On This Day — 13 September
2000s
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.
Taliban
2008
Delhi, India, is hit by a series of bomb blasts, resulting in 30 deaths and 130 injuries.
Delhi
2007
The Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples is adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
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.
McLaren
2001
Civilian aircraft traffic resumes in the United States after the September 11 attacks.
September 11 attacks
1900s
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.
German Air Force
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.
Yitzhak Rabin
1989
Largest anti-Apartheid march in South Africa, led by Desmond Tutu.
Apartheid
1988
Hurricane Gilbert is the strongest recorded hurricane in the Western Hemisphere, later replaced by Hurricane Wilma in 2005 (based on barometric pressure).
Hurricane Gilbert
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.
Goiânia accident
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.
1986 Kalamata earthquake
1985
Super Mario Bros. is released in Japan for the NES, which starts the Super Mario series of platforming games.
Super Mario Bros.
1982
Spantax Flight 995 crashes at Málaga Airport during a rejected takeoff, killing 50 of the 394 people on board.
Spantax Flight 995
1979
South Africa grants independence to the "homeland" of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
Venda (Bantustan)
1971
State police and National Guardsmen storm New York's Attica Prison to quell a prison revolt, which claimed 43 lives.
National Guard (United States)
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.
Mao Zedong
1968
Cold War: Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.
Cold War
1964
South Vietnamese Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức fail in a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh.
Army of the Republic of Vietnam
1964
Martin Luther King Jr. addresses a crowd of 20,000 West Berliners on Sunday, in Waldbühne.
Martin Luther King Jr.
1962
An appeals court orders the University of Mississippi to admit James Meredith, the first African-American student admitted to the segregated university.
James Meredith
1956
The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.
IBM 305 RAMAC
1956
The dike around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed.
Levee
1953
Nikita Khrushchev is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
Nikita Khrushchev
1948
Deputy Prime Minister of India Vallabhbhai Patel orders the Army to move into Hyderabad to integrate it with the Indian Union.
Vallabhbhai Patel
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.
Margaret Chase Smith
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.
Battle of Meligalas
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.
World War II
1933
Elizabeth McCombs becomes the first woman elected to the New Zealand Parliament.
Elizabeth McCombs
1923
Following a military coup in Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over, setting up a dictatorship.
Miguel Primo de Rivera
1922
The final act of the Greco-Turkish War, the Great Fire of Smyrna, commences.
Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922)
1906
The Santos-Dumont 14-bis makes a short hop, the first flight of a fixed-wing aircraft in Europe.
Santos-Dumont 14-bis
1900
Filipino insurgents defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine–American War.
Battle of Pulang Lupa
1800s
1899
Mackinder, Ollier and Brocherel make the first ascent of Batian (5,199 m – 17,058 ft), the highest peak of Mount Kenya.
Halford Mackinder
1898
Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
Hannibal Goodwin
1882
Anglo-Egyptian War: The Battle of Tel el-Kebir is fought.
Anglo-Egyptian War
1880
The Basuto Gun War breaks out after the Basuto launch a rebellion against the Cape Colony.
Basuto Gun War
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.
American Civil War
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.
Phineas Gage
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.
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.
3 September 1843 Revolution
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.
Baltimore
1812
War of 1812: A supply wagon sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.
War of 1812
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.
Finnish War
1807
Beethoven's Mass in C major, Op. 86, is premiered, commissioned by Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy, and displeasing him.
Mass in C major (Beethoven)
Before 1800
1791
King Louis XVI accepts the new French constitution.
Louis XVI
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.
Congress of the Confederation
1782
American Revolutionary War: Franco-Spanish troops launch the unsuccessful "grand assault" during the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
American Revolutionary War
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.
Battle of the Plains of Abraham
1743
Great Britain, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Worms.
Kingdom of Sardinia
1645
Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Scottish Royalists are defeated by Covenanters at the Battle of Philiphaugh.
Wars of the Three Kingdoms
1609
Henry Hudson reaches the river that would later be named after him – the Hudson River.
Henry Hudson
1437
Battle of Tangier: a Portuguese expeditionary force initiates a failed attempt to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier.
Battle of Tangier (1437)
1229
Ögedei Khan is proclaimed Khagan of the Mongol Empire in Kodoe Aral, Khentii: Mongolia.
Ögedei Khan
533
Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, North Africa.
Belisarius
-509
The Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on Rome's Capitoline Hill is dedicated on the ides of September.
Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus
-585
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia.
Lucius Tarquinius Priscus