July 7 - Events

Events

• 1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
• 1534 – European colonization of the Americas: first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick.
• 1543 – French troops invade Luxembourg.
• 1575 – Raid of the Redeswire, the last major battle between England and Scotland.
• 1585 – The Treaty of Nemours abolishes tolerance to Protestants in France.
• 1770 – The Battle of Larga between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire takes place.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Hubbardton.
• 1798 – Quasi-War: the U.S. Congress rescinds treaties with France sparking the "war".
• 1807 – Napoleonic Wars: the Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia ends the Fourth Coalition.
• 1846 – Mexican-American War: American troops occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the U.S.conquest of California.
• 1863 – United States begins its first military draft; exemptions cost $300.
• 1865 – American Civil War: four conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
• 1892 – Katipunan: the Revolutionary Philippine Brotherhood is established, contributing to the fall of the Spanish Empire in Asia.
• 1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
• 1915 – World War I: end of First Battle of the Isonzo.
• 1915 – An International Railway trolley with an extreme overload of 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, killing 15.
• 1917 – Russian Revolution: Prince Georgy Yevgenyevich Lvov forms a provisional government in Russia after the deposing of Tsar Nicholas II.
• 1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri. It is described as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped".
• 1930 – Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser begins construction of the Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam).
• 1937 – Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Lugou Bridge – Japanese forces invade Beijing, China.
• 1941 – World War II: U.S. forces land in Iceland, taking over from an earlier British occupation.
• 1941 – World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops.
• 1946 – Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized.
• 1946 – Howard Hughes nearly dies when his XF-11 spy plane prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood.
• 1952 – The ocean liner SS United States passes Bishop's Rock on her maiden voyage, breaking the transatlantic speed record to become the fastest passenger ship in the world.
• 1953 – Ernesto "Che" Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
• 1954 – Elvis Presley made his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, "That's All Right."
• 1956 – Fritz Moravec reaches the peak of Gasherbrum II (8,035 m).
• 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
• 1959 – 14:28 UT Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
• 1967 – Beginning of the civil war in Biafra.
• 1969 – In Canada, the Official Languages Act is adopted making the French language equal to the English language throughout the Federal government.
• 1978 – The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1980 – Institution of sharia in Iran.
• 1980 – During the Lebanese civil war, 83 Tiger militants are killed during what will be known as the Safra massacre.
• 1983 – Cold War: Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov.
• 1985 – Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at age 17
• 1991 – Yugoslav Wars: the Brioni Agreement ends the ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• 2002 – A scandal breaks out in the United Kingdom when news reports accuse MI6 of sheltering Abu Qatada, the supposed European Al Qaeda leader.
• 2005 – A series of four explosions occurs on London's transport system killing 56 people including four alleged suicide bombers and injuring over 700 others.