15 September 719

A homemade bomb partially exploded on an eastbound District line train at Parsons Green tube station in West London, injuring 30 passengers.

The Belarusian serial killer Ivan Kulesh murdered two saleswomen in Lida.

Financial crisis of 2007–2008: The global financial services firm Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy while holding over $600 billion in assets, the largest such filing in U.S. history.

Three armed members of the Croatian National Resistance hijacked Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130 in an attempt to force the release of those arrested for the assassination of the Yugoslav ambassador the previous year.

The Ku Klux Klan bombed the 16th Street Baptist Church, an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, killing four girls and injuring at least 14 other people (memorial march pictured).

The scene in The Seven Year Itch of Marilyn Monroe standing in a white dress over a subway grate was filmed by Billy Wilder.

World War II: The Greek People's Liberation Army won the Battle of Meligalas and began the execution of many prisoners of war and civilians.

World War II: American and Australian forces landed on the Japanese-occupied island of Morotai.

Nazi Germany enacted the Nuremberg Laws (pictured), which deprived Jews of their citizenship.

Tanks (example pictured), the "secret weapons" of the British Army during the First World War, were first used in combat at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette in France.

American Civil War: Confederate forces captured the Union garrison at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, taking more than 12,000 prisoners.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway (L&M) (depicted), the first locomotive-hauled railway to connect two major cities, opened with the Duke of Wellington in attendance.

The Province of Guatemala proclaimed the independence of Central America from the Spanish Empire.

French Revolutionary Wars: Great Britain seized the Dutch Cape Colony to use its facilities against the French Navy.

French playwright Olympe de Gouges published the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Female Citizen, hoping to expose the failures of the French Revolution in the recognition of gender equality.

American Revolutionary War: British forces made an unopposed amphibious landing at Kips Bay on Manhattan, the American defenders having fled due to artillery fire.

The Ottoman conquest of Lesbos ended upon the surrender of commander Niccolò Gattilusio; the conquering Mehmed II executed 300 Italian soldiers by chopping them in half, claiming he was fulfilling a promise to "spare their heads".

Signing of the Bahrain–Israel normalization agreement occurs in Washington, D.C., normalizing relations between Israel and two Arab nations, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

The Parsons Green bombing takes place in London.

Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history.

National Hockey League commissioner Gary Bettman announces lockout of the players' union and cessation of operations by the NHL head office.

During a CART race at the Lausitzring in Germany, former Formula One driver Alex Zanardi suffers a heavy accident resulting in him losing both his legs.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 2133 crashes at Tawau Airport in Malaysia, killing 34.

Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.