July 27 - Events

Events

• 1054 – Siward, Earl of Northumbria invades Scotland and defeats Macbeth, King of Scotland somewhere north of the Firth of Forth.
• 1189 – Friedrich Barbarossa arrives at Niš, the capital of Serbian King Stefan Nemanja, during the Third Crusade.
• 1202 – Battle of Basian.
• 1214 – Battle of Bouvines : Philip II of France decisively defeats Imperial, English and Flemish armies, effectively ending John of England's Angevin Empire.
• 1299 – According to Edward Gibbon, Osman I invades the territory of Nicomedia for the first time, usually considered to be the founding day of the Ottoman state.
• 1302 – Battle of Bapheus: decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithyniea for Turkish conquest.
• 1549 – The Jesuit priest Francis Xavier's ship reaches Japan.
• 1663 – The English Parliament passes the second Navigation Act requiring that all goods bound for the American colonies have to be sent in English ships from English ports.
• 1689 – Glorious Revolution: the Battle of Killiecrankie ends.
• 1694 – A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.
• 1720 – The Battle of Grengam marks the second important victory of the Russian Navy.
• 1778 – American Revolution: First Battle of Ushant – British and French fleets fight to a standoff.
• 1789 – The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (it will be later renamed Department of State).
• 1794 – French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution".
• 1862 – Sailing from San Francisco, California to Panama City, Panama, the SS Golden Gate catches fire and sinks off Manzanillo, Mexico, killing 231.
• 1865 – Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.
• 1866 – The first permanent transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, stretching from Valentia Island, Ireland, to Heart's Content, Newfoundland.
• 1880 – Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand – Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan.
• 1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.
• 1900 – Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, "Hun" would be a disparaging name for Germans.
• 1914 – Felix Manalo registers the Iglesia ni Cristo with the Philippine government.
• 1917 – The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele.
• 1919 – The Chicago Race Riot erupts after a racial incident occurred on a South Side beach, leading to 38 fatalities and 537 injuries over a five-day period.
• 1921 – Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar.
• 1928 – Tich Freeman becomes the only bowler ever to take 200 first-class wickets before the end of July.
• 1929 – The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.
• 1940 – The animated short A Wild Hare is released, introducing the character of Bugs Bunny.
• 1941 – Japanese troops occupy French Indochina.
• 1942 – World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.
• 1949 – Initial flight of the de Havilland Comet, the first jet-powered airliner.
• 1953 – Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.
• 1955 – The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: 5,000 more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000.
• 1974 – Watergate scandal: the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon.
• 1976 – Former Japanese prime minister Kakuei Tanaka is arrested on suspicion of violating foreign exchange and foreign trade laws in connection with the Lockheed bribery scandals.
• 1981 – British television: on Coronation Street, Ken Barlow marries Deirdre Langton, which proves to be a national event scoring massive viewer numbers for the show.
• 1981 – 6 year old Adam Walsh, son of John Walsh is kidnapped in Hollywood, Florida and is found murdered two weeks later.
• 1983 – Black July: 18 Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days.
• 1987 – RMS Titanic Inc. begins the first expedited salvage of wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
• 1990 – The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union. Until 1996 the day is celebrated as the Independence Day of Belarus; after a referendum held that year the celebration of independence is moved to June 3.
• 1990 – The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago, occupying the Trinidad and the studios of Trinidad and Tobago Television, holding Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson and most of his Cabinet as well as the staff at the television station hostage for 6 days.
• 1995 – The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C..
• 1996 – Centennial Olympic Park bombing: in Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. One woman (Alice Hawthorne) is killed, and a cameraman suffers a heart attack fleeing the scene. 111 are injured.
• 1997 – About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
• 2002 – Ukraine airshow disaster: a Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 and injuring more than 100 others, the largest air show disaster in history.
• 2005 – STS-114: NASA grounds the Space Shuttle, pending an investigation of the continuing problem with the shedding of foam insulation from the external fuel tank. During ascent, the external tank of the Space Shuttle Discovery sheds a piece of foam slightly smaller than the piece that caused the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster; this foam does not strike the spacecraft.
• 2006 – The Federal Republic of Germany is deemed guilty in the loss of Bashkirian 2937 and DHL Flight 611, because it is illegal to outsource flight surveillance.
• 2007 – Phoenix News Helicopter Collision: news helicopters from Phoenix, Arizona television stations KNXV and KTVK collide over Steele Indian School Park in central Phoenix while covering a police chase;
• 2012 – The opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England, United Kingdom. The last time that the Games were held in the United Kingdom was 1948.