21 Shahrivar 1375 | Wednesday 11 September 1996

This day in four calendars

1708 (318 years ago) Charles XII of Sweden stops his march to conquer Moscow outside Smolensk, marking the turning point in the Great Northern War. The army is defeated nine months later in the Battle of Poltava, and the Swedish Empire ceases to be a major power.
1709 (317 years ago) Battle of Malplaquet: Great Britain, Netherlands, and Austria fight against France.
1881 (145 years ago) In the Swiss state of Glarus, a rockslide buries parts of the village of Elm, destroying 83 buildings and killing 115 people.
1973 (53 years ago) A coup in Chile, headed by General Augusto Pinochet, topples the democratically elected president Salvador Allende.
1982 (44 years ago) The international forces that were guaranteeing the safety of Palestinian refugees following Israel's 1982 Invasion of Lebanon leave Beirut. Five days later, several thousand refugees are massacred in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Phalange forces.
1985 (41 years ago) Moimenta-Alcafache train crash, the worst railway accident to occur in Portugal.
2012 (14 years ago) A total of 315 people are killed in two garment factory fires in Pakistan.
2015 (11 years ago) A crane collapses onto the Masjid al-Haram mosque in Saudi Arabia, killing 111 people and injuring 394 others.

1862 (164 years ago) O. Henry, American short story writer (died 1910)
1885 (141 years ago) D. H. Lawrence, English novelist, poet, playwright, and critic (died 1930)
1903 (123 years ago) Theodor Adorno, German sociologist and philosopher (died 1969)
1917 (109 years ago) Ferdinand Marcos, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 10th President of the Philippines (died 1989)
1945 (81 years ago) Franz Beckenbauer, German footballer and manager (died 2024)
1965 (61 years ago) Bashar al-Assad, Syrian politician, 21st President of Syria
1967 (59 years ago) Sung Jae-gi, South Korean activist, founded Man of Korea (died 2013)
1982 (44 years ago) Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Belarusian politician

1733 (293 years ago) François Couperin, French organist and composer (born 1668)
1823 (203 years ago) David Ricardo, English economist and politician (born 1772)
1948 (78 years ago) Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistani lawyer and politician, 1st Governor-General of Pakistan (born 1876)
1971 (55 years ago) Nikita Khrushchev, Russian general and politician (born 1894)
1973 (53 years ago) Salvador Allende, Chilean physician and politician, 29th President of Chile (born 1908)
1994 (32 years ago) Jessica Tandy, English-American actress (born 1909)
2019 (7 years ago) B. J. Habibie, 3rd President of Indonesia (born 1936)
2024 (2 years ago) Alberto Fujimori, Peruvian politician, professor, and engineer, President of Peru (born 1938)