1794 French Revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other leaders of “the Terror” guillotined to thunderous cheers in Paris
1914 Austria-Hungary decides against mediation and declares war on Serbia – first declaration of war of WWI
1917 Silent Parade organised by James Weldon Johnson of 10,000 African-Americans who march on 5th Ave in NYC to protest against lynching
1943 Operation Gomorrah: RAF bombing over Hamburg causes a firestorm that kills 42,600 German civilians
1976 Tangshan Earthquake, 8.2 in magnitude kills over 240,000 Northern China in the largest loss of life from an earthquake in the 20th century
2005 The Provisional Irish Republican Army call an end to their thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland
Historical Events Today Events in 2023
Today in Film & TV
1932 “White Zombie” – 1st feature length zombie film directed by Victor Halperin and starring Bela Lugosi is released in the US
Today in Music
1914 Foxtrot 1st danced at New Amsterdam Roof Garden, in NYC, by Harry Fox
1973 600,000 attend the “Summer Jam” rock festival featuring The Grateful Dead, The Band, and The Allman Brothers Band, at Watkins Glen, New York; at the time the largest ever audience at a pop festival
Today in Sport
1977 Legendary England cricket all-rounder Ian Botham on debut takes 5 for 74 in the Australian 1st innings in a 7 wicket 3rd Test win at Trent Bridge
MORE FACTS
1945 Physicist Raemer Schreiber and Lieutenant Colonel Peer de Silva arrive on the Pacific island of Tinian with the plutonium core used to assemble the Fat Man bomb used in the bombing of Nagasaki on August 9
“Elevator girl” Betty Lou Oliver survives falling 75 stories after fog 1945 causes a US bomber plane to crash into the Empire State Building, breaking the cables supporting the elevator she was operating. This remains a world record for the longest survived elevator fall
Famous Weddings
1540 English King Henry VIII (49) marries Catherine Howard (16 or 17), his 5th wife
1683 Anne Stuart, later the British Queen Anne, marries Prince George of Denmark at the Chapel Royal
1727 Philosopher Jonathan Edwards (23) weds Sarah Pierpont
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