Tuesday, July 31, 2012
July 31st in History
1009 - Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.
1492 - The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.
1588 - The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.
1655 - Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): the Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.
1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
1932 - The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
1991 - The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.
2006 - Fidel Castro hands over power to brother Raúl Castro.
Famous Birthdays:
1835 - Paul du Chaillu, explorer
1892 - Joseph Charbonneau, Roman Catholic Archbishop
1912 - Milton Friedman, economist
1918 - Paul D. Boyer, chemist
1929 - Don Murray, actor
1935 - Geoffrey Lewis, actor
1957 - Dirk Blocker, actor
1970 - Andrzej Kobylański, footballer
1985 - Daniel Ciofani, footballer
Monday, July 30, 2012
July 30th in History
762 - Baghdad is founded by caliph Al-Mansur.
1629 - An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.
1656 - Swedish forces under the command of King Charles X Gustav defeat the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Warsaw.
1825 - Malden Island (Independence Island) was discovered by captain George Byron, 7th Baron Byron.
1930 - In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup.
1980 - Vanuatu gains independence.
2006 - The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.
Famous Birthdays:
1818 - Jan Heemskerk, Prime Minister of the Netherlands
1872 - Princess Clémentine of Belgium
1909 - Magda Schneider, actress
1933 - Edd Byrnes, actor
1947 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, bodybuilder and Governor of California
1958 - Kate Bush, singer-songwriter
1971 - Tom Green, comedian and actor
1984 - Gabrielle Christian, actress
2002 - HRH Prince Hridayendra of Nepal
Sunday, July 29, 2012
July 29th in History
1565 - The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1567 - James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
1836 - Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
1848 - Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – in Tipperary, Ireland, United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.
1900 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.
1921 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist Workers Party.
1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
1958 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
1973 - Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
1981 - A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
2005 - Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.
Famous Birthdays:
1874 - J. S. Woodsworth, politician
1883 - Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator
1905 - Dag Hammarskjöld, 2nd UN Secretary-General, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate
1916 - Budd Boetticher, film director
1925 - Ted Lindsay, hockey player
1941 - David Warner, actor
1958 - Cynthia Rowley, fashion designer
1975 - Corrado Grabbi, footballer
1983 - Elise Testone, singer-songwriter
Saturday, July 28, 2012
July 28th in History
1540 - Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.
1794 - Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France during the French Revolution.
1821 - José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.
1868 - The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.
1914 - World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
1993 - Andorra joins the United Nations.
2005 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.
2008 - The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.
Famous Birthdays:
1347 - Queen Margaret of Durazzo
1860 - Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia
1901 - Freddie Fitzsimmons, baseball player
1936 - Garfield Sobers, cricketer
1946 - Fahmida Riaz, writer and feminist
1958 - Michael Hitchcock, actor
1970 - Isabelle Brasseur, figure skater
1988 - Ayla Brown, singer
Friday, July 27, 2012
July 27th in History
1202 - Battle of Basian.
1694 - A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.
1794 - French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution".
1900 - Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, "Hun" would be a disparaging name for Germans.
1929 - The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.
1942 - World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.
1953 - Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends.
1997 - About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
2012 - The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The third time London hosts the Olympic Games.
Famous Birthdays:
1741 - François-Hippolyte Barthélémon, violinist and composer
1777 - Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, soldier
1848 - Thomas Herbst painter
1906 - Jerzy Giedroyc, writer and activist
1929 - Jack Higgins, novelist
1948 - Peggy Fleming, figure skater
1959 - Joe DeSa, baseball player
1968 - Cliff Curtis, actor
1977 - Jonathan Rhys Meyers, actor
1987 - Jordan Hill, basketball player
Thursday, July 26, 2012
July 26th in History
1469 - Wars of the Roses: the Battle of Edgecote Moor pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of Edward IV of England takes place.
1533 - Atahualpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Spanish conquistadors. His death marks the end of 300 years of Inca civilization.
1758 - French and Indian War: the Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.
1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
1847 - Liberia declares independence.
1897 - Anglo-Afghan War: The Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India.
1936 - King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicates the throne, officially unveils the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.
1944 - The first German V-2 rocket hits the United Kingdom.
1945 - The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from pow
1953 - Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement
1965 - Full independence is granted to the Maldives.
Famous Birthdays:
1678 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
1782 - John Field, composer
1856 - George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate
1875 - Antonio Machado, poet
1914 - Ellis Kinder, baseball player
1936 - Mary Millar, actress
1945 - Helen Mirren, actress
1961 - Dimitris Saravakos, footballer
1980 - Dave Baksh, guitarist
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
July 25th in History
306 - Constantine I is proclaimed Roman Emperor by his troops.
1261 - The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.
1547 - Henry II of France is crowned.
1554 - Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral.
1603 - James VI of Scotland is crowned as King of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707.
1758 - Seven Years' War: the island battery at Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia is silenced and all French warships are destroyed or taken.
1797 - Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife.
1868 - Wyoming becomes a United States territory.
1920 - France captures Damascus.
1943 - World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by his own Italian Grand Council and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
1944 - World War II: Operation Spring – one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war: 1,500 casualties, including 500 killed.
1957 - The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed.
