
- 1969 In the aftermath of the 1969 Malaysian general election, Sino-Malay sectarian violence erupts in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
- 1967 Dr. Zakir Husain becomes the third President of India. He is the first Muslim President of the Indian Union. He holds this position until August 24, 1969.
May 14 6
- 2004 The Constitutional Court of South Korea overturns the impeachment of President Roh Moo-hyun.
- 1987 Fijian Prime Minister Timoci Bavadra is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant colonel Sitiveni Rabuka.
- 1955 Cold War: Eight Communist bloc countries, including the Soviet Union, sign a mutual defense treaty called the Warsaw Pact.
May 15 11
- 2024 Prime Minister of Slovakia Robert Fico is shot and critically injured while meeting with supporters at an event in Handlová.
- 2008 California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.
- 1997 The United States government acknowledges the existence of the "Secret War" in Laos and dedicates the Laos Memorial in honor of Hmong and other "Secret War" veterans.
May 16 10
- 2005 Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.
- 1997 Mobutu Sese Seko, the President of Zaire, flees the country.
- 1991 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom addresses a joint session of the United States Congress. She is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.
May 17 10
- 1994 Malawi holds its first multi-party elections.
- 1992 Three days of popular protests against the government of Prime Minister of Thailand Suchinda Kraprayoon begin in Bangkok, leading to a military crackdown that results in 52 officially confirmed deaths, hundreds of injuries, many disappearances, and more than 3,500 arrests.
- 1980 General Chun Doo-hwan of South Korea seizes control of the government and declares martial law in order to suppress student demonstrations.
May 18 12
- 2019 United States presidential election: Joe Biden launches his presidential campaign.
- 2009 The LTTE are defeated by the Sri Lankan government, ending almost 26 years of fighting between the two sides.
- 2006 The post Loktantra Andolan government passes a landmark bill curtailing the power of the monarchy and making Nepal a secular country.
May 19 10
- 2024 A helicopter crash in Iran leaves 8 people dead, including the country's president Ebrahim Raisi & foreign minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian.
- 2007 President of Romania Traian Băsescu survives an impeachment referendum and returns to office from suspension.
- 1991 Croatians vote for independence in a referendum.
May 20 11
- 2016 The government of Singapore authorises the controversial execution of convicted murderer Kho Jabing for the murder of a Chinese construction worker despite international pleas for clemency, notably from Amnesty International and the United Nations.
- 2011 Mamata Banerjee is sworn in as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, the first woman to hold this post.
- 2002 The independence of East Timor is recognized by Portugal, formally ending 23 years of Indonesian rule and three years of provisional UN administration (Portugal itself is the former colonizer of East Timor until 1976).
May 21 6
- 2006 The Republic of Montenegro holds a referendum proposing independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro; 55% of Montenegrins vote for independence.
- 1998 President Suharto of Indonesia resigns following the killing of students from Trisakti University earlier that week by security forces and growing mass protests in Jakarta against his ongoing corrupt rule.
- 1991 Former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi is assassinated by a female suicide bomber near Madras.
May 22 8
- 2017 United States President Donald Trump visits the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem and becomes the first sitting U.S. president to visit the Western Wall.
- 2015 The Republic of Ireland becomes the first nation in the world to utilise a public referendum to legalise gay marriage.
- 2014 General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d'état, following six months of political turmoil.
May 23 10
- 2022 Anthony Albanese of the Australian Labor Party is sworn in as the 31st Prime Minister of Australia after winning the 2022 Australian federal election, ending 9 years of conservative rule.
- 2017 Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declares martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute's attack in Marawi.
- 1998 The Good Friday Agreement is accepted in a referendum in Northern Ireland with roughly 75% voting yes.
May 24 7
- 2019 Under pressure over her handling of Brexit, British Prime Minister Theresa May announces her resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, effective as of June 7.
- 2002 Russia and the United States sign the Moscow Treaty.
- 1993 Eritrea gains its independence from Ethiopia.
May 25 6
- 2018 Ireland votes to repeal the Eighth Amendment of their constitution that prohibits abortion in all but a few cases, choosing to replace it with the Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.
- 1997 A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma.
- 1977 The Chinese government removes a decade-old ban on William Shakespeare's work, effectively ending the Cultural Revolution started in 1966.
May 26 8
- 2014 Narendra Modi takes oath as the 15th Prime Minister of India.
- 1998 The Supreme Court of the United States rules in New Jersey v. New York that Ellis Island, the historic gateway for millions of immigrants, is mainly in the state of New Jersey, not New York.
- 1991 Zviad Gamsakhurdia becomes the first elected President of the Republic of Georgia in the post-Soviet era.
May 27 8
- 2017 Andrew Scheer takes over after Rona Ambrose as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
- 2016 Barack Obama is the first president of the United States to visit Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park and meet Hibakusha.
- 1996 First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechen rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.
May 28 9
- 2004 The Iraqi Governing Council chooses Ayad Allawi, a longtime anti-Saddam Hussein exile, as prime minister of Iraq's interim government.
- 1996 U.S. President Bill Clinton's former business partners in the Whitewater land deal, Jim McDougal and Susan McDougal, and the Governor of Arkansas, Jim Guy Tucker, are convicted of fraud.
- 1979 Konstantinos Karamanlis signs the full treaty of the accession of Greece with the European Economic Community.
May 29 7
- 2005 France rejects the Constitution of the European Union in a national referendum.
- 2001 The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the disabled golfer Casey Martin can use a cart to ride in tournaments.
- 1999 Olusegun Obasanjo takes office as President of Nigeria, the first elected and civilian head of state in Nigeria after 16 years of military rule.
May 30 7
- 2024 Donald Trump is convicted of falsifying business records in his New York trial, the first time a former President of the United States has been found guilty in a criminal case.
- 2012 Former Liberian president Charles Taylor is sentenced to 50 years in prison for his role in atrocities committed during the Sierra Leone Civil War.
- 2003 Depayin massacre: At least 70 people associated with the National League for Democracy are killed by government-sponsored mob in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi flees the scene, but is arrested soon afterwards.
May 31 9
- 1991 Bicesse Accords in Angola lay out a transition to multi-party democracy under the supervision of the United Nations' UNAVEM II peacekeeping mission.
- 1973 The United States Senate votes to cut off funding for the bombing of Khmer Rouge targets within Cambodia, hastening the end of the Cambodian Civil War.
- 1961 The South African Constitution of 1961 becomes effective, thus creating the Republic of South Africa, which remains outside the Commonwealth of Nations until 1 June 1994, when South Africa is returned to Commonwealth membership.
June 1 8
- 2008 A fire on the back lot of Universal Studios breaks out, destroying the attraction King Kong Encounter and a large archive of master tapes for music and film, the full extent of which was not revealed until 2019.
- 1990 Cold War: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
- 1988 The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty comes into effect.
June 2 6
- 2012 Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the killing of demonstrators during the 2011 Egyptian revolution.
- 1953 The coronation of Queen Elizabeth II at Westminster Abbey becomes the first British coronation, and one of the first major international events, to be televised.
- 1946 Birth of the Italian Republic: In a referendum, Italians vote to turn Italy from a monarchy into a Republic. After the referendum, King Umberto II of Italy is exiled.
June 3 5
- 2006 The union of Serbia and Montenegro comes to an end with Montenegro's formal declaration of independence.
- 1989 The government of China sends troops to force protesters out of Tiananmen Square after seven weeks of occupation.
- 1984 Operation Blue Star, a military offensive, is launched by the Indian government at Harmandir Sahib, also known as the Golden Temple, the holiest shrine for Sikhs, in Amritsar. The operation continues until June 6, with casualties, most of them civilians, in excess of 5,000.
June 4 14
- 2023 Protests begin in Poland against the PiS government.
- 1989 In the 1989 Iranian supreme leader election, Ali Khamenei is elected as the new Supreme Leader of Iran after the death and funeral of Ruhollah Khomeini.
- 1989 Solidarity's victory in the 1989 Polish legislative election occurs, the first election since the Communist Polish United Workers' Party abandoned its monopoly of power. It sparks off the Revolutions of 1989 in Eastern Europe.
June 5 5
- 2022 A constitutional referendum is held in Kazakhstan following violent protests and civil unrest against the government.
- 1984 Operation Blue Star: Under orders from India's prime minister, Indira Gandhi, the Indian Army begins an invasion of the Golden Temple, the holiest site of the Sikh religion.
- 1975 The United Kingdom holds its first country-wide referendum on membership of the European Economic Community (EEC).
June 6 9
- 1993 Punsalmaagiin Ochirbat wins the first presidential election in Mongolia.
- 1982 1982 Lebanon War: The war begins as forces under Israeli Defense Minister Ariel Sharon invade southern Lebanon during Operation Peace for the Galilee, eventually reaching as far north as the capital Beirut.
- 1976 Chief Minister of Sabah Faud Stephens, Peter Joinud Mojuntin, and several other politicians are killed in a plane crash near Kota Kinabalu International Airport in Malaysia.
June 7 11
- 1977 Five hundred million people watch the high day of the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II begin on television.
- 1971 The United States Supreme Court overturns the conviction of Paul Cohen for disturbing the peace, setting the precedent that vulgar writing is protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 1965 The Supreme Court of the United States hands down its decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, prohibiting the states from criminalizing the use of contraception by married couples.
June 8 9
- 2023 Former US President Donald Trump is indicted on federal charges of misusing classified information.
