TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS FRIDAY, JULY 14, 2017

ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY: 1223 - In France, Louis VIII succeeded his father, Philip Augustus.

1430 - Joan of Arc, taken prisoner by the Burgundians in May, was handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais.

1456 - Hungarians defeated the Ottomans at the Battle of Belgrade.

1536 - France and Portugal signed the naval treaty of Lyons, which aligned them against Spain.

1770 - The first European sighting of a kangaroo is recorded.

1789 - French Revolution began with Parisians stormed the Bastille prison and released the seven prisoners inside. 1814 - The book in which Matthew Flinders proposes the name of Terra Australis for the southern continent, is published.

1900 - Australia’s first Governor-General is appointed. 1900 - European Allies retook Tientsin, China, from the rebelling Boxers.

1933 - All German political parties except the Nazi Party were outlawed.

1940 - A force of German Ju-88 bombers attacked Suez, Egypt, from bases in Crete.

1941 - Vichy French Foreign Legionaries signed an armistice in Damascus, which allowed them to join the Free French Foreign Legion. 1945 - American battleships and cruisers bombarded the Japanese home islands for the first time.

1958 - The army of Iraq overthrew the monarchy. 1965 - The American space probe Mariner 4 flew by Mars, and sent back photographs of the planet.

1967 - 4 digit post codes are introduced in Australia to help postal workers sort mail more efficiently.

2001 - British tourist Peter Falconio goes missing, presumed murdered, in the Australian outback.

2001 - Beijing was awarded the 2008 Olympics. It was the first time that the China had been awarded the games.

2008 - In Japan, construction began on the Tokyo Skytree tower.

2015 - NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft became the first space mission to explore Pluto.