Historical Events and Current Affairs on July 8

1099: First Crusade: 15,000 starving Christian soldiers march in religious procession around Jerusalem as its Muslim defenders look on
1283: War of the Sicilian Vespers: Battle of Malta
1497: Vasco da Gama sets sail on first direct European voyage to India.
1579: Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, was discovered underground in the
1663: Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal Charter to Rhode Island.
1680: The first confirmed tornado in America kills a servant at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1709: Great Northern War: Battle of Poltava: Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at Poltava thus effectively ending Sweden's role as a major power in Europe
1716: Great Northern War: Battle of Dynekilen
1758: French forces hold Fort Carillon against British at Ticonderoga, New York.
1760: French and Indian War: Battle of Restigouche - British defeat French forces in last naval battle
1775: The Olive Branch Petition is adopted by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies.
1776: The Declaration of Independence was read aloud in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1822: Chippewas turn over huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom.
1859: King Charles XV / Carl IV accedes to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
1864: The Shinsengumi sabotage the Choshu-han shishi's planned attack on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya, this event is known as Ikedaya Jiken.
1874: The Mounties begin their March West.
1876: White supremacists kill five Black Republicans in Hamburg, SC.
1889: The first issue of the Wall Street Journal is published.
1892: St. John's, Newfoundland was devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.
1896: - William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech advocating bimetalism at the 1896 Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
1898: The shooting death of crime boss Soapy Smith releases Skagway, Alaska from his iron grip.
1932: The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, bottoming out
1947: Reports are broadcast that a UFO has crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico.
1966: King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi was deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi.
1969: IBM CICS is made generally available for the 360 mainframe computer.
1977: The ashes of Ahn Eak-tai, a Korean composer and conductor, were transferred from the island of Majorca to the Korean National Cemetery.
1980: First Rugby League State of Origin match between the Queensland Maroons and New South Wales Blues played at Lang Park, Brisbane.
1982: Assassination attempt against former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein in Dujail.
1982: Senegalese Trotskyist political party LCT is legally recognized.
1992: Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe creates the office of High Commissioner on Na
1997: NATO invites the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland to join the alliance in 1999.
1999: Allen Lee Davis is executed by electrocution by the state of Florida, the last use of the electric chair for capital punishment in Florida.
2003: Sudan Airways Flight 39, with 116 people on board, crashes in Sudan; the only survivor is a two-
2004: Michael Brown Okinawa assault incident. United States Marine Corps officer Michael Brown is convicted on Okinawa for attempting an indecent act and destruction of property and is sentenced to one year in prison, suspended for three years.

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