1282 | | The great massacre of the French in Sicily The Sicilian Vespers comes to an end. |
1547 | | In France, Francis--king since 1515--dies and is succeeded by his son Henry II. |
1776 | | Abigail Adams writes to husband John that women are "determined to foment a rebellion" if the new Declaration of Independence fails to guarantee their rights. |
1779 | | Russia and Turkey sign a treaty by which they promise to take no military action in the Crimea. |
1790 | | In Paris, France, Maximilien Robespierre is elected president of the Jacobin Club. |
1836 | | The first monthly installment of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens is published in London. |
1862 | | Skirmishing between Rebels and Union forces takes place at Island 10 on the Mississippi River. |
1880 | | The first electric street lights ever installed by a municipality are turned on in Wabash, Indiana. |
1889 | | The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opens on the Left Bank as part of the Exhibition of 1889. |
1916 | | General John Pershing and his army rout Pancho Villa's army in Mexico. |
1917 | | The United States purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million. |
1918 | | Daylight Savings Time goes into effect throughout the United States for the first time. |
1921 | | Great Britain declares a state of emergency because of the thousands of coal miners on strike. |
1933 | | To relieve rampant unemployment, Congress authorizes the Civilian Conservation Corps . |
1939 | | Britain and France agree to support Poland if Germany threatens to invade. |
1940 | | La Guardia airport in New York officially opens to the public. |
1941 | | Germany begins a counter offensive in North Africa. |
1945 | | The United States and Britain bar a Soviet supported provisional regime in Warsaw from entering the U.N. meeting in San Francisco. |
1948 | | The Soviet Union begins controlling the Western trains headed toward Berlin. |
1949 | | Winston Churchill declares that the A-bomb was the only thing that kept the Soviet Union from taking over Europe. |
1954 | | The siege of Dien Bien Phu, the last French outpost in Vietnam, begins after the Viet Minh realize it cannot be taken by direct assault. |
1960 | | The South African government declares a state of emergency after demonstrations lead to the deaths of more than 50 Africans. |
1966 | | An estimated 200,000 anti-war demonstrators march in New York City. |
1967 | | President Lyndon Johnson signs the Consular Treaty, the first bi-lateral pact with the Soviet Union since the Bolshevik Revolution. |
1970 | | U.S. forces in Vietnam down a MIG-21, the first since September 1968. |
1980 | | President Jimmy Carter deregulates the banking industry. |
1991 | | Albania offers a multi-party election for the first time in 50 years. |
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