- 1987 New Zealand's Labour government establishes a national nuclear-free zone under the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act 1987.
- 1968 James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated Martin Luther King Jr. is arrested at London Heathrow Airport.
June 9 8
- 2010 At least 40 people are killed and more than 70 wounded in a suicide bombing at a wedding party in Arghandab, Kandahar.
- 1999 Kosovo War: The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and NATO sign a peace treaty.
- 1968 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a national day of mourning following the assassination of Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
June 10 7
- 2024 A plane crash in Malawi leaves 10 people dead, including the country's Vice President Saulos Chilima.
- 1987 June Democratic Struggle: The June Democratic Struggle starts in South Korea, and people protest against the government.
- 1964 United States Senate breaks a 75-day filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, leading to the bill's passage.
June 11 6
- 2013 Greece's public broadcaster ERT is shut down by then-prime minister Antonis Samaras. It would be opened exactly two years later by then-prime minister Alexis Tsipras.
- 2008 Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes a historic official apology to Canada's First Nations in regard to abuses at a Canadian Indian residential school.
- 1971 The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
June 12 11
- 2019 Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is inaugurated as the second president of Kazakhstan.
- 2018 United States President Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un of North Korea hold the first meeting between leaders of their two countries in Singapore.
- 2009 A disputed presidential election in Iran leads to wide-ranging local and international protests.
June 13 8
- 2002 The United States withdraws from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
- 2000 President Kim Dae-jung of South Korea meets Kim Jong-il, leader of North Korea, for the beginning of the first ever inter-Korea summit, in the northern capital of Pyongyang.
- 1982 Fahd becomes King of Saudi Arabia upon the death of his brother, Khalid.
June 14 4
- 1955 Chile becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1954 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law that places the words "under God" into the United States Pledge of Allegiance.
- 1940 The Soviet Union presents an ultimatum to Lithuania, resulting in Lithuanian loss of independence.
June 15 6
- 1992 The United States Supreme Court rules in United States v. Álvarez-Machaín that it is permissible for the United States to forcibly extradite suspects in foreign countries and bring them to the United States for trial, without approval from those other countries.
- 1944 In the Saskatchewan general election, the CCF, led by Tommy Douglas, is elected and forms the first socialist government in North America.
- 1859 Ambiguity in the Oregon Treaty leads to the "Northwestern Boundary Dispute" between American and British/Canadian settlers.
June 16 8
- 2015 American businessman Donald Trump announces his campaign to run for President of the United States in the upcoming election.
- 1989 Revolutions of 1989: Imre Nagy, the former Hungarian prime minister, is reburied in Budapest following the collapse of Communism in Hungary.
- 1981 US President Ronald Reagan awards the Congressional Gold Medal to Ken Taylor, Canada's former ambassador to Iran, for helping six Americans escape from Iran during the hostage crisis of 1979–81; he is the first foreign citizen bestowed the honor.
June 17 11
- 2021 Juneteenth National Independence Day is signed into law by President Joe Biden, to become the first federal holiday established since Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 1983.
- 1992 A "joint understanding" agreement on arms reduction is signed by U.S. president George Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin (this would be later codified in START II).
- 1991 Apartheid: The South African Parliament repeals the Population Registration Act which required racial classification of all South Africans at birth.
June 18 5
- 1954 Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
- 1953 The Egyptian revolution of 1952 ends with the overthrow of the Muhammad Ali dynasty and the declaration of the Republic of Egypt.
- 1887 The Reinsurance Treaty between Germany and Russia is signed.
June 19 9
- 1990 The Communist Party of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic is founded in Moscow.
- 1985 Members of the Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers, dressed as Salvadoran soldiers, attack the Zona Rosa area of San Salvador.
- 1965 Nguyễn Cao Kỳ becomes Prime Minister of South Vietnam at the head of a military junta; General Nguyễn Văn Thiệu becomes the figurehead chief of state.
June 20 8
- 1991 The German Bundestag votes to move seat of government from the former West German capital of Bonn to the present capital of Berlin.
- 1988 Haitian president Leslie Manigat is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant General Henri Namphy.
- 1982 The International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide opens in Tel Aviv, despite attempts by the Turkish government to cancel it, as it included presentations on the Armenian genocide.
June 21 8
- 2000 Section 28 (of the Local Government Act 1988), outlawing the 'promotion' of homosexuality in the United Kingdom, is repealed in Scotland with a 99 to 17 vote.
- 1989 The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Texas v. Johnson, 491 U.S. 397, that American flag-burning is a form of political protest protected by the First Amendment.
- 1982 John Hinckley is found not guilty by reason of insanity for the attempted assassination of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.
June 22 9
- 2012 Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo is removed from office by impeachment and succeeded by Federico Franco.
- 1979 Former Liberal Party leader Jeremy Thorpe was acquitted of conspiracy to murder Norman Scott, who had accused Thorpe of having a relationship with him.
- 1965 The Treaty on Basic Relations between Japan and the Republic of Korea is signed.
June 23 9
- 2016 Brexit: The United Kingdom votes in a referendum to leave the European Union, by 52% to 48%.
- 1972 Watergate scandal: U.S. President Richard M. Nixon and White House Chief of Staff H. R. Haldeman are taped talking about illegally using the Central Intelligence Agency to obstruct the Federal Bureau of Investigation's investigation into the Watergate break-ins.
- 1969 Warren E. Burger is sworn in as Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court by retiring Chief Justice Earl Warren.
June 24 12
- 2023 The Wagner Group led by Yevgeny Prigozhin launches an insurrection against the Russian government.
- 2022 In Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the U.S. Constitution does not assign the authority to regulate abortions to the federal government, thereby returning such authority to the individual states. This overturns the prior decisions in Roe v. Wade (1973) and Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992).
- 2013 Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is found guilty of abusing his power and engaging in sex with an underage prostitute, and is sentenced to seven years in prison.
June 25 8
- 2024 Thousands of people storm Kenya's Parliament Buildings protesting the passing of the government's 2024/25 Finance Bill.
- 2022 The prime minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina inaugurates the longest bridge of Bangladesh, Padma Bridge.
- 1998 In Clinton v. City of New York, the United States Supreme Court decides that the Line Item Veto Act of 1996 is unconstitutional.
June 26 12
- 2015 The U.S. Supreme Court rules, 5–4, that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marriage under the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 2013 The U.S. Supreme Court rules, 5–4, that Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional and in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
- 2007 Pope Benedict XVI reinstates the traditional laws of papal election in which a successful candidate must receive two-thirds of the votes.
June 27 11
- 2024 U.S. President Joe Biden debates former U.S. President Donald Trump. Biden's perceived poor performance leads to his withdrawal from the election on July 21.
- 2008 In a highly scrutinized election, President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe is re-elected in a landslide after his opponent Morgan Tsvangirai had withdrawn a week earlier, citing violence against his party's supporters.
- 2007 Tony Blair resigns as British Prime Minister, a position he had held since 1997. Chancellor Gordon Brown succeeds him.
June 28 10
- 2012 The United States Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius.
- 2009 Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is ousted by a local military coup following a failed request to hold a referendum to rewrite the Honduran Constitution. This was the start of the 2009 Honduran constitutional crisis.
- 2004 Iraq War: Sovereign power is handed to the interim government of Iraq by the Coalition Provisional Authority, ending the U.S.-led rule of that nation.
June 29 9
- 2006 Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: The U.S. Supreme Court rules that President George W. Bush's plan to try Guantanamo Bay detainees in military tribunals violates U.S. and international law.
- 1974 Vice President Isabel Perón assumes powers and duties as Acting President of Argentina, while her husband President Juan Perón is terminally ill.
- 1972 The United States Supreme Court rules in the case Furman v. Georgia that arbitrary and inconsistent imposition of the death penalty violates the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments and constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
June 30 7
- 2019 Donald Trump becomes the first sitting US President to visit the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea).
- 2013 Protests begin around Egypt against President Mohamed Morsi and the ruling Freedom and Justice Party, leading to their overthrow during the 2013 Egyptian coup d'état.
- 1989 A coup d'état in Sudan deposes the democratically elected government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and President Ahmed al-Mirghani.
July 1 9
- 1999 The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh. In Wales, the powers of the Welsh Secretary are transferred to the National Assembly.
- 1997 China resumes sovereignty over the city-state of Hong Kong, ending 156 years of British colonial rule. The handover ceremony is attended by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Charles, Prince of Wales, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
- 1978 The Northern Territory in Australia is granted self-government.
July 2 6
- 2000 Vicente Fox Quesada is elected the first President of México from an opposition party, the Partido Acción Nacional, after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional, in the 2000 Mexican general election.
- 1964 Civil rights movement: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.
- 1921 World War I: U.S. President Warren G. Harding signs the Knox–Porter Resolution formally ending the war between the United States and Germany.
July 3 7
- 2013 President of Egypt Mohamed Morsi is removed from office by the military after four days of protests all over the country calling for his resignation, to which he did not respond. The president of the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt, Adly Mansour, is declared acting president until further elections are held.
- 1996 British Prime Minister John Major announced the Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland.
- 1979 U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
July 4 9
- 2024 The Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, wins a landslide majority in the 2024 United Kingdom general election, ending 14 years of Conservative government.
- 2008 A bomb explodes at a concert in Minsk's Independence Square, injuring 50 people.
- 2006 Space Shuttle program: Discovery launches STS-121 to the International Space Station. The event gained wide media attention as it was the only shuttle launch in the program's history to occur on the United States' Independence Day.
