history at a glance
TODAY is Sunday July 9 the 190th day of the year. There are 175 days left in the year. Highlights in history on this date:
1875 – The Herzegovina Uprising against Ottoman rule begins, which would last until 1878
and have far-reaching implications throughout the Balkans. 1877 – The inaugural Wimbledon Championships begins. 1900 – The Federation of Australia is given royal assent. 1900 – The Governor of Shanxi province in North China orders the execution of 45 foreign
Christian missionaries and local church members, including children. 1918 – In Nashville, Tennessee, an inbound local train collides with an outbound express, killing 101 and injuring 171 people, making it the deadliest rail accident in United States history. 1922 – Johnny Weissmuller swims the 100 meters freestyle in 58.6 seconds breaking the
world swimming record and the ‘minute barrier’. 1932 – The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian Federal Government, starting the
Constitutionalist Revolution. 1937 – The silent film archives of Fox Film Corporation are destroyed by the 1937 Fox vault
fire. 1943 – The Allied invasion of Sicily soon causes the downfall of Mussolini and forces Hitler to
break off the Battle of Kursk. 1944 – American forces take Saipan, bringing the Japanese archipelago within range of B-29
raids, and causing the downfall of the Tojo government. 1944 – Finland wins the Battle of Tali-Ihantala, the largest battle ever fought in northern Europe. The Red Army withdraws its troops from Ihantala and digs into a defensive position, thus ending the Vyborg–Petrozavodsk Offensive. 1955 – The Russell–Einstein Manifesto calls for a reduction of the risk of nuclear warfare. 1956 – The 7.7 Mw Amorgos earthquake shakes the Cyclades island group in the Agean Sea with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The shaking and the destructive tsunami that followed left fifty-three people dead. A damaging M7.2 aftershock occurred minutes after the mainshock. 1958 – A 7.8 Mw strike-slip earthquake in Alaska causes a landslide that produces a megatsunami. The runup from the waves reached 525 m (1,722 ft) on the rim of Lituya Bay; five people were killed. 1961 – Turkish voters approve the Turkish Constitution of 1961 in a referendum. 1962 – Starfish Prime tests the effects of a nuclear test at orbital altitudes. 1979 – A car bomb destroys a Renault motor car owned by “Nazi hunters” Serge and Beate
Klarsfeld outside their home in France. 1982 – Pan Am Flight 759 crashes in Kenner, Louisiana killing all 145 people on board and
eight others on the ground. 1993 – The Parliament of Canada passes the Nunavut Act leading to the 1999 creation of Nunavut, dividing the Northwest Territories into arctic (Inuit) and sub-arctic (Dene) lands based on a plebiscite. 1995 – The Navaly church bombing is carried out by the Sri Lanka Air Force killing 125 Tamil
civilian refugees. 1999 – Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student
dormitory at the University of Tehran. 2006 – At least 122 people are killed after a Sibir Airlines Airbus A310 passenger jet, carrying 200 passengers veers off the runway while landing in wet conditions at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia. 2011 – South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan. 2014 – A gunman kills six people including four children near Spring, Texas.