THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 01 AUGUST, 1941 First World War blows up

On this day in 1914 and four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Germany and Russia declare war against each other, France orders a general mobilization, and the first German army units cross into Luxembourg in preparation for the German invasion of France. During the next three days, Russia, France, Belgium and Great Britain all lined up against Austria-Hungary and Germany, and the German army invaded Belgium. These led to a “Great War” that ensued that caused unprecedented destruction and loss of lives, resulting in the death of now fewer than 20 million soldiers and civilians.

The June 28, 1914 gruesome murder of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian empire and his wife by Bosnian Serb Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo, Bosnia  was an event widely regarded as sparking the outbreak of World War I.

Ferdinand had been inspecting his uncle’s imperial armed forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina, despite the threat of Serbian nationalists who wanted these Austro-Hungarian possessions to join newly independent Serbia. Austria-Hungary blamed the Serbian government for the attack and hoped to use the incident as justification for settling the problem of Slavic nationalism once and for all. 

However, as Russia supported Serbia, an Austria-Hungary declaration of war was delayed until its leaders received assurances from German leader Kaiser Wilhelm II that Germany would support their cause in the event of a Russian intervention. The tenuous peace between Europe’s great powers collapsed following the war declared on Serbia by Austria-Hungary on July 28. 

On July 29, Austro-Hungarian forces began to shell the Serbian capital of Belgrade, and Russia, Serbia’s ally, ordered a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary. France, allied with Russia, began to mobilize on August 1. France and Germany declared war against each other on August 3. After crossing through neutral Luxembourg, the German army invaded Belgium on the night of August 3-4, prompting Great Britain, Belgium’s ally, to declare war against Germany.

For the most part, the people of Europe greeted the outbreak of war with jubilation. Most patriotically assumed that their country would be victorious within months. Of the initial belligerents, Germany was most prepared for the outbreak of hostilities, and its military leaders had formatted a sophisticated military strategy known as the “Schlieffen Plan,” which envisioned the conquest of France through a great arcing offensive through Belgium and into northern France. Russia, slow to mobilize, was to be kept occupied by Austro-Hungarian forces while Germany attacked France.

The Schlieffen Plan was nearly successful, but in early September the French rallied and halted the German advance at the bloody Battle of the Marne near Paris. By the end of 1914, well over a million soldiers of various nationalities had been killed on the battlefields of Europe, and neither for the Allies nor the Central Powers was a final victory in sight. On the western front–the battle line that stretched across northern France and Belgium–the combatants settled down in the trenches for a terrible war of attrition.

In 1915, the Allies attempted to break the stalemate with an amphibious invasion of Turkey, which had joined the Central Powers in October 1914, but after heavy bloodshed the Allies were forced to retreat in early 1916. The year 1916 saw great offensives by Germany and Britain along the western front, but neither side accomplished a decisive victory. In the east, Germany was more successful, and the disorganized Russian army suffered terrible losses, spurring the outbreak of the Russian Revolution in 1917. By the end of 1917, the Bolsheviks had seized power in Russia and immediately set about negotiating peace with Germany. In 1918, the infusion of American troops and resources into the western front finally tipped the scale in the Allies’ favor. Bereft of manpower and supplies and faced with an imminent invasion, Germany signed an armistice agreement with the Allies in November 1918.

World War I was known as the “war to end all wars” because of the great slaughter and destruction it caused. Unfortunately, the peace treaty that officially ended the conflict—the Treaty of Versailles of 1919—forced punitive terms on Germany that destabilized Europe and laid the groundwork for World War II.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 31 JULY, 1975 American labour leader, Jimmy Hoffa declared missing

In the morning of  31st July, 1975, one of the most American influential labour leaders, James Riddle Hoffa, was officially reported missing after he failed to return home the previous night. Though Hoffa is popularly believed to have been the victim of a Mafia hit, conclusive evidence was never found and Hoffa’s fate remains a mystery.

Born in 1913 to a poor coal miner in Brazil, Indiana, Jimmy Hoffa proved a natural leader in his youth. At the age of 20, he helped organize a labor strike in Detroit, and remained an advocate for downtrodden workers for the rest of his life. Hoffa’s charisma and talents as a local organizer quickly got him noticed by the Teamsters and carried him upward through its ranks. Then a small but rapidly growing union, the Teamsters organized truckers across the country, and through the use of strikes, boycotts and some more powerful though less legal methods of protest, won contract demands on behalf of workers.

Hoffa became president of the Teamsters in 1957, when its former leader was imprisoned for bribery. As chief, Hoffa was lauded for his tireless work to expand the union, and for his unflagging devotion to even the organization’s least powerful members. His caring and approachability were captured in one of the more well-known quotes attributed to him: “You got a problem? Call me. Just pick up the phone.”

His dedication to the worker and his electrifying public speeches made him wildly popular, both among his fellow workers and the politicians and businessmen with whom he negotiated. Yet, for all the battles he fought and won on behalf of American drivers, he also had a dark side. In Hoffa’s time, many Teamster leaders partnered with the Mafia in racketeering, extortion and embezzlement. Hoffa himself had relationships with high-ranking mobsters, and was the target of several government investigations throughout the 1960s. In 1967, he was convicted of bribery and sentenced to 13 years in prison.

While in jail, Hoffa never ceded his office, and when Richard Nixon commuted his sentence in 1971, he was poised to make a comeback. Released on condition of not participating in union activities for 10 years, Hoffa was planning to fight the restriction in court when he disappeared on the afternoon of July 30, 1975, from the parking lot of a restaurant in Detroit, not far from where he got his start as a labor organizer. His family filed a missing persons report to the Bloomfield Township police the next day. Several conspiracy theories have been floated about Hoffa’s disappearance and the location of his remains, but the truth remains unknown.

Author

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 29 JULY, 1996 Olympic gold medalist, Carl Lewis wins fourth consecutive long jump

On 29 July, 1996, 35 year-old track and field legend Carl Lewis wins his fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal in the long jump. It was the ninth and final Olympic gold of his storied career.

Born 11 July, 1961, in Birmingham, Alabama and raised in a middle-class community in New Jersey, Frederick Carlton Lewis met Olympic champion Jesse Owens, who became his hero. As a teenager, Lewis participated in track and field, but was undersized until high school, when he grew the long legs that help a sprinter cover ground and underwent a huge growth spurt that forced him to walk with crutches for three months while he fine-tuned his gait. Once fully developed at 6 feet 2 inches tall, Lewis set a national high school record in the long jump with a 26-foot-8-inch leap.

After a standout career at the University of Houston, Lewis won the 100 meters, 200 meters and the long jump at the 1983 National Championships, and entered the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles as the top-ranked sprinter in the world. There, he met his goal of four gold medals, winning the long jump, the 100 meters, the 200 meters and anchoring the victorious U.S. team in the 4 x 100 meter relay.

The win at Atlanta made Lewis the first Olympian since American discus thrower Al Oerter to win the same event four times. His career is considered among the greatest in track and field history.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 28 JULY , 2016 Hillary Clinton becomes first woman to lead a major U.S. political party, accepting Democratic nomination for president

After 95 years women were granted the right to vote in United States of America, a former Secretary of State, Senator and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, makes history by accepting the Democratic Party's nomination for president, becoming the first woman to lead a major U.S. political party. 

The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia formally nominated Clinton two days earlier, with South Dakota casting 15 votes to put Clinton over the threshold of 2,382 required delegates.

Reacting to the nomination in her acceptance speech on the night of July 28, Clinton acknowledged the historic nature of her nomination.

