TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS TUESDAY, JULY 18, 2017

On this day in history: 0064 - The Great Fire of Rome began.

1536 - The authority of the pope was declared void in England.

1789 - Robespierre, a deputy from Arras, France, decided to back the French Revolution.

1812 - Great Britain signed the Treaty of Orebro, making peace with Russia and Sweden.

1830 - Uruguay adopted a liberal constitution.

1872 - The Ballot Act was passed in Great Britain, providing for secret election ballots.

1873 - Explorer William Gosse sights and names Ayers Rock in an accidental discovery after being forced to take a more southerly route due to lack of water.

1878 - The foundation stone for South Australia’s grand Vice-Regal Summer Residence, Marble Hill, is laid.

1897 - The final victims of Australia’s exploration era, Charles Wells and George Jones, are laid to rest in Adelaide.

1935 - Ethiopian King Haile Selassie urged his countrymen to fight to the last man against the invading Italian army.

1942 - The German Me-262, the first jet-propelled aircraft to fly in combat, made its first flight.

1944 - US troops captured Saint-Lo, France, ending the battle of the hedgerows.

1944 - Hideki Tojo was removed as Japanese premier and war minister due to setbacks suffered by his country in the Second World War.

1971 - New Zealand and Australia announced they would pull their troops out of Vietnam.

1995 - On the Caribbean island of Montserrat, the Soufrière Hills volcano erupts. Over the course of several years, it devastates the island, destroying the capital, forcing most of the population to flee.

1996 - Storms provoke severe flooding on the Saguenay River, beginning one of Quebec’s costliest natural disasters ever.

1996 - Battle of Mullaitivu: The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam capture the Sri Lanka Army’s base, killing over 1200 soldiers.

2012 - At least seven people are killed and 32 others are injured after a bomb explodes on an Israeli tour bus at Burgas Airport, Bulgaria.