Today in History

1558   The French take the French town of Thioville from the English.
1772   Slavery is outlawed in England.
1807   British seamen board the USS Chesapeake, a provocation leading to the War of 1812.  
1864   Confederate General A. P. Hill turns back a Federal flanking movement at the Weldon Railroad near Petersburg, Virginia.  
1876   General Alfred Terry sends Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer to the Rosebud and Little Bighorn rivers to search for Indian villages.  
1910   German bacteriologist Paul Ehrlich announces a definitive cure for syphilis.  
1911   King George V of England crowned.  
1915   Austro-German forces occupy Lemberg on the Eastern Front as the Russians retreat.  
1925   France and Spain agree to join forces against Abd el Krim in Morocco.  
1930   A son is born to Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh.  
1933   Hitler bans political parties in Germany other than the Nazis.  
1938   Joe Louis floors Max Schmeling in the first round of the heavyweight bout at Yankee Stadium.  
1940   France and Germany sign an armistice at Compiegne, on terms dictated by the Nazis.  
1941   Under the codename Barbarossa, Germany invades the Soviet Union.  
1942   A Japanese submarine shells Fort Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River.  
1944   President Franklin Roosevelt signs the "GI Bill of Rights" to provide broad benefits for veterans of the war.  
1956   The battle for Algiers begins as three buildings in Casbah are blown up.  
1970   President Richard Nixon signs the 26th amendment, lowering the voting age to 18.  
1973   Skylab astronauts splash down safely in the Pacific after a record 28 days in space.  
1980   The Soviet Union announces a partial withdrawal of its forces from Afghanistan.  
1981   Mark David Chapman pleads guilty to killing John Lennon.  
1995  Nigeria's former military ruler Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo and his chief deputy are charged with conspiracy to overthrow Gen. Sami Abacha's military government.