Today in History ...

Posted
1340 – Portuguese and Castilian forces halt a Marinid invasion at the Battle of Río Salado. 1485 – King Henry VII of England is crowned. 1863 – Danish Prince Vilhelm arrives in Athens to assume his throne as George I, King of the Hellenes. 1922 – Benito Mussolini is made Prime Minister of Italy. 1944 – Anne and Margot Frank are deported from Auschwitz to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where they die from disease the following year, shortly before the end of WWII. 1965 – Vietnam War: Near Da Nang, United States Marines repel an intense attack by Viet Cong forces, killing 56 guerrillas. 1970 – In Vietnam, the worst monsoon to hit the area in six years causes severe floods, kills 293, leaves 200,000 homeless and virtually halts the Vietnam War. 1983 – The first democratic elections in Argentina after seven years of military rule are held. 1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger lifts off for mission STS-61-A, its final successful mission. 2005 – The rebuilt Dresden Frauenkirche (destroyed in the firebombing of Dresden during World War II) is reconsecrated after a 13-year rebuilding project. 2013 – Forty-five people die after a bus fuel tank catches fire in the Indian city of Mahbubnagar. 2014 – Sweden is the first European Union member state to officially recognize the State of Palestine.