She said, "Tonight, we've reached a milestone in our nation's march toward a more perfect union: the first time that a major party has nominated a woman for president,"  

"Standing here as my mother's daughter, and my daughter's mother, I'm so happy this day has come. Happy for grandmothers and little girls and everyone in between. Happy for boys and men, too because when any barrier falls in America, for anyone, it clears the way for everyone. When there are no ceilings, the sky's the limit," she stated.

The Former First Lady who ran in the general against immediate past president of United States of America, Donald J. Trump, won the popular vote but lost the election in the electoral college. Trump served one term between 2017 and 2021 and made history himself, becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached twice, 2019 and 2021.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 28 JULY, 2013 Vigilante-extremist clash kills 25 in Borno state, Nigeria

On 28 July 2013,  a leader of vigilante, Aliko Musa and his group stormed villages, to hunt Boko Haram members in Borno state, but the sect retaliated with big fire power. This resulted in the killing of no fewer than twenty civilians and five vigilantes.

A military source who spoke with the newsmen disclosed that at least 25 people were confirmed killed in separate attacks by suspected members of the Islamic terrorist group, Boko Haram, on that fateful Saturday.

In an email sent from Baga, the spokesman of the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF), Lieutenant Haruna Sani, said at least 20 civilians died after the terrorist group launched what appeared to be a reprisal attack in Dawashi Village.

Sani said the members of the youth vigilante, Civilian JTF, had earlier invaded the town and arrested some members of the Boko Haram – an action the terrorists blamed on the connivance of the villages

In the statement Lieutenant Musa revealed that, “A group of Civilian Joint Task Force from Maiduguri stormed the village Dawashi in search of Boko Haram members when the suspected sect members came armed and fired sporadic shots that killed over twenty innocent civilians while a dozen secured serious gunshot injury. The victims are mostly fishermen and traders who pursue their legitimate business in the area.

“As part of the Excellent Civil Military Relations and humanitarian gesture demonstrated by Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) a dozen of Boko Haram victims affected by the attack in Dawashe District of Kukawa Local Government Borno State got medical treatment in the Headquarters Field Ambulance in Baga.

The leader of the vigilante, Aliko Musa, said, the outing was a huge loss to them as five of their brave minds were killed by the outlawed Boko Haram.

However, the spokesman of the JTF, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, denied the figure even though he confirmed the Mainok attack. According to him, only one of the youth vigilante died while one other sustained injuries.

The killings occur despite a ceasefire the Nigerian government led by Dr. Goodluck Jonathan said it achieved with sect, and despite the heavy military presence since a state of emergency was declared in the State in May 2013.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 27 JULY, 1794 Architect of French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, Robespierre overthrows by National Convention

On this day in 1794, Maximilien Robespierre, the architect of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, is overthrown and arrested by the National Convention. As a leading member of the Committee of Public Safety from 1793, Robespierre used his position to encourage the execution of more than 17,000 enemies of the Revolution mostly by guillotine. Robespierre alongside 21 of his followers were guillotined before a cheering mob on the second day of his arrest in the Place de la Revolution in Paris.

Born in Arras, France in 1758, Maximilien Robespierre studied law through a scholarship and was elected to be a representative of the Arras commoners in the Estates General in 1789. After the Third Estate, which represented commoners and the lower clergy, declared itself the National Assembly, Robespierre became a prominent member of the Revolutionary body. He took a radical, democratic stance and was known as “the Incorruptible” for his dedication to civic morality. In April 1790, he presided over the Jacobins, a powerful political club that promoted the ideas of the French Revolution.

He called for King Louis XVI to be put on trial for treason and won many enemies, but the people of Paris consistently came to his defense. In 1791, he excluded himself from the new Legislative Assembly but continued to be politically active as a member of the Jacobin Club. In 1792, he opposed the war proposal of the Girondins–moderate leaders in the Legislative Assembly–and lost some popularity. 

However, Robespierre was elected to the insurrectionary Commune of Paris after the people of Paris rose up against the king in August 1792. He then was elected to head the Paris delegation to the new National Convention.

In the National Convention, he emerged as the leader of the Mountain, as the Jacobin faction was known, and opposed the Girondins. In December 1792, he successfully argued in favor of Louis XVI’s execution, and in May 1793 he encouraged the people to rise up in insurrection over military defeats and a food shortage. The uprising gave him an opportunity to finally purge the Girondins.

On July 27, 1793, Robespierre was elected to the Committee of Public Safety, which was formed in April to protect France against foreign and domestic enemies and to oversee the government. Under his leadership, the committee came to exercise virtual dictatorial control over the French government. Faced with the threat of civil war and foreign invasion, the Revolutionary government inaugurated the Reign of Terror in September. In less than a year, 300,000 suspected enemies of the Revolution were arrested; at least 10,000 died in prison, and 17,000 were officially executed, many by guillotine in the Place de la Revolution. In the orgy of bloodshed, Robespierre succeeded in purging many of his political opponents.

On June 4, 1794, Robespierre was almost unanimously elected president of the National Convention. Six days later, a law was passed that suspended a suspect’s right to public trial and to legal assistance. In just a month, 1,400 enemies of the Revolution were guillotined. The Terror was being escalated just when foreign invasion no longer threatened the republic, and an awkward coalition of the right and the left formed to oppose Robespierre and his followers.

On July 27, 1794 (9 Thermidor in the Revolutionary calendar), Robespierre and his allies were placed under arrest by the National Assembly. Robespierre was taken to the Luxembourg prison in Paris, but the warden refused to jail him, and he fled to the Hotel de Ville. Armed supporters arrived to aid him, but he refused to lead a new insurrection. When he received word that the National Convention had declared him an outlaw, he shot himself in the head but only succeeded in wounding his jaw. Shortly thereafter, troops of the National Convention attacked the Hotel de Ville and seized Robespierre and his allies. The next evening–July 28–Robespierre and 21 others were guillotined without a trial in the Place de la Revolution. During the next few days, another 82 Robespierre followers were executed. The Reign of Terror was at an end.

In the aftermath of the coup, the Committee of Public Safety lost its authority, the prisons were emptied, and the French Revolution became decidedly less radical. The Directory that followed saw a return to bourgeois values, corruption, and military failure. In 1799, the Directory was overthrown in a military coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte, who wielded dictatorial powers in France as first consul and, after 1804, as French emperor.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 27 JULY, 1974 US Congress commences impeachment process against President Nixon

The US House Committee on Judiciary, on 24 July 1974, recommends that American president, Richard Nixon, be impeached from office. The impeachment proceedings resulted from a series of political scandals involving the Nixon administration that came to be collectively known as Watergate.

The Watergate scandal first came to light following a break-in on June 17, 1972, at the Democratic Party’s national headquarters in the Watergate apartment-hotel complex in Washington, D.C. A group of men linked to the White House were later arrested and charged with the crime. Nixon who was the 37th American president, denied any involvement with the break-in, but several of his staff members were eventually implicated in an illegal cover-up and forced to resign. Subsequent government investigations revealed “dirty tricks” political campaigning by the Committee to Re-Elect the President, along with a White House “enemies list.” 

In July 1973, one of Nixon’s former staff members revealed the existence of secretly taped conversations between the president and his aides. Nixon initially refused to release the tapes, on grounds of executive privilege and national security, but a judge later ordered the president to turn them over. The White House provided some but not all of the tapes, including one from which a portion of the conversation appeared to have been erased.

In May 1974, the House Judiciary Committee began formal impeachment hearings against Nixon. On July 27 of that year, the first article of impeachment against the president was passed. Two more articles, for abuse of power and contempt of Congress, were approved on July 29 and 30.

