Today's GK Facts in HistoryToday's GK Facts in History for UPSC/IAS Exams
The GK Facts section of Miliposts aims to help every competitive exam aspirant to revise the day comfortably.
2012
The Summer Olympics in London has concluded.
2005
LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) sniper fatally injured Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Laxman Kadirgamar at the minister's residence.
2000
During military exercises in the Barents Sea, the Russian Navy submarine K-141 Kursk exploded with all its hands and sank.
1992
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is concluded between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, making it the wealthiest trading bloc in the world.
1985
Highest in-flight fatalities: 520 died when Japan Airlines Flight 123 crashes at Mount Takamagahara.
1981
Computer giant IBM introduced its first personal computer.
1979
Mass book burning by press censors in Iran.
1978
Tel al-Za'atar massacre in a Palestinian refugee camp during the Lebanese Civil War.
1977
Space Shuttle Enterprise makes its first free flight and landing.
Steven Biko, leader of the black consciousness movement in South Africa, has been arrested.
1972
As American troops leave Vietnam, the B-52s launch their biggest attack of the war.
1969
Viet Cong attacks on American installations in Quan-Loi, Vietnam.
1961
Construction of the Berlin Wall begins, blocking access between East and West Germany.
1954
Pat Metheny is a multiple award-winning jazz guitarist with an unprecedented 7 Grammy Awards for his seven consecutive recordings.
1941
French Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain declared France's full cooperation with Nazi Germany.
1939
George Hamilton, Golden Globe-winning actor (Crime and Punishment, USA), producer (Love at First Bite).
1937
Walter Dean Myers is an award-winning author of books for young readers (Hoops, The Scorpion).
1936
Vice Admiral John Poindexter, Security Advisor to President Ronald Reagan (December 1985–November 1986); was convicted of 5 felony counts stemming from the Iran/Contra case, but the conviction was reversed on appeal.
1935
President Franklin Roosevelt signs the Social Security Bill.
1929
Buck Owens, country singer, a pioneer in founding the "Bakersfield Sound."
1927
Porter Wagner, country singer, TV show host.
Ralph Waite, actor (The Waltons, Roots).
1925
Norris and Ross McWhirter wrote and updated the Guinness Book of World Records, 1955–1975; After the IRA assassinated Ross, Norris continued to write and revise the Guinness Book until 1985.
1922
The home of Frederick Douglass in Washington, DC, is dedicated as a memorial.
1911
Cantinflas, clown, acrobat, and Mexican circus actor.
1908
Henry Ford's first Model T rolled off the assembly line.
1898
The Spanish–American War ends after three months and 22 days of hostilities.
1896
Gold has been discovered near Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. After news reached the United States in June 1897, thousands of Americans traveled to Klondike to seek their fortune.
1889
Zarna Sharp, producer, and co-writer, William S. With Grey, Dick and Jane Series of Readers.
1881
Cecil B. DeMille, an American film director, producer, and screenwriter, is noted for epic productions.
1864
After a week of intense attacks, the Confederate cruiser Tallahassee claims to have captured six Union ships.
1863
Confederate raider William Quantrill leads the massacre of 150 men and boys in Lawrence, Kansas.
1859
Katherine Bates, composer of "America the Beautiful".
1812
The British commander, the Duke of Wellington, captured Madrid, Spain, expelling Joseph Bonaparte.
1791
Enslaved Black people rebel against their white enslavers on the island of Santo Domingo.
1781
Robert Mills, architect and engineer whose designs include the Washington Monument, the National Portrait Gallery, and the United States Treasury Building.
1774
Robert Southee, English poet laureate (1813–1843).
1762
George IV was appointed Prince Regent in 1810 when his father, George III, was declared insane.
The British captured Cuba from Spain after a two-month siege.
1687
At the Battle of Mohawk, Hungary, Charles of Lorraine defeated the Turks.
1099
At the Battle of Ascalon, 1,000 Crusaders, led by Godfrey of Bouillon, led an Egyptian relief column to Jerusalem, which had already fallen to the Crusaders.
0030
Queen Cleopatra VII of Egypt committed suicide.
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