Today in history 6/5/2021-6/8/2021

6/5/2021:

Today in history, Members of the First Crusade witness an eclipse of the moon and interpret it as a sign they will recapture Jerusalem in 1099.

Today in history, Henry IV’s army defeats the Spanish at the Battle of Fontaine-Francaise in 1595.

Today in history, Joseph and Jacques Montgolfier (see picture below) make the first public balloon flight in 1783.

Today in history, Harriet Beecher Stowe (see picture below) publishes the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in The National Era in 1851.

Today in history, The Republican National Convention, the first major political party convention to include blacks, commences in 1872.

Today in history, The first B-29 bombing raid strikes the Japanese rail line in Bangkok, Thailand in 1944.

Today in history, Secretary of State George C. Marshall outlines “The Marshall Plan,” a program intended to assist European nations, including former enemies, to rebuild their economies in 1947.

Today in history, The Six-Day War (see picture below) between Israel and Egypt, Syria and Jordan begins in 1967.

Today in history, Doris A. Davis (see picture below) becomes the first African-American woman to govern a city in a major metropolitan area when she is elected mayor of Compton, California in 1973.

6/6/2021:

Today in history, Gustav Vasa (see picture below) becomes king of Sweden in 1523.

Today in history, The city of Memphis surrenders to the Union navy after an intense naval engagement on the Mississippi River in 1862.

Today in history, U.S. Marines enter combat at the Battle of Belleau Wood in 1918.

Today in history, The German Reichstag accepts the Dawes Plan, an American plan to help Germany pay off its war debts in 1924.

Today in history, Frozen foods are sold commercially for the first time in 1930.

Today in history, D-Day: Operation Overlord (see picture below) lands 400,000 Allied American, British, and Canadian troops on the beaches of Normandy in German-occupied France in 1944.

Today in history, African American James Meredith is shot and wounded while on a solo march in Mississippi to promote voter registration among blacks in 1966.

Today in history, Israel invades southern Lebanon in 1982.

6/7/2021:

Today in history, Christopher Columbus leaves on his third voyage of exploration in 1498.

Today in history, Louis XIV is crowned king of France in 1654.

Today in history, The Pennsylvania Assembly bans the importation of slaves in 1712.

Today in history, Daniel Boone sights present-day Kentucky in 1767.

Today in history, The United Colonies change their name to the United States in 1775.

Today in history, Mexico City is captured by French troops in 1863.

Today in history, The Boxer rebels cut the rail links between Peking and Tientsin in China in 1900.

Today in history, Professor Pierre Curie (see picture below) reveals the discovery of Polonium in 1903.

Today in history, Israeli F-16 fighter-bombers destroy Iraq’s only nuclear reactor in 1981.

6/8/2021:

Independence in 1776.

Today in history, Tripoli declares war on the U.S. for refusing to pay tribute in 1801.

Today in history, The U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, holds its first graduation in 1854.

Today in history, Dorothea Dix is appointed superintendent of female nurses for the Union army in 1861.

Today in history, Japan and Russia agree to peace talks brokered by President Theodore Roosevelt (see picture below) in 1905.

Today in history, The Republican convention in Chicago endorses women’s suffrage in 1920.

Today in history, The U.S. VII and V corps, advancing from Normandy’s beaches, link up and begin moving inland in 1944.

Today in history, The news that the sound barrier has been broken is finally released to the public by the U.S. Air Force. Chuck Yeager (see picture below), piloting the rocket airplane X-1, exceeded the speed of sound on October 14, 1947 in 1948.

Today in history, Serb forces begin their withdrawal from Kosovo after signing an agreement with the NATO powers in 1999.

Today in history 3/4/2021-3/5/2021

3/4/2021:

Today in history, Frederick Barbarossa (see picture below) is chosen as emperor and unites the two factions, which emerged in Germany after the death of Henry V in 1152.

Today in history, Samuel Cole (see picture below) opens the first tavern in Boston, Massachusetts in 1634.

Today in history, The first Congress of the United States meets in New York and declares that the Constitution is in effect in 1789.

Today in history, Vermont is admitted as the 14th state. It is the first addition to the original 13 colonies in 1791.

Today in history, George Washington is inaugurated as President for the second time in 1793.

Today in history, Thomas Jefferson becomes the first President to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C. in 1801.

Today in history, The Russian Imperial Ballet stages the first performance of “Swan Lake” in Moscow in 1877.

Today in history, Russian troops begin to retreat toward the Manchurian border as 100,000 Japanese advance in Korea in 1904.

Today in history, Doctor Fillatre of Paris, France successfully separates Siamese twins in 1914.

Today in history, Queen Elizabeth II knights Charlie Chaplin (see picture below) in 1975.

3/5/2021:

Today in history, Antonio de Ulloa (see picture below), the first Spanish governor of Louisiana, arrives in New Orleans in 1766.

Today in history, The Boston Massacre (see picture below) . Five Americans, including Crispus Atticus, are fatally shot by British soldiers. This event contributes to the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War in 1770.

Today in history, James Monroe becomes the first president to be inaugurated on March 5, only because the 4th was a Sunday in 1821.

Today in history, The Soviets move the capital of Russia from Petrograd to Moscow in 1918.

Today in history,  In Fulton, Missouri, Winston Churchill (see picture below) tells a crowd that “an iron curtain has descended on the Continent of Europe” in 1946.

Today in history, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that cities have the right to display the Nativity scene as part of their Christmas display in 1984.

Today in history 8/17/2020

Today in history, By the Treaty of Abo, Sweden cedes southeast Finland to Russia, ending Sweden’s failed war with Russia in 1743.

Today in history, Napoleon Bonaparte‘s army defeats the Russians at the Battle of Smolensk during the Russian retreat to Moscow in 1812.

Today in history, The first steam ship to cross the Atlantic entirely on its own power, the Canadian ship Royal William (see picture below), begins her journey from Nova Scotia to The Isle of Wight in 1833.

Today in history, Union gunboats attack Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina, for the first time in 1863.

Today in history, Upon hearing confirmation that Japan has surrendered, Sukarno proclaims Indonesia’s independence in 1945.

Today in history, Three Americans complete the first crossing of the Atlantic in a balloon in 1978.

Today in history 8/5/2020

Today in history, Russia, Prussia and Austria sign a treaty agreeing on the partition of Poland in 1762.

Today in history, Colonel Henry Bouquet decisively defeats the Indians at the Battle of Bushy Run in Pennsylvania during Pontiac‘s rebellion in 1763.

Today in history, A peace treaty with Tripoli–which follows treaties with Algeria and Tunis–brings an end to the Barbary Wars in 1815.

Today in history, Congress adopts the nation’s first income tax to finance the Civil War in 1861.

Today in history, Harriet Tubman (see picture below) receives a pension from Congress for her work as a nurse, spyand scout during the Civil War in 1892.

Today in history, The Austro-German Army takes Warsaw, in present-day Poland, on the Eastern Front in 1915.

Today in history, The United Nations Command suspends armistice talks with the North Koreans when armed troops are spotted in neutral areas in 1951.

Today in history 7/16/2020

Today in history, English Prime Minister Lord Grenville (see picture below) resigns and is replaced by Lord Rockingham in 1765.

Today in history, Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji, ending their six-year war in 1774.

Today in history, The new French constitution is finalized in 1875.

Today in history, The United States detonates the first atomic bomb in a test at Alamogordo, N. M. in 1945.

Today in history, Apollo 11 (see picture below) blasts off from Cape Kennedy, Florida, heading for a landing on the moon in 1969.