1978 - Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born.
1994 - Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.
2007 - Pratibha Patil was sworn in as India's first female president.
2012 - Pranab Mukherjee is sworn in as the 13th President of India.
Famous Birthdays:
1016 - Casimir I, Duke of Poland
1421 - Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, politician
1839 - Francis Garnier, explorer
1867 - Alexander Rummler, painter
1894 - Gavrilo Princip, assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.
1915 - Joseph Kennedy Jr., Elder brother of President John F. Kennedy
1929 - Somnath Chatterjee, Indian communist leader
1935 - Barbara Harris, actress
1951 - Verdine White, musician
1971 - Chloë Annett, actress
1985 - Kitty Brucknell, singer
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
July 24th in History
1148 - Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
1567 - Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1 year old son James VI.
1783 - The Kingdom of Georgia and the Russian Empire sign the Treaty of Georgievsk.
1823 - Slavery is abolished in Chile.
1911 - Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas".
1938 - First ascent of the Eiger north face.
1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1977 - End of a four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.
2001 - Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.
Famous Birthdays:
923 - Emperor Suzaku of Japan
1725 - John Newton, cleric and hymnist
1803 - Adolphe Charles Adam, composer
1867 - Edward Frederic Benson, writer
1897 - Amelia Earhart, aviator - First woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and setting many aviation records
1933 - John Aniston, actor
1947 - Zaheer Abbas, cricketer
1975 - Dafydd James, rugby player
1980 - Wilfred Bungei, runner
1987 - Cafu, footballer
Monday, July 23, 2012
The Korean War (1950-1953)
Introduction
At the mid-point of a century that had already seen two appallingly destructive and costly global conflicts, a savage war broke out in a remote country at the extremity of the Asian landmass. During the world war of 1939-45, the future of the Japanese empire was decided at Allied summit meetings. In the short term, pending the return of Korean independence, Korea, a Japanese colony since 1910, was to be occupied north of the 38th parallel by Soviet Russia. To the south, a United States military administration under the direction of General Douglas MacArthur would control the area from its headquarters in Tokyo.
In the North, the Soviets backed a Stalinist regime under their client Kim Il-sung and created the North Korean Peoples' Army, equipped with Russian tanks and artillery. In the South, the chaotic political situation resulted in an American-backed administration under the presidency of Syngman Rhee, whose openly declared aim was the imposition of national unity by force. As a result of this stance, the American-trained South Korean army was limited to a lightly armed gendarmerie, lacking tanks, combat aircraft and all but a small amount of field artillery.
After several years of increasingly bloody frontier incidents along the 38th parallel, the Republic of Korea was invaded by the North Korean Peoples' Army on 25 June 1950. Despite earlier indications, the Pentagon was caught off-guard. As the North Koreans swept south, overwhelming all opposition, the US called on the Security Council to invoke the United Nations Charter and brand the North Koreans as aggressors. This was done and member states were called on to send in military assistance. The first American troops were then sent in to stiffen resistance against the invader. The British government responded at once and elements of the Far East Fleet were soon in action along the Korean coast, together with ships of Commonwealth navies.
However, the North Koreans still advanced rapidly south, aiming to take the vital port of Pusan. The American troops hurriedly sent from occupation duties in Japan fared badly against superior North Korean troops, but General Walton Walker, commanding the 8th United States Army in Korea (EUSAK), rallied his forces and held the Pusan bridgehead as reinforcements began to arrive. These reinforcements included two British battalions from Hong Kong, the Middlesex and the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, and an Australian battalion from Japan. Furthermore, a strong brigade group was mobilised in England and several thousand reservists were recalled to active duty. The 29th Brigade set sail in October 1950, reaching Korea a month later just as it seemed that the war was over.
China's intervention
In mid-September, General MacArthur brought off a masterstroke by landing two divisions 240km (150 miles) in the enemy rear at the port of Inchon. Their communications cut, and under heavy aerial bombardment, the North Koreans broke and fled back north; MacArthur ordered a hot pursuit which led across the 38th parallel and deep into North Korea. As the victorious UN forces drew near to the Manchurian border, there were ominous signals from Peking that communist China would intervene to defend its territory. In mid-October, MacArthur met President Harry Truman on Wake Island in their first encounter to assure him that a massive UN offensive was about to conclude the war victoriously by Christmas. No sooner had this been launched in November than the Chinese unleashed their armies.
Corporal Derek Hirst of the Royal Army Medical Corps in Korea |
The UN forces recoiled in disorder and, by the new year, were defending a line well to the south of Seoul, the capital of South Korea. Morale was low but the new field commander, General Ridgway, revived his heterogeneous command and advanced slowly north in the spring of 1951. By mid-April, the allies were back in the area of the 38th parallel when the Chinese launched their spring offensive. The British 29th Brigade narrowly escaped annihilation on the Imjin river as the 27th Commonwealth brigade on the central front beat off savage Chinese attacks. The UN line held, then moved north again. This time, there was no reckless advance into the north. The line stabilised in the general area of the 38th parallel and the remaining two years of fighting consisted of near-static operations as both sides fought from heavily fortified positions, using artillery, mines and wire to deny the enemy access to strategically important ground.
