This Week In #History ... July 12 - 17th
#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @UlaVovk
Jul 12
1109 Crusaders capture Syria's harbor city of Tripoli
1543 England's King Henry VIII weds Catherine Parr (6th and last wife)
1689 Orangeman's Day - Battle of Boyne, Protestant victory in Ireland
1776 Captain Cook departs with Resolution for 3rd trip to Pacific Ocean
1862 Congress authorizes Medal of Honor
1902 Australian parliament agrees to female suffrage
1912 1st foreign feature film exhibited in U.S. - "Queen Elizabeth" - New York City
1920 Lithuania and U.S.S.R. sign peace treaty, Lithuania becomes independent republic
1934 U.S. Disciplinary Barracks on Alcatraz Island abandoned
1948 1st jets to fly across Atlantic, 6 RAF de Havilland Vampires
1957 U.S. Surgeon General Leroy Burney connects smoking with lung cancer
1970 Tanzania signs contract with China for building Tanzam-railway
1979 Kiribati (formerly Gilbert Islands) declares independence from U.K.
1988 U.S.S.R. launches Phobos II for Martian orbit
1996 Michael Jordan signs a NBA contract for 1 year for $25 million
2010 A new long-range unmanned plane named Taranis is unveiled by the U.K. Ministry of Defense
Jul 13
1772 Captain James Cook begins 2nd trip (Resolution) to South Seas
1832 Source of Mississippi River discovered, Henry R. Schoolcraft
1836 U.S. patent #1 (after 9,957 unnumbered patents), for locomotive wheels
1898 Guglielmo Marconi patents radio
1908 4th modern Olympic games opens in London
1919 Race riots in Longview and Gregg counties Texas
1930 1st-ever soccer World Cup competition began in Uruguay
1939 Frank Sinatra made his recording debut
1945 1st atom bomb explodes in New Mexico
1960 U.S. Democratic convention nominates John F. Kennedy as presidential candidate
1970 Building begins of Amsterdam metro
1978 Albania drops diplomatic relations with China PR
1988 Sting performs his 1st Rain Forest benefit concert
1997 Indonesian ferry sinks, killing at least 77
2010 The European Union announces that on January 1, 2011, it will make Estonia the seventeenth member of the euro
Jul 14
1420 Battle at Vitkov Zizka's hill (Prague): Taboriets beat Bohemia
1682 Henry Purcell appointed organist of Chapel Royal, London
1798 1st direct federal tax on states-on dwellings, land and slaves
1853 1st U.S. World's fair opens, Crystal Palace New York
1891 John T. Smith patents corkboard
1914 1st patent for liquid-fueled rocket design granted, Dr. Robert Goddard
1927 1st commercial airplane flight in Hawaii
1933 Germany began mandatory sterilization of those with hereditary illness
1941 Cease fire of Joan of Arc, ends combat in Lebanon and Syria
1950 RE Wayne awarded 1st Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea
1959 1st atomic powered cruiser, Long Beach, Quincy Massachusetts
1967 Surveyor 4 launched to Moon; explodes just before landing
1976 Jimmy Carter wins Democratic President nomination in New York City
1986 Richard W. Miller became 1st FBI agent convicted of espionage
1997 Bomb in Algiers kills 21 and wounds 40
2010 Senior Rwandan opposition politician Andre Kagwa Rwisereka is found, after reported missing, with his head nearly severed off
Jul 15
1099 1st Crusaders capture and plunder Jerusalem
1205 Pope Innocent III states Jews are doomed to perpetual servitude and subjugation due to crucifixion of Jesus
1524 Emperor Karel I bans German national synode
1795 "Marseillaise" becomes French national anthem
1815 Napoleon surrendered and is later exiled on St. Helena
1869 Margarine is patents by Hippolye Mega-Mouries for use by French Navy
1900 President Steyn/General De Law escape Brandwater Basin
1912 British National Health Insurance Act goes into effect
1922 1st duck-billed platypus publicly exhibited in U.S., at New York zoo
1933 Wiley Post began 1st solo flight around world
1942 1st deportation camp at Westerbork, Jews sent to Auschwitz
1952 1st transatlantic helicopter flight begins
1962 Algeria becomes member of Arab League
1973 Paul Getty III kidnapped
1984 John Lennon releases "I'm Stepping Out"
1995 Birmingham Barracudas 1st CFL home game (vs Hamilton)
2010 Entire villages are burned to the ground and 40,000 people flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Jul 16
622 Origin of Islamic Era (Muharram 1, 1 AH)
1429 Joan of Arc leads French army in Battle of Orleans
1618 Captain John Gilbert patents 1st dredger in Britain
1798 U.S. Public Health Service forms and U.S. Marine Hospital authorized
1861 Battle of Bull Run, the 1st major battle of the Civil War, is fought
1902 John McGraw named manager of New York Giants
1912 Naval torpedo launched from an airplane patents by B. A. Fiske
1920 China joins the League of Nations
1927 Augusto Sandino begins 5 -year war against U.S. occupation of Nicaragua
1936 1st x-ray photo of arterial circulation, Rochester, New York
1945 1st atomic bomb detonated, Trinity Site, Alamogordo, New Mexico
1951 Novel "Catcher in Rye" by J. D. Salinger published
1963 Amazon carries 190,000 m3/sec (record)
1972 Dimitrios Papadopoulos becomes 269th patriarch of Constantinople
1982 NASA launches Landsat 4 to thematic map the Earth
1990 New York City's Empire State Building catches fire - no fatalities
2005 6th Harry Potter book by J. K. Rowling is released: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
2010 U.S.-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki is placed on the U.S. 'terror blacklist'
Jul 17
1054 Emperor Henry III crowns his son Henry IV king
1453 1st battle at Castillon: French beat English troops
1774 Captain Cook arrives at New Hebrides (Vanuata)
1862 United army officially divides corps
1902 Orioles forfeit to St. Louis having only 5 players available to play they then forfeit their franchise back to the AL
1912 IAF (International Amateur Athletic Federation) forms in Sweden
1919 Finland adopts constitution
1929 U.S.S.R. drops diplomatic relations with China
1942 Transport nr 6 departs with French Jews to nazi-Germany
1951 King Leopold II of Belgium gives up throne to son Boudouin I
1959 Dr. Leakey discovers oldest human skull (600,000 years old)
1968 Beatle's animated film "Yellow Submarine" premieres in London
1979 Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza flees to Miami
1987 Iran and France break diplomatic relations
1998 Russia buries tsar Nicholas II and family, 80 years after they died
2010 South Korea develops a long-range cruise missile reportedly capable of striking North Korea, Japan, Russia and China