On August 5, Nixon complied with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling requiring that he provide transcripts of the missing tapes, and the new evidence clearly implicated him in a cover up of the Watergate break-in. On August 8, Nixon announced his resignation, becoming the first president in U.S. history to voluntarily leave office. After departing the White House on August 9, Nixon was succeeded by Vice President Gerald Ford, who, in a controversial move, pardoned Nixon on September 8, 1974, making it impossible for the former president to be prosecuted for any crimes he might have committed while in office. 

Apart from Donald Trump that was impeached in 2019 and 2021, two other US presidents have also been impeached in the history of America. They were Andrew Johnson in 1868 and Bill Clinton in 1998.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 26 JULY, 2007 DSP Alamieyeseigha bags 12 years imprisonment for money laundering

On 26 July, 2007, a former Bayelsa State Governor, Dieprieye Alamieyeseigha was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment by Justice Mohammed Shuaibu of Federal High Court, Lagos on charges of corruption and money laundering and ordered him to forfeit millions in property and cash.

The former governor who had been under EFCC custody for close to two years before the Court judgement, according to the prison calendar, was said to be free from detention having spent two years in Federal custody. He is expected to face his health problems described as "terrible" by a source.

Diepreye Alamieyeseigha popularly called the Governor-General of Ijaw nation, returned to  Bayelsa State in November 2005 after apparently escaping Europe on a forged passport and in a red dress, necklace, head-dress and lipstick. Crowds cheered and waved leaves to welcome back the governor.

The governor was arrested at Heathrow airport in September and had his passport confiscated. He faced three money-laundering charges after police found £1m in cash at his London address and property in his name worth £10m.

Mr. Alamieyeseigha was coy when asked how he evaded British controls to make it back to his village in the Niger delta. "I don't know myself. I just woke up and found myself in Amassoma."

Dressed as a woman, the governor is said to have taken a Eurostar train from London to Paris and then flown to Douala, a port city in Cameroon neighbouring Nigeria, where a speedboat took him home under cover of darkness. The disguise was helped by the fugitive's weight loss during his stay in Europe, which included a tummy tuck operation in Germany.

Thousands lined the streets to cheer his cavalcade through the province but elsewhere several thousand people marched in protest at his return.

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), part of the federal government's anti-corruption drive, hinted that it would seek to prosecute him. "What I feel bad about is that Nigeria is viewed as a safe haven for people to be protected," said Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, then commission's chairman.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 25 JULY, 2000 Air France Concorde jet crashes, killing all passengers and crew onboard

Exactly twenty-two years ago, today, the Concorde, which is the fastest commercial jet, that had enjoyed an exemplary safety record with no crashes in the plane’s 31-year history, crashes upon takeoff in Paris killing 109 passengers and crew onboard as well as four other people on the ground.

The commercial jet that left DeGaulle Airport for New York carrying nine crew members and 96 German tourists who were planning to take a cruise to Ecuador, plunged to the ground almost immediately after takeoff, near Michèle Fricheteau's hotel in Gonesse, France. A huge fireball erupted and all 105 people on the plane were killed immediately.

The Concorde fleet was grounded in the wake of this disaster while the cause was investigated. The Concorde, powered by four Rolls Royce turbojets, was able to cross the Atlantic Ocean in less than three-and-a-half hours, reaching speeds of 1,350 miles per hour, which is more than twice the speed of sound. The July 25 incident, though, was not related to the Concorde’s engine construction or speed.

The investigation revealed that the plane that took off just prior to Flight 4590 had dropped a piece of metal onto the runway. When the Concorde jet ran over it, its tire was shredded and thrown into one of the engines and fuel tanks, causing a disabling fire.

Concorde jets went back into service in November 2001, but a series of minor problems prompted both Air France and British Airways to end Concorde service permanently in October 2003.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 25 JULY, 1978 World’s first "test tube" baby, Louise Joy Brown is born

On July 25, 1978, an English woman who was the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation experiment (IVF) is born at Oldham and District General Hospital in Manchester, England, to Mr. and Mrs. Lesley and Peter Brown.

Her birth, following a procedure pioneered in Britain, has been lauded among "the most remarkable medical breakthroughs of the 20th Century".  

The healthy baby who was delivered shortly before midnight by caesarean section, weighed in at five pounds, 12 ounces.

Before giving birth to Louise, Lesley Brown, a home maker had suffered nine years of infertility due to blocked fallopian tubes. In November 1977, she underwent the then-experimental IVF procedure. A mature egg was removed from one of her ovaries and combined in a laboratory dish with her husband’s sperm to form an embryo. The embryo then was implanted into her uterus a few days later. Her IVF doctors, British gynecologist Patrick Steptoe and scientist Robert Edwards, had begun their pioneering collaboration a decade earlier. Once the media learned of the pregnancy, the Browns faced intense public scrutiny. Louise’s birth made headlines around the world and raised various legal and ethical questions.

Louise’s birth became an instant global sensation and a turning point in the treatment of infertility, offering hope to millions of couples who had been unable to have children. Since then, more than four million babies worldwide have been born through in vitro fertilization.

The Browns had a second daughter, Natalie, several years later, also through IVF. In May 1999, Natalie became the first IVF baby to give birth to a child of her own. The child’s conception was natural, easing some concerns that female IVF babies would be unable to get pregnant naturally. In December 2006, Louise Brown, the original “test tube baby,” gave birth to a boy, Cameron John Mullinder, who also was conceived naturally.

Lesley, the mother of Louise, died on June 6, 2012 at age of 64 in Bristol, England. Her death, at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, was caused by complications of a gallbladder infection, said Michael Macnamee, executive director of the Bourn Hall Clinic in Cambridge, where the in vitro fertilization technique that produced Louise was developed by Robert G. Edwards and Dr. Patrick Steptoe.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 25 JULY, 1943 Relief returns to Italy as Benito Mussolini falls from power

On July 25, 1943, the Italian fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, is voted out of power by his own Grand Council and arrested upon leaving a meeting with King Vittorio Emanuele, who tells Il Duce that the war is lost. Mussolini responded to it all with an uncharacteristic meekness.

Preceding the incident, the evening of July 24 and the early hours of the 25th, the Grand Council of the fascist government met to discuss the immediate future of Italy. While all in attendance were jittery about countermanding their leader, Mussolini who was sick, tired, and overwhelmed by the military reverses suffered by the Italian military. 

Mussolini seemed to be looking for a way out of power. One of the more reasonable within the Council, Dino Grandi, argued that the dictatorship had brought Italy to the brink of military disaster, elevated incompetents to levels of power, and alienated large portions of the population. He proposed a vote to transfer some of the leader’s power to the king. The motion was passed, with Mussolini barely reacting. While some extremists balked, and would later try to convince Mussolini to have those who voted with Grandi arrested, Il Duce was simply paralyzed, unable to choose any course of action.

Soon afterwards, the Grand Council vote, Mussolini, groggy and unshaven, kept his routine 20-minute meeting with the king, during which he normally updated Victor Emanuele on the current state of affairs. This morning, the king informed Mussolini that General Pietro Badoglio would assume the powers of prime minister and that the war was all but lost for the Italians. Mussolini offered no objection. 

Upon leaving the meeting, he was arrested by the police, who had been secretly planning a pretext to remove the leader for quite some time. They now had the Council vote of “no confidence” as their formal rationale. Assured of his personal safety, Mussolini acquiesced to this too, as he had to everything else leading up to this pitiful denouement. When news of Mussolini’s arrest was made public, relief seemed to be the prevailing mood. There was no attempt by fellow fascists to rescue him from the penal settlement on the island of Ponza to which he was committed. The only remaining question was whether Italy would continue to fight alongside its German allies or surrender to the Allies.

