Events on September 27 50
Year 1066
William the Conqueror and his army set sail from the mouth of the River Somme, beginning the Norman conquest of England.
Year 1331
The Battle of Płowce between the Kingdom of Poland and the Teutonic Order is fought.
Year 1422
After the brief Gollub War the Teutonic Knights sign the Treaty of Melno with the Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Year 1590
Pope Urban VII dies 13 days after being chosen as the Pope, making his reign the shortest papacy in history.
Year 1605
The armies of Sweden are defeated by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the Battle of Kircholm.
Year 1669
The Venetians surrender the fortress of Candia to the Ottomans, thus ending the 21-year-long Siege of Candia.
Year 1777
American Revolutionary War: Lancaster, Pennsylvania becomes the capital of the United States, for one day after the Second Continental Congress evacuates Philadelphia to avoid invading British forces.
Year 1779
The Continental Congress appoints John Adams to travel to France as minister plenipotentiary in charge of negotiating treaties of peace and commerce with Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War.
Year 1825
The world's first public railway to use steam locomotives, the Stockton and Darlington Railway, is ceremonially opened.
Year 1854
The steamship SS Arctic sinks with 300 people on board. This marks the first great disaster in the Atlantic Ocean.
Year 1903
The Wreck of the Old 97, an American rail disaster that became the subject of a popular ballad.
Year 1905
The physics journal Annalen der Physik received Albert Einstein's paper, "Does the Inertia of a Body Depend Upon Its Energy Content?", introducing the equation E=mc².
Year 1908
The first production of the Ford Model T automobile was built at the Ford Piquette Avenue Plant in Detroit, Michigan.
Year 1916
Iyasu V is proclaimed deposed as ruler of Ethiopia in a palace coup in favor of his aunt Zewditu.
Year 1922
King Constantine I of Greece abdicates his throne in favor of his eldest son, George II.
Year 1930
Bobby Jones wins the U.S. Amateur Championship to complete the Grand Slam of golf. The old structure of the grand slam was the U.S. Open, The Open Championship, U.S. Amateur, and British Amateur.
Year 1940
World War II: The Tripartite Pact is signed in Berlin by Germany, Japan and Italy.
Year 1941
The National Liberation Front (Greece) is established and Georgios Siantos is appointed acting leader.
Year 1941
The SS Patrick Henry is launched becoming the first of more than 2,700 Liberty ships.
Year 1942
Last day of the September Matanikau action on Guadalcanal as United States Marine Corps troops barely escape after being surrounded by Japanese forces near the Matanikau River.
Year 1944
The Kassel Mission results in the largest loss by a USAAF group on any mission in World War II.
Year 1949
The first Plenary Session of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference approves the design of the Flag of the People's Republic of China.
Year 1954
The nationwide debut of Tonight Starring Steve Allen (The Tonight Show) hosted by Steve Allen on NBC.
Year 1956
USAF Captain Milburn G. Apt becomes the first man to exceed Mach 3 while flying the Bell X-2. Shortly thereafter, the craft goes out of control and Captain Apt is killed.
Year 1962
Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring is published, inspiring an environmental movement and the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Year 1964
The British TSR-2 aircraft XR219 makes its maiden flight from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire.
Year 1968
The stage musical Hair opens at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London, where it played 1,998 performances until its closure was forced by the roof collapsing in July 1973.
Year 1975
The last use of capital punishment in Spain sees the executions of five members of militant organisations, sparking worldwide protests against the Spanish government and the withdrawal of numerous ambassadors.
Year 1979
The United States Department of Education receives final approval from the U.S. Congress to become the 13th US Cabinet agency.
Year 1983
Richard Stallman announces the GNU Project to develop a free Unix-like operating system.
Year 1988
National League for Democracy is formed by Aung San Suu Kyi and various others to help fight against dictatorship in Myanmar.
Year 1996
In Afghanistan, the Taliban capture the capital city Kabul after driving out President Burhanuddin Rabbani and executing former leader Mohammad Najibullah.
Year 1996
The Julie N., a tanker ship, spills thousands of gallons of oil after crashing into the Million Dollar Bridge in Portland, Maine.
Year 1998
The Google internet search engine retroactively claims this date as its birthday.
Year 2001
Zug massacre: In Zug, Switzerland, Friedrich Leibacher shoots 18 citizens, killing 14 and then himself.
Year 2008
CNSA astronaut Zhai Zhigang becomes the first Chinese person to perform a spacewalk while flying on Shenzhou 7.
Year 2012
A mass shooting takes place at Accent Signage Systems, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, killing six people, including the gunman who committed suicide, and wounding two others.