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War & Conflict That Happened On This Day in History
War & Conflict events in history: 3529 entries across 366 dates. Open any date for the full story.
January 1 4
- 2025 Fourteen people are killed and 57 others injured during a vehicle-ramming and shooting attack in New Orleans, Louisiana.
- 2017 An attack on a nightclub in Istanbul, Turkey, during New Year's celebrations, kills 39 people and injures 79 others.
- 1994 The Zapatista Army of National Liberation initiates twelve days of armed conflict in the Mexican state of Chiapas.
January 2 9
- 1993 Sri Lankan Civil War: The Sri Lanka Navy kill 35–100 civilians on the Jaffna Lagoon.
- 1963 Vietnam War: The Viet Cong wins its first major victory, at the Battle of Ap Bac.
- 1942 World War II: Manila is captured by Japanese forces, enabling them to control the Philippines.
January 3 9
- 2020 Iranian General Qasem Soleimani is killed by an American airstrike near Baghdad International Airport, igniting global concerns of a potential armed conflict.
- 2002 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Israeli forces seize the Palestinian freighter Karine A in the Red Sea, finding 50 tons of weapons.
- 1990 United States invasion of Panama: Manuel Noriega, former leader of Panama, surrenders to American forces.
January 4 4
- 1951 Korean War: Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time.
- 1944 World War II: Operation Carpetbagger, involving the dropping of arms and supplies to resistance fighters in Europe, begins.
- 1885 Sino-French War: French troops under General Oscar de Négrier defeat a numerically superior Qing force at Núi Bop in northern Vietnam.
January 5 8
- 2003 A suicide bombing at the Tel Aviv central bus station kills 23 people and injures over 100 more.
- 1991 Georgian forces enter Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, Georgia, opening the 1991–92 South Ossetia War.
- 1991 Somali Civil War: The United States Embassy to Somalia in Mogadishu is evacuated by helicopter airlift days after the outbreak of violence in Mogadishu.
January 6 8
- 1995 A chemical fire in an apartment complex in Manila, Philippines, leads to the discovery of plans for Project Bojinka, a mass-terrorist attack.
- 1992 President of Georgia Zviad Gamsakhurdia flees the country as a result of the military coup.
- 1967 Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and ARVN troops launch "Operation Deckhouse Five" in the Mekong River delta.
January 7 5
- 1993 Bosnian War: The Bosnian Army executes a surprise attack at the village of Kravica in Srebrenica.
- 1979 Third Indochina War: Cambodian–Vietnamese War: Phnom Penh falls to the advancing Vietnamese troops, driving out Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
- 1940 Winter War: Battle of Raate Road: The Finnish 9th Division finally defeat the numerically superior Soviet forces on the Raate-Suomussalmi road.
January 8 7
- 2010 Gunmen from an offshoot of the Front for the Liberation of the Enclave of Cabinda attack a bus carrying the Togo national football team on its way to the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, killing three people and injuring another nine.
- 1964 President Lyndon B. Johnson declares a "War on Poverty" in the United States.
- 1946 Andrei Zhdanov, Chairman of the Finnish Allied Commission, submits to the Finnish War Criminal Court an interrogation report by General Erich Buschenhagen, a German prisoner of war, on the contacts between Finnish and German military personnel before the Continuation War and a copy of Hitler's Barbarossa plan.
January 9 13
- 2005 The Sudan People's Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan sign the Comprehensive Peace Agreement to end the Second Sudanese Civil War.
- 1996 First Chechen War: Chechen separatists launch a raid against the helicopter airfield and later a civilian hospital in the city of Kizlyar in the neighboring Dagestan, which turns into a massive hostage crisis involving thousands of civilians.
- 1991 Representatives from the United States and Iraq meet at the Geneva Peace Conference to try to find a peaceful resolution to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
January 10 9
- 2012 A bombing at Jamrud in Pakistan, kills at least 30 people and injures 78 others.
- 1981 Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments.
- 1966 Tashkent Declaration, a peace agreement between India and Pakistan signed that resolved the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
January 11 8
- 1962 Cold War: While tied to its pier in Polyarny, the Soviet submarine B-37 is destroyed when fire breaks out in its torpedo compartment.
- 1942 World War II: Japanese forces capture Kuala Lumpur, the capital of the Federated Malay States.
- 1942 World War II: Japanese forces attack Tarakan in Borneo, Netherlands Indies (Battle of Tarakan)
January 12 7
- 2016 Ten people are killed and 15 wounded in a bombing near the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.
- 1991 Persian Gulf War: An act of the U.S. Congress authorizes the use of American military force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
- 1970 Biafra capitulates, ending the Nigerian Civil War.
January 13 8
- 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.
- 1993 Operation Southern Watch: U.S.A.F., U.S.N., R.A.F. and French Air Force jets attack AAA and SAM sites in Southern Iraq.
- 1991 Soviet Union troops attack Lithuanian independence supporters in Vilnius, killing 14 people and wounding around 1,000 others.
January 14 6
- 2010 Yemen declares an open war against the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
- 1943 World War II: Japan begins Operation Ke, the successful operation to evacuate its forces from Guadalcanal during the Guadalcanal campaign.
- 1943 World War II: Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill begin the Casablanca Conference to discuss strategy and study the next phase of the war.
January 15 12
- 2019 Somali militants attack the DusitD2 hotel in Nairobi, Kenya killing at least 21 people and injuring 19.
- 2016 The Kenyan Army suffers its worst defeat ever in a battle with Al-Shabaab Islamic insurgents in El-Adde, Somalia. An estimated 150 Kenyan soldiers are killed in the battle.
- 2013 A train carrying Egyptian Army recruits derails near Giza, Greater Cairo, killing 19 and injuring 120 others.
January 16 12
- 2012 The Mali War begins when Tuareg militias start fighting the Malian government for independence.
- 2011 Syrian civil war: The Movement for a Democratic Society (TEV-DEM) is established with the stated goal of re-organizing Syria along the lines of democratic confederalism.
- 2002 War in Afghanistan: The UN Security Council unanimously establishes an arms embargo and the freezing of assets of Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda, and the remaining members of the Taliban.
January 17 10
- 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 Gulf War: Operation Desert Storm begins early in the morning as aircraft strike positions across Iraq, it is also the first major combat sortie for the F-117. LCDR Scott Speicher's F/A-18C Hornet from VFA-81 is shot down by a Mig-25 and is the first American casualty of the War. Iraq fires eight Scud missiles into Israel in an unsuccessful bid to provoke Israeli retaliation.
- 1961 U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower delivers a televised farewell address to the nation three days before leaving office, in which he warns against the accumulation of power by the "military–industrial complex" as well as the dangers of massive spending, especially deficit spending.
January 18 7
- 2002 The Sierra Leone Civil War is declared over.
- 1974 A Disengagement of Forces agreement is signed between the Israeli and Egyptian governments, ending conflict on the Egyptian front of the Yom Kippur War.
- 1972 Members of the Mukti Bahini lay down their arms to the government of the newly independent Bangladesh, a month after winning the war against the occupying Pakistan Army.
January 19 12
- 2014 A bomb attack on an army convoy in the city of Bannu kills at least 26 Pakistani soldiers and injures 38 others.
- 2007 Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink is assassinated in front of his newspaper's Istanbul office by 17-year-old Turkish ultra-nationalist Ogün Samast.
- 1991 Gulf War: Iraq fires a second Scud missile into Israel, causing 15 injuries.
January 20 14
- 2018 A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.
- 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.
- 1991 Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.
January 21 6
- 2014 Rojava conflict: The Jazira Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.
- 2009 Israel withdraws from the Gaza Strip, officially ending a three-week war it had with Hamas. However, intermittent fire by both sides continues in the weeks to follow.
- 1999 War on drugs: In one of the largest drug busts in American history, the United States Coast Guard intercepts a ship with over 4,300 kilograms (9,500 lb) of cocaine on board.
January 22 10
- 1995 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Beit Lid suicide bombing: In central Israel, near Netanya, two Gazans blow themselves up at a military transit point, killing 19 Israeli soldiers.
- 1944 World War II: The Allies commence Operation Shingle, an assault on Anzio and Nettuno, Italy.
- 1943 World War II: Australian and American forces defeat Japanese army and navy units in the bitterly fought Battle of Buna–Gona.
January 23 8
- 2018 A double car bombing in Benghazi, Libya, kills at least 33 people and wounds "dozens" of others. The victims include both military personnel and civilians, according to local officials.
- 2018 The China–United States trade war begins when President Donald Trump places tariffs on Chinese solar panels and washing machines.
- 1963 The Guinea-Bissau War of Independence officially begins when PAIGC guerrilla fighters attack the Portuguese Army stationed in Tite.
January 24 10
- 2011 At least 35 are killed and 180 injured in a bombing at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport.
- 1972 Japanese Sgt. Shoichi Yokoi is found hiding in a Guam jungle, where he had been since the end of World War II.
- 1968 Vietnam War: The 1st Australian Task Force launches Operation Coburg against the North Vietnamese Army and Viet Cong during wider fighting around Long Bình and Biên Hòa.
January 25 9
- 2015 A clash in Mamasapano, Maguindanao in the Philippines kills 44 members of Special Action Force (SAF), at least 18 from the Moro Islamic Liberation Front and five from the Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters.
- 2003 Invasion of Iraq: A group of people leave London, England, for Baghdad, Iraq, to serve as human shields, intending to prevent the U.S.-led coalition troops from bombing certain locations.
- 1998 A suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Sri Lanka's Temple of the Tooth kills eight and injures 25 others.
January 26 12
- 2015 Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) recaptures the city of Kobanî from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), marking a turning point in the Siege of Kobanî.
- 2001 Diane Whipple, a lacrosse coach, is killed in a dog attack in San Francisco. The resulting court case clarified the meaning of implied malice murder.
- 1986 The Ugandan government of Tito Okello is overthrown by the National Resistance Army, led by Yoweri Museveni.
January 27 16
- 2023 An attack on the Azerbaijani embassy in Pasdaran, Tehran, kills one person and injures three others.
- 2014 Rojava conflict: The Kobanî Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.
- 2002 An explosion at a military storage facility in Lagos, Nigeria, kills at least 1,100 people and displaces over 20,000 others.
January 28 7
- 1982 US Army General James L. Dozier is rescued by Italian anti-terrorism forces from captivity by the Red Brigades.
- 1945 World War II: Supplies begin to reach the Republic of China over the newly reopened Burma Road.
- 1941 Franco-Thai War: Final air battle of the conflict. A Japanese-mediated armistice goes into effect later in the day.
January 29 11
- 2025 American Eagle Flight 5342 collided mid-air with a Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk operated by the United States Army and crashed into the Potomac River, killing all 67 people on board both aircraft.
- 2014 Rojava conflict: The Afrin Canton declares its autonomy from the Syrian Arab Republic.
- 1991 Gulf War: The Battle of Khafji, the first major ground engagement of the war, as well as its deadliest, begins between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
January 30 9
- 1968 Vietnam War: Tet Offensive launch by forces of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army against South Vietnam, the United States, and their allies.
- 1964 In a bloodless coup, General Nguyễn Khánh overthrows General Dương Văn Minh's military junta in South Vietnam.
- 1959 The forces of the Sultanate of Muscat occupy the last strongholds of the Imamate of Oman, Saiq and Shuraijah, marking the end of Jebel Akhdar War in Oman.
January 31 18
- 2001 In the Netherlands, a Scottish court convicts Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi and acquits another Libyan citizen for their part in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.
- 1978 The Crown of St. Stephen (also known as the Holy Crown of Hungary) goes on public display after being returned to Hungary from the United States, where it was held after World War II.
- 1971 The Winter Soldier Investigation, organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against the War to publicize alleged war crimes and atrocities by Americans and allies in Vietnam, begins in Detroit.
February 1 6
- 2021 A coup d'état in Myanmar removes Aung San Suu Kyi from power and restores military rule.
- 2004 Double suicide attack in Erbil on the offices of Iraqi Kurdish political parties by members of Jama'at al-Tawhid wal-Jihad
- 1968 Vietnam War: The execution of Viet Cong officer Nguyễn Văn Lém by South Vietnamese National Police Chief Nguyễn Ngọc Loan is recorded on motion picture film, as well as in an iconic still photograph taken by Eddie Adams.
February 2 7
- 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.
- 1989 Soviet–Afghan War: The last Soviet armoured column leaves Kabul.
- 1966 Pakistan suggests a six-point agenda with Kashmir after the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965.
February 3 11
- 2007 A Baghdad market bombing kills at least 135 people and injures a further 339.
- 1998 Cavalese cable car disaster: A United States military pilot causes the death of 20 people when his low-flying plane cuts the cable of a cable-car near Trento, Italy.
- 1989 A military coup overthrows Alfredo Stroessner, dictator of Paraguay since 1954.
February 4 10
- 1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army kidnaps Patty Hearst in Berkeley, California.
- 1974 M62 coach bombing: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) explodes a bomb on a bus carrying off-duty British Armed Forces personnel in Yorkshire, England. Nine soldiers and three civilians are killed.
- 1961 The Angolan War of Independence and the greater Portuguese Colonial War begin.
February 5 8
- 2004 Rebels from the Revolutionary Artibonite Resistance Front capture the city of Gonaïves, starting the 2004 Haiti rebellion.
- 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.
- 1975 Riots break out in Lima, Peru after the police forces go on strike the day before. The uprising (locally known as the Limazo) is bloodily suppressed by the military dictatorship.
February 6 9
- 2000 Second Chechen War: Russia captures Grozny, Chechnya, forcing the separatist Chechen Republic of Ichkeria government into exile.
- 1981 The National Resistance Army of Uganda launches an attack on a Ugandan Army installation in the central Mubende District to begin the Ugandan Bush War.
- 1951 The Canadian Army enters combat in the Korean War.
February 7 10
- 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.
- 1995 Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, is arrested in Islamabad, Pakistan.
- 1991 The Troubles: The Provisional IRA launches a mortar attack on 10 Downing Street in London, the headquarters of the British government.
February 8 11
- 2020 A soldier opens fire in a military camp and a shopping center in Nakhon Ratchasima, Thailand, killing 29 people and injuring 58 others before being shot dead by police the next day. It is considered the deadliest mass shooting in the country's history.
- 1971 South Vietnamese ground troops launch an incursion into Laos to try to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail and stop communist infiltration into the country.
- 1968 American civil rights movement: An attack on Black students from South Carolina State University who are protesting racial segregation leaves three dead and 28 injured in Orangeburg, South Carolina.
February 9 10
- 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.
- 1996 The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares the end to its 18-month ceasefire and explodes a large bomb in London's Canary Wharf, killing two people.
- 1965 Vietnam War: The United States Marine Corps sends a MIM-23 Hawk missile battalion to South Vietnam, the first American troops in-country without an official advisory or training mission.
February 10 10
- 2003 France and Belgium break the NATO procedure of silent approval concerning the timing of protective measures for Turkey in case of a possible war with Iraq.
