Historical Events and Current Affairs on July 3

324: Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
987: Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty which ruled France till the French Revolution in 1792.
1223: In France, Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II of France.
1250: Louis IX of France is captured by Baibars' Mamluk army at the Battle of Fariskur while he is in Egypt conducting the Seventh Crusade; he later has to ransom himself.
1608: Quebec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
1698: The Darien scheme begins with five ships, bearing about 1,200 people, departing Leith for the Isthmus of Panama.
1754: French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
1767: Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded (first edition published this date).
1767: Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
1769: The de Portolá Expedition establishes a base in California, and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California).
1771: Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua in modern California by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra.
1775: American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1778: American Revolutionary War: British forces massacre 360 men, women and children in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
1778: Prussia declares war on Austria.
1789: French Revolution: Citizens of Paris storm the Bastille and free seven prisoners.
1790: French Revolution: Citizens of Paris celebrate the constitutional monarchy and national reconciliation in the Fête de la Fédération.
1791: The Priestley Riots drive Joseph Priestley, a supporter of the French Revolution, out of Birmingham, England.
1798: The Sedition Act becomes United States law making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about
1819: The first savings bank in the United States (The Bank of Savings in New York City) opens.
1839: The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.
1844: The last pair of Great Auks is killed.
1848: Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten.
1849: The French entered Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
1852: Congress establishes the United States's 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.
1863: U.S. Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.
1865: First ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom died on the descent.
1866: Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
1884: Dow Jones published its 1st stock average.
1886: Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen - the first purpose-built automobile.
1886: The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
1890: Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
1898: Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
1902: The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta.
1933: Gleichschaltung: In Germany, all political parties are outlawed except the Nazi Party.
1938: World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 126 mph.(203 km/h)
1943: In Joplin, Missouri, George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of a blac
1944: World War II: Minsk was liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
1948: Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, is shot near to the Italian Parliament.
1952: Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the Congress of the United States.
1958: Iraqi Revolution: In Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by Arab nationalists and Abdul Karim Kassem becomes the nation's new leader.
1962: The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends.
1965: Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet.
1969: Football War: After Honduras loses a soccer game against El Salvador, rioting breaks out in Honduras against Salvadoran migrant work
1969: The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
1969: The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation.
1970: A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 113 people.
1976: Israeli commandos rescue 105 hostages at Entebbe Airport, Uganda during Operation Yonatan.
1977: The Senegalese Republican Movement (MRS) is founded.
1979: US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
1986: US President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.
1988: The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus.
1988: United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
1989: Fitzgerald Inquiry released in Queensland.
1994: The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty six people were killed in crashes.
1996: Stone of Destiny returned to Scotland.
2001: A Vladivostok Avia Tupolev TU-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145 people.
2002: During Bastille Day celebrations, French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed.
2004: Official opening of Bangkok's subway system.
2005: The national law legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect in Spain.
2006: Asteroid labeled as 2004 XP14 flies 432,308 km (268,624 miles) by Earth.
2007: Ghana introduces new Ghanaian cedi currency.
2007: Russia withdraws from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.

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