15 September on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

The Byzantine army under Belisarius enters Carthage following their victory over the Vandals at Ad Decimum.

Consecration of pope Boniface IV following his approval by the Byzantine emperor.

Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes.

Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by Jean de Malestroit, Bishop of Nantes.

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".

Appearance of the miraculous portrait of Saint Dominic in Soriano in Soriano Calabro, Calabria, Italy; commemorated as a feast day by the Roman Catholic Church 1644–1912.

Departing from Vlissingen, ex-Holy Roman Emperor Charles V returns to Spain.

Seven Years' War: Battle of Signal Hill.

American Revolutionary War: British forces successfully land at Kip's Bay, forcing the Continental Army, which was already withdrawing from New York City, to cede control of the lower half of Manhattan Island.

The United States "Department of Foreign Affairs", established by law in July, is renamed the Department of State and given a variety of domestic duties.

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.

French Revolutionary Wars: Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) sees his first combat at the Battle of Boxtel during the Flanders Campaign.

Britain seizes the Dutch Cape Colony in southern Africa to prevent its use by the Batavian Republic.

The Grande Armée under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow during the failed French invasion of Russia.

War of 1812: A second supply train sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.

Followers of the Eight Trigram Sect loyal to Lin Qing attack the Forbidden City in a failed attempt to oust the Jiaqing Emperor of the Qing dynasty.

HMS Whiting runs aground on the Doom Bar.

Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal.

The Captaincy General of Guatemala declares independence from Spain.

The Liverpool to Manchester railway line opens; British MP William Huskisson becomes the first widely reported railway passenger fatality when he is struck and killed by the locomotive Rocket.

HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands. The ship lands at Chatham or San Cristobal, the easternmost of the archipelago.

American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia.

Franco-Prussian War: The last Imperial German Army troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity.

First Sino-Japanese War: Japan defeats the Qing dynasty in the Battle of Pyongyang, causing the Qing army to withdraw to the Chinese border with Korea.

New Culture Movement: Chen Duxiu establishes the New Youth magazine in Shanghai.

World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.

World War I: Allied troops break through the Bulgarian defenses on the Macedonian front.

Nazi Germany adopts a new national flag bearing the swastika.

Nazi Germany announces two new laws related to race and the rights of Jews. These became known as the Nuremberg Race Laws.

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

World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Luftwaffe launches its largest and most concentrated attack of the entire campaign.

World War II: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp is sunk by Japanese torpedoes at Guadalcanal.

Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.

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

World War II: The Battle of Peleliu begins as the United States Marine Corps' 1st Marine Division and the United States Army's 81st Infantry Division hit White and Orange beaches under heavy fire from Japanese infantry and artillery.

A hurricane strikes southern Florida and the Bahamas, destroying 366 airplanes and 25 blimps at Naval Air Station Richmond.

Typhoon Kathleen hits the Kantō region, in Japan killing around 1,000-2,000 people.

The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h).

The Indian Army captures the towns of Jalna, Latur, Mominabad, Surriapet and Narkatpalli as part of Operation Polo.

Korean War: The U.S. X Corps lands at Inchon.

The United Nations cedes Eritrea to Ethiopia.

Marilyn Monroe's iconic skirt scene is shot during filming for The Seven Year Itch.

A Central Railroad of New Jersey commuter train runs through an open drawbridge at the Newark Bay, killing 48.

Nikita Khrushchev becomes the first Soviet leader to visit the United States.

The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Baptist Church bombing: Four children are killed in the bombing of an African-American church in Birmingham, Alabama, United States.

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.

The Soviet Zond 5 spaceship is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere.

The first Greenpeace ship departs from Vancouver to protest against the upcoming Cannikin nuclear weapon test in Alaska.

A Scandinavian Airlines System domestic flight from Gothenburg to Stockholm is hijacked and flown to Malmö Bulltofta Airport.

Air Vietnam Flight 706 is hijacked, then crashes while attempting to land with 75 on board.

The French department of "Corse" (the entire island of Corsica) is divided into two: Haute-Corse (Upper Corsica) and Corse-du-Sud (Southern Corsica).