- 1962 Cold War: Captured American U2 spy-plane pilot Gary Powers is exchanged for captured Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.
- 1947 The Paris Peace Treaties are signed by Italy, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria, Finland and the Allies of World War II.
February 11 8
- 2014 A military transport plane crashes in a mountainous area of Oum El Bouaghi Province in eastern Algeria, killing 77 people.
- 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
- 1988 Cold War: The 1988 Black Sea bumping incident: The U.S. missile cruiser USS Yorktown (CG-48) is intentionally rammed by the Soviet frigate Bezzavetnyy in the Soviet territorial waters, while Yorktown claims innocent passage.
- 1983 One hundred women protest in Lahore, Pakistan against military dictator Zia-ul-Haq's proposed Law of Evidence. The women were tear-gassed, baton-charged and thrown into lock-up. The women were successful in repealing the law.
- 1968 Vietnam War: The Phong Nhị and Phong Nhất massacre occurs, allegedly by South Korean troops.
February 13 7
- 1996 The Nepalese Civil War is initiated in the Kingdom of Nepal by the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist Centre).
- 1991 Gulf War: Two laser-guided "smart bombs" destroy the Amiriyah shelter in Baghdad. Allied forces said the bunker was being used as a military communications outpost, but over 400 Iraqi civilians inside were killed.
- 1978 Hilton bombing: A bomb explodes in a refuse truck outside the Hilton Hotel in Sydney, Australia, killing two refuse collectors and a policeman.
February 14 12
- 2020 At least 22 people are killed in an attack on a village in Northwest Region, Cameroon.
- 2019 Pulwama attack takes place in Lethpora in Pulwama district, Jammu and Kashmir, India in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel and a suicide bomber were killed and 35 were injured.
- 1954 First Indochina War - small French garrison at Đắk Đoa is overrun by the Viet Minh after a week's siege.
February 15 8
- 2003 Protests against the Iraq war take place in over 600 cities worldwide. It is estimated that between eight million and 30 million people participate, making this the largest peace demonstration in history.[citation needed]
- 1989 Soviet–Afghan War: The Soviet Union officially announces that all of its troops have left Afghanistan.
- 1972 José María Velasco Ibarra, serving as President of Ecuador for the fifth time, is overthrown by the military for the fourth time.
February 16 11
- 2006 The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.
- 1984 Iran launches Operation Dawn 5, a major offensive during the Iran–Iraq War targeting the Basra–Baghdad highway, resulting in heavy casualties on both sides.
- 1945 World War II: American forces land on Corregidor Island in the Philippines.
February 17 11
- 2016 Military vehicles explode outside a Turkish Armed Forces barracks in Ankara, Turkey, killing at least 29 people and injuring 61 others.
- 1995 The Cenepa War between Peru and Ecuador ends on a ceasefire brokered by the UN.
- 1992 First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Armenian troops massacre more than 20 Azerbaijani civilians during the Capture of Garadaghly.
February 18 9
- 2001 Sampit conflict: Inter-ethnic violence between Dayaks and Madurese breaks out in Sampit, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, ultimately resulting in more than 500 deaths and 100,000 Madurese displaced from their homes.
- 1947 First Indochina War: The French gain complete control of Hanoi after forcing the Viet Minh to withdraw to the mountains.
- 1945 World War II: American and Brazilian troops kick off Operation Encore in Northern Italy, a successful limited action in the Northern Apennines that prepares for the western portion of the Allied Spring offensive.
February 19 10
- 2003 An Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft crashes near Kerman, Iran, killing 275.
- 1986 Akkaraipattu massacre: the Sri Lankan Army massacres 80 Tamil farm workers in eastern Sri Lanka.
- 1965 Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam, and a communist spy of the North Vietnamese Viet Minh, along with Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Trần Thiện Khiêm, all Catholics, attempt a coup against the military junta of the Buddhist Nguyễn Khánh.
February 20 7
- 2009 Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.
- 1988 The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
- 1944 World War II: The "Big Week" begins with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.
February 21 8
- 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.
- 1945 World War II: During the Battle of Iwo Jima, Japanese kamikaze planes sink the escort carrier USS Bismarck Sea and damage the USS Saratoga.
- 1945 World War II: the Brazilian Expeditionary Force defeat the German forces in the Battle of Monte Castello on the Italian front.
February 22 11
- 2011 Bahraini uprising: Tens of thousands of people march in protest against the deaths of seven victims killed by police and army forces during previous protests.
- 2006 At approximately 6:44 a.m. local Iraqi time, explosions occurred at the al-Askari Shrine in Samarra, Iraq. The attack on the shrine, one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam, caused the escalation of sectarian tensions in Iraq into a full-scale civil war.
- 2002 Angolan political and rebel leader Jonas Savimbi is killed in a military ambush.
February 23 10
- 2017 The Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army captures Al-Bab from ISIL.
- 1974 The Symbionese Liberation Army demands $4 million more to release kidnap victim Patty Hearst.
- 1966 In Syria, Ba'ath Party member Salah Jadid leads an intra-party military coup that replaces the previous government of General Amin al-Hafiz, also a Baathist.
February 24 10
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War: Days after recognising Donetsk and Luhansk as independent states, Russian president Vladimir Putin orders the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- 2006 Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo declares Proclamation 1017 placing the country in a state of emergency in an attempt to subdue a possible military coup.
- 1991 Gulf War: Ground troops cross the Saudi Arabian border and enter Iraq, thus beginning the ground phase of the war.
February 25 5
- 2026 Four people are killed and several more are injured when Cuban Border Guard Troops confront and open fire on a US-registered speedboat violating Cuban waters.
- 2009 Soldiers of the Bangladesh Rifles mutiny at their headquarters in Pilkhana, Dhaka, Bangladesh, resulting in 74 deaths, including 57 army officials.
- 1980 The government of Suriname is overthrown by a military coup led by Dési Bouterse.
February 26 5
- 2026 The government of Pakistan declares "open war" against the Taliban in Afghanistan, initiating the 2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan War.
- 1993 World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a truck bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over a thousand people.
- 1992 First Nagorno-Karabakh War: Khojaly Massacre: Armenian armed forces and the 366th CIS Regiment massacre Azeri civilians at a military post outside the town of Khojaly leaving hundreds dead.
February 27 11
- 2004 A bombing of a SuperFerry by Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines' worst terrorist attack kills more than 100 passengers.
- 2004 Shoko Asahara, the leader of the Japanese doomsday cult Aum Shinrikyo, is sentenced to death for masterminding the 1995 Tokyo subway sarin attack.
- 1991 Gulf War: U.S. President George H. W. Bush announces that "Kuwait is liberated".
February 28 3
- 2026 The United States and Israel launch attacks across Iran, assassinating Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Retaliatory strikes are launched by Iran against US military bases in the Gulf, with explosions reported in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE.
- 1997 A Turkish military memorandum results in the collapse of the coalition government in Turkey.
- 1985 The Provisional Irish Republican Army carries out a mortar attack on the Royal Ulster Constabulary police station at Newry, killing nine officers.
February 29 8
- 2024 The Flour Massacre took place in the Gaza Strip: Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for aid amidst the Gaza war, killing over 100 and wounding 750.
- 2016 In the Miqdadiyah bombing: at least 40 people are killed and 58 others wounded following a suicide bombing by ISIL at a Shi'ite funeral in the city of Miqdadiyah, Diyala, Iraq.
- 2000 Chechens attack a guard post near Ulus Kert, eventually killing 84 Russian paratroopers during the Second Chechen War.
March 1 7
- 2002 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan.
- 1981 Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze.
- 1954 Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives.
March 2 10
- 2026 The Lebanese militant group Hezbollah launches several projectiles into northern Israel as a response to the assassination of Ali Khamenei, formally initiating the 2026 Lebanon War.
- 2022 Russian forces capture the city of Kherson during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which subsequently began the start of the Russian occupation and military-civilian administration in Kherson. Kherson is the only regional capital in Ukraine that Russia captured.
- 2004 War in Iraq: Al-Qaeda carries out the Ashoura Massacre in Iraq, killing 170 and wounding over 500.
March 3 10
- 1945 World War II: In poor visibility, the RAF mistakenly bombs the Bezuidenhout area of The Hague, Netherlands, killing 511 people.
- 1943 World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter an air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
- 1942 World War II: Ten Japanese warplanes raid Broome, Western Australia, killing more than 100 people.
March 4 8
- 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.
- 2001 BBC bombing: A massive car bomb explodes in front of the BBC Television Centre in London, seriously injuring one person; the attack was attributed to the Real IRA.
- 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 11
- 2021 Twenty people are killed and 30 injured in a suicide car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.
- 2018 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) pause the Deir ez-Zor campaign due to the Turkish-led invasion of Afrin.
- 2003 In Haifa, 17 Israeli civilians are killed in the Haifa bus 37 suicide bombing.
March 6 6
- 2020 32 people are killed and 82 are injured when gunmen open fire on a ceremony in Kabul, Afghanistan. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the attack.
- 1988 Operation Flavius: Three Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers are shot dead by the SAS in Gibraltar.
- 1945 World War II: Cologne is captured by American troops. On the same day, Operation Spring Awakening, the last major German offensive of the war, begins.
March 7 9
- 2009 Massereene Barracks shooting: The Real Irish Republican Army kills two British soldiers and injures two other soldiers and two civilians at Massereene Barracks, the first British military deaths in Northern Ireland since the end of The Troubles.
- 1951 Korean War: Operation Ripper: United Nations troops led by General Matthew Ridgway begin an assault against Chinese forces.
- 1945 World War II: The American 9th Armored Division unexpectedly captures an intact bridge over the Rhine.
March 8 8
- 1983 Cold War: While addressing a convention of Evangelicals, U.S. President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an "evil empire".
- 1965 Vietnam War: US Marines arrive at Da Nang.
- 1942 World War II: The Dutch East Indies surrender Java to the Imperial Japanese Army.
March 9 10
- 1977 The Hanafi Siege: In a 39-hour standoff, armed Hanafi Muslims seize three Washington, D.C., buildings.
- 1945 World War II: A coup d'état by Japanese forces in French Indochina removes the French from power.
- 1945 World War II: Allied forces carry out firebombing over Tokyo, destroying most of the capital and killing over 100,000 civilians.
March 10 9
- 1975 Vietnam War: Ho Chi Minh Campaign: North Vietnamese troops attack Ban Mê Thuột in the South on their way to capturing Saigon in the final push for victory over South Vietnam.
- 1970 Vietnam War: Captain Ernest Medina is charged by the U.S. military with My Lai war crimes.
- 1966 Military Prime Minister of South Vietnam Nguyễn Cao Kỳ sacks rival General Nguyễn Chánh Thi, precipitating large-scale civil and military dissension in parts of the nation.
March 11 12
- 2023 The Burmese military kills at least 30 villagers, including 3 Buddhist monks, during the Pinlaung massacre in Shan State, Myanmar.
- 1977 The 1977 Hanafi Siege: Around 150 hostages held in Washington, D.C., by Hanafi Muslims are set free after ambassadors from three Islamic nations join negotiations.
- 1946 Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, is captured by British troops.
March 12 8
- 1971 The 1971 Turkish military memorandum is sent to the Süleyman Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.
- 1947 Cold War: The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
- 1942 The Battle of Java ends with the surrender of the American-British-Dutch-Australian Command to the Empire of Japan in Bandung, West Java, Dutch East Indies.
March 13 8
- 2016 The Ankara bombing kills at least 37 people.
- 2016 Three gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam, killing at least 19 people.
- 2015 Serbian Army Mi-17 helicopter crashes near Belgrade airport while transporting a 5-day-old baby with respiratory problems to hospital, killing all 7 on board.
March 14 9
- 2006 Operation Bringing Home the Goods: Israeli troops raid an American-supervised Palestinian prison in Jericho to capture six Palestinian prisoners, including PFLP chief Ahmad Sa'adat.
- 1951 Korean War: United Nations troops recapture Seoul for the second time.
- 1923 Charlie Daly and three other members of the Irish Republican Army are executed by Irish Free State forces.
March 15 12
- 2026 Four members of a Palestinian family are shot dead in Tammun by the Israeli military.
- 2019 Fifty-one people are killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings, which remains the deadliest terror attack in New Zealand history.
- 2008 Stockpiles of obsolete ammunition explode at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of Gërdec, Albania, killing 26 people.
March 16 8
- 2022 Mariupol theatre airstrike during the siege of Mariupol.
- 1988 Halabja chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people.
- 1979 Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ending the war.
March 17 10
- 2016 Rojava conflict: At a conference in Rmelan, the Movement for a Democratic Society declares the establishment of the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria.
- 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 Israeli Embassy attack in Buenos Aires: Car bomb attack kills 29 and injures 242.
March 18 11
- 1994 Bosnia's Bosniaks and Croats sign the Washington Agreement, ending war between the Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia and the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and establishing the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 1969 The United States begins secretly bombing the Sihanouk Trail in Cambodia, used by communist forces to infiltrate South Vietnam.
- 1962 The Évian Accords end the Algerian War of Independence, which had begun in 1954.
March 19 10
- 2011 Libyan Civil War: After the failure of Muammar Gaddafi's forces to take Benghazi, the French Air Force launches Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.
- 2003 United States President George W. Bush addresses the nation, announcing the invasion of Iraq.
- 1989 The Egyptian flag is raised at Taba, marking the end of Israeli occupation since the Six Days War in 1967 and the Egypt–Israel peace treaty in 1979.
March 20 10
- 2021 La Plume noire, an anarchist bookstore in Lyon, is targeted by an attack of the far-right, provoking a shock in Lyon's far-left circles.
- 2015 Syrian civil war: The Siege of Kobanî is broken by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Free Syrian Army (FSA), marking a turning point in the Rojava–Islamist conflict.
- 2014 Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.
March 21 8
- 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.
- 1968 Battle of Karameh in Jordan between the Israel Defense Forces and the combined forces of the Jordanian Armed Forces and PLO.
- 1945 World War II: British troops liberate Mandalay, Burma.
March 22 7
- 2024 At least 151 people are killed and 609 injured in a bombing and mass shooting at the Crocus City Hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia.
- 2017 A terrorist attack in London near the Houses of Parliament leaves four people dead and at least 20 injured.
- 2017 Syrian civil war: Five hundred members of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) are airlifted south of the Euphrates by United States Air Force helicopters, beginning the Battle of Tabqa.
March 23 9
- 2019 The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces capture the town of Baghuz in Eastern Syria, declaring military victory over the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant after four years of fighting, although the group maintains a scattered presence and sleeper cells across Syria and Iraq.
- 2003 Battle of Nasiriyah, first major conflict during the invasion of Iraq.
- 1994 A United States Air Force (USAF) F-16 aircraft collides with a USAF C-130 at Pope Air Force Base and then crashes, killing 24 United States Army soldiers on the ground alongside destroying a Starlifter by accident. This later became known as the Green Ramp disaster.
