1521 - Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés capture Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc in Tenochtitlan marking the end of the Aztec Empire
1536 - Buddhist monks from Kyōto’s Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto in the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance. (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1536).
1642 - Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovers Martian south polar cap
1788 - Prussia joins Anglo-Dutch alliance to form Triple Alliance to prevent spread of Russo-Swedish War of 1788-90
1937 - Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese forces begin the Battle of Shanghai, a conflict that will last 3 months and involve 1 million troops
1942 - The ‘Manhattan Project’ commences, under the direction of US General Leslie Groves: its aim – to deliver an atomic bomb
1961 – Shortly after midnight on this day in 1961, East German soldiers begin laying down barbed wire and bricks as a barrier between Soviet-controlled East Berlin and the democratic western section of the city.
2015 – US Government formally returns to France Picasso‘s painting La Coiffeuse, stolen from Paris’ National Museum of Modern Art in 2001
2019 – Measles cases have tripled worldwide in 2019 according to WHO with 364,808 reported against vs 129,239 in 2018
Births & Deaths:
1899 – Alfred Hitchcock, English director (Psycho, Birds, Rear Window), born in Leytonstone, Essex (d. 1980)
1926 – Cuban revolutionary Fidel Castro is born in the Oriente province of eastern Cuba. The son of a Spanish immigrant who had made a fortune building rail systems to transport sugar cane, Fidel attended Roman Catholic boarding schools in Santiago de Cuba.
2004 – American cooking expert Julia Child—who brought the art of French cooking to a vast number of Americans through her books and, especially, her programs on public television, where she became known for her humour and hearty voice—died at age 91.
Film & TV:
1967 - “Bonnie and Clyde”, directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, is released
Music:
2013 – “Crash My Party” 4th studio album by Luke Bryan is released (Billboard Album of the Year 2014)
1971 – Paul & Linda McCartney release “Back Seat of My Car”
Sport:
2008 - American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins 3 gold medals, all in world record time, in the one day at the Beijing Olympics; 200m I/M (1:54.23), 200m butterfly (1.52.03) and 4 x 200m freestyle relay (6:58.56)
Via Britannica / On This Day