Throughout the war, air power was decisive. The North Korean air force was driven from the skies by US Air Force, Navy and Marines, using their superior equipment and training. Heavy bombers razed the cities and industrial plants of North Korea. Continuous attacks on the transport system forced the Chinese to rely on the packhorse for much of their logistical support. A new phase of air war opened when American B-29 bombers and their fighter escorts were challenged by Russian-built MiG-15 fighters flown by Chinese airmen. The MiG-15's outflew first-generation American jet fighters until the introduction of the swept-wing F-86 Sabre tipped the balance. In the world's first supersonic air combats, the Americans prevailed.
B-29 |
Stalemate
The allies achieved total naval supremacy when the North Korean navy's torpedo boats were blown out of the water by UN firepower. For the rest of the war, American, British, Commonwealth and other allied ships maintained a tight blockade on North Korea. In addition, naval aviation played a leading role in air support of the army on the ground.
In mid-1951, with the land battle in stalemate, both sides agreed to go to the conference table and armistice talks began. They dragged on for two years. The main haggling point was the future of the tens of thousands of communist prisoners held in camps on Koje Island off the coast of South Korea. While the communist negotiators were adamant that all were to be returned to their country of origin, thousands of prisoners were unwilling to be repatriated. There were several great mutinies in the Koje camps before a satisfactory formula enabled those who wished to be repatriated to go home and for asylum to be granted to those who wished otherwise. In July 1953, a great calm descended over the battlefields and in Operation Big Switch, thousands of former prisoners on each side were returned. A Demilitarised Zone or DMZ was established on the border. Both sides withdrew from their fighting positions, and a UN commission was set up to supervise the armistice.
Some 100,000 British servicemen and women served in the Japan-Korea theatre during the war. In July 1951, with the arrival of the strong Canadian brigade, the British, Australian, New Zealand and Indian units were formed into the 1st Commonwealth Division, which soon gained an enviable reputation among its allies.
The aftermath
No one knows exactly how many people died in this war. In a sense it was a civil war fought out with foreign participation on both sides. It was the first military test of the United Nations and also the last martial adventure of the old Commonwealth. The American Department of Defence acknowledges that almost 40,000 of its servicemen died, either in battle or of other causes. British casualties were 1,078 killed in action, 2,674 wounded and 1,060 missing or taken prisoner.
It was the first military test of the United Nations and also the last martial adventure of the old Commonwealth.
The true casualty figures for the North and South Koreans and Chinese will never be known. It is estimated that some 46,000 South Korean soldiers were killed and over 100,000 wounded. The Chinese are estimated by the Pentagon as having lost over 400,000 killed (including Mao Tse-tung's son) and 486,000 wounded, with over 21,000 captured. The North Koreans lost about 215,000 killed, 303,000 wounded and over 101,000 captured or missing.
Veterans of the campaign were left with abiding memories of a South Korea which had been deprived of its dignity, fought over and ruined, its demoralised population brought to beggary and its infrastructure destroyed. Since 1953, the Republic of Korea has transformed into a modern state. In the North, however, the Stalinist regime created by Kim Il-sung is only now beginning to move out of its hermit state. The economy is in ruins and famine stalks the land. It is too early to say if the tentative moves towards reconciliation will result in attainment of the unity so deeply desired by many Koreans.
July 23rd in History
1793 - Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.
1840 - The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.
1881 - The Boundary treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.
1903 - The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
1929 - The Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words.
1962 - The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.
1983 - The Sri Lankan Civil War begins with the killing of 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
1986 - In London, HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York marries Sarah Ferguson at Westminster Abbey.
1992 - Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.
Famous Birthdays:
1339 - King Louis I of Naples
1649 - Pope Clement XI
1775 - Étienne-Louis Malus, physicist and mathematician
1883 – Field Marshal Sir Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, British soldier
1892 - Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia
1923 - Amalia Mendoza, singer
1931 - Queen Te Atairangikaahu of the New Zealand Māori
1950 - Alan Turner, cricketer
1957 - Jo Brand, comedian
1974 - Terry Glenn, American footballer
1989 - Daniel Radcliffe, English actor
Sunday, July 22, 2012
July 22nd in History
1099 - First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1298 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Falkirk – King Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons outside the town of Falkirk.
1499 - Battle of Dornach – The Swiss decisively defeat the Imperial army of Emperor Maximilian I.
1706 - The Acts of Union 1707 are agreed upon by commissioners from the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, which, when passed by each countries' Parliaments, lead to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1864 - American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta – outside Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General John Bell Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill.
1937 - New Deal: the United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.
1942 - Holocaust: the systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins.
2011 - Norway is the victim of twin terror attacks, the first being a bomb blast which targeted government buildings in central Oslo, the second being a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya.
Famous Birthdays
1210 - Joan of England, Queen of Scots, wife of Alexander II of Scotland
1478 - King Philip I of Castile
1713 - Jacques-Germain Soufflot, architect
1888 - Selman Waksman, biochemist, Nobel laureate
1937 - John Price, cricketer
1954 - Pierre Lebeau, actor
1964 - Adam Godley, actor
1980 - Scott Dixon, racing driver
1992 - Selena Gomez, actress and pop singer
Saturday, July 21, 2012
July 21st in History
356 BC - The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.
230 - Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope.