March 24 6
- 2018 Syrian civil war: The Turkish Armed Forces (TAF) and Syrian National Army (SNA) take full control of Afrin District, marking the end of the Afrin offensive.
- 1999 Kosovo War: NATO begins attacks on Yugoslavia without United Nations Security Council (UNSC) approval, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
- 1990 Indian intervention in the Sri Lankan Civil War ends with the last ship of Indian Peace Keeping Force leaving Sri Lanka.
March 25 9
- 2018 Syrian civil war: Following the completion of the Afrin offensive, the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) initiate an insurgency against the Turkish occupation of the Afrin District.
- 1971 The Army of the Republic of Vietnam abandon an attempt to cut off the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
- 1959 Chain Island is sold by the State of California to Russell Gallaway III, a Sacramento businessman who plans to use it as a "hunting and fishing retreat", for $5,258.20 ($58,072 in 2025).
March 26 8
- 1998 During the Algerian Civil War, the Oued Bouaicha massacre sees fifty-two people, mostly infants, killed with axes and knives.
- 1971 East Pakistan, then a province of Pakistan, declares its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh; the Bangladesh War of Independence begins.
- 1958 The United States Army launches Explorer 3.
March 27 13
- 2016 A suicide blast in Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park, Lahore claims over 70 lives and leaves almost 300 others injured. The target of the bombing are Christians celebrating Easter.
- 2015 Al-Shabab militants attack and temporarily occupy a Mogadishu hotel leaving at least 20 people dead.
- 2014 Philippines signs a peace accord with the largest Muslim rebel group, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, ending decades of conflict.
March 28 17
- 2003 In a friendly fire incident, two American A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft attack British tanks participating in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, killing one soldier.
- 1999 Kosovo War: Serb paramilitary and military forces kill at least 130 Kosovo Albanians in Izbica.
- 1968 Brazilian high school student Edson Luís de Lima Souto is killed by military police at a student protest.
March 29 10
- 2002 In reaction to the Passover massacre two days prior, Israel launches Operation Defensive Shield against Palestinian militants, its largest military operation in the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War.
- 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.
- 1974 The Terracotta Army is discovered in Shaanxi province, China.
March 30 16
- 2018 The Israeli Army kills 17 Palestinians and wounds 1,400 in Gaza during Land Day protests.
- 2009 Twelve gunmen attack the Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan.
- 2002 The 2002 Lyon car attack takes place.
March 31 6
- 2004 Iraq War in Anbar Province: In Fallujah, Iraq, four American private military contractors working for Blackwater USA, are killed after being ambushed.
- 1968 American President Lyndon B. Johnson speaks to the nation of "Steps to Limit the War in Vietnam" in a television address. At the conclusion of his speech, he announces: "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President."
- 1964 Brazilian General Olímpio Mourão Filho orders his troops to move towards Rio de Janeiro, beginning the coup d'état and 21 years of military dictatorship.
April 1 12
- 2016 The 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict begins along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact.
- 2001 An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Chinese pilot ejected but is subsequently lost. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.
- 2001 Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
April 2 11
- 2015 Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
- 2014 A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.
- 2004 Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.
April 3 5
- 1975 Vietnam War: Operation Babylift, a mass evacuation of children in the closing stages of the war begins.
- 1969 Vietnam War: United States Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.
- 1948 Cold War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the Marshall Plan, authorizing $5 billion in aid for 16 countries.
April 4 11
- 2024 Russo-Ukrainian war: The Battle of Chasiv Yar begins.
- 2017 Syria conducts an air strike on Khan Shaykhun using chemical weapons, killing 89 civilians.
- 2009 France announces its return to full participation of its military forces within NATO.
April 5 14
- 1992 Alberto Fujimori, president of Peru, dissolves the Peruvian congress by military force.
- 1992 Peace protesters Suada Dilberovic and Olga Sučić are killed on the Vrbanja Bridge in Sarajevo, becoming the first casualties of the Bosnian War.
- 1971 In Sri Lanka, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna launches a revolt against the United Front government of Sirimavo Bandaranaike.
April 6 9
- 2017 U.S. military launches 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at an air base in Syria. Russia describes the strikes as an "aggression", adding they significantly damage US-Russia ties.
- 1992 The Bosnian War begins.
- 1972 Vietnam War: Easter Offensive: American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
April 7 7
- 2018 Syria launches the Douma chemical attack during the Eastern Ghouta offensive of the Syrian Civil War.
- 2017 U.S. President Donald Trump orders the 2017 Shayrat missile strike against Syria in retaliation for the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack.
- 2003 Iraq War: U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's Ba'athist regime falls two days later.
April 8 4
- 2026 Operation Eternal Darkness: Hours after a ceasefire to the Iran war, Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill at least 357 and injures more than 1200 people in the largest airstrikes of the Lebanon war.
- 1970 Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.
- 1866 Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire.
April 9 9
- 2021 Burmese military and security forces commit the Bago massacre, during which at least 82 civilians are killed.
- 2003 Iraq War: Baghdad falls to American forces.
- 1990 An IRA bombing in County Down, Northern Ireland, kills three members of the UDR.
April 10 12
- 1972 Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu's Art of War and Sun Bin's lost military treatise, are discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
- 1972 Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
- 1941 World War II: The Axis powers establish the Independent State of Croatia.
April 11 5
- 2002 The Ghriba synagogue bombing by al-Qaeda kills 21 in Tunisia.
- 1986 FBI Miami Shootout: A gun battle in broad daylight in Dade County, Florida, between two bank/armored car robbers and pursuing FBI agents. During the firefight, FBI agents Jerry L. Dove and Benjamin P. Grogan are killed, while five other agents are wounded. As a result, the popular .40 S&W cartridge was developed.
- 1951 Korean War: President Truman relieves Douglas MacArthur of the command of American forces in Korea and Japan.
April 12 9
- 1999 During the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, an American McDonnell Douglas F-15E Strike Eagle shoots a passenger train, killing between 20 and 60 people.
- 1945 World War II: The U.S. Ninth Army under General William H. Simpson crosses the Elbe River astride Magdeburg, and reaches Tangermünde—only 80 kilometres from Berlin.
- 1934 The U.S. Auto-Lite strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strikers and picketers.
April 13 11
- 2006 The United Front for Democratic Change's attack on the Chadian capital of N'Djamena is repelled by the Chadian army
- 1975 Beirut bus massacre: A confrontation between Phalangist paramilitaries and PLO militia marks the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.
- 1972 Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins.
April 14 8
- 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Russian warship Moskva is struck by two anti-ship missiles and sinks into the Black Sea.
- 2003 U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner MS Achille Lauro in 1985.
- 2002 Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military.
April 15 10
- 2014 In the worst massacre of the South Sudanese Civil War, more than 400 civilians are gunned down after seeking refuge in houses of worship as well as hospitals.
- 1986 The United States launches Operation El Dorado Canyon, its bombing raids against Libyan targets in response to a discotheque bombing in West Germany that killed two U.S. servicemen.
- 1970 During the Cambodian Civil War, massacre of the Vietnamese minority results in 800 bodies flowing down the Mekong river into South Vietnam.
April 16 14
- 2001 India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.
- 1947 Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
- 1945 World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.
April 17 13
- 1986 An alleged state of war lasting 335 years between the Netherlands and the Isles of Scilly is declared over.
- 1975 The Cambodian Civil War ends and the Cambodian Genocide begins. The Khmer Rouge captures the capital Phnom Penh and Cambodian government forces surrender.
- 1961 Bay of Pigs Invasion: A group of Cuban exiles financed and trained by the CIA lands at the Bay of Pigs in Cuba with the aim of ousting Fidel Castro.
April 18 15
- 1996 The Israeli military commits the Qana massacre in a deliberate shelling of a United Nations compound near the village of Qana in southern Lebanon, killing 106 Lebanese civilians who were taking shelter there and wounding over 100 more.
- 1988 The United States launches Operation Praying Mantis against Iranian naval forces in the largest naval battle since World War II.
- 1988 In Israel John Demjanjuk is sentenced to death for war crimes committed in World War II, although the verdict is later overturned.
April 19 12
- 2013 Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev is killed in a shootout with police. His brother Dzhokhar is later captured hiding in a boat inside a backyard in the suburb of Watertown.
- 1995 Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, US, is bombed, killing 168 people including 19 children under the age of six.
- 1993 The 51-day FBI siege of the Branch Davidian building in Waco, Texas, US, ends when a fire breaks out. Seventy-six Davidians, including 18 children under age 10, died in the fire.
April 20 14
- 2020 For the first time in history, oil prices drop below zero, an effect of the 2020 Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war.
- 2015 Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.
- 1985 University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid: Animal Liberation Front rescues 467 animals being tested in a lab at University of California, Riverside in Riverside, California, causing $700,000 in damages to the laboratory, in advocacy for animal rights.
April 21 11
- 2021 Indonesian Navy submarine KRI Nanggala (402) sinks in the Bali Sea during a military drill, killing all 53 on board.
- 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.
- 1975 Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyễn Văn Thiệu flees Saigon, as Xuân Lộc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
April 22 15
- 2025 At least 26 people are killed in a terrorist attack on a group of tourists in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir. The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-based militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba claimed responsibility for the attack.
- 2005 Japan's Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi apologizes for Japan's war record.
- 1993 Eighteen-year-old Stephen Lawrence is murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall, Eltham.
April 23 14
- 2018 A vehicle-ramming attack kills 11 people and injures 15 in Toronto. A 25-year-old suspect, Alek Minassian, is arrested.
- 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.
- 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army and Razakars massacre approximately 3,000 Hindu emigrants in the Jathibhanga area of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
April 24 7
- 1967 Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he cannot win militarily".
- 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.
- 1955 The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
April 25 17
- 2005 The final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937.
- 1983 Cold War: American schoolgirl Samantha Smith is invited to visit the Soviet Union by its leader Yuri Andropov after he read her letter in which she expressed fears about nuclear war.
- 1974 Carnation Revolution: A leftist military coup in Portugal overthrows the authoritarian-conservative Estado Novo regime.
April 26 8
- 2025 A car ramming attack at a Lapu-Lapu Day festival kills 11 people and injures at least 30 in Vancouver, Canada.
- 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).
- 1945 World War II: Battle of Bautzen: Last successful German tank-offensive of the war and last noteworthy victory of the Wehrmacht.
April 27 10
- 2018 The Panmunjom Declaration is signed between North and South Korea, officially declaring their intentions to end the Korean conflict.
- 2007 Estonian authorities remove the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet Red Army war memorial in Tallinn, amid political controversy with Russia.
- 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.
April 28 10
- 2004 CBS News releases evidence of the Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse. The photographs show rape and abuse from the American troops over Iraqi detainees.
- 1977 The Red Army Faction trial ends, with Andreas Baader, Gudrun Ensslin and Jan-Carl Raspe found guilty of four counts of murder and more than 30 counts of attempted murder.
- 1975 General Cao Văn Viên, chief of the South Vietnamese military, departs for the US as the North Vietnamese Army closes in on victory.
April 29 17
- 1975 Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon before an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end. This happens after the Bombing of Tan Son Nhut Air Base.
- 1975 Vietnam War: The North Vietnamese Army completes its capture of all parts of South Vietnam-held Trường Sa Islands.
- 1970 Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to interdict the Ho Chi Minh Trail in an attempt to cut off supplies to the Viet Cong and the North Vietnamese Army.
April 30 8
- 2004 U.S. media release graphic photos of American soldiers committing war crimes against Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison.
- 1980 The Iranian Embassy siege begins in London.
- 1975 Fall of Saigon: Communist forces gain control of Saigon. The Vietnam War formally ends with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnamese president Dương Văn Minh.
May 1 14
- 2026 After a ransomware attack by the group ShinyHunters, the education platform Canvas operated by private company Instructure, goes offline, affecting thousands of educational institutions.
- 2019 Naxalite attack in Gadchiroli district of India: Sixteen army soldiers, including a driver, killed in an IED blast. Naxals targeted an anti-Naxal operations team.
- 2018 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) resumes the Deir ez-Zor campaign in order to clear the remnants of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border.
May 2 16
- 2000 President Bill Clinton announces that accurate GPS access would no longer be restricted to the United States military.
- 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.
- 1989 Cold War: Hungary begins dismantling its border fence with Austria, which allows a number of East Germans to defect.
May 3 6
- 2023 Nine students and a security guard are killed in the Belgrade school shooting, the first attack of its kind in Serbia.
- 2015 Two gunmen launch an attempted attack on an anti-Islam event in Garland, Texas, which was held in response to the Charlie Hebdo shooting.
- 1999 Infiltration of Pakistani soldiers on Indian side results in the Kargil War.
May 4 9
- 1982 Twenty sailors are killed when the British Type 42 destroyer HMS Sheffield is hit by an Argentinian Exocet missile during the Falklands War.
- 1970 Vietnam War: Kent State shootings: The Ohio National Guard, sent to Kent State University after disturbances in the city of Kent the weekend before, opens fire killing four unarmed students and wounding nine others. The students were protesting the Cambodian Campaign of the United States and South Vietnam.
- 1945 World War II: Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg is liberated by the British Army.
May 5 14
- 2006 The government of Sudan signs an accord with the Sudan Liberation Army.
- 1994 The signing of the Bishkek Protocol between Armenia and Azerbaijan effectively freezes the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict.
- 1985 Ronald Reagan visits the military cemetery at Bitburg and the site of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where he makes a speech.
May 6 4
- 1945 World War II: Axis Sally delivers her last propaganda broadcast to Allied troops.
- 1945 World War II: The Prague Offensive, the last major battle of the Eastern Front, begins.
- 1942 World War II: On Corregidor, the last American forces in the Philippines surrender to the Japanese.
May 7 12
- 2025 The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force conduct surgical strikes code-named Operation SINDOOR on terrorist hideouts in Pakistan in response to the Pahalgam Attack that killed 26 people.
- 1999 Kosovo War: Three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft inadvertently bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Serbia.
- 1999 In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
May 8 13
- 2021 A car bomb explodes in front of a school in Kabul, capital city of Afghanistan killing at least 55 people and wounding over 150.
- 1987 The SAS kills eight Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers and a civilian during an ambush in Loughgall, Northern Ireland.
- 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.
May 9 12
- 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.
- 1992 Armenian forces capture Shusha, marking a major turning point in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War.
- 1969 Carlos Lamarca leads the first urban guerrilla action against the military dictatorship of Brazil in São Paulo, by robbing two banks.
May 10 11
- 2017 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last footholds of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Al-Tabqah, bringing the Battle of Tabqa to an end.
- 2012 The Damascus bombings are carried out using a pair of car bombs detonated by suicide bombers outside a military intelligence complex in Damascus, Syria, killing 55 people.
- 1969 Vietnam War: The Battle of Dong Ap Bia begins with an assault on Hill 937. It will ultimately become known as Hamburger Hill.
May 11 10
- 2022 The Burmese military executes at least 37 villagers during the Mon Taing Pin massacre in Sagaing, Myanmar.
- 2016 One hundred and ten people are killed in an ISIL bombing in Baghdad.
- 2013 Fifty-two people are killed in a bombing in Reyhanlı, Turkey.
May 12 16
- 2018 Paris knife attack: A man is fatally shot by police in Paris after killing one and injuring several others.
- 2017 The WannaCry ransomware attack impacts over 400,000 computers worldwide, targeting computers of the United Kingdom's National Health Services and Telefónica computers.
- 1982 During a procession outside the shrine of the Virgin Mary in Fátima, Portugal, security guards overpower Juan María Fernández y Krohn before he can attack Pope John Paul II with a bayonet.
May 13 8
- 2005 Andijan uprising, Uzbekistan: Troops open fire on crowds of protestors after a prison break; at least 187 people were killed according to official estimates.
- 1999 Kosovo War: NATO bombs the village of Koriša, killing at least 87 people.
- 1972 The Troubles: A car bombing outside a crowded pub in Belfast sparks a two-day gun battle involving the Provisional IRA, Ulster Volunteer Force and British Army. Seven people are killed and over 66 injured.
May 14 12
- 2008 Battle of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester city centre between Zenit supporters and Rangers supporters and the Greater Manchester Police; 39 policemen injured, one police dog injured and 39 arrested.
- 1980 Salvadoran Civil War: The Sumpul River massacre occurs in Chalatenango, El Salvador.
- 1970 Andreas Baader is freed from custody by Ulrike Meinhof, Gudrun Ensslin and others, a pivotal moment in the formation of the Red Army Faction.
May 15 14
- 2001 A CSX EMD SD40-2 8888 rolls out of a train yard in Walbridge, Ohio, with 47 freight cars, including some tank cars with flammable chemical, after its engineer fails to reboard it after setting a yard switch. It travels south driverless for 66 miles (106 km) until it is brought to a halt near Kenton. The incident became the inspiration for the 2010 film Unstoppable.
- 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.
- 1988 Soviet–Afghan War: After more than eight years of fighting, the Soviet Army begins to withdraw 115,000 troops from Afghanistan.
May 16 5
- 1945 Beginning of the Levant Crisis between Britain and France in Syria. The latter try to quell nationalist protests but backs down after threat of military action by the British.
- 1918 The victory military parade by the Finnish White Guard is held in Helsinki celebrating their decisive victory in the Finnish Civil War. The day also begin to be celebrated on the Defence Forces Flag Day before it is moved in 1942 to the June 4th.
- 1863 American Civil War: During the Vicksburg campaign, the decisive Union victory by Ulysses S. Grant at the Battle of Champion Hill drives the Confederate army under John C. Pemberton back towards Vicksburg, Mississippi.
May 17 12
- 2014 A military plane crash in northern Laos kills 17 people.
- 1997 Troops of Laurent-Désiré Kabila march into Kinshasa. Zaire is officially renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- 1995 Shawn Nelson steals an M60 tank from the California Army National Guard Armory in San Diego and proceeds to go on a rampage.
May 18 8
- 1994 Israeli troops finish withdrawing from the Gaza Strip, ceding the area to the Palestinian National Authority to govern.
- 1993 Riots in Nørrebro, Copenhagen, caused by the approval of the four Danish exceptions in the Maastricht Treaty referendum. Police open fire against civilians for the first time since World War II and injure 11 demonstrators.
- 1962 The French government and representatives of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic reach a settlement to end the Algerian war in the Évian Accords.
May 19 10
- 2012 Three gas cylinder bombs explode in front of a vocational school in the Italian city of Brindisi, killing one person and injuring five others.
- 2012 A car bomb explodes near a military complex in the Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor, killing nine people.
- 2010 The Royal Thai Armed Forces concludes its crackdown on protests by forcing the surrender of United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship leaders.
May 20 6
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war: Russia claims full control of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol after a nearly three-month siege.
- 1983 Church Street bombing: A car bomb planted by UMkhonto we Sizwe explodes on Church Street in South Africa's capital, Pretoria, killing 19 people and injuring 217 others.
- 1969 The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
May 21 7
- 2012 A suicide bombing kills more than 120 people in Sanaa, Yemen.
- 1994 The Democratic Republic of Yemen unsuccessfully attempts to secede from the Republic of Yemen; a war breaks out.
- 1991 Mengistu Haile Mariam, president of the People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, flees Ethiopia, effectively bringing the Ethiopian Civil War to an end.
May 22 8
- 2017 Twenty-two people are killed at an Ariana Grande concert in the 2017 Manchester Arena bombing.
- 2014 General Prayut Chan-o-cha becomes interim leader of Thailand in a military coup d'état, following six months of political turmoil.
- 2002 Civil rights movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murder of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.
May 23 9
- 2017 Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte declares martial law in Mindanao, following the Maute's attack in Marawi.
- 2016 Two suicide bombings, conducted by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, kill at least 45 potential army recruits in Aden, Yemen.
- 1949 Cold War: The Western occupying powers approve the Basic Law and establish a new German state, the Federal Republic of Germany.
May 24 12
- 2026 A suicide bombing targeting a shuttle train in Quetta, Balochistan, killed at least 48 people and injured 98 others.
- 2000 Israeli troops withdraw from southern Lebanon after 22 years of occupation.
- 1999 The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, Netherlands indicts Slobodan Milošević and four others for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo.
May 25 6
- 2013 Suspected Maoist rebels kill at least 28 people and injure 32 others in an attack on a convoy of Indian National Congress politicians in Chhattisgarh, India.
- 2000 Liberation Day of Lebanon: Israel withdraws its army from Lebanese territory (with the exception of the disputed Shebaa farms zone) 18 years after the invasion of 1982.
- 1997 A military coup in Sierra Leone replaces President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah with Major Johnny Paul Koroma.
May 26 9
- 1972 Cold War: The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
- 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army slaughters at least 71 Hindus in Burunga, Sylhet, Bangladesh.
- 1942 World War II: The Battle of Gazala begins, in present-day Libya.
May 27 11
- 1998 Oklahoma City bombing: Michael Fortier is sentenced to 12 years in prison and fined $200,000 for failing to warn authorities about the terrorist plot.
- 1996 First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin meets with Chechen rebels for the first time and negotiates a cease-fire.
- 1988 Somaliland War of Independence: The Somali National Movement launches a major offensive against Somali government forces in Hargeisa and Burao, then the second- and third-largest cities of Somalia.
May 28 5
- 1991 The capital city of Addis Ababa falls to the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, ending both the Derg regime in Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Civil War.
- 1958 Cuban Revolution: Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement, heavily reinforced by Frank Pais Militia, overwhelm an army post in El Uvero.
- 1940 World War II: Belgium surrenders to Nazi Germany to end the Battle of Belgium.
May 29 7
- 2004 The National World War II Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
- 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.
- 1993 The Miss Sarajevo beauty pageant is held in war-torn Sarajevo drawing global attention to the plight of its citizens.
May 30 8
- 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.
- 1982 Cold War: Spain joins NATO.
- 1972 In Ben Gurion Airport (at the time: Lod Airport), Israel, members of the Japanese Red Army carry out the Lod Airport massacre, killing 24 people and injuring 78 others.
May 31 8
- 2026 An explosion at a Ta'ang National Liberation Army base kills 46 people.
- 2016 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) launch the Manbij offensive, in order to capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
- 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.
June 1 9
- 2004 Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols is sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.
- 1993 Dobrinja mortar attack: Thirteen are killed and 133 wounded when Serb mortar shells are fired at a soccer game in Dobrinja, west of Sarajevo.
- 1990 Cold War: George H. W. Bush and Mikhail Gorbachev sign a treaty to end chemical weapon production.
June 2 3
- 1997 In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 11 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later.
- 1941 World War II: German paratroopers murder Greek civilians in the villages of Kondomari and Alikianos.
- 1676 Franco-Dutch War: France ensures the supremacy of its naval fleet for the remainder of the war with its victory in the Battle of Palermo.
June 3 13
- 2013 The trial of United States Army private Chelsea Manning for leaking classified material to WikiLeaks begins in Fort Meade, Maryland.
- 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
- 1989 The 1989 Tiananmen Square protests are suppressed in Beijing by the People's Liberation Army, with between 241 and 10,000 dead (an unofficial estimate).
- 1986 Jonathan Pollard pleads guilty to espionage for selling top secret United States military intelligence to Israel.
- 1979 Flight Lieutenant Jerry Rawlings takes power in Ghana after a military coup in which General Fred Akuffo is overthrown.
June 5 10
- 2000 The Six-Day War in Kisangani begins in Kisangani, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, between Ugandan and Rwandan forces. A large part of the city is destroyed.
- 1997 The Second Republic of the Congo Civil War begins.
- 1989 The Tank Man halts the progress of a column of advancing tanks for over half an hour after the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989.
June 6 12
- 2023 Russo-Ukrainian war: The Kakhovka Dam is destroyed.
- 2017 Syrian civil war: The Battle of Raqqa begins with an offensive by the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) to capture the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
- 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.
June 7 10
- 1967 Six-Day War: Israeli soldiers enter Jerusalem.
- 1946 The United Kingdom's BBC returns to broadcasting its television service, which has been off air for seven years because of World War II.
- 1945 King Haakon VII of Norway returns from exactly five years in exile during World War II.
June 8 10
- 1982 Bluff Cove Air Attacks during the Falklands War: Fifty-six British servicemen are killed by an Argentine air attack on two landing ships, RFA Sir Galahad and RFA Sir Tristram.
- 1972 Vietnam War: Nine-year-old Phan Thị Kim Phúc is burned by napalm, an event captured in a photograph moments later while the young girl is seen running naked down a road, in what would become an iconic, Pulitzer Prize-winning photo.
- 1967 Six-Day War: The USS Liberty incident: A United States Navy spy ship is attacked by the Israeli Air Force and Navy, resulting in 34 deaths and 171 wounded.
June 9 11
- 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.
- 1967 Six-Day War: Israel captures the Golan Heights from Syria.
June 10 13
- 1999 Kosovo War: NATO suspends its airstrikes after Slobodan Milošević agrees to withdraw Serbian forces from Kosovo.
- 1982 Lebanon War: The Syrian Arab Army defeats the Israeli Defense Forces in the Battle of Sultan Yacoub.
- 1967 The Six-Day War ends: Israel and Syria agree to a cease-fire.
June 11 10
- 2001 Timothy McVeigh is executed for his role in the Oklahoma City bombing.
- 1971 The U.S. Government forcibly removes the last holdouts to the Native American Occupation of Alcatraz, ending 19 months of control.
- 1970 After being appointed on May 15, Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington officially receive their ranks as U.S. Army general officers, becoming the first women to do so.
June 12 12
- 2016 Forty-nine civilians are killed and 58 others injured in an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States; the gunman, Omar Mateen, is killed in a gunfight with police.
- 2014 Between 1,095 and 1,700 Shia Iraqi people are killed in an attack by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant on Camp Speicher in Tikrit, Iraq. It is the second deadliest act of terrorism in history, only behind 9/11.
- 1999 Kosovo War: Operation Joint Guardian begins when a NATO-led United Nations peacekeeping force, Kosovo Force (KFor), enters the province of Kosovo in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
June 13 9
- 2025 Israel initiates air strikes against Iran, initiating the Twelve Day War.
- 2023 Three people are killed and another three injured in an early morning stabbing and van ramming attack in Nottingham, England.
- 1997 A jury sentences Timothy McVeigh to death for his part in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
June 14 7
- 2014 A Ukraine military Ilyushin Il-76 airlifter is shot down, killing all 49 people on board.
- 1982 Falklands War: Argentine forces in the capital Stanley conditionally surrender to British forces ending the war.
- 1945 World War II: Filipino troops of the Philippine Commonwealth Army liberate the captured in Ilocos Sur and start the Battle of Bessang Pass in Northern Luzon.
June 15 4
- 1996 The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonates a powerful truck bomb in the middle of Manchester, England, devastating the city centre and injuring 200 people.
- 1944 World War II: The United States invades Saipan, capital of Japan's South Seas Mandate.
- 1940 World War II: Operation Aerial begins: Allied troops start to evacuate France, following Germany's takeover of Paris and most of the nation.
June 16 1
- 1940 World War II: Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Chief of State of Vichy France (Chef de l'État Français).
June 17 10
- 1971 U.S. president Richard Nixon in a televised press conference calls drug abuse "America's public enemy number one", starting the war on drugs.
- 1953 Cold War: East Germany Workers Uprising: In East Germany, the Soviet Union orders a division of troops into East Berlin to quell a rebellion.
- 1940 World War II: RMS Lancastria is attacked and sunk by the Luftwaffe near Saint-Nazaire, France. At least 3,000 are killed in Britain's worst maritime disaster.
June 18 8
- 1994 The Troubles: Members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) attack a crowded pub with assault rifles in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. Six Catholic civilians are killed and five wounded. It was crowded with people watching the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
- 1965 Vietnam War: The United States Air Force uses B-52 bombers to attack guerrilla fighters in South Vietnam.
- 1954 Carlos Castillo Armas leads an invasion force across the Guatemalan border, setting in motion the 1954 Guatemalan coup d'état.
June 19 9
- 2012 WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange requests asylum in London's Ecuadorian Embassy for fear of extradition to the US after publication of previously classified documents including footage of civilian killings by the US army; he will remain there until 2019.
- 2009 War in North-West Pakistan: The Pakistani Armed Forces open Operation Rah-e-Nijat against the Taliban and other Islamist rebels in the South Waziristan area of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.
- 2007 The al-Khilani Mosque bombing in Baghdad leaves 78 people dead and another 218 injured.
June 20 7
- 1982 The Argentine Corbeta Uruguay base on Southern Thule surrenders to Royal Marine commandos in the final action of the Falklands War.
- 1948 In Western Allied-occupied Germany, the Currency Reform of 1948 goes into effect, introducing the Deutsche Mark. The Soviet Military Administration in Germany responded by imposing the Berlin Blockade four days later.
- 1944 World War II: The Battle of the Philippine Sea concludes with a decisive U.S. naval victory. The lopsided naval air battle is also known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot".
June 21 14
- 2001 A federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia, indicts 13 Saudis and a Lebanese in the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed 19 American servicemen.
- 1945 World War II: The Battle of Okinawa ends when the organized resistance of Imperial Japanese Army forces collapses in the Mabuni area on the southern tip of the main island.
- 1942 World War II: Tobruk falls to Italian and German forces; 33,000 Allied troops are taken prisoner.
June 22 13
- 2015 The Afghan National Assembly building is attacked by gunmen after a suicide bombing. All six of the gunmen are killed and 18 people are injured.
- 1990 Cold War: Checkpoint Charlie is dismantled in Berlin.
- 1966 Vietnamese Buddhist activist leader Thích Trí Quang was arrested as the military junta of Nguyen Cao Ky crushed the Buddhist Uprising.
June 23 7
- 1967 Cold War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson meets with Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin in Glassboro, New Jersey for the three-day Glassboro Summit Conference.
- 1961 The Antarctic Treaty System, which sets aside Antarctica as a scientific preserve and limits military activity on the continent, its islands and ice shelves, comes into force.
- 1942 World War II: Germany's latest fighter aircraft, a Focke-Wulf Fw 190, is captured intact when it mistakenly lands at RAF Pembrey in Wales.
June 24 8
- 1973 The UpStairs Lounge arson attack takes place at a gay bar located on the second floor of the three-story building at 141 Chartres Street in the French Quarter of New Orleans, Louisiana, US. Thirty-two people die as a result of fire or smoke inhalation.
- 1954 First Indochina War: Battle of Mang Yang Pass: Viet Minh troops belonging to the 803rd Regiment ambush G.M. 100 of France in An Khê.
- 1948 Cold War: Start of the Berlin Blockade: The Soviet Union makes overland travel between West Germany and West Berlin impossible.
June 25 13
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War: The Battle of Sievierodonetsk ends after weeks of heavy fighting with the Russian capture of the city, leading to the Battle of Lysychansk.
- 2022 Two people are killed and 21 more injured after a gunman opens fire at three sites in Oslo in a suspected Islamist anti-LGBTQ+ attack.
- 1996 The Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia kills 19 U.S. servicemen.
June 26 9
- 1991 Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav People's Army begins the Ten-Day War in Slovenia.
- 1963 Cold War: U.S. President John F. Kennedy gives his "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, underlining the support of the United States for democratic West Germany shortly after Soviet-supported East Germany erected the Berlin Wall.
- 1948 Cold War: The first supply flights are made in response to the Berlin Blockade.
June 27 8
- 2007 The Brazilian Military Police invades the favelas of Complexo do Alemão in an episode which is remembered as the Complexo do Alemão massacre.
- 1991 Two days after it had declared independence, Slovenia is invaded by Yugoslav troops, tanks, and aircraft, starting the Ten-Day War.
- 1950 The United States decides to send troops to fight in the Korean War.
June 28 14
- 2016 A terrorist attack in Turkey's Istanbul Atatürk Airport kills 42 people and injures more than 230 others.
- 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 7
- 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.
- 1950 Korean War: U.S. President Harry S. Truman authorizes a sea blockade of Korea.
- 1927 The Bird of Paradise, a U.S. Army Air Corps Fokker tri-motor, completes the first transpacific flight, from the mainland United States to Hawaii.
June 30 7
- 2015 A Hercules C-130 military aircraft with 113 people on board crashes in a residential area in Medan, Indonesia, resulting in at least 116 deaths.
- 2007 A Jeep Cherokee filled with propane canisters drives into the entrance of Glasgow Airport, Scotland in a failed terrorist attack. This was linked to the 2007 London car bombs that had taken place the day before.
- 1963 Ciaculli bombing: a car bomb, intended for Mafia boss Salvatore Greco, kills seven police officers and military personnel near Palermo.
July 1 4
- 2024 At the centennial ceremony of the Dominion of Newfoundland National War Memorial, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission allows an unprecedented second Canadian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Royal Newfoundland Regiment soldier is entombed in the memorial at this ceremony.
- 2002 The International Criminal Court is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression.
- 1991 Cold War: The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.
July 2 7
- 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.
- 1917 In the leadup to the Battle of Aqaba, T. E. Lawrence and his Arab forces defeat a battalion of Ottomans at Abu al-Lissan.
- 1863 American Civil War: On the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg - the Battle of Little Round Top takes place and results in a Union victory after the Confederate troops unsuccessfully try to assault the Union left flank.
July 3 11
- 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.
- 1967 The Aden Emergency: The Battle of the Crater in which the British Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders retake the Crater district following the Arab Police mutiny.
- 1944 World War II: The Minsk Offensive clears German troops from the city.
July 4 9
- 1994 Rwandan genocide: Kigali, the Rwandan capital, is captured by the Rwandan Patriotic Front, ending the genocide in the city.
- 1954 Food rationing in Great Britain ends, with the lifting of restrictions on sale and purchase of meat, 14 years after it began early in World War II, and nearly a decade after the war's end.
- 1951 Cold War: A court in Czechoslovakia sentences American journalist William N. Oatis to ten years in prison on charges of espionage.
July 5 9
- 1997 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP A. Thangathurai is shot dead at Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College in Trincomalee.
- 1987 Sri Lankan Civil War: The LTTE uses suicide attacks on the Sri Lankan Army for the first time. The Black Tigers are born and, in the following years, will continue to kill with the tactic.
- 1973 A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) in Kingman, Arizona, following a fire that broke out as propane was being transferred from a railroad car to a storage tank, kills eleven firefighters.
July 6 9
- 2022 The Georgia Guidestones, a monument in the United States, are heavily damaged in a bombing, and are dismantled later the same day.
- 2006 The Nathu La pass between India and China, sealed during the Sino-Indian War, re-opens for trade after 44 years.
- 1995 In the Bosnian War, under the command of General Ratko Mladić, Serbia begins its attack on the Bosnian town of Srebrenica.
July 7 9
- 2016 Ex-US Army soldier Micah Xavier Johnson shoots fourteen policemen, killing five of them, in downtown Dallas, Texas at the end of a protest of recent police killings of Black men. He is subsequently killed by a robot-delivered bomb.
- 1997 The Turkish Armed Forces withdraw from northern Iraq after assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War.
- 1991 Yugoslav Wars: The Brioni Agreement ends the ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
July 8 4
- 1912 Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves.
- 1832 An Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pascha defeats an Ottoman army under Mehmed Pascha in the battle of Hims.
- 1760 British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France.
July 9 9
- 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.
- 1999 Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran.
- 1995 The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force killing 125 Tamil civilian refugees.
July 10 7
- 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.
- 2007 The Pakistani military storms the Lal Masjid mosque in Islamabad, which had been seized by Islamist militants.
July 11 6
- 2007 The Siege of Lal Masjid in Islamabad, Pakistan, ends after the Pakistan Army storms the mosque which had been occupied by Islamist militants.
- 1943 Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army within the Reichskommissariat Ukraine (Volhynia) peak.
- 1943 World War II: Allied invasion of Sicily: German and Italian troops launch a counter-attack on Allied forces in Sicily.
July 12 11
- 2012 Syrian Civil War: Government forces target the homes of rebels and activists in Tremseh and kill anywhere between 68 and 150 people.
- 2012 A tank truck explosion kills more than 100 people in Okobie, Nigeria.
- 2007 U.S. Army Apache helicopters engage in airstrikes against armed insurgents in Baghdad, Iraq, where civilians are killed; footage from the cockpit is later leaked to the Internet.
July 13 13
- 2008 Battle of Wanat begins when Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas attack US Army and Afghan National Army troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. deaths were, at that time, the most in a single battle since the beginning of operations in 2001.
- 1977 Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ogaden War.
- 1941 World War II: Montenegrins begin the Trinaestojulski ustanak (Thirteenth of July Uprising), a popular revolt against the Axis powers.
July 14 4
- 1950 Korean War: beginning of the Battle of Taejon.
- 1916 World War I: Battle of Delville Wood begins as an action within the Battle of the Somme, lasting until 3 September 1916.
- 1808 The Finnish War: the Battle of Lapua is fought.
July 15 9
- 1998 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP S. Shanmuganathan is killed by a claymore mine.
- 1996 A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport.
- 1983 An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured.
July 16 10
- 2015 Four U.S. Marines and a United States Navy Sailor are killed in the a shooting spree targeting military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
- 2013 Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn resumes between the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Islamist forces, beginning the Rojava–Islamist conflict.
- 1950 Chaplain–Medic massacre: American POWs are massacred by North Korean Army.
July 17 6
- 2015 At least 120 people are killed and 130 injured by a suicide bombing in Diyala Governorate, Iraq.
- 1998 A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing the permanent international court in The Hague, to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
- 1954 First Indochina War: Viet Minh troops successfully ambush the armoured French column 'G.M. 42' in the Battle of Chu Dreh Pass in the Central Highlands. It is the last battle of the war.
July 18 9
- 1996 Battle of Mullaitivu: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam capture the Sri Lanka Army's base, killing over 1,200 soldiers.
- 1994 The bombing of the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina (Argentine Jewish Community Center) in Buenos Aires kills 85 people (mostly Jewish) and injures 300.
- 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.
July 19 15
- 2014 Gunmen in Egypt's western desert province of New Valley Governorate attack a military checkpoint, killing at least 21 soldiers. Egypt reportedly declares a state of emergency on its border with Sudan.
- 2012 Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Kobanî without resistance, starting the Rojava conflict in Northeast Syria.
- 1997 The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end their 25-year paramilitary campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.
July 20 10
- 2013 Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
- 2013 Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG).
- 2012 Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance.
July 21 8
- 2019 Yuen Long attack or "721 incident" in Hong Kong. Triad members indiscriminately beat civilians returning from protests while police failed to take action.
- 1995 Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
- 1990 Taiwan's military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation.
July 22 14
- 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.
- 2003 Iraq War: Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay, along with Mustapha Hussein, Qusay's 14-year-old son, and a bodyguard.
- 1993 Great Flood of 1993: Levees near Kaskaskia, Illinois rupture, forcing the entire town to evacuate by barges operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.
July 23 8
- 1983 Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
- 1974 The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece's metapolitefsi era.
- 1970 Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war.
July 24 11
- 2012 Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Girkê Legê.
- 2001 The Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos, resulting in military and civilian casualties and destroyed aircraft.
- 1983 The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
July 25 14
- 2010 WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.
- 1996 In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
- 1994 Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, that formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.
July 26 15
- 1999 Kargil conflict officially comes to an end. The Indian Army announces the complete eviction of Pakistani intruders.
- 1974 Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule.
- 1968 Vietnam War: South Vietnamese opposition leader Trương Đình Dzu is sentenced to five years hard labor for advocating the formation of a coalition government as a way to move toward an end to the war.
July 27 13
- 2015 Seven people are killed and many injured after gunmen attack an Indian police station in Punjab.
- 1995 The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C.
- 1964 Vietnam War: Five thousand more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
July 28 10
- 2005 The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty-year-long armed campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.
- 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 6
- 1967 Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
- 1965 Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
- 1950 Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.
July 30 5
- 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.
- 1969 Vietnam War: U.S. president Richard Nixon makes an unscheduled visit to South Vietnam and meets with President Nguyễn Văn Thiệu and U.S. military commanders.
- 1945 World War II: Japanese submarine I-58 sinks the USS Indianapolis, killing 883 seamen. Most die during the following four days, until an aircraft notices the survivors.
July 31 8
- 2007 Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.
- 1975 The Troubles: Three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland.
- 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.
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.
- 2017 A suicide attack on a mosque in Herat, Afghanistan kills 20 people.
- 1988 A British soldier is killed in the Inglis Barracks bombing in London, England.
August 2 8
- 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait: Iraq invades Kuwait and temporarily establishes the Republic of Kuwait puppet state on the orders of Saddam Hussein, eventually leading to the Gulf War.
- 1945 World War II: The Potsdam Conference ends.
- 1944 World War II: The largest trade convoy of the world wars arrives safely in the Western Approaches.
August 3 9
- 2018 Two burka-clad men kill 29 people and injure more than 80 in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in eastern Afghanistan.
- 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.
- 1981 Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.
August 4 12
- 2018 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) expel the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) from the Iraq–Syria border, concluding the second phase of the Deir ez-Zor campaign.
- 1995 Operation Storm, the last major battle of the Croatian War of Independence begins.
- 1983 Jean-Baptiste Ouédraogo, president of the military government of Upper Volta, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Captain Thomas Sankara.
August 5 12
- 1969 The Lonesome Cowboys police raid occurs in Atlanta, Georgia, leading to the creation of the Georgia Gay Liberation Front.
- 1965 The Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.
- 1964 Vietnam War: Operation Pierce Arrow: American aircraft from carriers USS Ticonderoga and USS Constellation bomb North Vietnam in retaliation for strikes against U.S. destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.
August 6 15
- 2015 A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the Saudi city of Abha.
- 2011 War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan.
- 2008 A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d'état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
August 7 7
- 2008 The start of the Russo-Georgian War over the territory of South Ossetia.
- 1990 First American soldiers arrive in Saudi Arabia as part of the Gulf War.
- 1987 Cold War: Lynne Cox becomes the first person to swim from the United States to the Soviet Union, crossing the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island in Alaska to Big Diomede in the Soviet Union.
August 8 9
- 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.
- 2013 A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people.
- 2001 Albanian rebels ambush a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia near Tetovo, killing 10 soldiers.
August 9 10
- 1971 The Troubles: In Northern Ireland, the British authorities launch Operation Demetrius. The operation involves the mass arrest and internment without trial of individuals suspected of being affiliated with the Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Mass riots follow, and thousands of people flee or are forced out of their homes.
- 1965 The State of Singapore separates from the Malaysian federation due to a heated ideological conflict between their ruling parties.[citation needed][needs copy edit]
- 1945 World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, Fat Man, is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. Thirty-five thousand people are killed outright, including 23,200–28,200 Japanese war workers, 2,000 Korean forced workers, and 150 Japanese soldiers.
August 10 15
- 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.
- 2001 The 2001 Angola train attack occurs, causing 252 deaths.
- 1995 Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing. Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain for his testimony.
August 11 7
- 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.
- 1972 Vietnam War: The last United States ground combat unit leaves South Vietnam.
August 12 13
- 2016 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the city of Manbij from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
- 2000 The Russian Navy submarine Kursk explodes and sinks in the Barents Sea during a military exercise, killing her entire 118-man crew.
- 1976 Between 1,000 and 3,500 Palestinians are killed in the Tel al-Zaatar massacre, one of the bloodiest events of the Lebanese Civil War.
August 13 16
- 2015 At least 76 people are killed and 212 others are wounded in a truck bombing in Baghdad, Iraq.
- 2008 Russo-Georgian War: Russian units occupy the Georgian city of Gori.
- 1978 One hundred fifty Palestinians in Beirut are killed in a terrorist attack during the second phase of the Lebanese Civil War.
August 14 9
- 2006 Lebanon War: A ceasefire takes effect three days after the United Nations Security Council's approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, formally ending hostilities between Lebanon and Israel.
- 2006 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sixty-one schoolgirls killed in Chencholai bombing by Sri Lanka Air Force air strike.
- 1974 Turkey launches the second phase of the invasion of Cyprus, which eventually resulted in the Turkish occupation of 37% of Cyprus.
August 15 7
- 2025 US president Donald Trump meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the first such summit since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.
- 1998 Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.
- 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 7
- 1966 Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong. The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
- 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.
- 1943 World War II: 317 Greek civilians are murdered by soldiers of the German 1st Mountain Division in the village of Kommeno, Greece.
August 17 7
- 1950 Korean War: Forty-two American prisoners of war are massacred by the Korean People's Army on a hill above Waegwan, South Korea.
