1187 Saladin captures Nablus

1223 Louis VIII becomes King of France (1223-1226)

1291 Egyptian Mamlukes take Sidon

1420 Battle of Vitkov: Hussites defeat the Imperialists

1456 Battle of Belgrade: The Hungarians defeated the Ottomans

1483 Last date on which the Princes of the Tower were known to be alive: King Edward V (12), and his brother Prince Richard of Shrewsbury (9), sons of England's late King Edward IV, imprisoned by their uncle, who has become King Richard III [Can't get him off the hook folks]

1500 The "Wedding of Blood": Astorre Baglioni marries Lavinia Colonna in Perugia, and estranged family members stage a coup

1536 Pact of Lyon: France and Portugal ally against Spain

1714 Aland Is: Russian fleet routs larger Swedish one

1789 The citizens of Paris storm the Bastille, initiating the French Revolution

1799 Michele "Fra Diavolo" Pezza weds Fortunata Rachele, Itri

1808 Battle of Medina de Rio Seco: The French defeat the Spanish

1813 Lt John M. Gamble becomes the only US Marine to command a ship, the prize 'Greenwich'

1825 Lafayette reviews 2nd Bn, 11th NY Arty, which adopts the name "The National Guard" and later becomes the famous 7th NY

1831 The Great Powers confirm Belgian independence from the Netherlands

1853 Commo Matthew Perry holds first meeting with Japanese officials

1861 USN blockades Wilmington, NC

1863 Battle of Tupelo/Harrisburg, Ms, begins (ends Jul 15)

1867 Alfred Nobel gives the first public demonstration of dynamite

1880 The French Republic establishes July 14th as a national holiday.

1882 Four U.S. ships help British restore order in Alexandria, Egypt.

1900 The "China Relief Expedition" captures Tientsin from the Boxers

1933 Nazi Party becomes the only legal party in Germany

1936 Cashiered LtCdr John Semer Farnsworth (USNA 1915) is arrested for espionage

1938 Mussolini begins the persecution of Jews and other "non-Aryans"

1938 FDR reviews the U.S. Fleet in San Francisco Bay, from the deck of the USS 'Houston' (CA-30)

1942 India: Supply flights begin over "The Hump" to China

1942 Yamamoto creates the Eighth Fleet for operations in the South Pacific

1943 Japanese sub 'I-179' is lost to an accident in home waters.

1952 Keel is laid for the USS 'Forrestal' (CVA-59), the first supercarrier to be completed

1958 The massacre of the Iraqi Royal Family in Baghdad

1959 First nuclear-powered cruiser commissioned, USS 'Long Beach' (CGN 9)

1969 Soccer War: El Salvador invades Honduras, c. 1000 die

1972 Vietnam: Jane Fonda makes the first of 10 broadcasts on Radio Hanoi.