At the Superdome in New Orleans, Muhammad Ali outpoints Leon Spinks in a rematch to become the first boxer to win the world heavyweight title three times.

The John Bull becomes the oldest operable steam locomotive in the world when the Smithsonian Institution operates it under its own power outside Washington, D.C.

The Senate Judiciary Committee unanimously approves Sandra Day O'Connor to become the first female justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

Israeli premier Menachem Begin resigns.

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

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.

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

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

Four miners are killed in the Gleision Colliery mining accident in the Swansea Valley, Wales.

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

The Parsons Green bombing takes place in London.

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.

Marco Polo, Italian merchant and explorer (died 1324)

Agatha Christie, English crime novelist, short story writer, and playwright (died 1976)

William Howard Taft, American lawyer, jurist, and politician, 27th President of the United States (died 1930)

François de La Rochefoucauld, French soldier and author (died 1680)

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Nigerian author

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex

James Fenimore Cooper, American novelist, short story writer, and historian (died 1851)

Murray Gell-Mann, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2019)

Robert Fico, Slovak academic and politician, 14th Prime Minister of Slovakia

Tom Hardy, English actor, producer, and screenwriter

Oliver Stone, American director, screenwriter, and producer

Tommy Lee Jones, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter

Porfirio Díaz, Mexican general and politician, 29th President of Mexico (died 1915)

Jean Renoir, French actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (died 1979)

Umberto II of Italy (died 1983)

Queen Letizia of Spain, Queen Consort of King Felipe VI of Spain

Robert Lucas Jr., American economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2023)

Viktor Zubkov, Russian businessman and politician, 37th Prime Minister of Russia

Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist and soldier (died 1960)

Flórián Albert, Hungarian footballer and manager (died 2011)

Johan Neeskens, Dutch footballer and manager (died 2024)

Eiður Guðjohnsen, Icelandic footballer

David Raya, Spanish footballer

Charles de Foucauld, French priest and martyr (died 1916)

Fernando de la Rúa, Argentinian lawyer and politician, 51st President of Argentina (died 2019)

Hrant Dink, Turkish journalist (died 2007)

Fay Wray, Canadian-American actress (died 2004)

Adolfo Bioy Casares, Argentinian journalist and author (died 1999)

Jean Sylvain Bailly, French astronomer, mathematician, and politician, 1st Mayor of Paris (died 1793)

Jean-Pierre Serre, French mathematician and academic

Carmen Maura, Spanish actress

Mary of Hungary, Dutch ruler (died 1558)

Jessye Norman, American soprano (died 2019)

Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland, Swedish prince

Ettore Bugatti, Italian-French businessman, founded Bugatti (died 1947)

Mirosław Hermaszewski, Polish general, pilot and cosmonaut (died 2022)

Alexander Butlerov, Russian chemist and academic (died 1886)

Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, Bengali novelist (died 1938)

Sophia Dorothea of Celle (died 1726)

Jackie Cooper, American actor (died 2011)

Shohei Imamura, Japanese director, producer, and screenwriter (died 2006)

Joseph Lyons, Australian educator and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Australia (died 1939)

Bruno Walter, German-American pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1962)

Jacques Becker, French actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1960)

Cannonball Adderley, American saxophonist and bandleader (died 1975)

Hans-Gert Pöttering, German lawyer and politician, 23rd President of the European Parliament

Chelsea Kane, American actress and singer

Dennis Schröder, German basketball player

Robert Benchley, American humorist, newspaper columnist, and actor (died 1945)

Aaron Mooy, Australian footballer

M. Visvesvaraya, Indian engineer, scholar, and Bharat Ratna Laureate, Diwan of the Mysore Kingdom (died 1962)

Josh Charles, American actor and director

Creighton Abrams, American general (died 1974)

Yuriy Norshteyn, Russian animator, director, and screenwriter

Dan Marino, American football player and sportscaster

Carlos Ruiz, Guatemalan footballer

Oskar Klein, Swedish physicist and academic (died 1977)

Maggie Reilly, Scottish singer-songwriter

Gunnar Ekelöf, Swedish poet and author (died 1968)

Mauro Piacenza, Italian cardinal