1737 - Earthquake kills 300,000 and destroys half of Calcutta, India
1797 - Battle of Camperdown (Kamperduin): British navy defeats Dutch fleet
1945 - Chinese civil war begins between Kuomintang government led by Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s Communist Party
1962 - Second Vatican Council (21st ecumenical) convened by Pope John XXIII
1986 - Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev open talks at a summit …
