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1968: Soviets invade Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakian leader Alexander Dubcek is forced to abandon his liberal reforms after 600,000 Warsaw Pact troops invade his nation. Dubcek's efforts to establish communism with a human face had been celebrated across the country, and the brief period of freedom was known as the Prague Spring. When the Soviet invasion came, Prague was not eager to give way, but scattered student resistance was no match for the Soviet tanks. Dubcek's reforms were repealed and he was replaced with the staunchly pro-Soviet Gustav Husak, who re-established an authoritarian communist regime in the country.
1998
US President Bill Clinton launches missile attacks on terrorist camps in Afghanistan and a chemical weapons factory in Sudan in retaliation for recent American Embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.1998
229 people are killed when a Swissair plane crashes into the Atlantic near the coast of Nova Scotia en route from New York to Geneva.1995
At least 350 are killed on one of India's worst railway accidents when two trains - both heading for Delhi - collide at Firozobad approx 120 miles from the capital.1989
In London, the pleasure cruiser Marchioness is hit by a dredger, the Bowbelle, on the River Thames - 51 people attending a party on the boat are killed.1980
Italian climber Reinhold Messner makes the first successful solo ascent of Mount Everest.1975
In America, the launch of the US Viking I spacecraft - destination Mars. It deploys a landing craft which touches down on the surface of Mars in July 1976.1968
Russian and Warsaw Pact troops, backed by tanks, move into Czechoslovakia to quell a popular uprising against Soviet domination.1944
World war II: American and British forces destroy the German Seventh Army at Falaise-Argentan Gap, west of Paris, capturing 50,000 German troops.1940
World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill rallies the nation with a contratulatory speech for the RAF winning the Battle of Britain. 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few'.1924
British sprinter Eric Liddell, a potential gold medal winner in the 100 metres at the Paris Olympic Games, refuses to race in the 100m heats because they're being run on a Sunday.1916
World War I: Captain Leefe Robinson becomes the first Allied pilot to shoot down a German Zeppelin airship during a raid on London. The airship catches fire and crashes in Cuffley, Hertfordshire. Captain Robinson is later awarded the Victoria Cross.1914
World War I: German troops occupy the Belgian capital, Brussels.1908
Following a scandal involving the use of slave labour to amass a personal fortune, Belgian King Leopold II is forced to hand over the running of the Congo Free State (Zaire) to the Belgian Government.1741
Alaska is discovered by Danish explorer Vitus Bering.1710