July 5 13
- 2024 Keir Starmer is appointed Prime Minister by Charles III, becoming the first Labour prime minister since Gordon Brown in 2010 and the first one to win a general election since Tony Blair at the 2005 general election.
- 2022 British government ministers Sajid Javid and Rishi Sunak resign from the second Johnson ministry, beginning the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis.
- 2004 The first direct Indonesian presidential election is held.
July 6 7
- 1975 The Comoros declares independence from France.
- 1966 Malawi becomes a republic, with Hastings Banda as its first President.
- 1964 Malawi declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
July 7 11
- 2022 Boris Johnson announces his resignation as leader of the Conservative Party following days of pressure from the Members of Parliament (MPs) during the July 2022 United Kingdom government crisis.
- 2021 Haitian crisis: Haitian President Jovenel Moïse is assassinated in his residence in the capital of Port-au-Prince.
- 2017 The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons was adopted with 122 countries voting in favour.
July 8 8
- 2022 Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is shot and killed with an improvised firearm due to resentment against the Unification Church.
- 1982 A failed assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein results in the Dujail Massacre over the next several months.
- 1966 King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.
July 9 12
- 2011 South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.
- 2004 The Senate Report on Iraqi WMD Intelligence is released by the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, casting doubt on the rationale for the Iraq War.
- 2002 The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, replacing the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). The organization's first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
July 10 9
- 2017 Iraqi Civil War: Mosul is declared fully liberated from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant by the government of Iraq.
- 2008 Former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boškoski is acquitted of all war-crimes charges by a United Nations tribunal.
- 2000 Bashar al-Assad succeeds his father Hafez al-Assad as President of Syria.
July 11 5
- 1977 Martin Luther King Jr., assassinated in 1968, is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
- 1960 France legislates for the independence of Dahomey (later Benin), Upper Volta (later Burkina Faso) and Niger.
- 1941 The Northern Rhodesian Labour Party holds its first congress in Nkana.
July 12 10
- 2012 Syrian Civil War: Government forces target the homes of rebels and activists in Tremseh and kill anywhere between 68 and 150 people.
- 1975 São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.
- 1948 Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion orders the expulsion of Palestinians from the towns of Lod and Ramla.
July 13 7
- 2024 Former president of the United States Donald Trump is injured in an assassination attempt while speaking at an election campaign rally near Butler, Pennsylvania.
- 2016 Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron resigns, and is succeeded by Theresa May.
- 1985 Vice President George H. W. Bush becomes the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery to remove polyps from his colon.
July 14 10
- 2002 French president Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt from Maxime Brunerie during a Bastille Day parade at Champs-Élysées.
- 1958 In the 14 July Revolution in Iraq, the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who becomes the nation's new leader.
- 1948 Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, is shot and wounded near the Italian Parliament.
July 15 5
- 2016 Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup.
- 1979 U.S. president Jimmy Carter gives his "malaise speech".
- 1974 In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing Makarios III and installing Nikos Sampson as the president of Cyprus.
July 16 9
- 1990 The Parliament of the Ukrainian SSR declares state sovereignty over the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
- 1979 Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
- 1965 South Vietnamese Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, a formerly undetected communist spy and double agent, is hunted down and killed by unknown individuals after being sentenced to death in absentia for a February 1965 coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh.
July 17 8
- 1973 King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, while having surgery in Italy, is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan.
- 1968 Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
- 1936 Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war.
July 18 5
- 2013 The Government of Detroit, with up to $20 billion in debt, files for the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.
- 1994 Rwandan genocide: The Rwandan Patriotic Front takes control of Gisenyi and north western Rwanda, forcing the interim government into Zaire and ending the genocide.
- 1944 World War II: Hideki Tōjō resigns as Prime Minister of Japan because of numerous setbacks in the war effort.
July 19 8
- 2011 Guinean President Alpha Condé survives an attempted assassination and coup d'état at his residence in Conakry.
- 1982 In one of the first militant attacks by Hezbollah, David S. Dodge, president of the American University of Beirut, is kidnapped.
- 1981 In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.
July 20 7
- 2013 Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
- 1999 The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
- 1997 The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
July 21 5
- 2024 U.S. President Joe Biden announces he will no longer seek a second term and withdraws from the 2024 election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as she launches her own presidential campaign.
- 2010 U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.
- 2008 Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first President of Nepal.
July 22 7
- 2012 Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) captured the cities of Serê Kaniyê and Dirbêsiyê, during clashes with pro-government forces in Al-Hasakah.
- 2011 Norway attacks: A bomb explodes, targeted at government buildings in central Oslo, followed by a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya.
- 1946 King David Hotel bombing: A Zionist underground organisation, the Irgun, bombs the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, site of the civil administration and military headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, resulting in 91 deaths.
July 23 6
- 2001 Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment.
- 1992 Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.
- 1974 The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece's metapolitefsi era.
July 24 7
- 2019 Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after defeating Jeremy Hunt in a leadership contest, succeeding Theresa May.
- 1974 Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Richard Nixon does not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
- 1967 During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! ("Long live free Quebec!"); the statement angered the Canadian government and many Anglophone Canadians.
July 25 9
- 2007 Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president.
- 2001 Phoolan Devi, a serving Member of Parliament, is assassinated by shooting in New Delhi, India.
- 1996 In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
July 26 11
- 2016 Hillary Clinton becomes the first female nominee for president of the United States by a major political party at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
- 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 is signed into law by President George H. W. Bush.
- 1977 The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government.
July 27 9
- 1990 The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago.
- 1974 Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.
- 1955 The Austrian State Treaty restores Austrian sovereignty.
July 28 10
- 2017 Nawaz Sharif was disqualified from office for life by Supreme Court of Pakistan after finding him guilty of corruption charges.
- 1965 Vietnam War: U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.
- 1945 A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.
July 29 8
- 1993 The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
- 1987 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Channel Tunnel).
- 1987 Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.
July 30 9
- 2011 Marriage of Queen Elizabeth II's eldest granddaughter Zara Phillips to former rugby union footballer Mike Tindall.
- 1990 Ian Gow, Conservative Member of Parliament, is assassinated at his home by the IRA in a car bombing after he assured the group that the British government would never surrender to them.
- 1980 Vanuatu gains independence.
July 31 5
- 1991 The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.
- 1972 The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.
- 1938 Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.
August 1 10
- 2023 Former US President Donald Trump is indicted for his role in the January 6 United States Capitol attack, his third indictment in 2023.
- 1998 Puntland, an autonomous state in northeastern Somalia, is officially established following a constitutional conference in Garowe. Issims and tribal chiefs agreed to create a self-declared government until Somalia recovered.
- 1980 Vigdís Finnbogadóttir is elected President of Iceland and becomes the world's first democratically elected female head of state.
August 2 7
- 1943 World War II: After the Motor Torpedo Boat PT-109 is rammed and sunk by the Japanese destroyer Amagiri, Lt. John F. Kennedy, future U.S. president, saves all but two of his crew.
- 1934 Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler becomes Führer of Germany following the death of President Paul von Hindenburg.
- 1923 U.S. Vice President Calvin Coolidge becomes president upon the death of President Warren G. Harding.
August 3 7
- 2019 Six hundred protesters, including opposition leader Lyubov Sobol, are arrested in an election protest in Moscow, Russia.
- 2005 President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
- 1972 The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
August 4 13
- 2018 Crisis in Venezuela: Seven people are injured when two drones detonate explosives on Avenida Bolívar, Caracas while president Nicolás Maduro is giving a speech to the Venezuelan National Guard.
- 2006 A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF).
- 1995 Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence begins.
August 5 10
- 2024 Following the non-cooperation movement against the government of Bangladesh, Bangladeshi prime minister Sheikh Hasina resigns and flees the country, ending her rule of 15 consecutive years and a total of almost two decades. The date is also known as 36 July.
- 2015 The Environmental Protection Agency at Gold King Mine waste water spill releases three million gallons of heavy metal toxin tailings and waste water into the Animas River in Colorado.
- 2008 The New England Revolution win the 2008 North American SuperLiga final against the Houston Dynamo.
August 6 11
- 2008 A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
- 1991 Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.
- 1965 US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Voting Rights Act of 1965 into law.
August 7 6
- 1995 The Chilean government declares state of emergency in the southern half of the country in response to an event of intense, cold, wind, rain and snowfall known as the White Earthquake.
- 1978 U.S. President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal due to toxic waste that had been disposed of negligently.
- 1964 Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
August 8 9
- 2024 Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus takes oath as Chief Adviser to form an interim government in Bangladesh.
- 2022 The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executes a search warrant at former president Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida.
- 2016 Terrorists attack a government hospital in Quetta, Pakistan with a suicide blast and shooting, killing between 70 and 94 people, and injuring around 130 others.
August 9 10
- 1999 Russian president Boris Yeltsin fires his prime minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
- 1993 The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership.
- 1991 The Italian prosecuting magistrate Antonino Scopelliti is murdered by the 'Ndrangheta on behalf of the Sicilian Mafia while preparing the government's case in the final appeal of the Maxi Trial.
August 10 6
- 2018 An anti-government rally turns into a riot when members of the Romanian Gendarmerie attack the 100,000 people protesting in front of the Victoria Palace, leading to 452 recorded injuries. The authorities alleged that the crowd was infiltrated by hooligans who began attacking law enforcement agents.
- 1988 Japanese American internment: U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned in or relocated by the United States during World War II.
