This day in .....

6 July 1779 – Battle of Grenada: The French defeat British naval forces during the American Revolutionary War.

Battle of Grenada

1779 naval battle of the American Revolutionary War

For the Reconquista battle, see Battle of Granada.

The Battle of Grenada took place on 6 July 1779 during the American Revolutionary War in the West Indies between the British Royal Navy and the French Navy, just off the coast of Grenada. The British fleet of Admiral John Byron (the grandfather of Lord Byron) had sailed in an attempt to relieve Grenada, which the French forces of the Comte D'Estaing had just captured.

Incorrectly believing he had numerical superiority, Byron ordered a general chase to attack the French as they left their anchorage at Grenada. Because of the disorganized attack and the French superiority, the British fleet was badly mauled in the encounter, although no ships were lost on either side. Naval historian Alfred Thayer Mahan described the British loss as "the most disastrous ... that the British Navy had encountered since Beachy Head, in 1690."^[4]

1. ^ Castex (2004), pp. 196-99
2. ^ Lacour-Gayet (1905), p. 205.
3. ^ Clowes (1898), p. 434.
4. ^ Mahan, pp. 438–439

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7 July 1928 – Sliced bread is sold for the first time (on the inventor's 48th birthday) by the Chillicothe Baking Company of Chillicothe, Missouri.

Sliced bread

Loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine

For the wrestling move, see Sliced Bread No. 2. For the NASCAR driver nicknamed "Sliced Bread", see Joey Logano.

Sliced bread is a loaf of bread that has been sliced with a machine and packaged for convenience, as opposed to the consumer cutting it with a knife. It was first sold in 1928, advertised as "the greatest forward step in the baking industry since bread was wrapped".^[1][2] By 1933, around 80% of bread sold in the US was pre-sliced, leading to the popular idiom "greatest thing since sliced bread".^[3]

1. ^ "How Sliced Bread Became the 'Greatest Thing'". Time magazine. July 7, 2015. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
2. ^ "Happy 85th Birthday, Sliced Bread" (Press release). Grand River Historical Society Museum. July 5, 2013. Archived from the original on February 20, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2021.
3. ^ "Modern History of Bread - 20th Century UK". Federation of Bakers. Retrieved July 7, 2021.

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8 July 1889 – The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.

The Wall Street Journal

American business daily newspaper

"WSJ" redirects here. For other uses, see WSJ (disambiguation).

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), also referred to simply as the Journal, is an American business- and economic-focused international daily newspaper based in New York City.^[2] The Journal is published six days a week by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corp. The newspaper is published in broadsheet format and online. The Journal has been printed continuously since its inception on July 8, 1889,^[3] and is regarded as a newspaper of record, particularly in terms of business and financial news.^[4][5][6] The newspaper has won 39 Pulitzer Prizes, the most recent in 2023.^[7][8][9]

The Wall Street Journal is the second-largest newspaper in the United States by circulation, with a print circulation of around 654,000 and 3 million digital subscribers as of 2022.^[1] The Journal publishes the luxury news and lifestyle magazine WSJ, which was originally launched as a quarterly but expanded to 12 issues in 2014. An online version was launched in 1995, which has been accessible only to subscribers since it began.^[10] The editorial pages of the Journal are typically center-right in their positions,^{[11][12][13][14]} while the newspaper itself maintains commitment to journalistic standards in its reporting.^[11]

It has also produced several podcasts, including The Journal (podcast)|The Journal - which it co-produces with Spotify.

1. ^ ^{a b} "News Corporation 2022 Annual Report on Form 10-K". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. August 12, 2022. Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 30, 2023.
2. ^ "Business & Finance News". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 1, 2020.
3. ^ "The Wall Street Journal Strengthens Its International Editions; Repositions To Better Serve Global Business Leaders and Advertisers". Business Wire (Press release). May 8, 2005. Retrieved September 29, 2020.
4. ^ Caulfield, Mike (January 8, 2017), "National Newspapers of Record", Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers, Self-published, retrieved September 13, 2020
5. ^ Doctor, Ken (December 3, 2015). "On The Washington Post and the 'newspaper of record' epithet". Politico Media. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
6. ^ Library, Gelman. "Research Guides: Newspaper Research: Current Newspapers". libguides.gwu.edu. Retrieved September 13, 2020.
7. ^ "dowjones.com: The Wall Street Journal". Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved August 28, 2018.
8. ^ "National Reporting". The Pulitzer Prizes. 2022. Retrieved August 3, 2022. 2019 – Staff of The Wall Street Journal: For uncovering President Trump's secret payoffs to two women during his campaign who claimed to have had affairs with him, and the web of supporters who facilitated the transactions, triggering criminal inquiries and calls for impeachment.
9. ^ "2023 Pulitzer Prizes Winners & Finalists". www.pulitzer.org.
10. ^ "WSJ.com". www.wsj.com. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
11. ^ ^{a b} Yochai Benkler; Robert Faris; Hal Roberts (2018). Network Propaganda: Manipulation, Disinformation, and Radicalization in American Politics. Oxford University Press. pp. 353–354. ISBN 978-0-19-092364-8. One of our clearest and starkest findings is the near disappearance of center-right media. There is the Wall Street Journal, with its conservative editorial page but continued commitment to journalistic standards in its reporting; and to some extent The Hill plays a center-right role. Both sites appear in the center of the partisan landscape according to our data because readers on the right did not pay attention to these sites any more than readers on the left did.
12. ^ Ember, Sydney (March 22, 2017). "Wall Street Journal Editorial Harshly Rebukes Trump". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017.
13. ^ Bowden, John (January 11, 2019). "Wall Street Journal editorial: Conservatives 'could live to regret' Trump emergency declaration". The Hill.
14. ^ Vernon, Pete (March 22, 2017). "Unpacking WSJ's 'watershed' Trump editorial". Columbia Journalism Review. ISSN 0010-194X. Archived from the original on June 21, 2017.