Author:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: 25 JULY, 2007 Gunmen kidnapped two oil workers, in Port-Harcourt

On 25 July 2007, gunmen ferried in speedboats kidnapped two oil engineers of Damas Oil and Marine Services, one from the Philippines and one Nigerian, in Port-Harcourt, the Rivers state capital.

The incessant kidnapping of oil workers in the oil rich Niger Delta was a disturbing security problem in Nigeria at the time. There were four cases of kidnapping of oil workers in the month of July of 2007 alone.

The Niger Delta militants used kidnapping as a bait or pressure tactic to press home their demands from Nigerian government to address the grievances of oil pollution in their communities. 

The victims, at the initial stage, were expatriates oil workers. They were abducted and political demands made for their release. In the second stage of the problem’s evolution, the militants collected ransoms for releasing their captives and the money used to finance their insurgency against the Nigerian state. The third stage of the evolution was when it was hijacked by some criminal elements that turned it to a form of extortionate terrorism now difficult to manage. At this stage, the oil workers, members of their families, rich community members and politicians were kidnapped and ransoms taken before releasing them. 

The problem soon extended to the other parts of the country from the Niger Delta because of the poor way this form of violent extremism was managed by the Nigerian government. Not even the amnesty granted the Niger Delta militants in 2009 and in several other parts of Nigeria (where kidnapping now takes place) has been good enough to stop what now appears to be new form of career criminality.

TODAY IN HISTORY: 24 JULY, 2007 Nigerian President Yar'adua orders release of ceased Lagos Council Funds

After four years of legal tussles and negotiations, on 24 July, 2007, the then President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, directed the Accountant General of the Federation, Mr. Ibrahim Dankwambo, to release the N10.8 billion belonging to Lagos state local councils, with immediate effect.

Presidential spokesperson Mr Segun Adeniyi told reporters that Yar'Adua took the decision after consulting with legal experts who advised that the seizure of the 10.8 billion naira by the government of former president Olusegun Obasanjo in 2004 was illegal.

Adiniyi said president Yar’adua has directed the country's accountant-general to release the money immediately to Governor Babatunde Fashola.

Obasanjo had ordered the seizure to show his displeasure with then Lagos governor Bola Tinubu for ignoring his instruction that he should not create new local government areas in the state.

Tinubu challenged the action in court and the Supreme Court ordered Obasanjo to release the money, but he refused to do so until he left office in May.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 23, 1952 Military topples King Farouk’s govt in Egypt

On 23 July, 1952, the Society of Free Officers seizes control of King Farouk government in a military coup d’etat staged by Colonel Gamal Abdal Nasser’s Free Officers. King Farouk of Egypt, whose rule had been criticized for its corruption and failures in the first Arab-Israeli war, was forced to abdicate and relinquish power to General Muhammad Naguib, the figurehead leader of the coup.

The revolutionaries redistributed land, tried politicians for corruption, and in 1953 abolished the monarchy. In 1954, Nasser emerged from behind the scenes, removed Naguib from power, and proclaimed himself prime minister of Egypt. For another two years, Nasser ruled as an effective and popular leader and promulgated a new constitution that made Egypt a socialist Arab state, consciously nonaligned with the prevalent communist and democratic-capitalist systems of the Cold War world.

The consistent popular and influential Nasser was elected unopposed, to the new office of president in 1956. The office he occupied until 1970 when he died of heart attack.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: JULY, 23, 2000 40 fuel scavengers die in pipeline explosion in Delta State

July 23, 2000 was a black Sunday in Warri, Delta state when forty fuel scavengers burnt to death in a pipeline fire outbreak, near Warri port.

The sad occurrence was the second pipeline explosion that happened in the oil city of Warri in July, 2000.

On Monday 10 July, 2000, a similar explosion had rocked a village called Adeje, near Warri where no fewer than 250 Nigerians scooping up the petrol in buckets feared dead.

Police were seen cordoning off the scene of the explosion, on the following day of the tragic incidence when the State petroleum workers rushed to the area to assess the damage. The cause of the accident was unclear and a government statement signed by information minister, Prof. Jerry Gana late on Monday said "several lives" were lost and a "vital" petroleum pipeline destroyed.

"The government sympathises with the families of those who lost their lives in the incident," the statement added. A reporter who returned from the scene quoted officials as saying that the initial leak was caused by vandals who punctured the pipeline with sharp tools.

The incident occurred close to the town of Jesse where more than 700 people died in a similar disaster in 1998. Pipeline sabotage was a common phenomenon in Nigeria at that time and vandals have triggered numerous explosions.

The Warri pipeline, owned by state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corp (NNPC), was originally built to carry crude oil to a refinery in the northern town of Kaduna. It has been modified to transport refined products following a prolonged shutdown of NNPC's 110,000 barrels per day Kaduna refinery for repairs.

President Olusegun Obasanjo administration who came to office in May 1999, has set up a task force of soldiers and police backed by helicopters to protect pipelines.

At least 497 cases of vandalism were recorded in 1999 compared with 57 cases in 1998, according to the state petroleum company. Each incident forced costly shutdowns and repairs. Sabotage is sometimes carried out by militant activists trying to force the government and oil companies to give compensation to communities for land use and alleged pollution. In other cases, villagers collect the gushing fuel to make a crude mixture of oil and gasoline for cheap generators and other motors.

The government said it had allocated "enormous resources" in its attempt to educate Nigerians about the need to protect oil pipelines to avoid "tragic accidents which have always resulted in loss of lives and property". It also called on all Nigerians to cooperate with the state petroleum company's efforts to guarantee an uninterrupted supply of petroleum.

 

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 23, 1914 Franz Ferdinand and wife assassination: Austria-Hungary gives Serbia ultimatum

Nearly one month after the gruesome assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife by a young Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo, Bosnia, at about 6: 0’clock in the evening of July 23, 1914, Baron Giesl von Gieslingen, ambassador of the Austro-Hungarian Empire to Serbia, delivers an ultimatum to the Serbian foreign ministry.

Austria-Hungary, acting with the full support of its allies in Berlin, had determined in the aftermath of Franz Ferdinand’s assassination to pursue a hard-line policy towards Serbia. Their plan, developed in coordination with the German foreign office, was to force a military conflict that would, Vienna hoped, end quickly and decisively with a crushing Austrian victory before the rest of Europe—namely, Serbia’s powerful ally, Russia—had time to react.

According to the terms of the ultimatum delivered on July 23, the Serbian government would have to accept an Austro-Hungarian inquiry into the assassination, notwithstanding its claim that it was already conducting its own internal investigation. Serbia was also to suppress all anti-Austrian propaganda and to take steps to root out and eliminate terrorist organizations within its borders—one such organization, the Black Hand, was believed to have aided and abetted the archduke’s killer, Gavrilo Princip, and his cohorts, providing weapons and safe passage from Belgrade to Sarajevo. The Dual Monarchy demanded an answer to the note within 48 hours—by that time, however, anticipating Serbian defiance, Gieslingen had already set to leave the embassy.

While the world waited for Serbia’s response, Germany worked diplomatically to contain the effects of the ultimatum, but none of the other great powers, with reason, were inclined to see Austria-Hungary, with its relatively weak military, as acting alone. By 1914, the battle lines had been drawn in Europe: if Germany stood with Austria-Hungary against Serbia (and by extension, Russia) then Russia’s allies, France and Britain, would be likely to step into the fray as well.

The British cabinet, just after receiving the news of the Austrian note to Serbia, held a meeting in London, one that had previously been devoted to discussing Ireland’s desire for independence. This note, as Winston Churchill famously wrote, was clearly an ultimatum, but it was an ultimatum such as had never been penned in modern times. As the reading proceeded it seemed absolutely impossible that any State in the world could accept it, or that any acceptance, however abject, would satisfy the aggressor. The parishes of Fermanagh and Tyrone faded back into the mists and squalls of Ireland, and a strange light beganto fall upon the map of Europe.

