TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS SATURDAY, JULY 1, 2017

On this day in history: 0096 - Vespasian, a Roman Army leader, was hailed as a Roman Emperor by the Egyptian legions.

1543 - England and Scotland signed the peace of Greenwich.

1690 - The French defeated the forces of the Grand Alliance at Fleurus in the Netherlands. 1798 - Napoleon Bonaparte took Alexandria, Egypt. 1836 - Australian explorer Sir Thomas Mitchell discovers the Loddon River in Victoria. 1851 - Victoria separates from New South Wales.

1867 - Canada became an independent dominion.

1916 - The massive Allied offensive known as the Battle of the Somme began in France. The battle was the first to use tanks.

1942 - German troops captured Sevestpol, Crimea, in the Soviet Union.

1942 - Australia’s worst maritime disaster occurs when the Montevideo Maru is torpedoed by American submarine USS Sturgeon. 1959 - “Mr Squiggle” first airs on ABC TV in Australia. 1960 - Somalia gained its independence from Britain through the unification of Somaliland with Italian Somalia.

1969 - Britain’s Prince Charles was invested as the Prince of Wales.

1974 - Isavel Peron became the president of Argentina upon the death of her husband, Juan.

1978 - Australia’s Northern Territory is granted self-government.

1979 - Sony introduced the Walkman.

1980 - O Canada was proclaimed the national anthem of Canada.

1991 - The Warsaw Pact dissolved.

1994 - Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Liberation Organization visited the Gaza Strip.

1997 - The sovereignty over Hong Kong was transferred from Great Britain to China. Britain had controlled Hong Kong as a colony for 156 years. 2000 - Australian PM John Howard introduces the GST. 2003 - In Hong Kong, thousands of protesters marched to show their opposition to anti-subversion legislation.