365 - A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The tsunami was caused by the Crete earthquake estimated to be 8.0 on the Richter Scale. 5,000 people perished in Alexandria, and 45,000 more died outside the city.This event later inspires the legend of Atlantis
1545 - The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight.
1774 - Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war.
1831 - Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.
1914 - The Crown council of Romania decides for the country to remain neutral in World War I.
1944 - World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are executed in Berlin, Germany for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
1972 - The Troubles: Bloody Friday – the Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing 9 and injuring 130.
Famous Birthdays
1620 - Jean Picard, astronomer
1693 - Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
1810 - Henri Victor Regnault, chemist
1899 - Ernest Hemingway, writer, Nobel laureate
1920 - Isaac Stern, violinist
1926 - Queenie Watts, actress
1978 - Anderson da Silva Gibin, footballer
1985 - Paloma Faith, singer
1986 - Rebecca Ferguson, singer-songwriter
Friday, July 20, 2012
July 20th in History
70 - First Jewish–Roman War: Siege of Jerusalem – Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
911 - Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
1304 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle – King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf.
1810 - Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
1871 - British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
1917 - World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
1940 - Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
1944 - World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
1949 - Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
1951 - King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
1969 - Apollo program: Apollo 11 successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon almost 7 hours later.
1989 - Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Famous Birthdays:
356 BC - Alexander the Great, Macedonian king and conqueror of Persia
1304 - Francesco Petrarch, poet
1822 - Gregor Mendel, German scientist, father of modern genetics
1890 - King George II of Greece
1909 - Eric Rowan, cricketer
1914 - His Eminence Cardinal Ersilio Tonini of the Roman Catholic Church
1924 - Mort Garson, composer
1938 - Natalie Wood, actress
1945 - Johnny Loughrey, singer
1973 - HRH Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
1989 - Cristian Pasquato, footballer
1999 - HRH Princess Alexandra of Hanover
Thursday, July 19, 2012
July 19th in History
64 - Great Fire of Rome: a fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control. According to a popular, but untrue legend, Nero fiddled as the city burned.
1333 - Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Halidon Hill – The English win a decisive victory over the Scots.
1544 - Italian War of 1542: the first Siege of Boulogne begins.
1545 - The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
1553 - Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after only nine days of reign.
1588 - Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines – The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel.
1870 - Franco-Prussian War: France declares war on Prussia.
1961 - Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later.
1997 - The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end their 25-year campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.
Famous Birthdays:
1759 - Marianna Auenbrugger, pianist and composer
1822 - Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
1876 - Joseph Fielding Smith, Tenth President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
1894 - Khawaja Nazimuddin, politician
1919 - Patricia Medina, actress
1938 - Jayant Narlikar, astrophysicist
1965 - Evelyn Glennie, percussionist
1981 - David Bernard, cricketer
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
July 18th in History
1290 - King Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, banishing all Jews (numbering about 16,000) from England; this was Tisha B'Av on the Hebrew calendar, a day that commemorates many Jewish calamities.
1389 - Kingdom of France and Kingdom of England agree to the Truce of Leulinghem, inaugurating a 13-year peace; the longest period of sustained peace during the Hundred Years' War.
1555 - The College of Arms was reincorporated by Royal charter signed by Queen Mary I of England and King Philip II of Spain.
1656 - Polish-Lithuanian forces clash with Sweden and its Brandenburg allies in the start of what is to be known as The Battle of Warsaw which ends in a decisive Swedish victory.
1870 - The First Vatican Council decrees the dogma of papal infallibility.
1925 - Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf.
1976 - Nadia Comăneci became the first person in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics at the 1976 Summer Olympics.
1996 - Battle of Mullaitivu. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam capture the Sri Lanka Army's base, killing over 1200 Army soldiers.
Famous Birthdays
1501 - Isabella of Burgundy, wife of Christian II of Denmark
1552 - Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor
1724 - Duchess Maria Antonia of Bavaria, composer and singer
1850 - Rose Hartwick Thorpe, poet
1890 - Frank Forde, 15th Prime Minister of Australia
1918 - Nelson Mandela, South African politician and President (1994-1999); Nobel Peace Prize laureate
1941 - Martha Reeves, singer
1950 - Sir Richard Branson, entrepreneur
1979 - Joey Mercury, professional wrestler
Tuesday, July 17, 2012
July 17th in History
1203 - The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault. The Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.
1453 - Battle of Castillon: The last battle of Hundred Years' War, the The French under Jean Bureau defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in Gascony.
1717 - King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel's Water Music is premiered.
1762 - Catherine II becomes Tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
1856 - The Great Train Wreck of 1856 in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, kills over 60 people.
1918 - On the orders of the Bolshevik Party carried out by Cheka, Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are murdered at the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia.
1918 - The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; 5 lives are lost.
1932 - Altona Bloody Sunday.
1933 - After successfully crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the Lithuanian research aircraft Lituanica crashes in Europe under mysterious circumstances.
1936 - Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently-elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war.
1944 - World War II: Napalm incendiary bombs are dropped for the first time by American P-38 pilots on a fuel depot at Coutances, near Saint-Lô, France.
