Today in History

1265		King Henry III puts down a revolt of English barons lead by Simon de Montfort.
1578		A crusade against the Moors of Morocco is routed at the Battle of Alcazar-el-Kebir. King Sebastian of Portugal and 8,000 of his soldiers are killed.
1789		The Constituent Assembly in France abolishes the privileges of nobility.
1790		The Revenue Cutter service, the parent service of the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, is organized.
1864		Federal troops fail to capture Fort Gaines on Dauphin Island, one of the Confederate forts defending Mobile Bay.
1879		A law is passed in Germany making Alsace Lorraine a territory of the empire.
1914		Germany invades Belgium causing Great Britain to declare war on Germany.
1942		The British government charges that Mohandas Gandhi and his All-Indian Congress Party favor “appeasement” with Japan.
1944		RAF pilot T. D. Dean becomes the first pilot to destroy a V-1 buzz bomb when he tips the pilotless craft’s wing, sending it off course.
1952		Helicopters from the U.S. Air Force Air Rescue Service land in Germany, completing the first transatlantic flight by helicopter in 51 hours and 55 minutes of flight time.
1964		The U.S.S. Maddox and Turner Joy exchange fire with North Vietnamese patrol boats, resulting in the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
1971		The U.S. launches the first satellite into lunar orbit from a manned spacecraft (Apollo 15).
1988		The US Senate votes to give each Japanese-American who was interned during WWII $20,000 compensation and an apology.
2007		NASA launches the Phoenix spacecraft on a mission to Mars.