Today:
1794: Maximilien Robespierre, a key figure in the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror, is overthrown and arrested.
1866: The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, connecting Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart’s Content, Newfoundland.
1890: Painter Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.
1940: Bugs Bunny makes his first official appearance in the cartoon “A Wild Hare.”
1949: The de Havilland Comet, the world’s first jet-propelled airliner, makes its maiden test flight.
1953: An armistice is signed, ending hostilities in the Korean War.
1955: The Austrian State Treaty comes into force, re-establishing Austria as a democratic and sovereign country after World War II.
1985: A coup d’état takes place in Uganda, with Tito Lutwa Okello successfully ousting president Milton Obote.
1996: A pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.
2012: Queen Elizabeth II officially opens the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.