1945 - World War II: the leaders of the three Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.
1948 - The South Korean constitution is proclaimed.
1968 - A revolution occurs in Iraq when Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba'ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
Famous Birthdays
1487 - Ismail I, Shah of Persia
1745 - Peter Ludwig von der Pahlen, Russian general
1831 - Xianfeng, Emperor of China
1898 - Berenice Abbott, photographer
1910 - Barbara O'Neil, actress
1935 - Donald Sutherland, actor
1944 - Catherine Schell, actress
1952 - David Hasselhoff, actor and musician
1963 - His Majesty King Letsie III of Lesotho
1982 - Natasha Hamilton, singer
1998 - His Excellency Felipe Juan Froilán de Marichalar y Borbón, fifth in line to the Spanish throne
Monday, July 16, 2012
July 16th in History
622 - The beginning of the Islamic calendar.
1377 - Coronation of Richard II of England.
1661 - The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
1790 - The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
1809 - The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
1935 - The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1951 - King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
1979 - Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
Famous Birthdays
1194 - St Clare of Assisi, follower of Francis of Assisi
1723 - Joshua Reynolds, painter
1888 - Shoeless Joe Jackson, baseball player
1920 - Anwar Hussain, cricketer
1946 - Richard LeParmentier, actor
1967 - Will Ferrell, comedian
1983 - Duncan Keith, ice hockey player
Sunday, July 15, 2012
July 15th in History
1099 - First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege.
1381 - John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of King Richard II of England.
1799 - The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign.
1815 - Napoleonic Wars: Napoléon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon.
1927 - Massacre of July 15, 1927: 89 protesters are killed by the Austrian police in Vienna.
1954 - First flight of the Boeing 367-80, prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series.
1974 - In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek Junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
Famous Birthdays
1273 - Ewostatewos, Ethiopian monk and religious leader
1553 - Archduke Ernest of Austria
1837 - Stephanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, German-born Queen consort of Portugal, wife of King Peter V of Portugal
1850 - St Francesca Xavier Cabrini, nun and saint
1919 - Iris Murdoch, philosopher
1946 - His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah, 29th Sultan of Brunei
1946 - His Majesty Hassanal Bolkiah, 29th Sultan of Brunei
Saturday, July 14, 2012
Storming of the Bastille: July 14th 1789
On July 12th, 1789 the King dismissed his very popular Minister of Finances, Jacques Necker.
On July 13th, 1789 a rumor spread in the streets of Paris of a coming counter attack by the King's army to 'destabilize' the newly proclaimed parliamentarians.
Bastille |
On the morning of July 14th, 1789, a group formed of craftsmen and salesmen decided to fight back and ran to the Invalides to steal some weapons. The mob stole 28,000 riffles there, however no powder was to be found. The crowd knew that a pile of powder was stocked in the Bastille, a prison that was a symbol of the King's absolute and arbitrary power. So they decided to attack it.
At the time of the storming, the Bastille was only guarded by a few soldiers. There were 80 "invalides", veteran soldiers wounded in the field and around 30 grenadiers from the Swiss mercenary regiments. Marquis Bernard-Rene de Launay was at the time governor of the "Invalides".
The crowd was not big enough to impress the guards. The Marquis de Launay, fearing a growing anger among the revolutionaries, accepted nevertheless to meet some of their representatives inside the prison. He hoped to buy time, as he was expecting a rescue team to arrive shortly and to help him secure his castle.
But the negotiations ended when a group of revolutionaries entered the Bastille. The guards were ordered to fire, killing hundreds of people.
Storming the Bastille |
The path of the revolt completely changed when the rescue team showed up and decided not to fight against but with the mob. With their canons and their professional soldier skills, they brought victory to the people of France against Louis XVI's guards in a few hours.
At 4pm, the Marquis de Launay surrendered and let the people enter the Bastille. The guards were violently killed and the Marquis de Launay was beheaded, with his head then put on a stake and carried all over the city as a sign of victory.
There weren't many prisoners in the Bastille at the time of the storming; only 7 people were freed.
That very night, 800 men began to destroy the Bastille.
Some historians found the diary of the King. On that day, July 14th, 1789 he only wrote "Nothing". That was the result of his day's hunting. When the Duc de Liancourt informed the King of what happened at the Bastille, the King asked his advisor "is this a revolt?" and he was answered, "No Majesty, this is a revolution".
July 14th in History
1223 - Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II of France.
1789 - French Revolution: citizens of Paris storm the Bastille.
1790 - French Revolution: citizens of Paris celebrate the constitutional monarchy and national reconciliation in the Fête de la Fédération.
1877 - The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 begins in Martinsburg, West Virginia, US, when Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers have their wages cut for the second time in a year.
1881 - Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
1933 - Gleichschaltung: in Germany, all political parties are outlawed except the Nazi Party.
1969 - The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation.
Famous Birthdays:
1610 - Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany
1829 - Edward White Benson, Archbishop of Canterbury
1858 - Emmeline Pankhurst, suffragette
1874 - Khedive Abbas II of Egypt and Sudan
1885 - King Sisavang Vong of Laos
1933 - Franz, Duke of Bavaria, Heir to the House of Stuart
1984 - Nilmar da Silva, football
Friday, July 13, 2012
July 13th in History
1174 - William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.