- 1945 The Japanese government announced that a message had been sent to the Allies accepting the terms of the Potsdam Declaration provided that it "does not comprise any demand that prejudices the prerogatives of the Emperor as sovereign ruler."
August 11 8
- 1984 "We begin bombing in five minutes": United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.
- 1975 East Timor: Governor Mário Lemos Pires of Portuguese Timor abandons the capital Dili, following a coup by the Timorese Democratic Union (UDT) and the outbreak of civil war between UDT and Fretilin.
- 1973 At the 1520 Sedgwick Avenue apartment building in The Bronx, New York, DJ Kool Herc hosts a house party widely considered to mark the birthplace of hip-hop culture and music. DJ Kool Herc demonstrates a new technique of beat juggling and Coke La Rock performs a new style of vocal performance called rapping.
August 12 7
- 1977 The Sri Lanka Riots, targeting the minority Sri Lankan Tamils, begin, less than a month after the United National Party came to power. Over 300 Tamils are killed.
- 1914 World War I: France, the United Kingdom and the British Empire declare war on Austria-Hungary.
- 1831 French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to suppress the Belgian Revolution.
August 13 7
- 2014 A Cessna Citation Excel crashes in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil killing all seven people aboard, including Brazilian Socialist Party presidential candidate Eduardo Campos.
- 1969 The Apollo 11 astronauts enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York City. That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.
- 1960 The Central African Republic declares independence from France.
August 14 6
- 2023 Former U.S. president Donald Trump is charged in Georgia along with 18 others in attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election in that state, his fourth indictment of 2023.
- 2013 Egypt declares a state of emergency as security forces kill hundreds of demonstrators supporting former president Mohamed Morsi.
- 1971 Bahrain declares independence from Britain.
August 15 12
- 2025 US president Donald Trump meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the first such summit since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- 2005 The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia is signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.
- 1995 Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister of Japan, releases the Murayama Statement, which formally expresses remorse for Japanese war crimes committed during World War II.
August 16 9
- 1975 Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam symbolically hands over land to the Gurindji people after the eight-year Wave Hill walk-off, a landmark event in the history of Indigenous land rights in Australia, commemorated in a 1991 song by Paul Kelly and an annual celebration.
- 1972 In an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, the Royal Moroccan Air Force fires upon Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.
- 1964 Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Dương Văn Minh with General Nguyễn Khánh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.
August 17 6
- 1998 Lewinsky scandal: US President Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that he had an "improper physical relationship" with White House intern Monica Lewinsky; later that same day he admits before the nation that he "misled people" about the relationship.
- 1988 President of Pakistan Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed in a plane crash.
- 1949 Matsukawa derailment: Unknown saboteurs cause a passenger train to derail and overturn in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, killing three crew members and igniting a political firestorm between the Japanese Communist Party and the government of Occupied Japan that will eventually lead to the Japanese Red Purge.
August 18 8
- 2008 The President of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf, resigns under threat of impeachment.
- 1977 Steve Biko is arrested at a police roadblock under Terrorism Act No. 83 of 1967 in King William's Town, South Africa. He later dies from injuries sustained during this arrest, bringing attention to South Africa's apartheid policies.
- 1950 Julien Lahaut, the chairman of the Communist Party of Belgium, is assassinated. The Party newspaper blames royalists and Rexists.
August 19 7
- 1999 In Belgrade, Yugoslavia, tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
- 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The August Coup begins when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.
- 1989 Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki to be the first non-communist prime minister in 42 years.
August 20 8
- 2016 Fifty-four people are killed when a suicide bomber detonates himself at a Kurdish wedding party in Gaziantep, Turkey.
- 1998 The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
- 1992 In India, Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) is included in the scheduled languages' list and made one of the official languages of the Indian Government.
August 21 7
- 1991 Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.
- 1991 Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
- 1971 A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
August 22 10
- 2003 Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama Roy Moore is suspended after refusing to comply with a federal court order to remove a rock inscribed with the Ten Commandments from the lobby of the Alabama Supreme Court building.
- 1991 Iceland is the first nation in the world to recognize the independence of the Baltic states.
- 1978 Nicaraguan Revolution: The FSLN seizes the National Congress of Nicaragua, along with over a thousand hostages.
August 23 5
- 1990 Armenia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1989 Singing Revolution: Two million people from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania stand on the Vilnius–Tallinn road, holding hands.
- 1954 The Cruise of the Kings, a royal cruise organised by the Queen Consort of Greece, Frederica of Hanover, departs from Marseille, France.
August 24 9
- 2020 Erin O'Toole is elected leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
- 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as head of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
- 1989 Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
August 25 8
- 2006 Former Prime Minister of Ukraine Pavlo Lazarenko is sentenced to nine years imprisonment for money laundering, wire fraud, and extortion.
- 1991 Belarus gains its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1991 The Battle of Vukovar begins. An 87-day siege of Vukovar by the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), supported by various Serb paramilitary forces, between August and November 1991 (during the Croatian War of Independence).
August 26 5
- 1970 The fiftieth anniversary of American women being able to vote is marked by a nationwide Women's Strike for Equality.
- 1920 The 19th amendment to United States Constitution, giving women the right to vote, is certified.
- 1849 President Faustin Soulouque of the First Republic of Haiti has the Senate and Chamber of Deputies proclaim him the Emperor of Haiti, abolishing the Republic and inaugurating the Second Empire of Haiti.
August 27 11
- 2003 The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
- 1991 The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
- 1991 Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
August 28 8
- 1998 Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.
- 1993 Singaporean presidential election: Former Deputy Prime Minister Ong Teng Cheong is elected President of Singapore. Although it is the first presidential election to be determined by popular vote, the allowed candidates consist only of Ong and a reluctant whom the government had asked to run to confer upon the election the semblance of an opposition.
- 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech.
August 29 5
- 1991 Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.
- 1975 El Tacnazo: Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Peruvian Prime Minister carries out a coup d'état in the city of Tacna, forcing the sitting President of Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado, to resign and assuming his place as the new President.
- 1966 Leading Egyptian thinker Sayyid Qutb is executed for plotting the assassination of President Gamal Abdel Nasser.
August 30 10
- 2023 Gabonese coup d'état: After Ali Bongo Ondimba's reelection, a military coup ousts him, ending 56 years of Bongo family rule in Gabon.
- 2014 Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane flees to South Africa as the army allegedly stages a coup.
- 1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Azerbaijan declares independence from Soviet Union.
August 31 5
- 2016 Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office.
- 1991 Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1959 A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
September 1 6
- 1981 Central African President David Dacko is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General André Kolingba.
- 1969 A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power.
- 1923 Los Solidarios rob a branch of the Bank of Spain in Xixón, stealing more than half a million pesetas to fund the purchase of rifles to fight the coming 1923 Spanish coup d'état.
September 2 6
- 2009 The Andhra Pradesh, India helicopter crash occurs near Rudrakonda Hill, 40 nautical miles (74 km) from Kurnool, Andhra Pradesh, India. Fatalities include Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, the Chief Minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.
- 1990 Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.
- 1960 The first election of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile. The Tibetan community observes this date as Democracy Day.
September 3 3
- 1987 In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya.
- 1879 Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul. Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire.
- 1843 King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens.
September 4 5
- 1970 Salvador Allende is elected President of Chile.
- 1957 American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis: The governor of Arkansas calls out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Little Rock Central High School, resulting in the lawsuit Cooper v. Aaron the following year.
- 1951 The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, United States, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
September 5 10
- 2022 Liz Truss is declared the winner of the UK Conservative Party leadership election, beating Rishi Sunak.
- 2021 The President of Guinea, Alpha Condé is captured by armed forces during a coup d'état.
- 2006 The Waziristan Accord is signed between the Government of Pakistan and local Taliban militants in North Waziristan, obliging the Taliban to expel foreign jihadists and the government to compensate the tribes for loss of life and property and launch reconstruction projects.
September 6 9
- 2022 Boris Johnson resigns as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and is replaced by Liz Truss. Their meetings with Queen Elizabeth II at Balmoral Castle were the Queen's final official duties before her death two days later.
- 2018 Supreme Court of India decriminalises all consensual sex among adults in private, making homosexuality legal on the Indian lands.
- 2003 Mahmoud Abbas resigns from his position of Palestinian Prime Minister.
September 7 7
- 2021 The National Unity Government of Myanmar declares a people's defensive war against the military junta during the Myanmar civil war.
- 2008 The United States government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
- 2005 Egypt holds its first-ever multi-party presidential election.
September 8 8
- 2022 Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years. Her son Charles, Prince of Wales, ascends the throne upon her death as Charles III.
- 1974 Watergate scandal: US President Gerald Ford signs the pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.
- 1973 World Airways Flight 802 crashes into Mount Dutton in King Cove, Alaska, killing six people.
September 9 10
- 2016 The government of North Korea conducts its fifth and reportedly biggest nuclear test. World leaders condemn the act, with South Korea calling it "maniacal recklessness".
- 2015 Elizabeth II becomes the longest reigning monarch of the United Kingdom.
- 1991 Tajikistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
September 10 7
- 2007 Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan after seven years in exile, following a military coup in October 1999.
- 1974 Guinea-Bissau gains independence from Portugal.
- 1967 The people of Gibraltar vote to remain a British dependency rather than becoming part of Spain.
September 11 4
- 1997 After a nationwide referendum, Scotland votes to establish a devolved parliament within the United Kingdom.
- 1980 A new constitution of Chile is established under the influence of then Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet, which is subject to controversy in Chile today.
