On July 17, 1945, the three leaders of the Allies met in Potsdam, Germany, to discuss the post-war landscape, especially in Europe and Germany. Gathered around the table were three powerful leaders: Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, and newly inaugurated…
Read MoreOn July 16, 1861, at the direction of President Abraham Lincoln, thousands of Union soldiers crossed the Potomac River and began a grueling 25-mile march toward Manassas Junction, Virginia. The operation, undertaken with the hopes of swiftly crushing the Confederate rebellion, would culminate just…
Read MoreOn July 16, 1054, Christendom split in two. On that day, National Geographic explains, “Patriarch of Constantinople Michael Cerularius was excommunicated from the Christian church based in Rome, Italy. Cerularius’s excommunication was a breaking point in long-rising tensions between the Roman church based in Rome…
Read MoreOn July 15, 2002, John Walker Lindh—the California-born man dubbed the “American Taliban”—pleaded guilty in federal court to two felony charges: supplying services to the Taliban and carrying explosives during the commission of a felony. The plea marked a stunning conclusion to one of…
Read MoreOn July 14, 1960, a 26-year-old British woman named Jane Goodall arrived at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve in Tanganyika (modern-day Tanzania), launching what would become one of the most significant and enduring studies of animal behavior in history. With no formal scientific training…
Read MoreThe Alien and Sedition Acts were a series of four laws passed by the Federalist-dominated 5th United States Congress and signed into law by President John Adams on July 14, 1798. These laws were ostensibly enacted in response to the perceived threat of French…
Read MoreOn July 14, 1789, during the early stages of the French Revolution, a state prison on the east side of Paris, the Bastille, was attacked by an angry and aggressive mob. The event marked a turning point in the history of France. The British…
Read MoreOn July 13, 2024, President Donald J. Trump was shot and wounded during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in what authorities have classified as an attempted assassination. The attack, which occurred just after 6:00 p.m. at the Butler Farm Show grounds, stunned the…
Read MoreThe New York Draft Riots of 1863 were among the most violent and destructive events in the history of New York City. They occurred from July 13 to July 16, 1863, during a time of immense social, economic, and political turmoil in the United…
Read MoreOn July 12, 1543, in a private ceremony at Hampton Court Palace, King Henry VIII of England wed Catherine Parr, the sixth and final queen consort of his turbulent reign. A widow twice over and nearly a decade younger than the aging monarch, Catherine…
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