1249 - Coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots.
1814 - The Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, is established.
1854 - In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon.
1923 - The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. It originally reads "Hollywoodland " but the four last letters are dropped after renovation in 1949.
1973 - Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the "Nixon tapes" to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.
1985 - The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London, United Kingdom and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, as well as other venues such as Sydney, Australia and Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union.
Famous Birthdays:
1590 - Pope Clement X
1608 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor
1793 - John Clare, Poet
1918 - Marcia Brown, author and illustrator
1928 - Bob Crane, actor
1942 - Harrison Ford, actor
1979 - Craig Bellamy, footballer
1987 - Tulisa Contostavlos, singer
Thursday, July 12, 2012
July 12th in History
1191 - Third Crusade: Saladin's garrison surrenders to Philip Augustus, ending the two-year siege of Acre.
1543 - King Henry VIII of England marries his sixth and last wife, Catherine Parr, at Hampton Court Palace.
1690 - Battle of the Boyne, The armies of William III defeat those of the former James II.
1806 - Liechtenstein was given full sovereignty after its accession to the Confederation of the Rhine
1812 - War of 1812: the United States invade Canada at Windsor, Ontario.
1962 - The Rolling Stones perform their first ever concert, at the Marquee Club in London, England, United Kingdom.
1971 - The Australian Aboriginal Flag is flown for the first time.
1975 - São Tomé and Príncipe declare independence from Portugal.
1979 -The island nation of Kiribati becomes independent from United Kingdom.
Famous Birthdays:
1596 - Tsar Michael I of Russia
1854 - Juan Gualberto Gómez, Afro-Cuban leader in the Cuban war of independence
1920 - Keith Andes, actor
1942 - Billy Smith, rugby league player
1951 - Brian Grazer, film producer
1969 - Alan Mullally, cricketer
1980 - Tom Price, Actor
Daniel O'Connell - The Irish Liberator
Daniel O'Connell 1775-1847 |
Daniel O'Connell was born in Cahirciveen, County Kerry, on 6th August 1775. O'Connell often referred to as The Liberator, or The Emancipator, was an Irish political leader. He campaigned for Catholic Emancipation—the right for Catholics to sit in the Westminster Parliament, denied for over 100 years—and repeal of the Act of Union which combined Great Britain and Ireland. The O'Connell family were members of the Irish Catholic aristocracy in Ireland. Although Daniel's family were fairly wealthy, the discriminatory legislation denied the O'Connell family status, opportunity and influence.
Under the patronage of his wealthy bachelor uncle Maurice "Hunting Cap" O'Connell, he studied at Douai in France, and was admitted as a barrister to Lincoln's Inn in 1794, transferring to Dublin's King's Inns two years later.
In his early years, he became acquainted with the pro-democracy radicals of the time, and committed himself to bringing equal rights and religious tolerance to his own country.
While in Dublin studying for the law, O'Connell was under his Uncle Maurice's instructions not to become involved in any militia activity.
When Wolfe Tone's French invasion fleet entered Bantry Bay in December 1796, O'Connell found himself in a quandary. Politics was the cause of his unsettlement.
O'Connell's studies at the time had concentrated upon the legal and political history of Ireland, and the debates of the Historical Society concerned the records of governments, and from this he was to conclude, according to one of his biographers, "in Ireland the whole policy of the Government was to repress the people and to maintain the ascendancy of a privileged and corrupt minority."
On 19 May, 1798, O'Connell was called to the Irish Bar and became a barrister. Four days later the United Irishmen staged their rebellion which was put down by the British with great bloodshed. O'Connell did not support the rebellion; he believed that the Irish would have to assert themselves politically rather than by force.He went on the Munster circuit, and for over a decade he went into a fairly quiet period of private law practice in the south of Ireland. He also condemned Robert Emmet's rebellion of 1803. Of Emmet, a Protestant, he wrote: 'A man who could coolly prepare so much bloodshed, so many murders - and such horrors of every kind has ceased to be an object of compassion.'
O'Connell returned to politics in the 1810s. In 1811, he established the Catholic Board, which campaigned for only Catholic Emancipation, that is, the opportunity for Irish Catholics to become Members of Parliament. In 1823, he set up the Catholic Association which embraced other aims to better Irish Catholics, such as: electoral reform, reform of the Church of Ireland, tenants' rights, and economic development. The Association was funded by membership dues of one penny per month, a minimal amount designed to attract Catholic peasants. The subscription was highly successful, and the Association raised a large sum of money in its first year. The money was used to campaign for Catholic Emancipation, specifically funding pro-emancipation Members of Parliament standing for the British House of Commons.
The Catholic Rent, which was established in 1824 by O'Connell and the Catholic Church raised funds from which O'Connell was able to help finance the Catholic Association in its push for emancipation.
O'Connell stood in a by-election to the British House of Commons in 1828 for County Clare for a seat vacated by William Vesey Fitzgerald, another supporter of the Catholic Association.