- 1973 A coup in Chile, headed by General Augusto Pinochet, topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende.
September 12 6
- 2007 Former Philippine President Joseph Estrada is convicted of plunder.
- 1990 The two German states and the Four Powers sign the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany in Moscow, paving the way for German reunification.
- 1980 The 43rd government of Turkey is overthrown in a coup d'état led by General Kenan Evren.
September 13 11
- 1993 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with Palestine Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
- 1979 South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
- 1971 Chairman Mao Zedong's second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees China after the failure of an alleged coup. His plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.
September 14 10
- 2022 Death of Queen Elizabeth II: The Queen's coffin is taken from Buckingham Palace, placed on a gun carriage of The King's Troop Royal Horse Artillery and moved in a procession to Westminster Hall for her lying in state over the next four days with the queue of mourners stretching for miles along the River Thames.
- 2003 In a referendum, Estonia approves joining the European Union.
- 2003 Bissau-Guinean President Kumba Ialá is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General Veríssimo Correia Seabra.
September 15 2
- 1981 The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
- 1966 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to a sniper attack at the University of Texas at Austin, writes a letter to Congress urging the enactment of gun control legislation.
September 16 4
- 1994 The British government lifts the broadcasting ban imposed against members of Sinn Féin and Irish paramilitary groups in 1988.
- 1975 Papua New Guinea gains independence from Australia.
- 1970 King Hussein of Jordan declares war against the Palestine Liberation Organization, the conflict came to be known as Black September.
September 17 4
- 2006 An audio tape of a private speech by Hungarian Prime Minister Ferenc Gyurcsány is leaked to the public, in which he confessed that his Hungarian Socialist Party had lied to win the 2006 election, sparking widespread protests across the country.
- 2001 George W. Bush, president of the United States, delivers remarks at the Islamic Center of Washington praising Muslim Americans and condemning Islamophobia in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks.
- 1980 Former Nicaraguan President Anastasio Somoza Debayle is killed in Asunción, Paraguay.
September 18 8
- 2014 Scotland votes against independence from the United Kingdom, by 55% to 45%.
- 2007 Buddhist monks join anti-government protesters in Myanmar, starting what some call the Saffron Revolution.
- 1989 An attempted coup d'état against Burkina Faso president Blaise Compaoré is uncovered and foiled.
September 19 5
- 2022 The state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom is held at Westminster Abbey, London.
- 2006 The Thai army stages a coup. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
- 1983 Saint Kitts and Nevis gains its independence.
September 20 11
- 2001 In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, U.S. President George W. Bush declares a "war on terror".
- 1990 South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia.
- 1979 A French-organized coup d'état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokassa I.
September 21 7
- 1993 Russian president Boris Yeltsin triggers a constitutional crisis when he suspends parliament and scraps the constitution.
- 1991 Armenia gains independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1981 Belize is granted full independence from the United Kingdom.
September 22 8
- 2024 Anura Kumara Dissanayake is elected as the 9th President Of Sri Lanka.
- 1975 Sara Jane Moore tries to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford, but is foiled by the Secret Service.
- 1957 In Haiti, François Duvalier is elected president.
September 23 12
- 1973 Argentine general election: Juan Perón returns to power in Argentina.
- 1961 U.S. President John F. Kennedy nominates African American civil rights lawyer Thurgood Marshall to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, although pro-segregation Southern senators manage to delay his confirmation until September 11, 1962.
- 1957 Little Rock schools integration crisis: President Dwight D. Eisenhower sends the 101st Airborne Division to Little Rock, Arkansas, and federalizes the Arkansas National Guard, ordering both to support the integration of Little Rock Central High School.
September 24 11
- 2008 Thabo Mbeki resigns as president of South Africa.
- 2007 Between 30,000 and 100,000 people take part in anti-government protests in Yangon, Burma, the largest in 20 years.
- 1996 Representatives of 71 nations sign the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty at the United Nations.
September 25 7
- 1987 Fijian Governor-General Penaia Ganilau is overthrown in a coup d'état led by Lieutenant colonel Sitiveni Rabuka.
- 1964 The Mozambican War of Independence against Portugal begins.
- 1963 Lord Denning releases the UK government's official report on the Profumo affair.
September 26 5
- 1936 Spanish Civil War: Lluis Companys reshuffles the Generalitat de Catalunya, with the marxist POUM and anarcho-syndicalist CNT joining the government.
- 1923 The German government calls off the passive resistance to the French and Belgian occupation of the Ruhr.
- 1919 Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine defeats the White Russian Volunteer Army at the Battle of Peregonovka.
September 27 3
- 1938 The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth is launched in Glasgow.
- 1922 King Constantine I of Greece abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, George II.
- 1916 Iyasu V is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zewditu.
September 28 8
- 1995 Bob Denard and a group of mercenaries take the islands of the Comoros in a coup.
- 1995 Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat sign the Interim Agreement on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
- 1986 The Democratic Progressive Party becomes the first opposition party in Taiwan.
September 29 7
- 2019 Violence and low turnout mar the 2019 Afghan presidential election.
- 2008 The stock market crashes with the Dow Jones dropping a then record 778 points after the United States House of Representatives vote on the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act fails during the beginning stages of the Great Recession.
- 1992 Brazilian President Fernando Collor de Mello is impeached.
September 30 5
- 1966 Bechuanaland declares its independence, and becomes the Republic of Botswana.
- 1943 The United States Merchant Marine Academy is dedicated by President Roosevelt.
- 1939 World War II: General Władysław Sikorski becomes prime minister of the Polish government-in-exile.
October 1 7
- 2017 An independence referendum, later declared illegal by the Constitutional Court of Spain, takes place in Catalonia.
- 2016 The leader of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party, Pedro Sánchez, resigns. He would return to the position a year later.
- 2009 The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom takes over the judicial functions of the House of Lords.
October 2 10
- 2007 President Roh Moo-hyun of South Korea goes to North Korea for an Inter-Korean summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.
- 1996 The Electronic Freedom of Information Act Amendments are signed by U.S. President Bill Clinton.
- 1971 South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu is re-elected in a one-man election.
October 3 9
- 2024 Bengali, Assamese, Marathi, Pali and Prakrit are accorded the Classical language status by the Government of India
- 2023 Wab Kinew is elected to be the first First Nations Premier of a Canadian province in the 2023 Manitoba general election
- 2008 The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 for the U.S. financial system is signed by President George W. Bush.
October 4 7
- 1993 Tanks bombard the Russian parliament, while demonstrators against President Yeltsin rally outside.
- 1991 The Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty is opened for signature.
- 1958 The current constitution of France is adopted.
October 5 7
- 1988 A Chilean opposition coalition defeats Augusto Pinochet in his re-election attempt.
- 1963 The United States suspends the Commercial Import Program in response to repression of the Buddhist majority by the regime of President Ngo Dinh Diem.
- 1947 President Truman makes the first televised Oval Office address.
October 6 10
- 2018 The United States Senate confirms Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court Associate Justice, ending a contentious confirmation process.
- 1981 Egyptian President Anwar Sadat is murdered by Islamic extremists.
- 1976 Premier Hua Guofeng arrests the Gang of Four, ending the Cultural Revolution in China.
October 7 6
- 1991 Croatian War of Independence: Bombing of the Banski Dvori in Zagreb, Croatia.
- 1987 Sikh nationalists declare the independence of Khalistan from India; it is not internationally recognized.
- 1977 The Fourth Soviet Constitution is adopted.
October 8 6
- 2019 About 200 Extinction Rebellion activists block the gates of Leinster House (parliament) in the Republic of Ireland.
- 2001 U.S. president George W. Bush announces the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security.
- 1973 Spyros Markezinis begins his 48-day term as prime minister in an abortive attempt to lead Greece to parliamentary rule.
October 9 8
- 1983 South Korean President Chun Doo-hwan survives an assassination attempt in Rangoon, Burma, but the blast kills 21 and injures 17 others.
- 1981 President François Mitterrand abolishes capital punishment in France.
- 1967 A day after his capture, Ernesto "Che" Guevara is executed for attempting to incite a revolution in Bolivia.
October 10 8
- 1973 U.S. Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns after being charged with evasion of federal income tax.
- 1967 The Outer Space Treaty comes into force.
- 1963 The Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty comes into effect.
October 11 5
- 1991 Prof. Anita Hill delivers her televised testimony concerning sexual harassment during the Clarence Thomas Supreme Court nomination.
- 1910 Piloted by Arch Hoxsey, Theodore Roosevelt becomes the first U.S. president to fly in an airplane.
- 1890 In Washington, D.C., the Daughters of the American Revolution is founded.
October 12 10
- 1999 Pervez Musharraf takes power in Pakistan from Nawaz Sharif through a bloodless coup.
- 1999 The former Autonomous Soviet Republic of Abkhazia declares its independence from Georgia.
- 1996 New Zealand holds its first general election under the new mixed-member proportional representation system, which led to Jim Bolger's National Party forming a coalition government with Winston Peters's New Zealand First.
October 13 4
- 1946 France adopts the constitution of the Fourth Republic.
- 1921 Soviet republics sign the Treaty of Kars to formalize the borders between Turkey and the South Caucasus states.
- 1908 Margaret Travers Symons bursts into the UK parliament and becomes the first woman to speak there.
October 14 13
- 2025 A coup d'état successfully overthrows Malagasy president Andry Rajoelina.
