This Day In History

• 1456 - Battle at Nandorfehervar (Belgrade): Hungarian army under Janos Hunyadi beats Sultan Murad II

• 1691 - Battle at Aghrim: English/Dutch army beats France

• 1731 - Spain signs Treaty of Vienna

• 1739 - Ottoman Empire defeats Austria at Crocyka (Krotzka) in Serbia & subsequently successfully laid seige to Belgrade

• 1793 - Alexander Mackenzie reaches the Pacific Ocean, becoming the first Euro-American to complete a transcontinental crossing of Canada.

• 1864 - Battle of Atlanta-Hood attacks Sherman, 8,449 Confederate and 3,641 US soldiers die

• 1942 - 4th Soviet army forms with 80 tanks

• 1946 - Militant Zionist organisation Irgun bombs the British administrative headquarters for Palestine in the southern wing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, killing 91 people of various nationalities and injuring 46.

• 1955 - Richard Nixon becomes the first US Vice President to preside over a cabinet meeting

• 1963 - Sarawak achieves independence from British colonial rule

• 1969 - USSR launches Sputnik 50 & Molniya 1-12 communications satellite

• 1971 - Sudanese military counter-coup under premier Numeiry

• 1987 - Soyuz TM-3 launched with 3 cosmonauts (1 Syrian)

• 1987 - US began escorting re-flagged Kuwaiti tankers in Persian Gulf

• 1988 - 500 US scientists pledge to boycott Pentagon germ-warfare research

• 1992 - Soyuz TM-15 launches

• 1993 - Soyuz TM-17 lands

• 1994 - 23rd & last part of Comet Shoemaker-Levy hit Jupiter (since July 16th)

• 1995 - Space shuttle STS-70 (Discovery 20), lands

• 1997 - The second Blue Water Bridge opens between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.

• 2002 - Israel assassinates Salah Shahade, the Commander-in-Chief of Hamas's military arm, the Izz adDin al-Qassam Brigades, along with 14 civilians.