1898 - Émile Zola's famous open letter "J'accuse…!" was published in the newspaper L'Aurore, defending Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer wrongly convicted of treason in France. This event was a pivotal moment in the Dreyfus Affair.
1915 - An earthquake in Avezzano, Italy, killed over 30,000 people, making it one of the deadliest earthquakes in European history.