This Day In History

• 640- Arab Muslim army sent by Caliph Omar (RA) begins siege of Heliopolis, city succumbs mid to late July, paving way for Muslim conquest of Byzantine Egypt • 1744 France and Prussia sign peace treaty • 1801- Peace of Badajoz: Spain-Portugal • 1882- Cyclone in Arabian Sea (Bombay, India) drowns 100,000 (disputed event) • 1882- Electric iron patented by New York inventor Henry W. Seely. It weighed almost 15 pounds and was very slow to heat up. • 1912- The eruption of Novarupta in Alaska begins, the largest volcanic eruption of the 20th century • 1916- The death of Yuan Shikai, ruler of much of China since 1912, causes central government to virtually collapse in the face of pressure from warlords, and from political reformers including Sun Yat-sen • 1918- Battle of Belleau Wood, 1st US victory of WW I • 1919- Finland declares war on bolsheviks • 1919- The Republic of Prekmurje ends • 1926- Egyptian government of Adly Pasha forms • 1942- Japanese forces retreat, ending Battle of Midway • 1944- Operation Overlord: D-Day begins as the 156,000-strong Allied Expeditionary Force lands in Normandy, France, during World War II • 1944- World War II: All Major League Baseball games are cancelled in honor of the D-Day landings in northern France • 1947- Treaty drawn up for establishment of International Patent Institute • 1966- Gemini 9 completes 45 orbits after rendezvous with "angry alligator" • 1966- NFL & AFL announce their merger • 1967- Israeli troops occupy Gaza during second day of the Six-Day War • 1971- Air West flight 706 collides with a US Marine Corps F-4B Phantom jet over Los Angeles killing all 49 aboard the DC-6 and the pilot of the F-4B • 1972 - Explosion at world's largest coal mine kills 427 (Wankie, Rhodesia) • 1972 - US bombs Haiphong, North-Vietnam; 1000s killed • 1975 - Provisional Revolutionary Government of South Vietnam established • 1977 - Washington Post reports US has developed neutron bomb • 1981 - A passenger train travelling between Mansi and Saharsa, India, jumps the tracks at a bridge crossing the Bagmatiriver, killing 268 officially with another 300 or more missing. • 1983 -Nicaragua expels 3 US diplomats • 1985 - Soyuz T-13 carries 2 cosmonauts to Salyut 7 space station