After O'Connell won election, he was unable to take his seat as Members of Parliament had to take the Oath of Supremacy, which was incompatible with Catholicism. The Prime Minister, the Duke of Wellington, and the Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, even though they opposed Catholic participation in Parliament, saw that denying O'Connell his seat would cause outrage and could lead to another rebellion or uprising in Ireland, which was about 85% Catholic. Peel and Wellington managed to convince George IV that Catholic emancipation and the right of Catholics and Presbyterians and members of all Christian faiths other than the established Church of Ireland to sit in Parliament needed to be established; with the help of the Whigs, it became law in 1829.
The Emancipation Act was not made retroactive, meaning that O'Connell had either to seek re-election or to attempt to take the oath of supremacy. When O'Connell attempted on 15 May to take his seat without taking the oath of supremacy, Solicitor-General Nicholas Conyngham Tindal moved that his seat be declared vacant and another election ordered; O'Connell was elected unopposed on 30 July 1829. He took his seat when Parliament resumed in February 1830, by which time Henry Charles Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk and Earl of Surrey, had already become the first Roman Catholic to have taken advantage of the Emancipation Act and sit in Parliament.
The Catholic Emancipation campaign led by O'Connell served as the precedent and model for the emancipation of British Jews, the subsequent Jews Relief Act 1858 allowing Jewish MPs to omit the words in the Oath of Allegiance "and I make this Declaration upon the true Faith of a Christian".
In the 1830s Daniel O'Connell became a major figure in the House of Commons. He was active in the campaigns for prison and law reform, free trade, the abolition of slavery and Jewish emancipation. He was also a prominent figure in the campaign for universal suffrage. After the disappointment of the 1832 Reform Act, British Radicals adopted the tactics that had been used by O'Connell successfully in Ireland. Organizations such as the Chartists used O'Connell's methods of organizing and applying the pressure of public opinion while implying that if this was not successful, the movement might resort to violence.
O'Connell had a major influence on MPs. Of the105 Irish MPs, 45 loyally supported O'Connell, including Feargus O'Connor, who was later to become one of the main leaders of the Chartist movement. O'Connell's control over this group enabled him to exert considerable pressure on the government. In 1835 O'Connell and fellow Catholic MPs agreed to support Lord Melbourne and his Whig government in return for significant Irish reforms. Although the Whig government passed the Tithe Commutation Bill and the Irish Municipal Reform Act, O'Connell thought this was inadequate. He was also totally opposed to the passing of the Irish Poor Law and when the Whigs refused to change it, O'Connell withdrew his group's support for the government.
In 1841 O'Connell became the first Catholic Lord Mayor of Dublin. After completing his year in office, O'Connell announced he now intended to concentrate of achieving the repeal of the Act of Union. On the 1st January 1843, O'Connell pledged that he would achieve repeal before the end of the year.
O'Connell campaigned for repeal of the Act of Union, which in 1801 had merged the Parliaments of the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In order to campaign for Repeal, O'Connell set up the Repeal Association. He argued for the re-creation of an independent Kingdom of Ireland to govern itself, with Queen Victoria as the Queen of Ireland.
To push for this, he held a series of "Monster Meetings" throughout much of Ireland outside the Protestant and Unionist-dominated province of Ulster. They were so called because each was attended by around 100,000 people. These rallies concerned the British Government and then-Prime Minister, Sir Robert Peel, banned one such proposed monster meeting at Clontarf, County Dublin, just outside Dublin city in 1843. This move was made after the biggest monster meeting was held at Tara.
Tara held great significance to the Irish population as it was the historic seat of the High Kings of Ireland. Clontarf was symbolic because of its association with the Battle of Clontarf in 1014, when the Irish King Brian Boru broke Viking power in Ireland. Despite appeals from his supporters, O'Connell refused to defy the authorities and he called off the meeting, as he was unwilling to risk bloodshed,[3] and had no others. He was arrested, charged with conspiracy, and sentenced to a year's imprisonment and a fine of £2,000, although he was released after three months by the House of Lords. Having deprived himself of his most potent weapon, the monster meeting, O'Connell, his health failing, had no plan for future action, and dissension broke out in the Repeal Association.
Tara Monster Meeting |
O'Connell died of softening of the brain (cerebral softening) in 1847 in Genoa, Italy, while on a pilgrimage to Rome at the age of 71, his term in prison having seriously weakened him. According to his dying wish, his heart was buried in Rome (at Sant'Agata dei Goti, then the chapel of the Irish College), and the remainder of his body in Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, beneath a round tower. His sons are buried in his crypt.
O'Connell's philosophy and career have inspired leaders all over the world, including Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) and Martin Luther King (1929–1968). He was told by William Makepeace Thackeray (1811–1863) "you have done more for your nation than any man since Washington ever did." William Gladstone (1809–1898) described him as "the greatest popular leader the world has ever seen." Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) wrote that "Napoleon and O'Connell were the only great men the 19th century had ever seen." Jean-Henri Merle d'Aubigné (1794–1872) wrote that "the only man like Luther, in the power he wielded was O'Connell." William Grenville (1759–1834) wrote that "history will speak of him as one of the most remarkable men that ever lived." O'Connell met, befriended, and became a great inspiration to Frederick Douglass (1818–1895) a former American slave who became a highly influential leader of the abolitionist movement, social reformer, orator, writer and statesman.
