On This Day In History
July 25th
306 Constantine I is proclaimed Roman Emperor by his troops
1814 English engineer George Stephenson introduces his first steam locomotive, a travelling engine designed for hauling coal on the Killingworth wagonway named Blücher
1943 Benito Mussolini dismissed as Italian Premier and arrested on the authority of King Victor Emmanuel III
1944 World War II: Operation Spring – one of Canada’s bloodiest days, 18,444 casualties and 5,021 killed
1997 Scientists announce the first human stem cells to be cultured in a laboratory using tissue taken from aborted human embryos
Did You Know?
Ajinomoto Co. is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers a key ingredient in Konbu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), patents a process for manufacturing it.
Today in History in 1908
Would You Believe?
Sperm counts have halved in last 40 years says research published in “Human Reproduction Update” journal
Today in History in 2017
July 26th
657 Battle of Siffin during the first Muslim civil war between Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I beside Euphrates River
1519 Francisco Pizarro receives royal charter for the west coast of South America
1533 Francisco Pizarro orders the death of the last Sapa Inca Emperor, Atahualpa
1803 The Surrey Iron Railway, arguably the world’s first public railway, opens in south London
1908 United States Attorney General Charles Joseph Bonaparte issues an order to immediately staff the Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation)
1945 Declaration of Potsdam: US, Britain and China demand the unconditional surrender of Japan during WWII
1953 Fidel Castro leads a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, intended to spark a revolution in Cuba
Did You Know?
Horatio Nelson Jackson, Sewall K. Crocker, and a bulldog named Bud complete 1st automobile trip across the United States; San Francisco to New York in a 2-cylinder Winton (63 days, 12 hours, and 30 minutes)
Today in History in 1903
Would You Believe?
3 live king cobras reported found inside potato chip cans by customs officials in Los Angeles
Today in History in 2017
July 27th
1586 Walter Raleigh brings the 1st tobacco to England from Virginia
1689 Battle of Killicrankie: Jacobite Scottish Highlanders under Viscount Dundee defeat royalist force under General MacKay
1789 US Congress establishes Department of Foreign Affairs now referred to as the State Department
1866 First transatlantic telegraph cable comes ashore at Heart’s Content, Newfoundland after being laid out 1,686 miles by Isambard Kingdom Brunel‘s Great Eastern steamship
1921 Frederick Banting and Charles Best isolate insulin at the University of Toronto
Did You Know?
1st Christian missionary in Japan, Jesuit priest Francis Xavier reaches Japan but is not permitted to enter any port until 15 August
Today in History in 1549
Would You Believe?
Queen Elizabeth II opens the 30th Olympics in London, United Kingdom (with some help from 007)
Today in History in 2012
July 28th
1794 French Revolutionary figure Maximilien robespierre and 22 other leaders of “the Terror” guillotined to thunderous cheers in Paris
1914 Austria-Hungary decides against mediation and declares war on Serbia – first declaration of war of WWI
1917 Silent Parade organised by James Weldon Johnson of 10,000 African-Americans who march on 5th Ave in NYC to protest against lynching
1943 Operation Gomorrah: RAF bombing over Hamburg causes a firestorm that kills 42,600 German civilians
1976 Tangshan Earthquake, 8.2 in magnitude kills over 240,000 Northern China in the largest loss of life from an earthquake in the 20th century
2005 The Provisional Irish Republican Army call an end to their thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland
Did You Know?
Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva arrive on the Pacific island of Tinian with the plutonium core used to assemble the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9
Today in History in 1945
Would You Believe?
“Elevator girl” Betty Lou Oliver survives falling 75 stories after fog causes a US bomber plane to crash into the Empire State Building, breaking the cables supporting the elevator she was operating. This remains a world record for the longest survived elevator fall
Today in History in 1945
July 29th
1588 The Battle of Gravelines – Spanish Armada damaged and scattered by the English fleet
1609 Samuel de Champlain shoots and kills two Iroquois chiefs at Ticonderoga, New York setting the stage for French-Iroquois conflicts for the next 150 years
1848 Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule put down by police
1905 US Secretary of War William Howard Taft makes secret agreement with Japanese Prime Minister Katsura agreeing to Japanese free rein in Korea in return for non-interference with the US in the Philippines
1921 Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party
1949 Moscow ends the blockade of West Berlin
Did You Know?
10 Spanish treasure galleons sunk off Florida coast by a hurricane
Today in History in 1715
Would You Believe?
Zion Harvey became the first paediatric patient to receive a double hand transplant at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Today in History in 2015
July 30th
1178 Frederick I (Barbarossa), Holy Roman Emperor, crowned King of Burgundy
1419 First defenestration of Prague: anti-Catholic Hussites, followers of executed reformer Jan Hus, storm Prague town hall and throw the judge, mayor and several city council members out the windows. They die in the fall or killed by crowd outside.
1619 House of Burgesses Virginia forms, 1st elective American governing body
1863 Indian Wars: Chief Pocatello of the Shoshone tribe signs the Treaty of Box Elder, promising to stop harassing the emigrant trails in southern Idaho and northern Utah
1869 The Charles, considered the world’s first “oil tanker”, departs from the United States headed for Europe with a bulk capacity of 7,000 barrels of oil
1935 1st Penguin book is published, starting the paperback revolution
1937 Russian Politburo issues NKVD Order no. 00447, to repress former kulak and anti-soviets, 269,100 to be arrested, 76,000 to be shot. Part of the Great Purge.
Did You Know?
500 Marseillaisian men sing France’s national anthem for 1st time
Today in History in 1792
Would You Believe?
The last ‘old style’ Volkswagen Beetle rolls off the assembly line in Mexico
Today in History in 2003
July 31st
30 BC Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves minor victory over Octavian, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to Octavian’s invasion of Egypt
1620 Pilgrim Fathers depart Leiden, Netherlands for England on their way to America
1917 World War I: Battle of Passchendaele (Third Battle of Ypres) begins, goes on to cause approximately 500,000 casualties
1961 Israel welcomes its one millionth immigrant
2007 Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end