717 Siege of Constantinople: The Muslim armada with 1,800 ships, is defeated by the Byzantine navy through the use of Greek fire.
1145 Ibn Jubayr (born), Muslim geographer and poet (died 1217)
1159 Pope Adrian IV (died) (born 1100)
1532 Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England.
1557 Jacques Cartier (died), French navigator and explorer (born 1491)
1600 Tadeáš Hájek (died), Czech physician and astronomer (born 1525)
1615 Étienne Pasquier (died), French lawyer (born 1529)
1648 Marin Mersenne (died), French mathematician, theologian, and philosopher (born 1588)
1651 Natalya Naryshkina (born), Russian wife of Alexis of Russia (died 1694)
1653 Johann Pachelbel (born), German organist, composer, and educator (died 1706)
1678 Jan Brueghel the Younger (died), Flemish painter (born 1601)
1687 Henry More (died), English philosopher (born 1614)
1711 William IV (born), Prince of Orange (died 1759)
1715 King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years—the longest of any major European monarch.
1715 Louis XIV of France (died) (born 1638)
1726 Johann Becker (born), German organist, composer, and educator (died 1803)
1763 Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy’s plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow
1772 The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
1774 Massachusetts Bay colonists rise up in the bloodless Powder Alarm.
1795 James Gordon Bennett, Sr. (born), American publisher, founded the New York Herald (died 1872)
1804 Juno, one of the four largest asteroids in the Main Belt, is discovered by the German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.
1836 Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.
1838 William Clark (died), American soldier, explorer, and politician, 4th Governor of Missouri Territory (born 1770)
1848 Auguste Forel (born), Swiss myrmecologist, neuroanatomist, and psychiatrist (died 1931)
1856 Sergei Winogradsky (born), Ukrainian-Russian microbiologist and ecologist (died 1953)
1862 American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly – Confederate Army troops defeat a group of retreating Union Army troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
1864 American Civil War: the Confederate Army General John Bell Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta, Georgia, ending a four-month siege by General William Tecumseh Sherman.
1866 James J. Corbett (born), American boxer (died 1933)
1875 Edgar Rice Burroughs (born), American author (died 1950)
1878 Emma Nutt becomes the world’s first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.
1895 Engelbert Zaschka (born), German engineer and designer, invented the Human-powered aircraft (died 1955)
1896 A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada (born), Indian religious leader, founded the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (died 1977)
1897 The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America.
1902 A Trip to the Moon, considered one of the first science fiction films, is released in France.
1905 Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.
1906 The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established.
1907 Walter Reuther (born), American union leader, founded United Auto Workers (died 1970)
1914 St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd.
1914 The last Passenger Pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.
1920 Richard Farnsworth (born), American actor and stuntman (died 2000)
1920 The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.
1921 Willem Frederik Hermans (born), Dutch author (died 1995)
1922 Samu Pecz (died), Hungarian architect and academic (born 1854)
1922 Yvonne De Carlo (born), Canadian-American actress and singer (died 2007)
1923 Rocky Marciano (born), American boxer (died 1969)
1928 Elemér Bokor (died), Hungarian entomologist (born 1887)
1928 George Maharis (born), American actor and singer
1930 Peeter Põld (died), Estonian scientist and politician (born 1878)
1931 Beano Cook (born), American sportscaster (died 2012)
1931 Boxcar Willie (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1999)
1931 Sunny von Bülow (born), American socialite (died 2008)
1933 Ann Richards (born), American educator and politician, 45th Governor of Texas (died 2006)
1933 Conway Twitty (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 1993)
1933 Marshall Lytle (born), American bass player and songwriter (Bill Haley & His Comets and The Jodimars) (died 2013)
1935 Seiji Ozawa (born), Japanese conductor
1938 Alan Dershowitz (born), American lawyer and author
1939 Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people.
1939 General George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
1939 Lily Tomlin (born), American actress, producer, and screenwriter
1939 World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II.
1943 Charles Atangana (died), Cameroonian chief (born 1880)
1943 Don Stroud (born), American actor and surfer
1944 Archie Bell (born), American singer-songwriter (Archie Bell & the Drells)
1944 Leonard Slatkin (born), American conductor and composer
1945 Scott Spencer (born), American author
1946 Barry Gibb (born), Manx-English singer-songwriter and producer (Bee Gees and The Rattlesnakes)
1946 Greg Errico (born), American drummer and producer (Sly & the Family Stone and Weather Report)
1947 Frederick Russell Burnham (died), American soldier and adventurer (born 1861)
1952 The Old Man and the Sea, the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Ernest Hemingway, is first published.
1953 Joseph Williams (born), American singer-songwriter and keyboard player (Toto)
1957 Gloria Estefan (born), Cuban-American singer-songwriter and actress
1958 Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars.
1961 The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
1968 Mohamed Atta (born), Egyptian terrorist, hijacker of American Airlines Flight 11 (died 2001)
1969 A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power.
1969 Drew Pearson (died), American journalist (born 1897)
1970 Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attack his motorcade.
1972 In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion.
1974 The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h).
1976 Marcos Ambrose (born), Australian race car driver
1977 Ethel Waters, American singer and actress (born 1896)
1979 The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi).
1983 Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
1983 Larry McDonald (died), American physician and politician (born 1935)
1985 A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
1988 Simona de Silvestro (born), Swiss race car driver
1989 A. Bartlett Giamatti (died), American academic and businessman (born 1938)
1991 Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union.
1997 The death of Diana, Princess of Wales is announced by Buckingham Palace.
2008 Jerry Reed (died), American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor (born 1937)
2012 Hal David (died), American songwriter and composer (born 1921)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
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- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017