TODAY’S HISTORY LESSON – JULY 3
0324 Battle of Adrianople: Roman Emperor Constantine I defeats his co-emperor Licinius, who flees to Byzantium
1187 Battle of Horns of Hattin: Saladin, Sultan of Egypt and Syria, destroys Jerusalem’s crusader army
1608 Samuel de Champlain founded the city of Quebec.
1754 George Washington surrenders to French, Ft Necessity (7 Years’ War)
1775 George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.
1814 Americans capture Fort Erie, Canada
1844 The Great Auks go extinct – The last known pair of Great Auks, members of a species of flightless birds, were killed off the coast of Iceland at the request of a collector.
1878 John Wise flies the first dirigible in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1890 Idaho became the 43rd state in the United States.
1901 The Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy, commits its last American robbery near Wagner, Montana, taking $65,000 from a Great Northern train.
1915 US military forces occupy Haiti, remain until 1934
1930 The U.S. Veterans Administration was created by Congress.
1950 1st time US & North Korean forces clash in the Korean War
1954 Food rationing ends in Great Britain almost nine years after the end of World War II.
1957 Nikita Khrushchev takes control in the Soviet Union by purging his most serious opponents from positions of authority in government.
1962 Algeria gains its independence from France
1976 Israel launches rescue of 103 Air France crew & passengers being held at Entebbe Airport in Uganda by pro-Palestinian hijackers
1978 Supreme Court rules 5-4, FCC had a right to reprimand NY radio station WBAI for broadcasting George Carlin’s “Filthy Words”
1986 After appointing a commission to save, restore and preserve the 150 feet tall Statue of Liberty in 1984, President Ronald Reagan led ceremonies to unveil the newly restored Statue of Liberty.
1988 Iran Air flight 655 is shot down by a US Navy ship. The USS Vincennes mistakenly shot down the airplane en route to Dubai, killing all 290 people aboard.
1989 Supreme Court rules states do not have to provide funds for abortions
1996 UK House of Commons announces that the Stone of Scone, aka the Stone of Destiny, used in the coronation of Scottish (and subsequently English and British monarchs), will be returned to Scotland after 700 years in Westminster Abbey
2013 Coup in Egypt – Egyptian defense minister Abdul Fatah al-Sisi staged a coup and forced out President Mohamed Morsi, just over a year after he was elected.
** history.net, onthisday.com, infoplease.com, timeanddate.com, thepeoplehistory.com, on-this-day.com **
