On This Day In History
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
This day 16 years ago – 28 July 2005 – the Provisional IRA announced its members had “been ordered to dump arms.”
Tony Blair: “This may be the day when finally, after all the false dawns and dashed hopes, peace replaced war, politics replaces terror on the island of Ireland.” pic.twitter.com/3Kjk7EMEyp
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) July 28, 2021
#OTD in 1896 Miami—the only US city founded by a woman—was incorporated. Julia Tuttle was a widow from Ohio who bought 640 acres. She sent a bouquet of 'flowers & foliage' to railroad man Flagler to persuade him to extend the railway & attract development. https://t.co/AYtsq7Xfa9 pic.twitter.com/M4wkd9t4Zz
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) July 28, 2022
On this day in 1916, police in Louisville, Kentucky, arrested three Black people allegedly involved in interracial relationships, and launched a full investigation into other local cases. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/8lmc9fTzEJ
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) July 28, 2022
28 July 1655. French dramatist, Cyrano De Bergerac, died (aged 36). He’s best known as the inspiration for Edmond Rostand’s drama which exaggerated his large nose and downgraded his writing talent. His nose was not as large as later depicted in plays, books and films. pic.twitter.com/fnoEGysmk6
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 28, 2022
28 July 1750. German classical music genius, Johann Sebastian Bach, died (aged 64). He’s one of the greatest classical composers of all time. His best known works include the Brandenburg Concertos and the Goldberg Variations. pic.twitter.com/uys9xMqHtU
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 28, 2022
28 July 1858. Fingerprints were first used as a means of identification to solve crimes by Sir William Herschel, a civil servant. No two fingerprints have ever been found alike in many billions of human and automated computer comparisons. pic.twitter.com/cb2KArKad6
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 28, 2022
28 July 1939. The Sutton Hoo helmet was discovered. It was buried around 625, and believed to have belonged to King Rædwald of East Anglia. The helmet has been described as “the most iconic object” from the Anglo-Saxon period. pic.twitter.com/hH3bbJaE2o
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 28, 2022
28 July 1945. A US B-25 Mitchell Bomber accidentally crashed in fog into the 79th floor of Empire State Building in New York: 14 died. The accident did not compromise the building’s structural integrity, but did cause damage estimated at US$1 million (equivalent to $14M today). pic.twitter.com/3rcr4fk1nJ
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 28, 2022
28 July 1987. Laura Davis (aged 23), became the first Briton to win the US Women’s Golf Open Championship, after winning an 18-hole playoff against Ayako Okamoto and Jo Anne Carner. In all, Davis won 4 of the major women’s golf tournaments. pic.twitter.com/nLnMz85LRC
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 28, 2022
28 July 2004. Molecular biologist, Francis Crick, died (aged 88). He, James Watson, Maurice Watkins, and Rosalind Franklin all played crucial roles in deciphering the helical structure of the DNA molecule. He was jointly awarded the 1962 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. pic.twitter.com/oGa3Z3DyKN
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 28, 2022
Quote from Charlie Charles IV on July 27, 2022, 5:29 pmJuly 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
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
This day 171 years ago – 29 July 1848 – Young Irelanders, led by William Smith O'Brien, chased several Royal Irish Constabulary policemen in the village of Ballingarry, Co. Tipperary.
The policemen took refuge in the house of a local widow, Mrs McCormack.
The rebels later fled. pic.twitter.com/66CxICtVKG
— This Day in Irish History (@ThisDayIrish) July 29, 2019
#OTD in 1981, Maori-Irish soprano Kiri te Kanawa sang at the wedding of Prince Charles & Lady Diana Spencer—and to a worldwide TV audience of 600 million. In 2004 she founded the Kiri te Kanawa Foundation to give mentoring and support to young NZ singers. https://t.co/2uShVFHJGY pic.twitter.com/55oRX1n3sO
— On This Day She (@OnThisDayShe) July 29, 2022
On this day in 1880, a Black woman was among thousands who published an ad in search of her family, who were taken from her when white enslavers sold her away 20 years earlier during enslavement. To overcome racial inequality, we must confront our history. https://t.co/xEu1Iq4yxV
— Equal Justice Initiative (@eji_org) July 29, 2022
29 July 1836. The Arc de Triomphe in Paris was officially inaugurated. It honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from the First World War. pic.twitter.com/h6NhV7GNKJ
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 29, 2022
29 July 1890. Artist Vincent van Gogh (aged 37), died of a gunshot wound, self-inflicted, on 27 June 1890. He was found in his room at the Auberge Ravoux in the village of Auvers-sur-Oise in northern France. Prior to his death, there had been a deterioration in his mental health. pic.twitter.com/3ZXNNIAMVI
— Prof. Frank McDonough (@FXMC1957) July 29, 2022