Today in history

Crusaders defeated, Russian revolution begins

In 1147, the armies of the Second Crusade were destroyed by the Saracens at Dorylaeum in modern Turkey. The Crusaders went on with fruitless campaigns against Damascus, Syria.

In 1415, an English army under Henry V defeated a far stronger French force at Agincourt, France. The victory secured popular support in England for future military ventures in France, and became one of the proudest moments of English military history.

In 1854, The Charge of the Light Brigade, made famous by the Alfred Lord Tennyson poem, took place during the Crimean War. A confused order during the battle of Balaklava sent the English brigade of 600 men and horses directly into a stronghold of the Russian army. About 40 per cent of the brigade was lost. In 1917, the Russian Revolution began. In 1918, the Canadian Pacific steamship Princess Sophia sank in a snowstorm at Lynn Canal while sailing to Vancouver from Alaska. There were no survivors and it is estimated to have taken over 350 lives.

In 1920, prohibition was approved in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

In 1923, Dr. Frederick Banting and Dr. J.J.R. Macleod of the University of Toronto were awarded the Nobel Prize in medicine for their discovery of the hormone insulin, and became the first Canadians to win a Nobel. Macleod supervised the research, but Banting was considered the principal discoverer because his idea launched the research. In 1941, the Germans conquered Kharkov, Ukraine. In 1951, Montreal became the first Canadian city to reach a population of more than one million.

In 1958, an explosion in Ottawa's business district injured 30 people and caused $2 million in damage.

In 1971, the UN General Assembly voted to seat Peoples Republic of China and expel Taiwan.

In 1978, the Canadian Union of Postal Workers ended a national strike that began Oct. 12 when postal workers in Charlottetown and Montreal walked off the job.

In 1982, the House of Commons passed the bill to officially rename the July 1 holiday as Canada Day. The Senate passed legislation the next day.

In 1983, U.S. Marines and Rangers, assisted by soldiers from six Caribbean countries, invaded Grenada at the order of U.S. President Ronald Reagan.

In 1993, Jean Chretien's Liberals ended nine years of Conservative rule in Ottawa by winning a majority in a federal election.