On This Day

This Day in History

1. 2023Azerbaijan launched a military offensive against the Republic of Artsakh within the Nagorno-Karabakh region. This action resulted in the flight of the local Armenian population.
2. 2011Mariano Rivera surpassed Trevor Hoffman to become the all-time career leader in saves for Major League Baseball.
3. 1995The Washington Post published Industrial Society and Its Future, the manifesto written by American domestic terrorist Ted Kaczynski, nearly three months after its submission.
4. 1989UTA Flight 772 was bombed over Niger by the Libyan government during a flight from Chad to France, resulting in the deaths of all 170 people on board.
5. 1985An earthquake measuring Mw 8.0 struck Mexico City. The disaster killed at least 9,000 people and left up to 100,000 homeless.
6. 1970The inaugural Glastonbury Festival took place at Michael Eavis's farm located in Glastonbury, England.
7. 1970Greek student Kostas Georgakis set himself on fire in Genoa, Italy, in protest against the military junta led by Georgios Papadopoulos.
8. 1950During the Korean War, Allied forces successfully repelled a North Korean attack at the Battle of Nam River.
9. 1944During World War II, Finland, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signed the Moscow Armistice, bringing an end to the Continuation War.
10. 1940During World War II, Polish resistance leader Witold Pilecki allowed himself to be captured by German forces and sent to Auschwitz in order to collect intelligence.
11. 1910Edith Maryon's bronze statuette, Meditation, was put on display at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool.
12. 1893New Zealand became the first nation to introduce universal suffrage, following a women's suffrage movement led by Kate Sheppard.
13. 1863The Battle of Chickamauga began in northwestern Georgia during the American Civil War, ultimately resulting in the Western Theater's most significant Union defeat.
14. 1846Shepherd children Mélanie Calvat and Maximin Giraud reported a Marian apparition near La Salette-Fallavaux in southeastern France, an event now known as Our Lady of La Salette.
15. 1692Giles Corey was crushed to death during the Salem witch trials for refusing to plead to witchcraft charges, famously requesting "more weight" from the sheriff during his execution.
16. 1356English forces under the command of Edward the Black Prince secured a decisive victory at the Battle of Poitiers during the Hundred Years' War, capturing King John II of France.