TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, AUGUST 2, 2018

On this day in history:

1776 - The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place. 1798 - French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of the Nile concludes in a British victory. 1830 - Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri.

1858 - The Government of India Act 1858 replaces Company rule in India with that of the British Raj.

1869 - Japan’s Edo society class system is abolished as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms.

1870 - Tower Subway, the first tube railway in the world, is opened under the Thames River in London.

1922 - Scottish inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, dies.

1926 - John Barrymore and Mary Astor starred in the first showing of the Vitaphone System. The system was the combining of picture and sound for movies.

1939 - Albert Einstein signed a letter to President Roosevelt urging the US to have an atomic weapons research program.

1945 - The Allied conference at Potsdam was concluded. 1964 - The Pentagon reported the first of two North Vietnamese attacks on US destroyers in the Gulf of Tonkin.

1990 - Iraq invaded the oil-rich country of Kuwait. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had driven down oil prices by exceeding production quotas set by OPEC.

1995 - China ordered the expulsion of two US Air Force officers. The two were said to have been caught spying on military sights.

1997 - After three days, skiing instructor Stuart Diver is pulled alive from the rubble of the collapsed Thredbo resorts. 1999 - The Gaisal train disaster claims 285 lives in Assam, India.

2005 - Air France Flight 358 lands at Toronto Pearson International Airport and runs off the runway, causing the plane to burst into flames leaving 12 injuries and no fatalities.

2014 - At least 146 people were killed and more than 114 injured in a factory explosion in Kunshan, Jiangsu, China.