On receipt of the ultimatum, Serbia at once appealed to Russia, whose council of ministers met on July 24 to determine a course of action. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Sazonov voiced his belief that Germany was using the crisis over the archduke’s death as a pretext for starting a preventive war to defend its interests in the region. Defying Austro-German expectations that Russia would back down in the case of such a conflict, the council agreed to order four military districts to prepare for mobilization.

Meanwhile, in Belgrade on the afternoon of July 25, convinced that Austria-Hungary was preparing for a fight, Serbian Prime Minister Nicola Pasic ordered the Serbian army to mobilize. Pasic himself delivered the Serbian answer to the ultimatum to Gieslingen at the Austrian embassy, just before the 6 p.m. deadline. Serbia’s response effectively accepted all terms of the ultimatum but one: it would not accept Austria-Hungary’s participation in any internal inquiry, stating that this would be a violation of the Constitution and of the law of criminal procedure. This response did much to appeal Pasic and his country to international observers of the conflict; to Vienna, however, it made little difference. Gieslingen, bags packed and car waiting to drive him to the railroad station, broke the Dual Monarchy’s diplomatic relations with Serbia and left to catch his train. Three days later, on July 28, 1914, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, beginning the First World War.

Courtesy of:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY JULY 23, 1885 Former president Ulysses S. Grant dies at 63

On July 23, 1885, the Civil War hero and 18th president of United States, Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer just after completing his memoirs.

The son of a tanner, Grant showed little enthusiasm for joining his father’s business, so the elder Grant enrolled his son at West Point in 1839. Though Grant later admitted in his memoirs that he had no interest in the military apart from honing his equestrian skills, he graduated in 1843 and went on to serve first in the Mexican-American War, which he opposed on moral grounds, and then in California and Oregon, tours of duty that forced him to leave behind his beloved wife and children. 

The loneliness and sheer boredom of duty in the West, drove Grant to binge drinking. By 1854, Grant’s alcohol consumption so alarmed his superiors that he was asked to resign from the Army. He did, and returned to Missouri to try his hand at farming and land speculation. Although he kicked the alcohol habit, he failed miserably at both vocations and was forced to take a job as a clerk in his father’s tanning business.

If it were not for the Civil War, Grant might have slipped quickly into obscurity. Instead, he re-enlisted in the Army in 1861 and embarked on a stellar military career, although his tendency to binge-drink re-emerged and he developed another unhealthy habit: chain cigar-smoking, which probably caused the throat cancer that eventually killed him. 

Grant led troops in the captures of Forts Henry and Donelson in Tennessee in 1862, and forced the Confederate Army to retreat back into Mississippi after the Battle of Shiloh. After the Donelson campaign, Grant received over 10,000 boxes of congratulatory cigars from a grateful citizenry.

In 1863, after leading the Union Army to victory at Vicksburg, Grant caught President Abraham Lincoln’s attention. The Union Army had suffered under the service of a series of incompetent generals and Lincoln was in the market for a new Union supreme commander. In March 1864, Lincoln revived the rank of lieutenant general—a rank that had previously been held only by George Washington in 1798—and gave it to Grant. As supreme commander of Union forces, Grant led troops in a series of epic and bloody battles against Confederate General Robert E. Lee. On April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House. The victory solidified Grant’s status as national hero and, in 1869, he began his first of two terms as president.

Grant had unimpressive talent as political leader compared to his military prowess. He was unable to stem the rampant corruption that plagued his administration and failed to combat a severe economic depression in 1873. However, successes of Grant’s tenure include passage of the Enforcement Act in 1870, which temporarily curtailed the political influence of the Ku Klux Klan in the post-Civil War South, and the 1875 Civil Rights Act, which attempted to desegregate public places such as restrooms, “inns, public conveyances on land or water, theaters, and other places of public amusement.” In addition, Grant helped to improve U.S. and British diplomatic relations, which had been damaged by the British offer to supply the Confederate Army with tools to break the Union naval blockade during the Civil War. He also managed to stay sober during his two terms in office.

Upon leaving office, Grant’s fortunes again declined. Although he and his wife Julia traveled to Europe between 1877 and 1879 amid great fanfare, the couple came home to bankruptcy caused by Grant’s unwise investment in a scandal-prone banking firm. Grant spent the last few years of his life writing a detailed account of the Civil War and, after he died of throat cancer in 1885, Julia lived on the royalties earned from his memoirs.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

TODAY IN HISTORY: JULY 22, 2017 South African golfer, Branden Grace shoots men's major Record 62 in Round 3 of 2017 in Southport, England

On this day in July, 2017, Branden Grace of South Africa walks up the 18th fairway during the third round of the 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in Southport, England.

South African golfer Branden Grace became the first player in history to shoot a 62 in a men's major championship with an eight-under third round of the 2017 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale Golf Club in Southport, England.

Numerous golfers had carded a 63 in the four majors; there were at least two instances in each of the sport's premier events, including 10 at the British Open.

The 29-year-old seven-time winner on the European Tour surged into contention with his record-breaking day. He started Saturday in a tie for 45th place and walked off the course in a tie for second at four under, though the afternoon wave of play is still to come.

Grace who started his round with a birdie and kept rolling from there, added four more birdies on the front side and dropped three strokes in a four-hole stretch starting at No. 14, which left him needing only a par on the 18th to set the new major mark.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 22 JULY, 2012 Suicide bomb kills three, injured 48 others in Bauchi church

On 22 July, 2012, a suicide bomber who tried to ram an explosives-packed car into a church Sunday at St. John’s Catholic Church in Wunti area of Bauchi city, capital of Bauchi state, killed a woman, a child and self while badly wounding dozens more.

Tight security was imposed on churches after incessant bombings claimed by the radical Islamist group Boko Haram.

The head of the Red Cross in Bauchi, Adamu Abubakar disclosed that worshippers were being screened outside the church building when the bomber approached, ramming his car into the line of people waiting to enter Sunday services.

“We have three dead in all, including the bomber, a woman and a child. Forty-eight others were seriously injured in the explosion,” Abubakar disclosed.

Although there was no immediate claim of responsibility, the attack resembled those previously claimed by Boko Haram, blamed for killing more than 1,400 people in northern and central Nigeria between 2010 and July 22, when the attack occurred.

Boko Haram claimed responsibility for a similar attack on June 3 in Bauchi city in which a suicide bomber tried to drive a vehicle packed with explosives into a church, killing at least 15 people and wounding dozens more.

Since re-launching its insurgency in 2010, the group’s attacks have grown increasingly deadly and sophisticated, including suicide bombings at the UN headquarters in Abuja and an office for one of the country’s most prominent newspapers.

The deadliest attack at the time included January 2012 in Kano when at least 185 people died in a series of coordinated bombings and shootings.

Muslims have often been its victims, but the then President Goodluck Jonathan warned that the group was seeking to spark a religious conflict with the series of attacks on Christians.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and largest oil producer, is divided between a mainly Muslim north and predominately Christian south.

The Jonathan-led federal government said that it was engaging in back-channel talks in an effort to halt the violence.

A previous attempt at dialogue in 2012 collapsed when a mediator quit over leaks to the media and a Boko Haram spokesman said they could not trust the government.

Boko Haram was believed to have several factions, including a hardcore Islamist wing.

