September 15

Gilles de Rais, a French nobleman and early documented serial killer, is arrested following accusations from a local bishop.

French nobleman and former companion of Joan of Arc, Gilles de Rais was arrested after a local bishop accused him of kidnapping, torturing, and murdering dozens of children on his estates, a case that culminated in his execution and remains one of history's most notorious documented cases of serial killing.

Former Holy Roman Emperor Charles V departs the Netherlands to retire in Spain following his abdication.

Having formally abdicated his vast holdings in favor of his son Philip II and brother Ferdinand, the exhausted former emperor sailed from the Netherlands to Spain, where he spent his final years in a monastery, ending one of the largest personal empires in European history.

British forces land at Kip's Bay in Manhattan, forcing a Continental Army withdrawal during the American Revolutionary War.

British warships landed troops at Kip's Bay on Manhattan's East River, catching American defenders by surprise and forcing General Washington's Continental Army to abandon New York City, a significant early setback in the war that nonetheless allowed the bulk of Washington's forces to escape northward.

The Liverpool and Manchester Railway opens, and British MP William Huskisson becomes the first widely reported railway passenger fatality.

England's first inter-city passenger railway opened between Liverpool and Manchester, but the celebratory occasion turned tragic when prominent MP William Huskisson was struck and killed by an oncoming locomotive, becoming the first widely publicized railway fatality and a sobering reminder of the new technology's dangers.

HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galapagos Islands.

The British survey ship HMS Beagle, carrying the young naturalist Charles Darwin, arrived at the remote volcanic Galapagos Islands, where Darwin's observations of the unique wildlife found there later proved crucial to his development of the theory of evolution by natural selection.

Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia, during the Civil War's Maryland Campaign.

Confederate forces under Stonewall Jackson captured the federal arsenal town of Harpers Ferry along with over 12,000 Union soldiers during General Lee's first invasion of the North, a significant Confederate success that occurred just days before the pivotal Battle of Antietam.

Tanks are used in battle for the first time, at the Battle of the Somme.

British forces deployed the newly developed tank in combat for the first time during the ongoing Battle of the Somme, an experimental armored vehicle intended to break the grinding stalemate of trench warfare, though early mechanical unreliability limited its immediate tactical impact.

The Luftwaffe launches its largest attack during the Battle of Britain, a day still commemorated as Battle of Britain Day.

The German Luftwaffe launched its largest and most concentrated bombing raid against London during the Battle of Britain, a decisive engagement in which the Royal Air Force inflicted heavy losses on the attacking force, a turning point now commemorated annually in Britain as Battle of Britain Day.

U.S. forces land at Inchon during the Korean War, a turning point in the conflict.

General Douglas MacArthur orchestrated a daring amphibious landing behind North Korean lines at the port city of Inchon, a high-risk operation that succeeded in cutting off North Korean forces and dramatically reversing the momentum of the early Korean War in favor of United Nations forces.

Lehman Brothers files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the largest bankruptcy filing in U.S. history and a defining moment of the global financial crisis.

The collapse of the major investment bank Lehman Brothers, unable to secure a bailout or buyer amid the unfolding subprime mortgage crisis, marked the largest bankruptcy filing in American history and triggered a severe worsening of the global financial crisis, plunging markets into turmoil worldwide.