Today in History

1189		After the death of Henry II, Richard Lionheart is crowned king of England.
1260		Mamelukes under Sultan Qutuz defeat Mongols and Crusaders at Ain Jalut.
1346		Edward III of England begins the siege of Calais, along the coast of France.
1650		The English under Cromwell defeat a superior Scottish army under David Leslie at the Battle of Dunbar.
1777		The American flag (stars & stripes), approved by Congress on June 14th, is carried into battle for the first time by a force under General William Maxwell.
1783		The Treaty of Paris is signed by Great Britain and the new United States, formally bringing the American Revolution to an end.
1838		Frederick Douglass escapes slavery disguised as a sailor. He would later write The Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, his memoirs about slave life.
1855		General William Harney defeats Little Thunder’s Brule Sioux at the Battle of Blue Water in Nebraska.
1895		The first professional American football game is played in Latrobe, Pennsylvania between the Latrobe Young Men’s Christian Association and the Jeannette Athletic Club. Latrobe wins 12-0.
1914		The French capital is moved from Paris to Bordeaux as the Battle of the Marne begins.
1916		The German Somme front is broken by an Allied offensive.
1918		The United States recognizes the nation of Czechoslovakia.
1939		After Germany ignores Great Britain’s ultimatum to stop the invasion of Poland, Great Britain declares war on Germany, marking the beginning of World War II in Europe.
1939		The British passenger ship Athenia is sunk by a German submarine in the Atlantic, with 30 Americans among those killed. American Secretary of State Cordell Hull warns Americans to avoid travel to Europe unless absolutely necessary.
1943		British troops invade Italy, landing at Calabria.
1944		The U.S. Seventh Army captures Lyons, France.
1945		General Tomoyuki Yamashita, the Japanese commander of the Philippines, surrenders to Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright at Baguio.
1967		Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Thieu is elected president of South Vietnam.
1969		Ho Chi Minh, the leader of North Vietnam, dies.
1976		The unmanned US spacecraft Viking 2 lands on Mars, takes first close-up, color photos of the planet’s surface.
1981		Egypt arrests some 1,500 opponents of the government.
1989		US begins shipping military aircraft and weapons to Columbia for use against that country’s drug lords.
1994		Russia and China sign a demarcation agreement to end dispute over a stretch of their border and agree they will no longer target each other with nuclear weapons.
2001		Protestant loyalists in Belfast, Ireland, begin an 11-week picket of the Holy Cross Catholic school for girls, sparking rioting.