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 21, 365 AD Tsunami wrecks havoc on Alexandria, Egypt

On July 21, 365 AD, a powerful earthquake off the coast of Greece causes a tsunami that devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt. Although there were no measuring tools at the time, scientists now estimate that the quake was actually two tremors in succession, the largest of which is thought to have had a magnitude of 8.0.

The quake was centered near the plate boundary called the Hellenic Arc and quickly sent a wall of water across the Mediterranean Sea toward the Egyptian coast. Ships in the harbor at Alexandria were overturned as the water near the coast receded suddenly. Reports indicate that many people rushed out to loot the hapless ships. The tsunami wave then rushed in and carried the ships over the sea walls, landing many on top of buildings. In Alexandria, approximately 5,000 people lost their lives and 50,000 homes were destroyed.

The surrounding villages and towns suffered even greater destruction. Many were virtually wiped off the map. Outside the city, 45,000 people were killed. In addition, the inundation of saltwater rendered farmland useless for years to come. Evidence indicates that the area’s shoreline was permanently changed by the disaster. Slowly, but steadily, the buildings of Alexandria’s Royal Quarter were overtaken by the sea following the tsunami. It was not until 1995 that archaeologists discovered the ruins of the old city off the coast of present-day Alexandria.

 Courtesy of:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 21, 2005 Bombers launch attack on London transit system

On this day in July, 2005, terrorists launched an attack on London transit system by planting bombs on three subways and on one bus; but none of the bombs detonate completely.

The bombers who were four in number, included; Muktar Said Ibrahim, 29, Yasin Hassan Omar, 26, Ramzi Mohammed, 25, and Hussain Osman, 28.

The July attack came exactly two weeks after terrorists killed 56 people, including themselves, and wounded 700 others in the largest attack on Great Britain since World War II. The previous attack also targeted three subways and one bus.

The failed bombs were found at the London Underground’s Oval, Warren Street and Shepherd’s Bush stations and on a bus in Hackney. Two days later, a fifth bomb, apparently abandoned, was found in some bushes near a park in Little Wormwood Scrubs.

The bombers were found guilty of conspiracy to murder and sentenced to life in prison. 

An estimated 3 million people ride the London Underground every day, with another 6.5 million using the city’s bus system.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY JULY 21, 1960 German government passes “Volkswagen Law”

On July 21, 1960, Germany passes the “Law Concerning the Transfer of the Share Rights in Volkswagenwerk Limited Liability Company into Private Hands,” known informally as the “Volkswagen Law.”

The company was founded in 1937 and originally under the control of Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist (Nazi) Party, Volkswagen would eventually grow into Europe’s largest car manufacturer and a symbol of Germany’s economic recovery after the devastation of World War II. 

The Volkswagen Law, passed in July 1960, changed the company to a joint stock corporation, with 20 percent held each by Germany and Lower Saxony, the region in which Volkswagen is still headquartered. By limiting the share of any other stockholder to 20 percent, regardless of how many shares owned, the law effectively protected the company from any attempt at a hostile takeover.

By 2007, the controversial legislation had come under full-blown attack from the European Commission as part of a campaign against protectionist measures in several European capitals. The commission objected not only to the 20 percent voting rights cap but to the law’s stipulation that measures taken at the annual stockholders’ meeting must be passed by more than four-fifths of VW shareholders—a requirement that gave Lower Saxony the ability to block any such measures as it saw fit.

In March of that year, fellow German automaker Porsche announced that it had raised its stake in Volkswagen to 30.9 percent, triggering a takeover bid under a German law requiring a company to bid for the entirety of any other company after acquiring more than 30 percent of its stock. Porsche announced it did not intend to take over VW, but was buying the stock as a way of protecting it from being dismantled by hedge funds. Porsche’s history was already entwined with Volkswagen, as the Austrian-born engineer Ferdinand Porsche designed the original “people’s car” for Volkswagen in 1938.

On October 23, 2007, the European Court of Justice formally struck down the Volkswagen Law, ruling that its protectionism illegally restricted the free movement of capital in European markets. The decision cleared the way for Porsche to move forward with its takeover, which it did, maintaining that it will still preserve the Volkswagen corporate structure. By early 2009, Porsche owned more than 50 percent of Volkswagen shares. Later the two companies moved forward with a merger.

Author

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY JULY 21, 1899 American literary icon, Ernest Hemingway is born

On July 21, 1899, the influential American literary giant, Ernest Miller Hemingway, is born in Oak Park, Illinois. The author of several novels such, as “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “The Old Man and the Sea,” became known for his straightforward prose and use of understatement. Hemingway, who tackled topics such as bullfighting and war in his work, also became famous for his own macho, hard-drinking persona.

Hemingway who was the second of six children of Clarence Hemingway, a doctor, and Grace Hall Hemingway, a musician, learned to fish and hunt, which would remain lifelong passions. After graduating from Oak Park and River Forest High School in 1917, he worked as a reporter for the Kansas City Star in Missouri. During the World War in 1919, he he worked as a volunteer ambulance driver for the red cross in Italy wherd he got wounded by mortar fire and spent months recuperating.

In the 1920s, Ernest Hemingway lived in Paris, France, and was part of a group of expatriate writers and artists that included F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gertrude Stein and Ezra Pound. He published his first collection of short stories in the U.S in 1925, which was followed by his well-received 1926 debut novel “The Sun Also Rises,” about a group of American and British expatriates in the 1920s who journey from Paris to Pamplona, Spain, to watch bullfighting.

The literary icon published “A Farewell to Arms” in 1929, after he had left Europe and moved to key West, Florida. The novel picturised an American ambulance driver on the Italian front during World War I and his love for a beautiful English nurse. In 1932, his non-fiction book “Death in the Afternoon,” about bullfighting in Spain, was released. It was followed in 1935 by another non-fiction work, “Green Hills of Africa,” about a safari Hemingway made to East Africa in the early 1930s. During the late 1930s, Hemingway traveled to Spain to report on that country’s civil war, and also spent time living in Cuba. 

In 1937, “To Have and Have Not,” a novel about a fishing boat captain forced to run contraband between Key West and Cuba, was published.

In 1940, the acclaimed “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” about a young American fighting with a band of guerrillas in the Spanish civil war, made its debut. Hemingway went on to work as a war correspondent in Europe during World War II, and release the 1950 novel “Across the River and into the Trees.”

Hemingway’s last significant work to be published during his lifetime was “The Old Man and the Sea,” a short heroic novel published in 1952 and awarded the 1953 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. It was a novella about an aging Cuban fisherman that was an allegory referring to the writer’s own struggles to preserve his art in the face of fame and attention.

Ernest Hemingway became a cult figure whose four marriages and adventurous exploits in big-game hunting and fishing were widely covered in the press. But despite his fame, he had not produced a major literary work in the decade before “The Old Man and the Sea” debuted.

His father, Clarence Hemingway died by suicide in 1928 and Ernest, after surviving two plane crashes in Africa in 1953, he became increasingly anxious and depressed. On July 2, 1961, he also killed himself with a shotgun at his home in Ketchum, Idaho.

Three novels by Hemingway were released posthumously—“Islands in the Stream” (1970), “The Garden of Eden” (1986) and “True at First Light” (1999)—as was the memoir “A Moveable Feast” (1964), which he wrote about his time in Paris in the 1920s.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 20, 1977 Great flood in Johnstown kills 84, hundreds of people homeless

A flash flood hits Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on July 20, 1977, killing 84 people and causing millions of dollars in damages. This flood came 88 years after the infamous Great Flood of 1889 that killed more than 2,000 people in Johnstown. As they had in the first flood, the dams in the Conemaugh Valley failed, bringing disaster to the town.

The flood occurred when an extraordinary amount of rain came down in the Conemaugh Valley in a short period of time. Nearly 12 inches were measured in 10 hours. The National Weather Service later estimated that this amount of rain in that location should happen less than once every 1,000 years.

