TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS MONDAY, JUNE 26, 2017

On this day in history:

1096 - Peter the Hermit’s crusaders forced their way across Sava, Hungary.

1243 - The Seljuk Turkish army in Asia Minor was wiped out by the Mongols.

1483 - Richard III usurped himself to the English throne. 1804 - The Lewis and Clark Expedition reached the mouth of the Kansas River after completing a westward trek of nearly 400 river miles.

1858 - Explorer John McDouall Stuart discovers Chambers Creek, later to be renamed Stuart Creek.

1861 - A rescue party leaves Melbourne to search for explorers Burke and Wills, who are long overdue from their attempt to cross Australia from south to north.

1880 - Bushrangers, the Kelly Gang, execute police informer Aaron Sherritt, shortly before they themselves are captured. 1907 - Russia’s nobility demanded drastic measures to be taken against revolutionaries.

1908 - Shah Muhammad Ali’s forces squelched the reform elements of Parliament in Persia.

1936 - The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 made its first flight. It is often considered the first practical helicopter.

1945 - The UN. Charter was signed by 50 nations in San Francisco.

1948 - The Berlin Airlift began as the US, Britain and France started ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin.

1951 - The Soviet Union proposed a cease-fire in the Korean War.

1961 - A Kuwaiti vote opposed Iraq’s annexation plans. 1975 - Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi declared a state of emergency because of “deep and widespread conspiracy”. 1979 - Muhammad Ali, at 37 years old, announced that he was retiring as world heavyweight boxing champion. 1997 - J.K. Rowling’s book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the U.K. This was the first book in the Harry Potter series.

2000 - Indonesia’s President Abdurrahman Wahid declared a state of emergency in the Moluccas because of the escalation of fighting between Christians and Muslims.