- 1781 – Britain’s Lord Charles Cornwallis surrendered to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va., effectively ending the American Revolutionary War.
- 1789 – John Jay was sworn in as the first chief justice of the Supreme Court.
- 1812 – Napoleon Bonaparte’s army began its long, disastrous retreat from Moscow.
- 1933 – Germany withdraws from the League of Nations.
- 1960 – The U.S. imposes a near-total trade embargo against Cuba.
- 1973 – President Richard Nixon rejects an Appeals Court decision that he turn over the Watergate tapes.
- 1987 – Black Monday: The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 22%.
- 2005 – Saddam Hussein went on trial in Baghdad on charges of crimes against humanity during his reign as president of Iraq.
