Today in History

1415		Jan Hus, a Czech who spoke out against Church corruption, is burned at the stake as a heretic.
1519		Charles of Spain is elected Holy Roman emperor in Barcelona.
1535		Sir Thomas More is beheaded in England for refusing to swear allegiance to King Henry VIII as head of the Church.
1536		Jaques Cartier returns to France after discovering the St. Lawrence River in Canada.
1685		James II defeats James, the Duke of Monmouth, at the Battle of Sedgemoor, the last major battle to be fought on English soil.
1770		The entire Ottoman fleet is destroyed by the Russians at the battle of Cesme.
1788		10,000 troops are called out in Paris as unrest mounts in the poorer districts over poverty and lack of food.
1836		French General Thomas Bugeaud defeats Abd al-Kader's forces beside the Sikkak River in Algeria.
1835		John Marshall, the third chief justice of the Supreme Court, dies at the age of 79. Two days later, while tolling in his honor in Philadelphia, the Liberty Bell cracks.
1854		The Republican Party is officially organized in Jackson, Michigan.
1885		Louis Pasteur gives the first successful anti-rabies innoculation.
1944		Lieutenant Jackie Robinson of the U.S. Army, while riding a civilian bus from Camp Hoo, Texas, refuses to give up his seat to a white man.
1945		B-29 Superfortress bombers attack Honshu, Japan, using new fire-bombing techniques.
1945		Operation Overcast begins in Europe–moving Austrian and German scientists and their equipment to the United States.
1982		President Ronald Reagan agrees to contribute U.S. troops to the peacekeeping unit in Beruit.