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9 July 1986 – The Parliament of New Zealand passes the Homosexual Law Reform Act legalising homosexuality in New Zealand.

LGBT rights in New Zealand

New Zealand lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights are some of the most extensive in the world.^[1][2] The protection of LGBT rights is advanced, relative to other countries in Oceania, and among the most liberal in the world, with the country being the first in the region to legalise same-sex marriage.^[3]

Throughout the late 20th century, the rights of the LGBT community received more awareness and male same-sex sexual activity was decriminalised in 1986, with an age of consent of 16, equal to heterosexual intercourse. After recognising gender-neutral civil union since 2004, New Zealand legalised both same-sex marriage and adoption rights for same-sex couples in 2013. Discrimination regarding sexual orientation, and gender identity and expression has been banned since 1993. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people have been allowed to serve openly in the military since 1993. Opinion polls have found that a majority of New Zealanders support same-sex marriage.

1. ^ "Gay Travel Index" (PDF). Spartacus International Gay Guide. Retrieved 1 September 2016.
2. ^ "LGBT Rights in New Zealand: What Travellers Should Know Before Going NZ". Queer in the World. 3 December 2018. The Legal Situation In Gay New Zealand. Retrieved 4 February 2023.
3. ^ Carroll, Aengus (May 2016). "State Sponsored Homophobia 2016: A world survey of sexual orientation laws: criminalisation, protection and recognition" (PDF). International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. p. 183. Retrieved 4 December 2016. In Australia and New Zealand, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people continue to enjoy many legal rights denied to their comrades across the vast majority of the Pacific. New Zealand is the first and only country in Oceania to legalise same-sex marriage, and is the 13th in the world.

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10 July 1645 – English Civil War: The Battle of Langport takes place.

Battle of Langport

Battle during the First English Civil War

Langport

Taunton

Bridgwater

Beaminster

class=notpageimage|

Somerset and Langport

The Battle of Langport took place on 10 July 1645 during the First English Civil War, near Langport in Somerset. Following its success at Naseby in June, the New Model Army under Sir Thomas Fairfax destroyed the last Royalist field army, led by Lord Goring. Parliamentarian victory allowed them to besiege the Royalist port of Bristol, which surrendered in September.

1. ^ English Heritage Battlefield Report: Langport 1645.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Young & Holmes (2000), p. 254.

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11 July 1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee is first published, in the United States.

To Kill a Mockingbird

1960 novel by Harper Lee

For other uses, see To Kill a Mockingbird (disambiguation).

To Kill a Mockingbird is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in June 1960 and became instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. To Kill a Mockingbird has become a classic of modern American literature; a year after its release, it won the Pulitzer Prize. The plot and characters are loosely based on Lee's observations of her family, her neighbors and an event that occurred near her hometown of Monroeville, Alabama, in 1936, when she was ten.

Despite dealing with the serious issues of rape and racial inequality, the novel is renowned for its warmth and humor. Atticus Finch, the narrator's father, has served as a moral hero for many readers and as a model of integrity for lawyers. The historian Joseph Crespino explains, "In the twentieth century, To Kill a Mockingbird is probably the most widely read book dealing with race in America, and its main character, Atticus Finch, the most enduring fictional image of racial heroism."^[1] As a Southern Gothic novel and Bildungsroman, the primary themes of To Kill a Mockingbird involve racial injustice and the destruction of innocence. Scholars have noted that Lee also addresses issues of class, courage, compassion, and gender roles in the Deep South. Lessons from the book emphasize tolerance and decry prejudice.^[2] Despite its themes, To Kill a Mockingbird has been subject to campaigns for removal from public classrooms, often challenged for its use of racial epithets. In 2006, British librarians ranked the book ahead of the Bible as one "every adult should read before they die".^[3]

Reaction to the novel varied widely upon publication. Despite the number of copies sold and its widespread use in education, literary analysis of it is sparse. Author Mary McDonough Murphy, who collected individual impressions of To Kill a Mockingbird by several authors and public figures, calls the book "an astonishing phenomenon".^[4] It was adapted into an Academy Award-winning film in 1962 by director Robert Mulligan, with a screenplay by Horton Foote. Since 1990, a play based on the novel has been performed annually in Harper Lee's hometown.

To Kill a Mockingbird was Lee's only published book until Go Set a Watchman, an earlier draft of To Kill a Mockingbird, was published on July 14, 2015. Lee continued to respond to her work's impact until her death in February 2016, although she had refused any personal publicity for herself or the novel since 1964.

1. ^ Crespino, J. (2000). "The Strange Career of Atticus Finch". