September 13 in history — What Happened Today in History

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

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

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

Chairman Mao Zedong's second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees China after the failure of an alleged coup. His plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.

Cold War: Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.

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

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

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

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

The dike around the Dutch polder East Flevoland is closed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Alice Merton, Irish-Canadian singer and songwriter

Darren Waller, American football player

Ksenia Afanasyeva, Russian gymnast

Craig Cunningham, Canadian ice hockey player

Aoi Nakabeppu, Japanese model and actress

Luciano Narsingh, Dutch footballer

Elysée Irié Bi Séhi, Ivorian footballer

Kenny Edwards, New Zealand rugby league player

Jon Mannah, Australian rugby league player (died 2013)

Thomas Müller, German footballer

William Owusu, Ghanaian footballer

Luis Rentería, Panamanian footballer (died 2014)

Keith Treacy, Irish footballer

Benjamin Adekunle, Nigerian general (born 1936)

Helen Filarski, American baseball player (born 1924)

Milan Galić, Serbian footballer (born 1938)

Frank Torre, American baseball player and manager (born 1931)

Olusegun Agagu, Nigerian politician, 15th Governor of Ondo State (born 1948)

Robert J. Behnke, American biologist and academic (born 1929)

Rick Casares, American football player (born 1931)

Luiz Gushiken, Brazilian trade union leader and politician (born 1950)

William Duckworth, American composer and author (born 1943)

Peter Lougheed, Canadian football player, lawyer, and politician, 10th Premier of Alberta (born 1928)

Edgar Metcalfe, English-Australian actor and director (born 1933)

Ranganath Misra, Indian lawyer and jurist, 21st Chief Justice of India (born 1926)

Lehri, (Actual name:Safirullah Siddiqui), Pakistani comedian and an actor in the Urdu film industry of Pakistan (born 1929)