- 2023 Australians vote to reject a constitutional amendment that would have established an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
- 1994 Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres receive the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in the establishment of the Oslo Accords and the framing of future Palestinian self government.
October 15 8
- 1994 The United States, under the Clinton administration, returns Haiti's first democratically elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, to the island.
- 1987 A coup d'état in Burkina Faso overthrows and kills then President Thomas Sankara.
- 1979 Supporters of the Malta Labour Party ransack and destroy the Times of Malta building and other locations associated with the Nationalist Party.
October 16 9
- 1975 The Australian Coalition sparks a constitutional crisis when they vote to defer funding for the government's annual budget.
- 1970 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.
- 1964 Leonid Brezhnev becomes leader of the Soviet Communist Party, while Alexei Kosygin becomes the head of government.
October 17 9
- 2019 Drug dealers in Culiacan, Sinaloa, Mexico force the government to back down on an arrest.
- 2019 The 17 October Revolution starts in Lebanon.
- 2001 Israeli tourism minister Rehavam Ze'evi is assassinated by Hamdi Quran, a member of the PFLP, thus becoming the highest-ranking Israeli to be killed by a Palestinian.
October 18 12
- 2019 Riots in Chile's capital Santiago escalate into open battles, with attacks reported at nearly all of the city's 164 Metro stations. President Sebastián Piñera later announces a 15-day state of emergency in the capital.
- 2007 Karachi bombing: A suicide attack on a motorcade carrying former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto kills 139 and wounds 450 more. Bhutto herself is uninjured.
- 2003 Bolivian gas conflict: Bolivian President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada is forced to resign and leave Bolivia.
October 19 9
- 2019 Members of Parliament met at the House of Lords to discuss the United Kingdom's Brexit deal, this was the first Saturday sitting in Parliament since 3 April 1982 during the Falklands War.
- 1988 The British government imposes a broadcasting ban on television and radio interviews with members of Sinn Féin and eleven Irish republican and Ulster loyalist paramilitary groups.
- 1986 The president of Mozambique and a prominent leader of FRELIMO, along with 33 others, die when their aircraft crashes into the Lebombo Mountains.
October 20 8
- 2022 Liz Truss steps down as British Prime Minister and leader of the Conservative Party amid the country's political crisis, serving for the least time of any British Prime Minister (49 days).
- 1973 Watergate scandal: "Saturday Night Massacre": United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Solicitor General Robert Bork.
- 1935 The Long March, a mammoth retreat undertaken by the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party a year prior, ends.
October 21 10
- 2019 In Canada, the 2019 Canadian federal election ends, resulting in incumbent Prime Minister Justin Trudeau remaining in office, albeit with the Liberal Party in a minority government.
- 2011 Iraq War: President Barack Obama announces that the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq will be complete by the end of the year.
- 1981 Andreas Papandreou becomes Prime Minister of Greece, ending an almost 50-year-long system of power dominated by conservative forces.
October 22 6
- 2014 Michael Zehaf-Bibeau attacks the Parliament of Canada, killing a soldier and injuring three other people.
- 2006 A Panama Canal expansion proposal is approved by 77.8% of voters in a national referendum.
- 1999 Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.
October 23 5
- 2022 Xi Jinping is elected as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party by the Central Committee, beginning a third term of the paramount leader of China.
- 2022 Myanmar Air Force airstrikes a concert in Hpakant Township, Kachin state killing at least 80 people, including senior Kachin Independence Organisation officials, in the Hpakant massacre.
- 1956 Secret police shoot several anti-communist protesters, igniting the Hungarian Revolution.
October 24 7
- 1990 Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian NATO force formed in 1956, intended to be activated in the event of a Warsaw Pact invasion.
- 1980 The government of Poland legalizes the Solidarity trade union.
- 1964 Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes Zambia.
October 25 8
- 1997 After a civil war, Denis Sassou Nguesso proclaims himself President of the Republic of the Congo.
- 1983 The United States and its Caribbean allies invade Grenada, six days after Prime Minister Maurice Bishop and several of his supporters are executed in a coup d'état.
- 1932 George Lansbury became the leader of the opposition British Labour Party.
October 26 12
- 2000 A wave of protests forces Robert Guéï to step down as president after the Ivorian presidential election.
- 1999 The United Kingdom's House of Lords votes to end the right of most hereditary peers to vote in Britain's upper chamber of Parliament.
- 1994 Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty.
October 27 12
- 2018 Leicester City F.C. owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha dies in a helicopter crash along with four others after a Premier League match against West Ham United at the King Power Stadium in Leicester, England.
- 2017 Catalonia declares independence from Spain.
- 1999 Gunmen open fire in the Armenian Parliament, killing the Prime Minister and seven others.
October 28 11
- 2018 Jair Bolsonaro is elected president of Brazil with 57 million votes, with Workers' Party candidate Fernando Haddad as the runner-up. It is the first time in 16 years that a Workers' Party candidate is not elected president.
- 2009 US President Barack Obama signs the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
- 2007 Cristina Fernández de Kirchner becomes the first directly elected female President of Argentina.
October 29 7
- 2020 Jeremy Corbyn, former Leader of the Labour Party and of the Opposition in the United Kingdom is suspended from the Labour Party following his response to findings from the EHRC on the issue of antisemitism within the party.
- 2004 The Arabic-language news network Al Jazeera broadcasts an excerpt from a 2004 Osama bin Laden video in which the terrorist leader first admits direct responsibility for the September 11, 2001 attacks and references the 2004 U.S. presidential election.
- 1994 Francisco Martin Duran fires over two dozen shots at the White House; he is later convicted of trying to kill U.S. President Bill Clinton.
October 30 11
- 2014 Four people are killed when a Beechcraft Super King Air crashes at Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport in Wichita, Kansas.
- 1995 Quebec citizens narrowly vote (50.58% to 49.42%) in favour of remaining a province of Canada in their second referendum on national sovereignty.
- 1956 Hungarian Revolution: The government of Imre Nagy recognizes newly established revolutionary workers' councils. Army officer Béla Király leads anti-Soviet militias in an attack on the headquarters of the Hungarian Working People's Party.
October 31 8
- 2003 Mahathir Mohamad resigns as Prime Minister of Malaysia and is replaced by Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, marking an end to Mahathir's 22 years in power.
- 1984 Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi is assassinated by two Sikh security guards. Riots break out in New Delhi and other cities and around 3,000 Sikhs are killed.
- 1968 Vietnam War October surprise: Citing progress with the Paris peace talks, US President Lyndon B. Johnson announces to the nation that he has ordered a complete cessation of "all air, naval, and artillery bombardment of North Vietnam" effective November 1.
November 1 11
- 2011 Mario Draghi succeeds Jean-Claude Trichet and becomes the third president of the European Central Bank.
- 1993 The Maastricht Treaty takes effect, formally establishing the European Union.
- 1991 President of the Chechen Republic Dzhokhar Dudayev declares sovereignty of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria from the Russian Federation.
November 2 12
- 2022 A peace agreement is signed between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, ending the Tigray War.
- 1983 U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs a bill creating Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
- 1967 Vietnam War: US President Lyndon B. Johnson and "The Wise Men" conclude that the American people should be given more optimistic reports on the progress of the war.
November 3 17
- 2020 The 2020 United States presidential election takes place between Democratic Joe Biden and Republican incumbent President Donald Trump. On November 7, Biden was declared the winner.
- 1996 Abdullah Çatlı, the leader of the Turkish ultranationalist organization Grey Wolves, dies in the Susurluk car crash, leading to the resignation of Interior Minister Mehmet Ağar (a leader of the True Path Party).
- 1992 Democratic Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton defeats Republican President George H. W. Bush and Independent candidate Ross Perot in the 1992 United States presidential election.
November 4 14
- 2008 Barack Obama becomes the first person of biracial or African-American descent to be elected as President of the United States.
- 2002 Chinese authorities arrest cyber-dissident He Depu for signing a pro-democracy letter to the 16th Communist Party Congress.
- 1995 Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Israeli.
November 5 13
- 2024 Donald Trump becomes the first president of the United States to be elected to a non-consecutive second term in 132 years, since Grover Cleveland won the 1892 election.
- 2015 Rona Ambrose takes over after Stephen Harper as the Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.
- 2006 Saddam Hussein, the former president of Iraq, and his co-defendants Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, are sentenced to death in the al-Dujail trial for their roles in the 1982 massacre of 148 Shia Muslims.
November 6 7
- 2025 Canadian ostrich cull: The Government of Canada kills 314 ostriches after H5N8 is detected in an ostrich farm in Edgewood, BC.
- 2012 Tammy Baldwin becomes the first openly gay politician to be elected to the United States Senate.
- 2002 Jiang Lijun is detained by Chinese police for signing the Open Letter to the 16th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.
November 7 17
- 2023 António Costa resigns as Prime Minister of Portugal following news of an investigation in a corruption scandal implicating members of his cabinet.
- 2020 Joe Biden is confirmed elected as the 46th president of the United States, defeating incumbent Donald Trump.
- 2004 Iraq War: The interim government of Iraq calls for a 60-day state of emergency as U.S. forces storm the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
November 8 13
- 2020 Myanmar holds the 2020 general election, re-electing a government led by the National League for Democracy, which is deposed by the Burmese military the following February during the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.
- 2017 The Louvre Abu Dhabi was inaugurated by the French president Emmanuel Macron and then-crown prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
- 2016 Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi publicly announces the withdrawal of ₹500 and ₹1000 denomination banknotes.