- 1943 World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission.
- 1943 World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under General George S. Patton arrives in Messina, Italy, followed several hours later by the British 8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
August 18 11
- 2017 The Turku terror attack occurs in Finland when a knifeman kills two and injures eight.
- 2011 A terrorist attack on Israel's Highway 12 near the Egyptian border kills 16 and injures 40.
- 2008 War of Afghanistan: The Uzbin Valley ambush occurs.
August 19 11
- 2005 The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
- 2003 A truck-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
- 2003 Shmuel HaNavi bus bombing: A suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem, planned by Hamas, kills 23 Israelis, seven of them children.
August 20 10
- 2006 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.
- 1991 Estonia, occupied by and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of legal continuity of its pre-occupation statehood.
- 1988 Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
August 21 9
- 1991 Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.
- 1982 Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.
- 1968 Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.
August 22 6
- 1992 FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shoots and kills Vicki Weaver during an 11-day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
- 1944 World War II: Holocaust of Kedros in Crete by German forces.
- 1942 Brazil declares war on Germany, Japan and Italy.
August 23 14
- 2023 A business jet carrying key leadership members of the Russian private military company Wagner Group crashes, killing all ten people on board.
- 2011 Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi is overthrown after the National Transitional Council forces take control of Bab al-Azizia compound during the Libyan Civil War.
- 1994 Eugene Bullard, the only African American pilot in World War I, is posthumously commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the United States Air Force.
August 24 8
- 1989 Colombian drug barons declare "total war" on the Colombian government.
- 1970 Vietnam War protesters bomb Sterling Hall at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, leading to an international manhunt for the perpetrators.
- 1963 Buddhist crisis: As a result of the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, the US State Department cables the United States Embassy, Saigon to encourage Army of the Republic of Vietnam generals to launch a coup against President Ngô Đình Diệm if he did not remove his brother Ngô Đình Nhu.
August 25 16
- 2017 Conflict in Rakhine State (2016–present): One hundred seventy people are killed in at least 26 separate attacks carried out by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army, leading to the governments of Myanmar and Malaysia designating the group as a terrorist organisation.
- 2011 Fifty-two people are killed during an arson attack caused by members of the drug cartel Los Zetas.
- 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 11
- 2021 During the 2021 Kabul airlift, a suicide bombing at Hamid Karzai International Airport kills 13 US military personnel and at least 169 Afghan civilians.
- 1999 Russia begins the Second Chechen War in response to the Invasion of Dagestan by the Islamic International Peacekeeping Brigade.
- 1966 The South African Border War starts with the battle at Omugulugwombashe.
August 27 15
- 2009 Internal conflict in Myanmar: The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies begin three days of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region.
- 1985 Major General Muhammadu Buhari, Chairman of the Supreme Military Council of Nigeria, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
- 1982 Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altıkat is shot and killed in Ottawa. Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide claim to be avenging the massacre of 1+1⁄2 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian genocide.
August 28 12
- 2017 China–India border standoff: China and India both pull their troops out of Doklam, putting an end to a two-month-long stalemate over China's construction of a road in disputed territory.
- 1999 The Russian space mission Soyuz TM-29 reaches completion, ending nearly 10 years of continuous occupation on the space station Mir as it approaches the end of its life.
- 1998 Second Congo War: Loyalist troops backed by Angolan and Zimbabwean forces repulse the RCD and Rwandan offensive on Kinshasa.
August 29 9
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war: Ukraine begins its southern counteroffensive in the Kherson Oblast, eventually culminating in the liberation of the city of Kherson.
- 2003 Sayed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.
- 1970 Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Rubén Salazar.
August 30 16
- 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.
- 2021 The last remaining American troops leave Afghanistan, ending U.S. involvement in the war.
- 2014 Prime Minister of Lesotho Tom Thabane flees to South Africa as the army allegedly stages a coup.
August 31 8
- 1996 Saddam Hussein's troops seize Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.
- 1994 Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia.
- 1993 Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania.
September 1 13
- 2008 Iraq War: The United States Armed Forces transfers control of Anbar Province to the Iraqi Armed Forces.
- 2004 The Beslan school siege begins when armed terrorists take schoolchildren and school staff hostage in North Ossetia, Russia; by the end of the siege, three days later, more than 385 people are dead (including hostages, other civilians, security personnel and terrorists).
- 1983 Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet jet fighter after the commercial aircraft strayed into Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
September 2 11
- 2024 A suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills six people and injures 13.
- 2022 Eighteen people are killed and 23 others are injured by a suicide bombing at a Sunni mosque in Herat, Afghanistan.
- 2010 Israel-Palestinian conflict: the 2010 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are launched by the United States.
September 3 12
- 2004 Beslan school siege ends, resulting in over 330 fatalities, including 186 children.
- 1978 During the Rhodesian Bush War a group of ZIPRA guerrillas shot down civilian Vickers Viscount aircraft (Air Rhodesia Flight 825) with a Soviet-made SAM Strela-2; of 56 passengers and crew 38 people died in crash, 10 were massacred by the guerrillas at the site.
- 1954 The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
September 4 12
- 2007 Three terrorists suspected to be a part of Al-Qaeda are arrested in Germany after allegedly planning attacks on both the Frankfurt International airport and US military installations.
- 1995 The 1995 Okinawa rape occurs when 3 US servicemen abduct and rape a schoolchild. This would cause widespread protest against the US military presence on the prefecture.
- 1975 The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the Arab–Israeli conflict is signed.
September 5 13
- 2012 An accidental explosion at a Turkish Army ammunition store in Afyon, western Turkey kills 25 soldiers and wounds four others.
- 1990 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers slaughter 158 civilians.
- 1972 Munich massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attacks and takes hostage 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. Two die in the attack and nine are murdered the following day.
September 6 9
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian war: Ukraine begins its Kharkiv counteroffensive, surprising Russian forces and retaking over 3,000 square kilometers of land, recapturing the entire Kharkiv Oblast west of the Oskil River, within the next week.
- 2007 Israel executes the air strike Operation Orchard to destroy a nuclear reactor in Syria.
- 1976 Cold War: Soviet Air Defence Forces pilot Viktor Belenko lands a Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate in Japan and requests political asylum in the United States; his request is granted.
September 7 8
- 2021 The National Unity Government of Myanmar declares a people's defensive war against the military junta during the Myanmar civil war.
- 1965 During an Indo-Pakistani War, China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
- 1965 Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlite, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula.
September 8 10
- 2025 Balçova police station shooting: Four people, including the perpetrator are killed an attack on a police station in Turkey.
- 2017 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announce the beginning of the Deir ez-Zor campaign, with the stated aim of eliminating the Islamic State (IS) from all areas north and east of the Euphrates.
- 1975 Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "I Am A Homosexual". He is given a general discharge, later upgraded to honorable.
September 9 9
- 2025 Several Russian drones incur on Polish airspace and are subsequently shot down, marking the first time a NATO member has engaged Russian military assets.
- 1990 Batticaloa massacre: Massacre of 184 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Army in Batticaloa District.
- 1970 A British airliner is hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and flown to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
September 10 13
- 2025 A liquefied petroleum gas tank truck overturns and explodes in Iztapalapa, Mexico City, killing 32 people and injuring 90 others.
- 2007 Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif returns to Pakistan after seven years in exile, following a military coup in October 1999.
- 2000 Operation Barras successfully frees six British soldiers held captive for over two weeks and contributes to the end of the Sierra Leone Civil War.
September 11 6
- 1982 The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Phalange forces.
- 1971 The Festival Rock y Ruedas de Avándaro rock festival is held in the State of Mexico. It attracted more than 100,000 attendees during the Mexican Dirty War, a period marked by widespread political repression.
- 1967 China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) launched an attack on Indian posts at Nathu La, Sikkim, India, which resulted in military clashes.
September 12 8
- 2005 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: the Israeli disengagement from Gaza is completed, leaving some 2,530 homes demolished.
- 2003 The United Nations lifts sanctions against Libya after that country agreed to accept responsibility and recompense the families of victims in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103.
- 2003 Iraq War: In Fallujah, U.S. forces mistakenly shoot and kill eight Iraqi police officers.
September 13 13
- 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.
- 1968 Cold War: Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.
- 1948 Deputy Prime Minister of India Vallabhbhai Patel orders the Army to move into Hyderabad to integrate it with the Indian Union.
September 14 12
- 2019 Yemen's Houthi rebels claim responsibility for an attack on Saudi Arabian oil facilities.
- 2003 Bissau-Guinean President Kumba Ialá is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General Veríssimo Correia Seabra.
- 1960 Congo Crisis: Mobutu Sese Seko seizes power in a military coup, suspending parliament and the constitution.
September 15 13
- 2017 The Parsons Green bombing takes place in London.
- 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.
- 1963 Baptist Church bombing: Four children are killed in the bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.
September 16 8
- 2022 During the Let Yet Kone massacre, the Burmese military kills 13 villagers, including eight children, after attacking a school in Sagaing Region, Myanmar.
- 1982 Lebanon War: The Sabra and Shatila massacre in Lebanon takes place.
- 1976 Night of the Pencils: In the city of La Plata, Argentina, a group of high-school students were kidnapped and later tortured, raped and murdered during the Argentinian military dictatorship
September 17 11
- 2016 Two bombs explode in Seaside Park, New Jersey, and Manhattan. Thirty-one people are injured in the Manhattan bombing.
- 1965 The Battle of Chawinda is fought between Pakistan and India.
- 1950 The People's Liberation Army Air Force Airborne Corps (Then known as the PLAAF 1st Ground Forces Brigade) is founded.
September 18 12
- 2016 The 2016 Uri attack in Jammu and Kashmir, India by terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed results in the deaths of nineteen Indian Army soldiers and all four attackers.
- 2015 Two security personnel, 17 worshippers in a mosque, and 13 militants are killed during a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attack on a Pakistan Air Force base on the outskirts of Peshawar.
- 1950 Korean War: U.S. Eighth Army and United Nations forces break out of the Pusan Perimeter in southeast Korea.
September 19 13
- 2023 Azerbaijan launches a military offensive against the Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region; this leads to the flight of the Armenian population.
- 2006 The Thai army stages a coup. The Constitution is revoked and martial law is declared.
- 1950 Korean War: An attack by North Korean forces was repelled at the Battle of Nam River.
September 20 11
- 2011 The United States military ends its "don't ask, don't tell" policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.
- 2008 A dump truck full of explosives detonates in front of the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing 54 people and injuring 266 others.
- 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".
September 21 2
- 2013 Al-Shabaab Islamic militants attack the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya, killing at least 67 people.
- 2012 Three Egyptian militants open fire on a group of Israeli soldiers in a southern Israel cross-border attack.
September 22 9
- 2013 At least 75 people are killed in a suicide bombing at a Christian church in Peshawar, Pakistan.
- 1995 The Nagerkovil school bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force in which at least 34 die, most of them ethnic Tamil schoolchildren.
- 1981 During a military exercise, a Turkish Air Force Northrop F-5 crashes in Babaeski as a result of pilot error, killing one crew member and also 65 soldiers on the ground.
September 23 10
- 1950 Korean War: The Battle of Hill 282 is the first US friendly-fire incident on British military personnel since World War II.
- 1942 World War II: The Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins: U.S. Marines attack Japanese units along the Matanikau River.
- 1918 World War I: British forces capture Haifa, Acre, and Es Salt from the Ottoman Empire.
September 24 2
- 1877 The Battle of Shiroyama is a decisive victory of the Imperial Japanese Army over the Satsuma Rebellion.
- 1846 Mexican–American War: General Zachary Taylor captures Monterrey.
September 25 10
- 1964 The Mozambican War of Independence against Portugal begins.
- 1962 The North Yemen Civil War begins when Abdullah al-Sallal dethrones the newly crowned Imam al-Badr and declares Yemen a republic under his presidency.
- 1957 Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, is integrated by the use of United States Army troops.
September 26 13
- 2010 The Philippine Bar exam bombing occurs near the De La Salle University in Taft Avenue, Manila injuring 47 people.
- 1983 Soviet Air Force officer Stanislav Petrov identifies a report of an incoming nuclear missile as a computer error and not an American first strike, thus preventing nuclear war.
- 1980 A terrorist bombing at the Oktoberfest in Munich, Germany, kills 13 people and injures 213 others.
September 27 6
- 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: Azerbaijan launches an offensive against the self-proclaimed Republic of Artsakh in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, inhabited predominantly by ethnic Armenians.
- 1996 The Battle of Kabul ends in a Taliban victory; an Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is established.
- 1944 World War II: The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a USAAF group on any mission during the war.
September 28 13
- 2009 The military junta leading Guinea attacks a protest rally, killing or wounding 1,400 people.
- 1975 The Spaghetti House siege, in which nine people are taken hostage, takes place in London.
- 1970 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser dies of a heart attack in Cairo.
September 29 10
- 2016 Eleven days after the Uri attack, the Indian Army conducts "surgical strikes" against suspected militants in Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
- 1981 An Iranian Air Force Lockheed C-130 Hercules military transport aircraft crashes into a firing range near Kahrizak, Iran, killing 80 people.
- 1941 During World War II, German forces, with the aid of local Ukrainian collaborators, begin the two-day Babi Yar massacre.
September 30 6
- 2000 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: Twelve-year-old Muhammad al-Durrah is shot and killed on the second day of the Second Intifada.
- 1944 World War II: the Germans commence a counter offensive to retake the Nijmegen salient, this having been captured by the allies during Operation Market Garden.
- 1941 World War II: The Babi Yar massacre comes to an end.
October 1 7
- 2024 Israel invaded Southern Lebanon, marking the fifth Israeli invasion of Lebanon since 1978.
- 2014 A double bombing of an elementary school in Homs, Syria kills over 50 people.
- 2001 Militants attack the state legislature building in Kashmir, killing 38.
October 2 10
- 2025 2 people are killed and at least 4 others injured in an attack on a synagogue in Manchester, UK, during Yom Kippur.
- 1992 Military police storm the Carandiru Penitentiary in São Paulo, Brazil during a prison riot. The resulting massacre leaves 111 prisoners dead.
- 1980 Michael Myers becomes the first member of either chamber of Congress to be expelled since the Civil War.
October 3 10
- 1993 An American attack against a warlord in Mogadishu fails; eighteen US soldiers and over 350 Somalis die.
- 1963 A violent coup in Honduras begins two decades of military rule.
- 1951 Korean War: The First Battle of Maryang San pits Commonwealth troops against communist Chinese troops.
October 4 11
- 2003 The Maxim restaurant suicide bombing in Israel kills twenty-one Israelis, both Jews and Arabs.
- 1993 Battle of Mogadishu occurs killing 18 U.S. Special Forces, two UN Peacekeepers and at least 600 Somalian militia men and civilians.
- 1992 The Rome General Peace Accords end a 16-year civil war in Mozambique.
October 5 6
- 1970 The British Trade Commissioner, James Cross, is kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec, triggering the October Crisis in Canada.
