Independence
day
Belgium
Events
of the day
21
July : Man takes first steps on the Moon
1969: Man takes first steps on the Moon
American Neil Armstrong has become the first
man to walk on the Moon.
The astronaut stepped onto the Moon's surface,
in the Sea of Tranquility, at 0256 GMT,
nearly 20 minutes after first opening the
hatch on the Eagle landing craft.
Armstrong
had earlier reported the lunar module's
safe landing at 2017 GMT with the words:
"Houston, Tranquility Base here. The
Eagle has landed."
As
he put his left foot down first Armstrong
declared: "That's one small step for
man, one giant leap for mankind."
He
described the surface as being like powdered
charcoal and the landing craft left a crater
about a foot deep.
356
BC β The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one
of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed
by arson.
230 β Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the
eighteenth pope.
285 β Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar
and co-ruler.
365 β 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.
1242 β Battle of Taillebourg : Louis IX
of France puts an end to the revolt of his
vassals Henry III of England and Hugh X
of Lusignan.
1403 β Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry
IV of England defeats rebels to the north
of the county town of Shropshire, England.
1545 β The first landing of French troops
on the coast of the Isle of Wight during
the French invasion of the Isle of Wight.
1568 β Eighty Years' War: Battle of Jemmingen
β Fernando Γlvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva
defeats Louis of Nassau.
1718 β The Treaty of Passarowitz between
the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic
of Venice is signed.
1774 β Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russia
and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of
Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war.
1831 β Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium,
first king of the Belgians.
1861 β American Civil War: First Battle
of Bull Run β at Manassas Junction, Virginia,
the first major battle of the war begins
and ends in a victory for the Confederate
army.
1865 β In the market square of Springfield,
Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills
Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first
western showdown.
1873 β At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the
James-Younger Gang pull off the first successful
train robbery in the American Old West.
1877 β After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio
Railroad workers and the deaths of nine
rail workers at the hands of the Maryland
militia, workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
stage a sympathy strike that is met with
an assault by the state militia.
1904 β Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes
the first man to break the 100 mph (161
km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter
Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium.
1914 β The Crown council of Romania decides
the country shall remain neutral in World
War I
1918 β U-156 shells Nauset Beach, in Orleans,
Massachusetts.
1919 β The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express
crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings
Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.
1925 β Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee,
high school biology teacher John T. Scopes
is found guilty of teaching evolution in
class and fined $100.
1925 β Sir Malcolm Campbell becomes the
first man to break the 150 mph (241 km/h)
land barrier at Pendine Sands in Wales.
He drove a Sunbeam at a two-way average
speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).
1944 β World War II: Battle of Guam β American
troops land on Guam starting the battle.
It would end on August 10.
1944 β World War II: Claus Schenk Graf von
Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are
executed in Berlin, Germany for the July
20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
1949 β The United States Senate ratifies
the North Atlantic Treaty.
1954 β First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference
partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and
South Vietnam.
1959 β Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie"
Green becomes the first African-American
to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last
team to integrate. He came in as a pinch
runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop
in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
1961 β Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone
4 Mission β Gus Grissom piloting Liberty
Bell 7 becomes the second American to go
into space (in a suborbital mission).
1969 β Space Race: Neil Armstrong and Edwin
"Buzz" Aldrin become the first
humans to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo
11 mission (July 20 in North America).
1970 β After 11 years of construction, the
Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.
1972 β Bloody Friday bombings by the Provisional
IRA around Belfast, Northern Ireland β 22
bombs are detonated, killing 9 and seriously
injuring 130.
1973 β In the Lillehammer affair in Norway,
Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom
they mistakenly thought was involved in
the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.
1976 β Christopher Ewart-Biggs British ambassador
to the Republic of Ireland is assassinated
by the Provisional IRA.
1977 β The start of the four day long Libyan-Egyptian
War.
1983 β The world's lowest temperature is
recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at
β89.2 Β°C (β128.6 Β°F).
1995 β Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's
Liberation Army begins firing missiles into
the waters north of Taiwan.
1997 β The fully restored USS Constitution
(aka Old Ironsides) celebrates her 200th
birthday by setting sail for the first time
in 116 years.
2001 β At the conclusion of a fireworks
display on Okura Beach in Akashi, HyΕgo,
Japan, 11 people are killed and more than
120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge
connecting the beach to JR Asagiri railway
station becomes overcrowded and people leaving
the event fall down in a domino effect.
2005 β Four terrorist bombings, occurring
exactly two weeks after the similar July
7 bombings, target London's public transportation
system. All four bombs fail to detonate
and all four suspected suicide bombers are
captured and later convicted and imprisoned
for long terms.
2011 β NASA's Space Shuttle program ends
with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis
on mission STS-135.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Arbogast
Daniel (Roman Catholic Church)
Lawrence of Brindisi
Praxedes
Victor of Marseilles
July 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Liberation Day in 1944 (Guam)
National Day, celebrates the inauguration
of LΓ©opold I, the first king of the Belgians,
after its independence from the Netherlands
on October 4, 1830. (Belgium)
Racial Harmony Day (Singapore)
Summer Kazanskaya (Russia)
For details, contact Datacentre
