On This Day
1983 - Assassination of Ninoy Aquino
Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. is assassinated at Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).
On This Day
On This Day
On This Day
1957 - Intercontinental ballistic missile
The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
On This Day
1791 - Bois Caïman
Enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, led by Dutty Boukman, held a Vodou ceremony that became a pivotal act of resistance. This gathering sparked a mass uprising against slavery, marking the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.
On This Day
1882 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.
On This Day
1968 - Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia
Cold War: Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring. East German participation is limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war. Only Albania and Romania refuse to participate.
On This Day
1858 - Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.
On This Day
1991 - 1991 Soviet coup attempt
Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The August Coup begins when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.
On This Day
1944 - Liberation of Paris
World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
On This Day
1839 - Louis Daguerre
The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world".
On This Day
1963 - James Meredith
Civil rights movement: James Meredith becomes the first African American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.
On This Day
1945 - List of presidents of Indonesia
Sukarno takes office as the first president of Indonesia, following the country's declaration of independence the previous day.
On This Day
1868 - Helium
French astronomer Pierre Janssen discovers helium.