- 1943 World War II: Pacific Theater: Ninety-eight American POWs are executed by Japanese forces on Wake Island.
- 1914 World War I: An aircraft successfully destroys another aircraft with gunfire for the first time.
October 6 14
- 1976 Dozens are killed by Thai police and right-wing paramilitaries in the Thammasat University massacre; afterwards, the Seni Pramoj government is toppled in a military coup led by Sangad Chaloryu.
- 1973 Egypt and Syria launch coordinated attacks against Israel, beginning the Yom Kippur War.
- 1944 World War II: Units of the 1st Czechoslovak Army Corps enter Czechoslovakia during the Battle of the Dukla Pass.
October 7 11
- 2023 Hamas and several other Palestinian militant groups launch an attack into Israel, which results in the deaths of around 1,200, mostly civilians, and the taking of 251 hostages, including civilians and soldiers.
- 2007 The battle of Mirali begins in which the Pakistan Armed Forces and Taliban militias clash for four days.
- 2001 The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan begins with an air assault and covert operations on the ground, starting the longest war in American history.
October 8 14
- 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: Azerbaijan twice deliberately targets the Church of the Holy Savior Ghazanchetsots of Shusha.
- 1973 Yom Kippur War: Israel loses more than 150 tanks in a failed attack on Egyptian-occupied positions.
- 1944 World War II: Captain Bobbie E. Brown earns a Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Crucifix Hill, just outside Aachen.
October 9 9
- 2019 Turkey begins its military offensive in north-eastern Syria.
- 2016 The Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army launches its first attack on Myanmar security forces along the Bangladesh–Myanmar border.
- 1984 The popular children's television show Thomas The Tank Engine & Friends, based on The Railway Series by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry, premieres on ITV.
October 10 5
- 2002 Iraq War: The United States Congress approves the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002.
- 1980 The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is founded in El Salvador.
- 1970 Canada's October Crisis escalates when Quebec Vice Premier Pierre Laporte is kidnapped by members of the Front de libération du Québec.
October 11 10
- 2002 A bomb attack in the Myyrmanni shopping mall in Vantaa, Finland kills seven.
- 1982 The hull of the Mary Rose is recovered, over four hundred years after her sinking during the battle of the Solent.
- 1954 In accord with the 1954 Geneva Conference, French troops complete their withdrawal from North Vietnam.
October 12 5
- 1984 The Provisional Irish Republican Army fail to assassinate Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her cabinet. The bomb kills five people and wounds at least 31 others.
- 1970 Vietnam War: Vietnamization continues as President Richard Nixon announces that the United States will withdraw 40,000 more troops before Christmas.
- 1945 World War II: Desmond Doss is the first conscientious objector to receive the U.S. Medal of Honor.
October 13 8
- 1990 Syrian forces attack free areas of Lebanon, removing General Michel Aoun from the presidential palace.
- 1977 Hijacking of Lufthansa Flight 181 by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
- 1944 World War II: The Soviet Riga Offensive captures the city.
October 14 12
- 2015 A suicide bomb attack in Tonsa, Pakistan kills at least seven people and injures 13 others.
- 1998 Eric Rudolph is charged with six bombings, including the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta, Georgia.
- 1982 U.S. President Ronald Reagan proclaims a war on drugs.
October 15 6
- 1990 Soviet Union leader Mikhail Gorbachev is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to lessen Cold War tensions and open up his nation.
- 1979 A coup d'état in El Salvador overthrows President Carlos Humberto Romero and begins the 12 year-long Salvadoran Civil War.
- 1965 Vietnam War: A draft card is burned during an anti-war rally by the Catholic Worker Movement, resulting in the first arrest under a new law.
October 16 7
- 1975 Indonesian troops kill the Balibo Five, a group of Australian journalists, in Portuguese Timor.
- 1970 Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau invokes the War Measures Act during the October Crisis.
- 1953 Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro delivers his "History Will Absolve Me" speech, and is sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment by the Fulgencio Batista government for leading an attack on the Moncada Barracks.
October 17 8
- 2023 An explosion at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza kills hundreds of Palestinians during the Gaza war.
- 2018 A mass shooting and bombing at Kerch Polytechnic College in Crimea kills 21 people including the attacker and injures 70 others.
- 2017 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) capture the last foothold of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Raqqa, marking the end of the Battle of Raqqa.
October 18 13
- 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.
- 1977 German Autumn: A set of events revolving around the kidnapping of Hanns Martin Schleyer and the hijacking of a Lufthansa flight by the Red Army Faction (RAF) comes to an end when Schleyer is murdered and various RAF members allegedly commit suicide.
October 19 12
- 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.
- 1987 The United States Navy conducts Operation Nimble Archer, an attack on two Iranian oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.
- 1956 The Soviet Union and Japan sign a Joint Declaration, officially ending the state of war between the two countries that had existed since August 1945.
October 20 13
- 2017 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declare victory in the Raqqa campaign.
- 2011 Libyan Crisis: Rebel forces capture Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and his son Mutassim in his hometown of Sirte and kill them shortly thereafter, ending the first Libyan civil war.
- 1981 Two police officers and a Brink's armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground in Nanuet, New York.
October 21 11
- 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.
- 1967 The National Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam organizes a march of fifty thousand people from the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon.
- 1959 President Dwight D. Eisenhower approves the transfer of all US Army space-related activities to NASA, including most of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency.
October 22 6
- 2007 A raid on Anuradhapura Air Force Base is carried out by 21 Tamil Tiger commandos, with all except one dying in this attack. Eight Sri Lanka Air Force planes are destroyed and ten damaged.
- 1999 Maurice Papon, an official in the Vichy government during World War II, is jailed for crimes against humanity.
- 1947 The first Kashmir war begins after Pakistani forces invade Kashmir, allegedly to suppress a tribal rebellion.
October 23 13
- 2020 Second Libyan Civil War: The Second Libyan Civil War comes to an end as all parties to the 5+5 Joint Libyan Military Commission agree to a ceasefire.
- 2017 War against the Islamic State: Philippine defense secretary Delfin Lorenzana declares the end of the Siege of Marawi.
- 2011 The Libyan National Transitional Council deems the Libyan Civil War over.
October 24 12
- 2024 A 14 year old resident from Bosanska Krupa, Bosnia and Herzegovina initiated a terrorist attack on the local police station, killing one police officer and injuring another.
- 2004 Arsenal Football Club loses 2–0 to Manchester United in a match dubbed the Battle of the Buffet, ending their Premier League record 49-match unbeaten streak.
- 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.
October 25 12
- 1997 After a civil war, Denis Sassou Nguesso proclaims himself President of the Republic of the Congo.
- 1949 The Battle of Guningtou in the Taiwan Strait begins.
- 1944 World War II: Heinrich Himmler orders a crackdown on the Edelweiss Pirates, a loosely organized youth culture in Nazi Germany that had assisted army deserters and others to hide from the Third Reich.
October 26 10
- 2002 Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian special forces troops storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
- 1991 Three months after the end of the Ten-Day War, the last soldier of the Yugoslav People's Army leaves the territory of the Republic of Slovenia.
- 1955 After the last Allied troops have left the country, and following the provisions of the Austrian Independence Treaty, Austria declares that it will never join a military alliance.
October 27 11
- 2019 Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant founder and leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi kills himself and three children by detonating a suicide vest during the U.S. military Barisha raid in northwestern Syria.
- 1992 United States Navy radioman Allen R. Schindler, Jr. is murdered by shipmate Terry M. Helvey for being gay, precipitating debate about gays in the military that results in the United States' "Don't ask, don't tell" military policy.
- 1988 Cold War: Ronald Reagan suspends construction of the new U.S. Embassy in Moscow due to Soviet listening devices in the building structure.
October 28 7
- 2009 The 28 October 2009 Peshawar bombing kills 117 and wounds 213.
- 1956 Hungarian Revolution: A de facto ceasefire comes into effect between armed revolutionaries and Soviet troops, who begin to withdraw from Budapest. Communist officials and facilities come under attack by revolutionaries.
- 1940 World War II: Greece rejects Italy's ultimatum. Italy invades Greece through Albania a few hours later.
October 29 5
- 2022 At least 100 people are killed and over 300 are injured by a double car bombing in Mogadishu, Somalia.
- 1955 The Soviet battleship Novorossiysk sinks after probably striking a World War II mine in the harbor at Sevastopol, with a loss of more than 600 sailors.
- 1948 Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Safsaf massacre: Israeli soldiers capture the Palestinian village of Safsaf in the Galilee; afterwards, between 52 and 64 villagers are massacred by the IDF.
October 30 12
- 2023 First rescue of a prisoner during the Israeli invasion of Gaza.
- 2005 The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a thirteen-year rebuilding project.
- 1991 The Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Madrid Conference commences in an effort to revive peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
October 31 9
- 1973 Three Provisional Irish Republican Army members escape from Mountjoy Prison, Dublin aboard a hijacked helicopter that landed in the exercise yard.
- 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.
- 1956 Suez Crisis: The United Kingdom and France begin bombing Egypt to force the reopening of the Suez Canal.
November 1 11
- 2012 A fuel tank truck crashes and explodes in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, killing 26 people and injuring 135.
- 2001 Turkey, Australia, and Canada agree to commit troops to the invasion of Afghanistan.
- 1976 Burundian president Michel Micombero is deposed in a bloodless military coup d'état by deputy Jean-Baptiste Bagaza.
November 2 10
- 2022 A peace agreement is signed between the Ethiopian government and the Tigray People's Liberation Front, ending the Tigray War.
- 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.
- 1965 Norman Morrison, a 31-year-old Quaker, sets himself on fire in front of the river entrance to the Pentagon to protest the use of napalm in the Vietnam war.
November 3 11
- 1988 Sri Lankan Tamil mercenaries attempt to overthrow the Maldivian government. At President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom's request, the Indian military suppresses the rebellion within 24 hours.
- 1969 Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon addresses the nation on television and radio, asking the "silent majority" to join him in solidarity on the Vietnam War effort and to support his policies.
- 1967 Vietnam War: The Battle of Dak To begins.
November 4 14
- 2020 The Tigray War begins with Tigrayan rebels launching attacks on Ethiopian command centers.
- 1995 Israel-Palestinian conflict: Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated by an extremist Israeli.
- 1970 Vietnam War: The United States turns over control of the air base at Bình Thủy in the Mekong Delta to South Vietnam.
November 5 10
- 2009 U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan murders 13 and wounds 32 at Fort Hood, Texas in the deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. military installation.
- 1970 The Military Assistance Command, Vietnam reports the lowest weekly American soldier death toll in five years (24).
- 1956 Suez Crisis: British and French paratroopers land in Egypt after a week-long bombing campaign.
November 6 5
- 2016 Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces launch an offensive to capture the ISIL-held city of Raqqa.
- 1985 Colombian conflict: leftist guerrillas of the 19th of April Movement seize control of the Palace of Justice in Bogotá.
- 1943 World War II: The 1st Ukrainian Front liberates Kyiv from German occupation.
November 7 13
- 2017 Shamshad TV is attacked by gunmen and suicide bombers, with a security guard killed and 20 people wounded; ISIS claims responsibility for the attack.
- 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.
- 2000 The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration discovers one of the country's largest LSD labs inside a converted military missile silo in Wamego, Kansas.
November 8 9
- 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.
- 2006 Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Israeli Defense Force kill 19 Palestinian civilians in their homes during the shelling of Beit Hanoun.
- 2004 Iraq War: More than 10,000 U.S. troops and a small number of Iraqi army units participate in a siege on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
November 9 11
- 2020 Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: An armistice agreement is signed by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia.
- 2005 Suicide bombers attack three hotels in Amman, Jordan, killing at least 60 people.
- 1993 Stari Most, the "old bridge" in the Bosnian city of Mostar, built in 1566, collapses after several days of bombing by Croat forces during the Croat–Bosniak War.
November 10 10
- 2020 Armenia and Azerbaijan sign a ceasefire agreement, ending the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War, and prompting protests in Armenia.
- 2019 President of Bolivia Evo Morales and several of his government resign after 19 days of civil protests and a recommendation from the military.
- 1975 Israeli-Palestinian conflict: the United Nations General Assembly passes Resolution 3379, determining that Zionism is a form of racism.
November 11 15
- 2024 A vehicle-ramming attack in Zhuhai, China, kills 38 people and injures 48.
- 2022 Russo-Ukrainian War: Ukrainian armed forces enter the city of Kherson following a successful two-month southern counteroffensive.
- 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.
November 12 11
- 2014 An Armenian Mil Mi-24 attack helicopter is shot down by Azerbaijani forces, killing all three people on board.
- 2003 Iraq War: In Nasiriyah, Iraq, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base.
- 2001 War in Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, ahead of advancing Afghan Northern Alliance troops.
November 13 11
- 2015 Islamic State operatives carry out a series of coordinated terrorist attacks in Paris, including suicide bombings, mass shootings and a hostage crisis. The terrorists kill 130 people, making it the deadliest attack in France since the Second World War.
- 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.
- 1982 The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. after a march to its site by thousands of Vietnam War veterans.
November 14 7
- 2012 Israel launches a major military operation in the Gaza Strip in response to an escalation of rocket attacks by Hamas.
- 2001 War in Afghanistan: Afghan Northern Alliance fighters take over the capital Kabul.
- 1973 The Athens Polytechnic uprising, a massive demonstration of popular rejection of the Greek military junta of 1967–74, begins.
November 15 4
- 1988 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: An independent State of Palestine is proclaimed by the Palestinian National Council.
- 1969 Cold War: The Soviet submarine K-19 collides with the American submarine USS Gato in the Barents Sea.
- 1969 Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 250,000–500,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration against the war, including a symbolic "March Against Death".
November 16 4
- 1989 El Salvadoran army troops kill six Jesuit priests and two others at Jose Simeon Canas University.
- 1944 World War II: In support of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, the town of Düren is destroyed by Allied aircraft.
- 1940 World War II: In response to the leveling of Coventry by the German Luftwaffe two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.
November 17 9
- 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).
- 1983 The Zapatista Army of National Liberation is founded in Mexico.
November 18 6
- 1991 After an 87-day siege, the Croatian city of Vukovar capitulates to the besieging Yugoslav People's Army and allied Serb paramilitary forces.
- 1961 Vietnam War: United States President John F. Kennedy sends 18,000 military advisors to South Vietnam.
- 1943 World War II: In the first action of the Berlin Air Offensive, four hundred and forty Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.
November 19 9
- 2013 A double suicide bombing at the Iranian embassy in Beirut kills 23 people and injures 160 others.
- 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.
- 1985 Cold War: In Geneva, U.S. President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev meet for the first time.
November 20 13
- 2015 Following a hostage siege, at least 19 people are killed in Bamako, Mali.
- 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.)
- 1991 An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend District of Azerbaijan.
November 21 6
- 2002 Arturo Guzmán Decena, founder of Los Zetas and high-member of the Gulf Cartel, is killed in a shoot-out with the Mexican Army and the police.
