On this day: 5 September

On the first day of the battle of Frigidus, the Western Roman troops of Arbogast manage to defend their positions against the Eastern Roman troops of emperor Theodosius I.

Liu Yan declared himself emperor, establishing the state of Southern Han at his capital of Panyu (present-day Guangzhou) in southern China.

The Decretals of Gregory IX, a new canonical collection assembled by Raymond of Peñafort, are promulgated.

Swa Saw Ke became the ruler of the Kingdom of Ava in Upper Myanmar.

Swa Saw Ke became the ruler of the Kingdom of Ava in Upper Myanmar.

In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.

Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.

Olympe de Gouges writes the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen.

French Revolution: The French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.

Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law.

War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.

Facing rising discontent in France, Louis XVIII was forced to dissolve the Chambre introuvable, the legislature dominated by Ultra-royalists.

Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.

American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia crosses the Potomac River at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign.

American Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.

The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.

Under the mediation of U.S. president Theodore Roosevelt, the Russo-Japanese War officially ended with the signing of a treaty at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.

The Zimmerwald Conference, the first of three international socialist conferences forming the Zimmerwald movement, opened in Switzerland.

The Casablanca Fair (poster pictured) opened in the French protectorate in Morocco.

The Casablanca Fair (poster pictured) opened in the French protectorate in Morocco.

The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.

Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls to the Nationalists following a one-day siege.

World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, the first major Japanese defeat in land warfare during the Pacific War.

World War II: American and Australian airborne forces landed at Nadzab as part of the New Guinea campaign against Japan.

World War II: American and Australian airborne forces landed at Nadzab as part of the New Guinea campaign against Japan.

World War II: In the Pacific Theater, the 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Lae Nadzab Airport, near Lae during the Salamaua–Lae campaign.

Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.

In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister; as such, he is the French negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II.

Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay) wins the gold medal in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.

Poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is the first elected President of Senegal.

End of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses.

Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: The United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên–Huế Province.

NASA launched the space probe Voyager 1, currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

NASA launched the space probe Voyager 1, currently the farthest spacecraft from Earth, from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace discussions at Camp David, Maryland.

The Gotthard Road Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi) stretching from Göschenen to Airolo.

STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.

The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, comes into force.

The President of Guinea, Alpha Condé is captured by armed forces during a coup d'état.