O'Connell's crypt |
Monument in Dublin |
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
July 11th in History
1346 - Charles IV of Luxembourg is elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
1776 - Captain James Cook begins his third voyage.
1796 - The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
1859 - Westminster's Big Ben rang for the first time in London.
1921 - The Red Army captures Mongolia from the White Army and establishes the Mongolian People's Republic.
1940 - World War II: Vichy France regime is formally established. Henri Philippe Pétain becomes Prime Minister of France.
1957 - Prince Karim Husseini Aga Khan IV inherits the office of Imamat as the 49th Imam of Shia Imami Ismaili worldwide, after the death of Sir Sultan Mahommed Shah Aga Khan III.
1960 - Independence of Benin, Burkina Faso and Niger.
1977 - Martin Luther King, Jr. is posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Famous Birthdays:
1274 - Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland
1366 - Anne of Bohemia, consort of Richard II of England
1657 - King Frederick I of Prussia
1846 - Léon Bloy, writer
1921 - Ilse Werner, actress
1959 - Richie Sambora, (Bon Jovi) musician
1973 - Andrew Bird, musician
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
July 10th in History
138 - Emperor Hadrian dies after a heart failure at Baiae; he is buried at Rome in the Tomb of Hadrian beside his late wife, Vibia Sabina.
1499 - Portuguese explorer Nicolau Coelho returns to Lisbon, after discovering the sea route to India as a companion of Vasco da Gama.
1553 - Lady Jane Grey takes the throne of England.
1584 - William I of Orange is assassinated in his home in Delft, Holland by Balthasar Gérard.
1821 - The United States takes possession of its newly bought territory of Florida from Spain.
1890 - Wyoming is admitted as the 44th U.S. state.
1973 - The Bahamas gain full independence within the Commonwealth of Nations.
1980 - Alexandra Palace burns down for a second time.
Famous Birthdays:
1452 - King James III of Scotland
1509 - John Calvin, French religious reformer
1711 - Princess Amelia of Great Britain
1921 - Jake LaMotta, boxer
1949 - Sunil Gavaskar, cricketer
1980 - Jessica Simpson, singer
Monday, July 9, 2012
July 9th in History
455 - Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
1357 - Emperor Charles IV assists in laying the foundation stone of Charles Bridge in Prague.
1540 - King Henry VIII of England annuls his marriage to his fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.
1701 - War of the Spanish Succession: Austrians defeat France in the Battle of Carpi.
1776 - George Washington ordered the Declaration of Independence to be read out loud to members of the Continental Army in New York, New York for the first time.
1815 - Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord becomes the first Prime Minister of France.
1816 - Argentina declares independence from Spain.
1850 US President Zachary Taylor dies and Millard Fillmore becomes the 13th President of the United States.
1877 - The inaugural Wimbledon Championships opens.
1900 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom gives Royal Assent to an Act creating Australia thus uniting separate colonies on the continent under one federal government.
2011 - South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.
Famous Birthdays:
1511 - Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, wife of Christian III of Denmark
1578 - Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor
1786 - Princess Sophie Hélène Béatrice of France, daughter of Louis XVI of France and Marie Antoinette
1901 - Dame Barbara Cartland, novelist
1916 - Edward Heath, British Prime Minister
1947 - O. J. Simpson, American football player and actor
1956 - Tom Hanks, actor
Sunday, July 8, 2012
July 8th in History
1099 - First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in a religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on.
1497 - Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India.
1859 - King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
1889 - The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.
1948 - The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called Women in the Air Force
1994 - Kim Jong-il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il-sung.
Famous Birthdays:
1490 - Albert, Duke of Prussia
1792 - Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen, Queen of Bavaria
1830 - Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg, German-born wife of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia
1944 - Jeffrey Tambor, actor
1958 - Neetu Singh, actress
1971 - Neil Jenkins, rugby player
1980 - Robbie Keane, footballer
Saturday, July 7, 2012
July 7th in History
1456 - A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
1543 - French troops invade Luxembourg.
1834 - In New York City, four nights of rioting against abolitionists began.
1941 - World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops.
1958 - U.S President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
1985 - Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at age 17
2005 - A series of four explosions occurs on London's transport system killing 56 people including four alleged suicide bombers and injuring over 700 others.
2011 - The world's first artificial organ transplant was achieved. It was an artificial windpipe coated with stem cells.
Famous Birthdays:
1053 - Emperor Shirakawa, of Japan
1207 - Princess Elisabeth of Hungary, Catholic saint - Feast day November 17th
1528 - Archduchess Anna of Austria, daughter of Ferdinand I
1913 - Pinetop Perkins, musician
1930 - His Eminence Theodore Edgar McCarrick, cardinal
1941 - Bill Oddie, English comedian and ornithologist
1959 - Billy Campbell, Actor
1980 - Michelle Kwan, Figure skater
1988 - Jack Whitehall, British comedian
2000 - HRH Princess Purnika of Nepal, daughter Paras, former Crown Prince of Nepal and former Crown Princess Himani, she is a granddaughter of former King Gyanendra.
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