November 9 8
- 1970 Vietnam War: The Supreme Court of the United States votes 6–3 against hearing a case to allow Massachusetts to enforce its law granting residents the right to refuse military service in an undeclared war.
- 1960 Robert McNamara is named president of the Ford Motor Company, becoming the first non-Ford family member to serve in that post. He resigns a month later to join the newly elected John F. Kennedy administration.
- 1953 Cambodia gains independence from France.
November 10 7
- 2019 President of Bolivia Evo Morales and several of his government resign after 19 days of civil protests and a recommendation from the military.
- 2006 The National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia is opened and dedicated by U.S. President George W. Bush, who announces that Marine Corporal Jason Dunham will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor.
- 1995 In Nigeria, playwright and environmental activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, along with eight others from the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (Mosop), are hanged by government forces.
November 11 8
- 2006 Queen Elizabeth II unveils the New Zealand War Memorial in London, United Kingdom, commemorating the loss of soldiers from the New Zealand Army and the British Army.
- 1975 Australian constitutional crisis of 1975: Australian Governor-General Sir John Kerr dismisses the government of Gough Whitlam, appoints Malcolm Fraser as caretaker Prime Minister and announces a general election to be held in early December.
- 1975 Independence of Angola.
November 12 7
- 2011 Silvio Berlusconi tenders his resignation as Prime Minister of Italy, effective November 16, due in large part to the Euro area crisis.
- 1995 Erdut Agreement regarding the peaceful resolution to the Croatian War of Independence is reached.
- 1990 Crown Prince Akihito is formally installed as Emperor Akihito of Japan, becoming the 125th Japanese monarch.
November 13 10
- 2001 War on terror: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against foreigners suspected of connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States.
- 2000 Philippine House Speaker Manny Villar passes the articles of impeachment against Philippine President Joseph Estrada.
- 1995 Mozambique becomes the first state to join the Commonwealth of Nations without having been part of the former British Empire.
November 14 5
- 1995 A budget standoff between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. Congress forces the federal government to temporarily close national parks and museums and to run most government offices with skeleton staffs.
- 1990 After German reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany and Poland sign a treaty confirming the Oder–Neisse line as the border between Germany and Poland.
- 1984 Zamboanga City mayor Cesar Climaco, a prominent critic of the government of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, is assassinated in his home city.
November 15 8
- 2016 Hong Kong's High Court bans elected politicians Yau Wai-ching and Baggio Leung from the city's Parliament.
- 2012 Xi Jinping becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and a new seven-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.
- 2002 Hu Jintao becomes General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party and a new nine-member Politburo Standing Committee is inaugurated.
November 16 4
- 1988 The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic declares that Estonia is "sovereign" but stops short of declaring independence.
- 1988 In the first open election in more than a decade, voters in Pakistan elect populist candidate Benazir Bhutto to be Prime Minister of Pakistan.
- 1973 U.S. president Richard Nixon signs the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act into law, authorizing the construction of the Alaska Pipeline.
November 17 9
- 2000 Alberto Fujimori is removed from office as president of Peru.
- 1993 In Nigeria, General Sani Abacha ousts the government of Ernest Shonekan in a military coup.
- 1989 Cold War: Velvet Revolution begins: In Czechoslovakia, a student demonstration in Prague is quelled by riot police. This sparks an uprising aimed at overthrowing the communist government (it succeeds on December 29).
November 18 13
- 1993 In South Africa, 21 political parties approve a new constitution, expanding voting rights and ending white minority rule.
- 1987 King's Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city's busiest underground station, King's Cross St Pancras.
- 1971 Oman declares its independence from the United Kingdom.
November 19 8
- 1998 Clinton–Lewinsky scandal: The United States House of Representatives Judiciary Committee begins impeachment hearings into U.S. President Bill Clinton.
- 1996 A Beechcraft 1900 and a Beechcraft King Air collide at Quincy Regional Airport in Quincy, Illinois, killing 14.
- 1988 Serbian communist representative and future Serbian and Yugoslav president Slobodan Milošević publicly declares that Serbia is under attack from Albanian separatists in Kosovo as well as internal treachery within Yugoslavia and a foreign conspiracy to destroy Serbia and Yugoslavia.
November 20 12
- 1994 The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war. (Localized fighting resumes the next year.)
- 1993 Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
- 1989 Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia, swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
November 21 9
- 2019 Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is indicted on charges of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust.
- 2017 Robert Mugabe formally resigns as President of Zimbabwe, after thirty-seven years in office.
- 2015 The government of Belgium imposes a security lockdown on Brussels, including the closure of shops, schools, and public transportation, due to potential terrorist attacks.
November 22 7
- 2004 The Orange Revolution begins in Ukraine, resulting from the presidential elections.
- 1990 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher withdraws from the Conservative Party leadership election, confirming the end of her Premiership.
- 1975 Juan Carlos is declared King of Spain following the death of Francisco Franco two days earlier.
November 23 9
- 2011 Arab Spring: After 11 months of protests in Yemen, Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh signs a deal to transfer power to the vice president, in exchange for legal immunity.
- 2005 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is elected president of Liberia and becomes the first woman to lead an African country.
- 2003 Rose Revolution: Georgian president Eduard Shevardnadze resigns following weeks of mass protests over flawed elections.
November 24 8
- 2022 Five days after the general elections which resulted in a hung parliament, opposition leader and former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim is officially named as the 10th prime minister of Malaysia.
- 2016 The government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia–People's Army sign a revised peace deal, bringing an end to the country's more than 50-year-long civil war.
- 1989 After a week of mass protests against the Communist regime known as the Velvet Revolution, Miloš Jakeš and the entire Politburo of the Czechoslovak Communist Party resign from office. This brings an effective end to Communist rule in Czechoslovakia.
November 25 10
- 1986 The King Fahd Causeway is officially opened in the Persian Gulf.
- 1980 Sangoulé Lamizana, president of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Colonel Saye Zerbo.
- 1975 Coup of 25 November 1975, a failed military coup d'état by Portuguese far-left activists seeking to hijack the Portuguese transition to democracy to establish a communist regime.
November 26 7
- 2008 The ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2, now out of service, docks in Dubai.
- 2000 George W. Bush is certified the winner of Florida's electoral votes by Katherine Harris, going on to win the United States presidential election, despite losing in the national popular vote.
- 1998 Tony Blair becomes the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to address the Oireachtas, the parliament of the Republic of Ireland.
November 27 8
- 2006 The House of Commons of Canada approves a motion introduced by Prime Minister Stephen Harper recognizing the Québécois as a nation within Canada.
- 1999 The centre-left Labour Party takes control of the New Zealand government with leader Helen Clark becoming the first elected female prime minister in New Zealand's history.
- 1992 For the second time in a year, military forces try to overthrow president Carlos Andrés Pérez in Venezuela.
November 28 15
- 1991 South Ossetia declares independence from Georgia.
- 1990 British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher resigns as leader of the Conservative Party and, therefore, as Prime Minister. She is succeeded in both positions by John Major.
- 1989 Cold War: Velvet Revolution: In the face of protests, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia announces it will give up its monopoly on political power.
November 29 6
- 2025 The Government of Jordan officially announces the launch of the Amra City development project during a site visit by the Prime Minister.
- 1963 U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson establishes the Warren Commission to investigate the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.
- 1952 U.S. President-elect Dwight D. Eisenhower fulfills a campaign promise by traveling to Korea to find out what can be done to end the conflict.
November 30 9
- 1995 U.S. President Bill Clinton visits Northern Ireland and speaks in favor of the "Northern Ireland peace process" to a huge rally at Belfast City Hall; he calls IRA fighters "yesterday's men".
- 1967 The People's Republic of Southern Yemen gains its independence from the United Kingdom
- 1967 The Pakistan Peoples Party is founded by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, who becomes its first chairman.
December 1 14
- 2009 The Treaty of Lisbon entered into force in the European Union.
- 2001 The United Russia political party was founded.
- 2000 Vicente Fox Quesada is inaugurated as the president of Mexico, marking the first peaceful transfer of executive federal power to an opposing political party following a free and democratic election in Mexico's history.
December 2 14
- 2020 Cannabis is removed from the list of most dangerous drugs of the international drug control treaty by the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs.
- 1991 Canada and Poland become the first nations to recognize the independence of Ukraine from the Soviet Union.
- 1989 The Peace Agreement of Hat Yai is signed and ratified by the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) and the governments of Malaysia and Thailand, ending the over two-decade-long communist insurgency in Malaysia.
December 3 10
- 2009 A suicide bombing at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
- 1997 In Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, representatives from 121 countries sign the Ottawa Treaty prohibiting manufacture and deployment of anti-personnel landmines. The United States, People's Republic of China, and Russia do not sign the treaty, however.
- 1989 In a meeting off the coast of Malta, U.S. President George H. W. Bush and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between NATO and the Warsaw Pact may be coming to an end.
December 4 11
- 2005 Tens of thousands of people in Hong Kong protest for democracy and call on the government to allow universal and equal suffrage.
- 1992 Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa.
- 1983 US Navy aircraft from USS John F. Kennedy and USS Independence attack Syrian missile sites in Lebanon in response to an F-14 being fired on by an SA-7. One A-6 Intruder and A-7 Corsair are shot down. One American pilot is killed, one is rescued, and one is captured.
December 5 11
- 2006 Commodore Frank Bainimarama overthrows the government in Fiji.
