Today in History

1261		Constantinople falls to Michael VIII of Nicea and his army.
1385		John of Portugal defeats John of Castile at the Battle of Aljubarrota.
1598		Hugh O’Neill, the Earl of Tyrone, leads an Irish force to victory over the British at Battle of Yellow Ford.
1760		Frederick II defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Liegnitz.
1864		The Confederate raider Tallahassee captures six Federal ships off New England.
1872		The first ballot voting in England is conducted.
1914		The Panama Canal opens to traffic.
1935		American comedian and "cowboy philosopher" Will Rogers dies in an airplane accident, along with American aviation pioneer Wiley Post.
1942		The Japanese submarine I-25 departs Japan with a floatplane in its hold which will be assembled upon arriving off the West Coast of the United States, and used to bomb U.S. forests.
1944		American, British and French forces land on the southern coast of France, between Toulon and Cannes, in Operation Dragoon.
1945		Gasoline and fuel oil rationing ends in the United States.
1947		Britain grants independence to India and Pakistan.
1950		Two U.S. divisions are badly mauled by the North Korean Army at the Battle of the Bowling Alley in South Korea, which rages on for five more days.
1969		Over 400,000 young people attend a weekend of rock music at Woodstock, New York.
1971		Richard Nixon announces a 90-day freeze on wages and prices in an attempt to halt rapid inflation.
1986		Ignoring objections from Ronald Reagan’s junta, US Senate approves economic sanctions against South Africa to protest that country’s apartheid policies.
1994		US Social Security Administration, previously part of the Department of Health and Human Services, becomes an independent government agency.
1994		Infamous terrorist Carlos the Jackal captured in Khartoum, Sudan.
2001		Astronomers announce the first solar system discovered outside our own; two planets had been found orbiting a star in the Big Dipper.
2007		An earthquake of 8.0 magnitude kills over 500 and injures more than 1,000 in Peru.