- 1995 The Dayton Agreement is initialed at the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, near Dayton, Ohio, ending three and a half years of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
- 1971 Indian troops, partly aided by Mukti Bahini (Bengali guerrillas), defeat the Pakistan army in the Battle of Garibpur.
November 22 3
- 1943 World War II: Cairo Conference: U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and Chinese Premier Chiang Kai-shek meet in Cairo, Egypt, to discuss ways to defeat Japan.
- 1942 World War II: Battle of Stalingrad: General Friedrich Paulus sends Adolf Hitler a telegram saying that the German 6th Army is surrounded.
- 1940 World War II: Following the initial Italian invasion, Greek troops counterattack into Italian-occupied Albania and capture Korytsa.
November 23 8
- 2010 Bombardment of Yeonpyeong: North Korean artillery attack kills two civilians and two marines on Yeonpyeong Island, South Korea.
- 2006 A series of bombings kills at least 215 people and injures 257 others in Sadr City, making it the second deadliest sectarian attack since the beginning of the Iraq War in 2003.
- 1974 Sixty Ethiopian politicians, aristocrats, military officers, and other persons are executed by the provisional military government.
November 24 11
- 2017 A terrorist attack on a Mosque in Al-Rawda, North Sinai, Egypt kills 311 people and injures 128.
- 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.
- 2015 A terrorist attack on a hotel in Al-Arish, Egypt, kills at least seven people and injures 12 others.
November 25 11
- 1977 Former Senator Benigno Aquino Jr., is found guilty by the Philippine Military Commission No. 2 and is sentenced to death by firing squad. He is later assassinated in 1983.
- 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.
- 1973 Georgios Papadopoulos, head of the military Regime of the Colonels in Greece, is ousted in a hardliners' coup led by Brigadier General Dimitrios Ioannidis.
November 26 12
- 2011 NATO attack in Pakistan: NATO forces in Afghanistan attack a Pakistani check post in a friendly fire incident, killing 24 soldiers and wounding 13 others.
- 1986 The trial of John Demjanjuk, accused of committing war crimes as a guard at the Nazi Treblinka extermination camp, starts in Jerusalem.
- 1968 Vietnam War: United States Air Force helicopter pilot James P. Fleming rescues an Army Special Forces unit pinned down by Viet Cong fire. He is later awarded the Medal of Honor.
November 27 12
- 2009 Nevsky Express bombing: A bomb explodes on the Nevsky Express train between Moscow and Saint Petersburg, derailing it and causing 28 deaths and 96 injuries.
- 1992 For the second time in a year, military forces try to overthrow president Carlos Andrés Pérez in Venezuela.
- 1989 Avianca Flight 203: A Boeing 727 explodes in mid-air over Colombia, killing all 107 people on board and three people on the ground. The Medellín Cartel claimed responsibility for the attack.
November 28 13
- 2020 Over seven hundred civilians are massacred by the Ethiopian National Defense Force and Eritrean Army in Aksum, Ethiopia.
- 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.
- 1980 Iran–Iraq War: Operation Morvarid: The bulk of the Iraqi Navy is destroyed by the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf. (Commemorated in Iran as Navy Day.)
November 29 13
- 2007 The Armed Forces of the Philippines lay siege to the Peninsula Manila after soldiers led by Senator Antonio Trillanes stage a mutiny.
- 1986 The Surinamese military attacks the village of Moiwana during the Suriname Guerrilla War, killing at least 39 civilians, mostly women and children.
- 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 11
- 1981 Cold War: In Geneva, representatives from the United States and the Soviet Union begin to negotiate intermediate-range nuclear weapon reductions in Europe. (The meetings end inconclusively on December 17.)
- 1972 Vietnam War: White House Press Secretary Ron Ziegler tells the press that there will be no more public announcements concerning American troop withdrawals from Vietnam because troop levels are now down to 27,000.
- 1947 Civil War in Mandatory Palestine begins, leading up to the creation of the State of Israel and the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
December 1 11
- 1991 Cold War: Ukrainian voters overwhelmingly approve a referendum for independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1989 Philippine coup attempt: The right-wing military rebel Reform the Armed Forces Movement attempts to oust Philippine President Corazon Aquino in a failed bloody coup d'état.
- 1989 Cold War: East Germany's parliament abolishes the constitutional provision granting the Communist Party the leading role in the state.
December 2 12
- 2015 San Bernardino attack: Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik kill 14 people and wound 22 at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California.
- 1980 Salvadoran Civil War: Four American missionaries are raped and murdered by a death squad.
- 1975 Laotian Civil War: The Pathet Lao seizes the Laotian capital of Vientiane, forces the abdication of King Sisavang Vatthana, and proclaims the Lao People's Democratic Republic.
December 3 8
- 2022 Massive power outage after Moore County substation attack that leaves 45,000 people without power for five days, leading to an FBI probe.
- 2009 A suicide bombing at a hotel in Mogadishu, Somalia, kills 25 people, including three ministers of the Transitional Federal Government.
- 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 12
- 1992 Somali Civil War: President George H. W. Bush orders 28,000 U.S. troops to Somalia in Northeast Africa.
- 1984 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Army soldiers kill 107–150 civilians in Mannar.
- 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
- 2013 Militants attack a Defense Ministry compound in Sanaa, Yemen, killing at least 56 people and injuring 200 others.
- 1995 Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lanka's government announces the conquest of the Tamil stronghold of Jaffna.
- 1983 Dissolution of the Military Junta in Argentina.
December 6 11
- 2005 An Iranian Air Force C-130 military transport aircraft crashes into a ten-floor apartment building in a residential area of Tehran, killing all 94 on board and 12 more on the ground.
- 1991 Yugoslav Wars: In Croatia, forces of the Serb-dominated Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) heaviest bombardment of Dubrovnik during a siege of seven months.
- 1990 A military jet of the Italian Air Force, abandoned by its pilot after an on-board fire, crashed into a high school near Bologna, Italy, killing 12 students and injuring 88 other people.
December 7 10
- 2024 Battle of Damascus (2024): Syrian opposition forces enter the Rif Dimashq Governorate, reaching within 20 km of the capital Damascus.
- 2014 The annual furry convention Midwest FurFest is targeted in an unsolved chlorine gas attack.
- 1971 The Battle of Sylhet is fought between the Pakistani military and the Indian Army.
December 8 12
- 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.
- 1987 An Israeli army tank transporter kills four Palestinian refugees and injures seven others during a traffic accident at the Erez Crossing on the Israel–Gaza Strip border, which has been cited as one of the events which sparked the First Intifada.
December 9 12
- 2016 At least 57 people are killed and a further 177 injured when two schoolgirl suicide bombers attack a market area in Madagali, Adamawa, Nigeria in the Madagali suicide bombings.
- 1992 American troops land in Somalia for Operation Restore Hope.
- 1987 Israeli–Palestinian conflict: The First Intifada begins in the Gaza Strip and West Bank.
December 10 12
- 2019 The Ostrava hospital attack in the Czech Republic results in eight deaths, including the perpetrator.
- 2015 Rojava conflict: The Syrian Democratic Council is established in Dêrik, forming the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces in northeast Syria.
- 1995 The Israeli army withdraws from Nablus pursuant to the terms of Oslo Accord.
December 11 9
- 2017 New York City Subway bombing: A pipe bomb partially detonates in the New York City Subway, in the Times Square–42nd Street/Port Authority Bus Terminal. Four people are injured, including the perpetrator.
- 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.
- 1994 First Chechen War: Russian president Boris Yeltsin orders Russian troops into Chechnya.
December 12 7
- 1985 Arrow Air Flight 1285R, a McDonnell Douglas DC-8, crashes after takeoff in Gander, Newfoundland, killing all 256 people on board, including 236 members of the United States Army's 101st Airborne Division.
- 1969 The Piazza Fontana bombing; a bomb explodes at the headquarters of Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura (the National Agricultural Bank) in Piazza Fontana in Milan, Italy, killing 17 people and wounding 88. The same afternoon, three more bombs are detonated in Rome and Milan, and another is found unexploded.
- 1945 The People's Republic of Korea is outlawed in the South, by order of the United States Army Military Government in Korea.
December 13 10
- 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.
- 1989 The Troubles: Attack on Derryard checkpoint: The Provisional Irish Republican Army launches an attack on a British Army temporary vehicle checkpoint near Rosslea, Northern Ireland. Two British soldiers are killed and two others are wounded.
December 14 6
- 1998 Yugoslav Wars: The Yugoslav Army ambushes a group of Kosovo Liberation Army fighters attempting to smuggle weapons from Albania into Kosovo, killing 36.
- 1992 War in Abkhazia: Siege of Tkvarcheli: A helicopter carrying evacuees from Tkvarcheli is shot down, resulting in at least 52 deaths, including 25 children. The incident catalyses more concerted Russian military intervention on behalf of Abkhazia.
- 1981 Arab–Israeli conflict: Israel's Knesset ratifies the Golan Heights Law, extending Israeli law to the Golan Heights.
December 15 12
- 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.
- 1981 A suicide car bombing targeting the Iraqi embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, levels the embassy and kills 61 people, including Iraq's ambassador to Lebanon. The attack is considered the first modern suicide bombing.
- 1945 Occupation of Japan/Shinto Directive: General Douglas MacArthur orders that Shinto be abolished as the state religion of Japan.
December 16 11
- 2014 Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan militants attack an Army Public School in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 150 people, 132 of them schoolchildren.
- 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War and Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: The surrender of the Pakistan Army brings an end to both conflicts. This is commemorated annually as Victory Day in Bangladesh and Vijay Diwas in India respectively.
- 1944 World War II: The Battle of the Bulge begins with the surprise offensive of three German armies through the Ardennes forest.
December 17 6
- 2002 Second Congo War: The Congolese parties of the Inter Congolese Dialogue sign a peace accord which makes provision for transitional governance and legislative and presidential elections within two years.
- 1997 Peruvian internal conflict: Fourteen members of the Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement provoke a hostage crisis by taking over the Japanese embassy in Lima.
- 1973 Thirty passengers are killed in an attack by Palestinian terrorists on Rome's Leonardo da Vinci–Fiumicino Airport.
December 18 6
- 2005 The Chadian Civil War begins when rebel groups, allegedly backed by neighbouring Sudan, launch an attack in Adré.
- 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 World War II: XX Bomber Command responds to the Japanese Operation Ichi-Go offensive by dropping five hundred tons of incendiary bombs on a supply base in Hankow, China.
December 19 7
- 2016 A vehicular attack in Berlin, Germany, kills 12 and injures 56 people at a Christmas market.
- 1946 Start of the First Indochina War.
- 1941 World War II: Adolf Hitler appoints himself as head of the Oberkommando des Heeres.
December 20 9
- 1989 The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega.
- 1988 War on drugs: The United Nations agrees upon and promulgates the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, one of three major drug control treaties currently in force.
- 1970 Koza riot: After a series of hit-and-runs and other vehicular incidents involving American service personnel, roughly 5,000 Okinawans take to the streets, clashing with American law enforcement in protest against the U.S. occupation of Okinawa.
December 21 7
- 2004 Iraq War: A suicide bomber kills 22 at the forward operating base next to the main U.S. military airfield at Mosul, Iraq, the single deadliest suicide attack on American soldiers in Iraq.
- 1973 The Geneva Conference on the Arab–Israeli conflict opens.
- 1941 World War II: A Thai-Japanese Pact of Alliance is signed.
December 22 9
- 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.
- 1997 Somali Civil War: Hussein Farrah Aidid relinquishes the disputed title of President of Somalia by signing the Cairo Declaration, in Cairo, Egypt. It is the first major step towards reconciliation in Somalia since 1991.
December 23 12
- 2025 The crash of Harmony Jets Flight 185 killed all eight people on board, including the Libyan Army chief Mohammed al-Haddad in Ankara, Turkey.
- 2015 A bomb explodes at Istanbul's Sabiha Gökçen Airport, killing one airport cleaner. The Kurdistan Freedom Hawks claim responsibility for the attack four days later.
- 1979 Soviet–Afghan War: Soviet Union forces occupy Kabul, the Afghan capital.
December 24 13
- 2021 Burmese military forces commit the Mo So massacre, killing at least 44 civilians.
- 2008 The Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan rebel group, begins a series of attacks against civilians in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, massacring more than 400.
- 2005 Chad–Sudan relations: Chad declares a state of belligerence against Sudan following a December 18 attack on Adré, which left about 100 people dead.
December 25 5
- 1941 World War II: Battle of Hong Kong ends, beginning the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong.
- 1915 The National Protection War breaks out against the Empire of China, as military leaders Cai E and Tang Jiyao proclaim the independence of Yunnan and begin a campaign to restore the Republic.
- 1914 World War I: A series of unofficial truces occur across the Western Front to celebrate Christmas.
December 26 8
- 1991 The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union meets and formally dissolves the Soviet Union, ending the Cold War.
- 1972 Vietnam War: As part of Operation Linebacker II, 120 American B-52 Stratofortress bombers attacked Hanoi, including 78 launched from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, the largest single combat launch in Strategic Air Command history.
- 1948 The last Soviet troops withdraw from North Korea.
December 27 6
- 1983 Pope John Paul II visits Mehmet Ali Ağca in Rebibbia's prison and personally forgives him for the 1981 attack on him in St. Peter's Square.
- 1939 Winter War: Finland holds off a Soviet attack in the Battle of Kelja.
- 1918 Ukrainian War of Independence: The Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine occupies Yekaterinoslav and seizes seven airplanes from the UPRAF, establishing an Insurgent Air Fleet.
December 28 8
- 2009 Forty-three people die in a suicide bombing in Karachi, Pakistan, where Shia Muslims are observing the Day of Ashura.
- 2006 War in Somalia: The militaries of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian troops capture Mogadishu unopposed.
- 1972 The last scheduled day for induction into the military by the Selective Service System. Due to the fact that President Richard Nixon declared this day a national day of mourning due to former President Harry S Truman's death, approximately 300 men were not able to report due to most Federal offices being closed. Since the draft was not resumed in 1973, they were never drafted.
December 29 8
- 2013 A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kills at least 18 people and wounds 40 others.
- 1996 Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war.
- 1940 World War II: in the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, killing almost 200 civilians.
December 30 7
- 2013 More than 100 people are killed when anti-government forces attack key buildings in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- 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.
- 1972 Vietnam War: Operation Linebacker II ends.
December 31 7
- 2015 A fire breaks out at the Downtown Address Hotel in Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates, located near the Burj Khalifa, two hours before the fireworks display is due to commence. Sixteen injuries were reported; one had a heart attack, another suffered a major injury, and fourteen others with minor injuries.
- 1994 The First Chechen War: The Russian Ground Forces begin a New Year's storming of Grozny.
- 1965 Jean-Bédel Bokassa, leader of the Central African Republic army, and his military officers begin a coup d'état against the government of President David Dacko.