Independence
day
Colombia
UN
Day
International
Moon Day
World
Chess Day
Events
of the day
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.
1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara
– Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats
forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid
I.
1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier
de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the
western shore of Lake Michigan.
1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first
of five reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent
by Napoleon Bonaparte for the Pyréolophore,
the world's first internal combustion engine,
after it successfully powered a boat upstream
on the river Saône in France.
1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare
independence from Spain.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree
Creek – Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate
forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully
attack Union troops under General William
T. Sherman.
1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa
– The Austrian Navy , led by Admiral Wilhelm
von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy
near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation
of Canada.
1885 – The Football Association legalizes
professionalism in football under pressure
from the British Football Association.
1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its
first car.
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.
1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates
of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to
the United Kingdom.
1932 – In Washington, D.C., police fire
tear gas on World War I veterans, part of
the Bonus Expeditionary Force, who attempt
to march to the White House.
1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: as police
in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck
drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters
Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding
sixty-seven.
1934 – 1934 West Coast waterfront strike:
In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and
club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor
of Oregon calls out the National Guard to
break a strike on the Portland docks.
1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines
plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes
into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed
in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify
the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing
free passage to ships of all nations in
peacetime.
1938 – The United States Department of Justice
files suit in New York City against the
motion picture industry charging violations
of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards
to the studio system. The case would eventually
result in a break-up of the industry in
1948.
1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
1940 – California opens its first freeway,
the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates
the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National
Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti
Beria its chief.
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.
1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry
Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet
Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist
Klaus Fuchs.
1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated
by a Palestinian while attending Friday
prayers in Jerusalem.
1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West
Germany's secret service, defects to East
Germany.
1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo
Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's
first elected female head of government.
1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully
launched from a submarine, the USS George
Washington, for the first time.
1961 – French military forces break the
Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack
the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai
Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military
personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which
are children).
1968 – The first Special Olympics is held.
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. (US Time)
1969 – A cease fire is announced between
Honduras and El Salvador, 6 days after the
beginning of the "Football War".
1974 – Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces
from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'etat,
organised by the dictator of Greece, against
president Makarios.
1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully
lands on Mars.
1977 – Johnstown, Pennsylvania is hit by
a flash flood that kills eighty and causes
$350 million in damage.
1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases
documents under the Freedom of Information
Act revealing it had engaged in mind control
experiments.
1980 – The United Nations Security Council
votes 14-0 that member states should not
recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
1982 – Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings:
The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs
in Hyde Park and Regents Park in central
London, killing eight soldiers, wounding
forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths
of seven horses.
1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation
to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
1989 – Burma's ruling junta puts opposition
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house
arrest.
1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president
of Czechoslovakia.
1999 – Falun Gong is banned in the People's
Republic of China, and a large scale crackdown
of the practice is launched.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Apollinaris of Ravenna
Aurelius
Elijah
Margaret the Virgin
Thorlac (relic translation)
Wilgefortis (cult suppressed)
July 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Friend's Day (Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence
declaration of Colombia from Spain in 1810.
For details, contact Datacentre