The largest dam that burst was at Laurel Run. This 10-year-old earthen dam held back 100 million gallons of water. Despite having a 42-foot-high spillway, the dam failed and the resulting flood devastated the town of Tanneryville. Five other dams in the area also burst, releasing another 30 million gallons of water over the landscape.

The failure of the dams came as a big surprise. Johnstown had constructed an entire system designed to completely eliminate the flood risk. In addition, regular inspections had turned up no defects. Still, the dams were no match for the thunderstorm that stalled over the area on July 20.

In addition to the 84 people who lost their lives to the flood, $300 million in damages were suffered and hundreds of people lost their homes. President Jimmy Carter declared the region a federal disaster area and the National Guard was sent to assist in the relief efforts. Despite millions spent to rehabilitate the Johnstown area, the economy never recovered. The city’s population decreased nearly 15 percent in the aftermath of the flood, as people moved away to rebuild their lives elsewhere.

Author

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 20, 1944 Adolf Hitler survives assassination plot by German elites

On July 20, 1944, Hitler cheats death as a bomb planted in a briefcase goes off, but fails to kill him.

High-ranking German officials had made up their minds that Hitler must die. He was leading Germany in a suicidal war on two fronts, and assassination was the only way to stop him. A coup d’etat would follow, and a new government in Berlin would save Germany from complete destruction at the hands of the Allies.

That was the plan. This was the reality: Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg, chief of the army reserve, had been given the task of planting a bomb during a conference that was to be held at Berchtesgaden, but was later moved to Hitler’s “Wolf’s Lair, a command post at Rastenburg, Prussia. Stauffenberg planted the explosive in a briefcase, which he placed under a table, then left quickly. Hitler was studying a map of the Eastern front as Colonel Heinz Brandt, trying to get a better look at the map, moved the briefcase out of place, farther away from where the Fuhrer was standing. 

At 12:42 p.m. the bomb went off. When the smoke cleared, Hitler was wounded, charred, and even suffered the temporary paralysis of one arm—but he was very much alive. (He was even well enough to keep an appointment with Benito Mussolini that very afternoon. He gave Il Duce a tour of the bomb site.) Four others present died from their wounds.

As the bomb went off, Stauffenberg was making his way to Berlin to carry out Operation Valkyrie, the overthrow of the central government. In Berlin, he and co-conspirator General Olbricht arrested the commander of the reserve army, General Fromm, and began issuing orders for the commandeering of various government buildings. And then the news came through from Herman Goering—Hitler was alive. 

Fromm, released from custody under the assumption he would nevertheless join the effort to throw Hitler out of office, turned on the conspirators. Stauffenberg and Olbricht were shot that same day. Once Hitler figured out the extent of the conspiracy (it reached all the way to occupied French), he began the systematic liquidation of his enemies. More than 7,000 Germans would be arrested (including evangelical pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer), and up to 5,000 would wind up dead—either executed or as suicides. 

Hitler, Himmler and Goering took an even firmer grip on Germany and its war machine. Hitler became convinced that fate had spared him—”I regard this as a confirmation of the task imposed upon me by Providence”—and that “nothing is going to happen to me… [T]he great cause which I serve will be brought through its present perils and…everything can be brought to a good end.”

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 20, 1973 Movie icon and martial-arts expert, Bruce Lee dies in Hong Kong at 32

On July 20, 1973, the movie star and martial-arts expert Bruce Lee dies in Hong Kong at age 32 from a brain edema possibly caused by a reaction to a prescription painkiller. During Lee’s all-too-brief career, he became a movie star in Asia and, posthumously, in America.

Jun Fan (Bruce) Lee was born on November 27, 1940, in San Francisco, California. At the time, his father, a Chinese opera star, was on tour in the United States. The family moved back to Hong Kong in 1941. Growing up, Lee was a child actor who appeared in some 20 Chinese films; he also studied dancing and trained in the Wing Chun style of gung fu (also known as “kung fu”). In 1959, Lee returned to America, where he eventually attended the University of Washington and opened a martial-arts school in Seattle. In 1964, Lee married Linda Emery, who in 1965 gave birth to Brandon Lee, the first of the couple’s two children. In 1966, the Lees moved to Los Angeles and Bruce appeared on the television program The Green Hornet (1966-1967), playing the Hornet’s acrobatic sidekick Kato. Lee also appeared in karate tournaments around the United States and continued to teach martial arts to private clients including the actor Steve McQueen.

In search of better acting roles than Hollywood was offering, Lee returned to Hong Kong in the early 1970s and successfully established himself as a star in Asia with the action movies The Big Boss (1971) and The Way of the Dragon (1972), which he wrote, directed and starred in. Lee’s next film, Enter the Dragon, was released in the United States by Hollywood studio Warner Bros. in August 1973. Tragically, Lee had died one month earlier, on July 20, in Hong Kong, after suffering a brain edema. Enter the Dragon was a box-office hit, eventually grossing more than $200 million, and Lee posthumously became a movie icon in America.

Lee’s body was returned to Seattle, where he was buried. His sudden death at the young age of 32 led to rumors and speculation about the cause of his demise. One theory held that Lee had been murdered by Chinese gangsters while another rumor circulated that the actor had been the victim of a curse. The family-curse theory resurfaced when Lee’s 28-year-old son Brandon, who had followed in his father’s footsteps to become an actor, died in an accidental shooting on the set of the movie The Crow on March 31, 1993. The younger Lee was buried next to his father at Seattle’s Lake View Cemetery.

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY: JULY 20, 1969 American astronaut, Neil Armstrong walks on moon

At 10:56 p.m. EDT, American astronaut Neil Armstrong, 240,000 miles from Earth, speaks these words to more than a billion people listening at home: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” Stepping off the lunar landing module Eagle, Armstrong became the first human to walk on the surface of the moon.

The American effort to send astronauts to the moon has its origins in a famous appeal President John F. Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961: “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth.” At the time, the United States was still trailing the Soviet Union in space developments, and Cold War-era America welcomed Kennedy’s bold proposal.

In 1966, after five years of work by an international team of scientists and engineers, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conducted the first unmanned Apollo mission, testing the structural integrity of the proposed launch vehicle and spacecraft combination. Then, on January 27, 1967, tragedy struck at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, when a fire broke out during a manned launch-pad test of the Apollo spacecraft and Saturn rocket. Three astronauts were killed in the fire

Despite the setback, NASA and its thousands of employees forged ahead, and in October 1968, Apollo 7, the first manned Apollo mission, orbited Earth and successfully tested many of the sophisticated systems needed to conduct a moon journey and landing. In December of the same year, Apollo 8 took three astronauts to the far side of the moon and orbited it 10 times before returning, and in March 1969 Apollo 9 tested the lunar module for the first time while in Earth orbit. Then in May, the three astronauts of Apollo 10 took the first complete Apollo spacecraft in 31 orbits around the moon in a dry run for the scheduled July landing mission.

At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, with the world watching, Apollo 11 took off from Kennedy Space Center with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin Jr., and Michael Collins aboard. Armstrong, a 38-year-old research pilot, was the commander of the mission. After traveling 240,000 miles in 76 hours, Apollo 11 entered into a lunar orbit on July 19. The next day, at 1:46 p.m., the lunar module Eagle, manned by Armstrong and Aldrin, separated from the command module, where Collins remained. Two hours later, the Eagle began its descent to the lunar surface, and at 4:18 p.m. the craft touched down on the southwestern edge of the Sea of Tranquility. Armstrong immediately radioed to Mission Control in Houston, Texas, a famous message: “The Eagle has landed.”

