September 13

Historic Events

2013

Taliban insurgents attack the United States consulate in Herat, Afghanistan, with two members of the Afghan National Police reported dead and about 20 civilians injured. ›

2008

Delhi, India, is hit by a series of bomb blasts, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries. ›

2007

The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. ›

2007

The McLaren F1 team are found guilty of possessing confidential information from the Ferrari team, fined $100 million, and excluded from the constructors' championship standings. ›

2001

Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11 attacks. ›

1997

A German Air Force Tupolev Tu-154 and a United States Air Force Lockheed C-141 Starlifter collide in mid-air near Namibia, killing 33. ›

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. ›

1989

Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu. ›

1988

Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere, later replaced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (based on barometric pressure). ›

1987

Goiânia accident: A radioactive object is stolen from an abandoned hospital in Goiânia, Brazil, contaminating many people in the following weeks and causing some to die from radiation poisoning. ›

1986

A magnitude 6.0 earthquake strikes Kalamata, Greece with a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing at least 20 and causing heavy damage in the city. ›

1985

Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games. ›

1982

Spantax Flight 995 crashes at Málaga Airport during a rejected takeoff, killing 50 of the 394 people on board. ›

1979

South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa). ›

1971

State police and National Guardsmen storm New York's Attica Prison to quell a prison revolt, which claimed 43 lives. ›

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. ›

1968

Cold War: Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact. ›

1964

South Vietnamese Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức fail in a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh. ›

1964

Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a crowd of 20,000 West Berliners on Sunday, in Waldbühne. ›

1962

An appeals court orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, the first African-American student admitted to the segregated university. ›

1956

The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage. ›

1956

The dike around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed. ›

1953

Nikita Khrushchev is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. ›

1948

Deputy Prime Minister of India Vallabhbhai Patel orders the Army to move into Hyderabad to integrate it with the Indian Union. ›

1948

Margaret Chase Smith is elected United States senator, and becomes the first woman to serve in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the United States Senate. ›

1944

World War II: Start of the Battle of Meligalas between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People's Liberation Army (ELAS) and the collaborationist security battalions. ›

1942

World War II: Second day of the Battle of Edson's Ridge in the Guadalcanal Campaign. U.S. Marines successfully defeat attacks by the Japanese with heavy losses for the Japanese forces. ›

1933

Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament. ›

1923

Following a military coup in Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over, setting up a dictatorship. ›

1922

The final act of the Greco-Turkish War, the Great Fire of Smyrna, commences. ›

1906

The Santos-Dumont 14-bis makes a short hop, the first flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe. ›

1900

Filipino insurgents defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine–American War. ›

1899

Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya. ›

1898

Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film. ›

1882

Anglo-Egyptian War: English forces defeat the Egyptian army in the battle of Tel el-Kebir. ›

1880

The Basuto Gun War breaks out after the Basuto launch a rebellion against the Cape Colony. ›

1862

American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee's battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland. It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam. ›

1848

Vermont railroad worker Phineas Gage survives an iron rod 1+1⁄4 inches (3.2 cm) in diameter being driven through his brain; the reported effects on his behavior and personality stimulate discussion of the nature of the brain and its functions. ›

1847

Mexican–American War: Six teenage military cadets known as Niños Héroes die defending Chapultepec Castle in the Battle of Chapultepec. American troops under General Winfield Scott capture Mexico City in the Mexican–American War. ›

1843

The Greek Army rebels (OS date: September 3) against the autocratic rule of king Otto of Greece, demanding the granting of a constitution. ›

1814

In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem "Defence of Fort McHenry", which is later set to music and becomes the United States' national anthem. ›

1812

War of 1812: A supply wagon sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows. ›

1808

Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero. ›

1807

Beethoven's Mass in C major, Op. 86, is premiered, commissioned by Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, and displeasing him. ›

1791

King Louis XVI accepts the new French constitution. ›

1788

The Congress of the Confederation sets the date for the first presidential election in the United States, and New York City becomes the country's temporary capital. ›

1782

American Revolutionary War: Franco-Spanish troops launch the unsuccessful "grand assault" during the Great Siege of Gibraltar. ›

1759

Battle of the Plains of Abraham: the British defeat the French near Quebec City in the Seven Years' War, known in the United States as the French and Indian War. ›

1743

Great Britain, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Worms. ›

1645

Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Scottish Royalists are defeated by Covenanters at the Battle of Philiphaugh. ›

1609

Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River. ›

1500

Pedro Álvares Cabral and his Portuguese fleet arrive in Calicut, having crossed both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean. ›

1437

Battle of Tangier: a Portuguese expeditionary force initiates a failed attempt to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier. ›

1229

Ögedei Khan is proclaimed Khagan of the Mongol Empire in Kodoe Aral, Khentii: Mongolia. ›

604

Consecration of pope Sabinian following the death of pope Gregory I earlier that year. ›

533

Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, North Africa. ›

531

Khosrow I becomes king of the Sassanid Empire following the death of his father Kavad I. He starts negotiations with the Byzantine Empire to end the Iberian War. ›

509 BC

The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September. ›

585 BC

Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia. ›