Historical Events on this Day in History - per Wikipedia

July 7

 

• 1456 – A retrial verdict acquits Joan of Arc of heresy 25 years after her death.
• 1534 – European colonization of the Americas: first known exchange between Europeans and natives of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in New Brunswick.
• 1543 – French troops invade Luxembourg.
• 1575 – Raid of the Redeswire, the last major battle between England and Scotland.
• 1585 – The Treaty of Nemours abolishes tolerance to Protestants in France.
• 1770 – The Battle of Larga between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire takes place.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Hubbardton.
• 1798 – Quasi-War: the U.S. Congress rescinds treaties with France sparking the "war".
• 1807 – Napoleonic Wars: the Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia ends the Fourth Coalition.
• 1834 – In New York City, evangelical Protestants began four nights of rioting against abolitionists.
• 1846 – Mexican-American War: American troops occupy Monterey and Yerba Buena, thus beginning the U.S. conquest of California.
• 1863 – United States begins its first military draft; exemptions cost $300.
• 1865 – American Civil War: four conspirators in the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln are hanged.
• 1892 – Katipunan: the Revolutionary Philippine Brotherhood is established, contributing to the fall of the Spanish Empire in Asia.
• 1898 – U.S. President William McKinley signs the Newlands Resolution annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
• 1911 – The United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Russia sign the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention of 1911 banning open-water seal hunting, the first international treaty to address wildlife preservation issues.
• 1915 – World War I: end of First Battle of the Isonzo.
• 1915 – An International Railway trolley with an extreme overload of 157 passengers crashes near Queenston, Ontario, killing 15.
• 1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.
• 1930 – Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser begins construction of the Boulder Dam (now known as Hoover Dam).
• 1937 – Sino-Japanese War: Battle of Lugou Bridge – Japanese forces invade Beijing, China.
• 1941 – World War II: U.S. forces land in Iceland, taking over from an earlier British occupation.
• 1941 – World War II: Beirut is occupied by Free France and British troops.
• 1944 – World War II: Largest Banzai charge of the Pacific War at the Battle of Saipan.
• 1946 – Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini becomes the first American to be canonized.
• 1946 – Howard Hughes nearly dies when his XF-11 spy plane prototype crashes in a Beverly Hills neighborhood.
• 1952 – The ocean liner SS United States passes Bishop's Rock on her maiden voyage, breaking the transatlantic speed record to become the fastest passenger ship in the world.
• 1953 – Ernesto "Che" Guevara sets out on a trip through Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
• 1954 – Elvis Presley made his radio debut when WHBQ Memphis played his first recording for Sun Records, "That's All Right."
• 1958 – U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs the Alaska Statehood Act into law.
• 1959 – Venus occults the star Regulus. This rare event is used to determine the diameter of Venus and the structure of the Venusian atmosphere.
• 1978 – The Solomon Islands become independent from the United Kingdom.
• 1980 – Institution of sharia in Iran.
• 1980 – During the Lebanese civil war, 83 Tiger militants are killed during what will be known as the Safra massacre.
• 1983 – Cold War: Samantha Smith, a U.S. schoolgirl, flies to the Soviet Union at the invitation of Secretary General Yuri Andropov.
• 1985 – Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at age 17
• 1991 – Yugoslav Wars: the Brioni Agreement ends the ten-day independence war in Slovenia against the rest of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• 1997 – The Turkish Armed Forces withdraw from northern Iraq after assisting the Kurdistan Democratic Party in the Iraqi Kurdish Civil War.
• 2002 – A scandal breaks out in the United Kingdom when news reports accuse MI6 of sheltering Abu Qatada, the supposed European Al Qaeda leader.
• 2005 – A series of four explosions occurs on London's transport system killing 56 people including four alleged suicide bombers and injuring over 700 others.