At 10:39 p.m., five hours ahead of the original schedule, Armstrong opened the hatch of the lunar module. As he made his way down the lunar module’s ladder, a television camera attached to the craft recorded his progress and beamed the signal back to Earth, where hundreds of millions watched in great anticipation. At 10:56 p.m., Armstrong spoke his famous quote, which he later contended was slightly garbled by his microphone and meant to be “that’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” He then planted his left foot on the gray, powdery surface, took a cautious step forward, and humanity had walked on the moon.

“Buzz” Aldrin joined him on the moon’s surface at 11:11 p.m., and together they took photographs of the terrain, planted a U.S. flag, ran a few simple scientific tests, and spoke with President Richard M. Nixon via Houston. By 1:11 a.m. on July 21, both astronauts were back in the lunar module and the hatch was closed. The two men slept that night on the surface of the moon, and at 1:54 p.m. the Eagle began its ascent back to the command module. Among the items left on the surface of the moon was a plaque that read: “Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the moon–July 1969 A.D–We came in peace for all mankind.”

At 5:35 p.m., Armstrong and Aldrin successfully docked and rejoined Collins, and at 12:56 a.m. on July 22 Apollo 11 began its journey home, safely splashing down in the Pacific Ocean at 12:51 p.m. on July 24.

There would be five more successful lunar landing missions, and one unplanned lunar swing-by, Apollo 13. The last men to walk on the moon, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt of the Apollo 17 mission, left the lunar surface on December 14, 1972. The Apollo program was a costly and labor intensive endeavor, involving an estimated 400,000 engineers, technicians, and scientists, and costing $24 billion (close to $100 billion in today’s dollars). The expense was justified by Kennedy’s 1961 mandate to beat the Soviets to the moon, and after the feat was accomplished ongoing missions lost their viability.

 Adapted from:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY JULY 19, 1799 FRENCH SOLDIER DISCOVERS ROSETTA STONE IN EGYPT

Although there is some debate about the exact date, on what was likely July 19, 1799, during Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian campaign, a French soldier discovers a black basalt slab inscribed with ancient writing near the town of Rosetta, about 35 miles east of Alexandria. The irregularly shaped stone contained fragments of passages written in three different scripts: Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics and Egyptian demotic. 

The ancient Greek on the Rosetta Stone told archaeologists that it was inscribed by priests honoring the king of Egypt, Ptolemy V, in the second century B.C. More startlingly, the Greek passage announced that the three scripts were all of identical meaning. The artifact thus held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had been “dead” for nearly 2,000 years.

When Napoleon, an emperor known for his enlightened view of education, art and culture, invaded Egypt in 1798, he took along a group of scholars and told them to seize all important cultural artifacts for France. Pierre Bouchard, one of Napoleon’s soldiers, was aware of this order when he found the basalt stone, which was almost four feet long and two-and-a-half feet wide, at a fort near Rosetta. When the British defeated Napoleon in 1801, they took possession of the Rosetta Stone.

Several scholars, including Englishman Thomas Young made progress with the initial hieroglyphics analysis of the Rosetta Stone. French Egyptologist Jean-Francois Champollion (1790-1832), who had taught himself ancient languages, ultimately cracked the code and deciphered the hieroglyphics using his knowledge of Greek as a guide. Hieroglyphics used pictures to represent objects, sounds and groups of sounds. Once the Rosetta Stone inscriptions were translated, the language and culture of ancient Egypt was suddenly open to scientists as never before.

Today, the Rosetta Stone is housed in the British Museum in London, despite repeated calls for it to be returned to Egypt. 

Adapted from:

History.com Editors

THIS DAY IN HISTORY JULY 19 1956 UNITED STATES REVOKES OFFER OF AID FOR ASWAN DAM

The then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles announces that the United States is pulling out its offer of financial aid to Egypt to help with the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River. The action drove Egypt further toward an alliance with the Soviet Union and was a contributing factor to the Suez Crisis later in 1956.

In December 1955, Secretary Dulles announced that the United States, together with Great Britain, was providing nearly $70 million in aid to Egypt to help in the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile River. Dulles had agreed to this assistance only reluctantly. He was deeply suspicious of Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser, who he believed to be a reckless and dangerous nationalist. However, others in the Eisenhower administration convinced Dulles that the American aid might pull Nasser back from his relationship with the Soviet Union and prevent the growth of Soviet power in the Middle East. Just seven months after the announcement, however, Dulles declared that the American offer was being revoked. He cited difficulties in arranging the financial details of the U.S. grant with the Egyptian government, but his real motivation was Nasser’s unceasing attacks on Western colonialism and imperialism and Egypt’s continued dalliance with the Soviet Union.

Dulles might have believed that without the American aid, the dam project would fold. On this point, he was wrong. The Soviets rushed to Egypt’s aid, and the Aswan Dam was officially opened in 1964. Nasser, of course, was furious with the U.S. action. So, too, were the British, who believed that America’s withdrawal of aid had provided the opening for Soviet penetration of Egypt. In October 1956, British, French, and Israeli forces attacked Egypt, claiming that they were protecting the Suez Canal. The incident nearly provoked a U.S.-Soviet confrontation, but President Dwight D. Eisenhower coupled stern warnings against any Soviet military action with a refusal to support the British, French and Israeli invasion. The invading forces withdrew from Egypt in early 1957. Nevertheless, the damage to U.S. relations with the Middle East was done and the area would remain a Cold War hotspot throughout the next 35 years.

Adapted from

History.com

THIS DAY IN HISTORY JULY 19 1553 LADY JANE GREY DETHRONED AS QUEEN OF ENGLAND

After only nine days as the Queen of England, Lady Jane Grey is deposed in favor of her cousin Mary. The 15-year-old Lady Jane, beautiful and intelligent, had only reluctantly agreed to be put on the throne. The decision would result in her execution.

Lady Jane Grey who was the great-granddaughter of King Henry VII and the cousin of King Edward VI, were the same age, and they had almost been married in 1549. In May 1553 she was married to Lord Guildford Dudley, the son of John Dudley, the duke of Northumberland. When King Edward fell deathly ill with tuberculosis soon after, Jane’s father-in-law, John Dudley persuaded the dying king that Jane, a Protestant, should be chosen the royal successor over Edward’s half-sister Mary, a Catholic. On July 6, 1553, Edward died, and four days later Lady Jane Grey was declared queen of England.

Lady Jane’s ascendance to the throne was supported by the Royal Council, but the populace supported Mary, the rightful heir. Two days into Lady Jane’s reign, Dudley departed London with an army to suppress Mary’s forces, and in his absence the Council declared him a traitor and Mary the queen, ending Jane’s nine-day reign.

By July 20, most of Dudley’s army had deserted him, and he was arrested. The same day, Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of London. Her father-in-law was condemned for high treason, and on August 23 he was executed. On November 13, Jane and her husband, Guildford Dudley, were likewise found guilty of treason and sentenced to death, but because of their youth and relative innocence Mary did not carry out the death sentences.

However, in early 1554, Jane’s father, Henry Grey, joined Sir Thomas Wyatt in an insurrection against Mary that broke out after her announcement of her intention to marry Philip II of Spain. While suppressing the revolt, Mary decided it was also necessary to eliminate all her political opponents, and on February 7 she signed the death warrants of Jane and her husband. On the morning of February 12, Jane watched her husband being carried away to execution from the window of her cell in the Tower of London, and two hours later she was also executed. As British tradition tells the story, after the 16-year-old girl was beheaded, her executioner held Jane’s head aloft and recited the words: “So perish all the queen’s enemies! Behold, the head of a traitor!”

 Adapted from:

History.com Editors