- 1995 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lanka's government announces the conquest of the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
- 1991 Leonid Kravchuk is elected the first president of Ukraine.
December 6 11
- 2015 Venezuelan parliamentary election: For the first time in 17 years, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela loses its majority in parliament.
- 1978 Spain ratifies the Spanish Constitution of 1978 in a referendum.
- 1977 South Africa grants independence to Bophuthatswana, although it is not recognized by any other country.
December 7 7
- 2025 An attempted coup takes place in Benin, but is thwarted, and order restored.
- 2003 The Conservative Party of Canada is officially registered, following the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada.
- 1971 Pakistan President Yahya Khan announces the formation of a coalition government with Nurul Amin as Prime Minister and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto as Deputy Prime Minister.
December 8 9
- 2025 Singapore, under the government's approval, published its now-declassified Albatross file, comprising information relating to the Proclamation of Singapore dating back six decades ago.
- 2024 Damascus falls to rebels after Syrian troops withdraw and president Bashar al-Assad leaves the country as his government collapses. Israel as a result invaded into the buffer zone between Syria and the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
- 1987 Cold War: The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in the White House.
December 9 7
- 2016 President Park Geun-hye of South Korea is impeached by the country's National Assembly in response to a major political scandal.
- 2008 Governor of Illinois Rod Blagojevich is arrested by federal officials for crimes including attempting to sell the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.
- 1946 The Constituent Assembly of India meets for the first time to write the Constitution of India.
December 10 14
- 2014 Palestinian minister Ziad Abu Ein is killed after the suppression of a demonstration by Israeli forces in the village (Turmus'ayya) in Ramallah.
- 1999 Helen Clark is sworn in as Prime Minister of New Zealand, the second woman to hold the post and the first following an election.
- 1996 The new Constitution of South Africa is promulgated by Nelson Mandela.
December 11 11
- 2019 The results of the 2019 Bougainvillean independence referendum are announced. The results are overwhelmingly one-sided. Over 98% of voters vote for Bougainville's independence.
- 2006 The International Conference to Review the Global Vision of the Holocaust is opened in Tehran, Iran, by then-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad; nations such as Israel and the United States express concern.
- 2006 Felipe Calderón, the president of Mexico, launches a military-led offensive to put down the drug cartel violence in the state of Michoacán. This effort is often regarded as the first event in the Mexican drug war.
December 12 7
- 2001 Prime Minister of Vietnam Phan Văn Khải announces the decision on upgrading the Phong Nha–Kẻ Bàng nature reserve to a national park, providing information on projects for the conservation and development of the park and revised maps.
- 2000 The United States Supreme Court releases its decision in Bush v. Gore.
- 1979 Coup d'état of December Twelfth occurs in South Korea.
December 13 8
- 2007 The Treaty of Lisbon is signed by the EU member states to amend both the Treaty of Rome and the Maastricht Treaty which together form the constitutional basis of the EU. The Treaty of Lisbon is effective from 1 December 2009.
- 2003 Iraq War: Operation Red Dawn: Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is captured near his home town of Tikrit.
- 2001 Indian Parliament attack: Sansad Bhavan, the building housing the Indian Parliament, is attacked by five Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists. Twelve people are killed, including the terrorists.
December 14 8
- 2013 A reported coup attempt in South Sudan leads to continued fighting and hundreds of casualties.
- 2003 Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf narrowly escapes an assassination attempt.
- 1964 American Civil Rights Movement: Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States: The Supreme Court of the United States rules that Congress can use the Constitution's Commerce Clause to fight discrimination.
December 15 5
- 2013 The South Sudanese Civil War begins when opposition leaders Dr. Riek Machar, Pagan Amum and Rebecca Nyandeng vote to boycott the meeting of the National Liberation Council at Nyakuron.
- 1993 The Troubles: The Downing Street Declaration is issued by British Prime Minister John Major and Irish Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
- 1978 U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that the United States will recognize the People's Republic of China and sever diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan).
December 16 8
- 1989 Romanian Revolution: Protests break out in Timișoara, Romania, in response to an attempt by the government to evict dissident Hungarian pastor László Tőkés.
- 1986 The Jeltoqsan riots erupt in Alma-Ata, Kazakh SSR, in response to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's dismissal of ethnic Kazakh Dinmukhamed Kunaev, the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, and his replacement with Gennady Kolbin, an ethnic Russian from the Russian SFSR.
- 1972 The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh is enacted.
December 17 9
- 2010 Mohamed Bouazizi sets himself on fire. This act became the catalyst for the Tunisian Revolution and the wider Arab Spring.
- 2005 Jigme Singye Wangchuck abdicates the throne as King of Bhutan.
- 1989 Romanian Revolution: Protests continue in Timișoara, Romania, with rioters breaking into the Romanian Communist Party's District Committee building and attempting to set it on fire.
December 18 5
- 1972 Vietnam War: President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will engage North Vietnam in Operation Linebacker II, a series of Christmas bombings, after peace talks collapsed with North Vietnam on the 13th.
- 1944 The Supreme Court of the United States issued its decision in Korematsu v. United States supporting Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066 which cleared the way for the incarceration of nearly all 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were U.S. citizens, born and raised in the United States.
- 1935 The Lanka Sama Samaja Party is founded in Ceylon.
December 19 16
- 2012 Park Geun-hye is elected the first female president of South Korea.
- 2005 Chalk's Ocean Airways Flight 101 crashes into the Government Cut channel immediately after takeoff from Miami Seaplane Base, killing 20.
- 1998 President Bill Clinton is impeached by the United States House of Representatives, becoming the second president of the United States to be impeached.
December 20 4
- 2007 Elizabeth II becomes the oldest monarch in the history of the United Kingdom, surpassing Queen Victoria, who lived for 81 years and 243 days.
- 1973 Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.
- 1948 Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia.
December 21 4
- 1979 Lancaster House Agreement: An independence agreement for Rhodesia is signed in London by Lord Carrington, Sir Ian Gilmour, Robert Mugabe, Joshua Nkomo, Bishop Abel Muzorewa and S.C. Mundawarara.
- 1923 United Kingdom and Nepal formally sign an agreement of friendship, called the Nepal–Britain Treaty of 1923, which superseded the Treaty of Sugauli signed in 1816.
- 1861 Medal of Honor: Public Resolution 82, containing a provision for a Navy Medal of Valor, is signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln.
December 22 14
- 2018 The 2018–2019 United States federal government shutdown, the second-longest shutdown of the U.S. federal government in history, begins.
- 2012 Bashir Ahmad Bilour of Awami National Party and eight others are killed in a Pakistan Taliban bomber suicide attack in Dhaki Nalbandi area near Qissa Khwani Bazaar.
- 2010 The repeal of the Don't ask, don't tell policy, the 17-year-old policy banning homosexuals serving openly in the United States military, is signed into law by President Barack Obama.
December 23 7
- 2008 A coup d'état occurs in Guinea hours after the death of President Lansana Conté.
- 2007 An agreement is made for the Kingdom of Nepal to be abolished and the country to become a federal republic with the Prime Minister becoming head of state.
- 1990 History of Slovenia: In a referendum, 88.5% of Slovenia's overall electorate vote for independence from Yugoslavia.
December 24 5
- 1973 District of Columbia Home Rule Act is passed, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to elect their own local government.
- 1951 Libya becomes independent. Idris I is proclaimed King of Libya.
- 1929 Assassination attempt on Argentine President Hipólito Yrigoyen.
December 25 7
- 1996 The body of American child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was found in her family's Boulder, Colorado, home. Her murder remains unsolved.
- 1991 Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as President of the Soviet Union (the union itself is dissolved the next day). Ukraine's referendum is finalized and Ukraine officially leaves the Soviet Union.
- 1989 Romanian Revolution: Deposed President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife, Elena, are condemned to death and executed after a summary trial.
December 26 6
- 2004 Orange Revolution: The final run-off election in Ukraine is held under heavy international scrutiny.
- 1968 The Communist Party of the Philippines is established by Jose Maria Sison, breaking away from the Partido Komunista ng Pilipinas-1930.
- 1941 U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs a bill establishing the fourth Thursday in November as Thanksgiving Day in the United States.
December 27 9
- 2009 Iranian election protests: On the Day of Ashura in Tehran, Iran, government security forces fire upon demonstrators.
- 2007 Former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto is assassinated in a shooting incident.
- 2007 Riots erupt in Mombasa, Kenya, after Mwai Kibaki is declared the winner of the presidential election, triggering a political, economic, and humanitarian crisis.
December 28 8
- 2025 Unrest in the form of mass protests erupt across Iran, the largest uprising in the country since the Iranian Revolution.
- 2006 War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops capture Mogadishu unopposed.
- 1973 The United States Endangered Species Act is signed into law by President Richard Nixon.
December 29 8
- 1992 Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached.
- 1989 Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-communist President of Czechoslovakia.
- 1937 The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution.
December 30 9
- 2013 More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- 2006 Former president of Iraq Saddam Hussein is executed.
- 1987 Stella Sigcau, Prime minister of the South African Bantustan of Transkei, is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General Bantu Holomisa.
December 31 8
- 1999 The first President of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, resigns from office, leaving Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as the acting President and successor.
- 1999 The U.S. government hands control of the Panama Canal (as well all the adjacent land to the canal known as the Panama Canal Zone) to Panama. This act complied with the signing of the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties.
- 1983 The AT&T Bell System is broken up by the United States Government.