Genghis Khan dies (1227), and Australia and New Zealand decide to withdraw troops from Vietnam (1971). Born on this day: Roman Polanski, Robert Redford and Franz Joseph. Died: Kofi Annan, Alain Delon and Honoré de Balzac.
30 events, 50 births and 56 deaths on this date.
Born Temüjin, Genghis Khan died on this day after decades spent uniting the Mongol tribes. He had turned those scattered steppe peoples into a force that went on to conquer much of China and Central Asia.
Unknown author Unknown author · Public domainGenghis Khan and the Mongol EmpireHear the story in ChunksCanberra and Wellington agreed to pull their forces out of the Vietnam War, a sign that support for the American-led effort was fading across the Pacific allies. The decision reflected growing public opposition at home and a shift in how both governments viewed their role in the conflict.
About a hundred people gathered in Iceland to mourn Okjökull, a glacier that had once covered around six square miles but had melted away completely. It was one of the first Icelandic glaciers to be lost to climate change, and a plaque later marked the loss.
Luna 24, an uncrewed Soviet spacecraft, came down on the Moon with no person aboard. It then drilled into the surface and returned a small sample of lunar soil to Earth, the last such mission in the Soviet programme.
During a solar eclipse, Pierre Janssen spotted a yellow spectral line in sunlight that matched no known element. It pointed to helium, named after the Sun, which was only isolated on Earth decades later.
Spain's first grammar book was handed to Queen Isabella I, setting out the rules of Castilian for the first time. It treated a everyday tongue as something that could be studied and written down, not just spoken.
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Polish-French filmmaker whose debut feature, Knife in the Water, earned an Academy Award nomination. He survived the war under a false identity as a child and has been a fugitive from US justice since fleeing before sentencing in 1978.
Georges Biard · CC BY-SA 3.0
Robert Redford was an American actor and director who became a Hollywood leading man in the 1960s and 1970s, starring in The Sting and All the President's Men. He later directed Ordinary People and founded the Sundance Film Festival.
NBC Television · Public domain
Franz Joseph ruled the Habsburg lands for almost seven decades, from his teenage accession in 1848 until his death. He presided over the creation of Austria-Hungary, a dual monarchy that lasted until the end of the First World War.
Carl Pietzner · Public domain
Ghanaian diplomat who led the United Nations from 1997 to 2006 and shared the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize with the organisation. He was the first UN secretary-general chosen from among its own staff.
US Mission in Geneva · Public domain
French actor who became one of Europe's biggest film stars from the late 1950s, known for Purple Noon and Le Samouraï. He also worked with directors such as Visconti, Godard and Antonioni, and won a César for Notre histoire.
Reporters Associati & Archivi\Mondadori · Public domain
Balzac was a French novelist whose sprawling series La Comédie humaine portrayed post-Napoleonic French life in close, unflinching detail. He is remembered as a central figure of literary realism, admired by later writers such as Dickens, Zola and Dostoevsky.
Louis-Auguste Bisson · Public domain
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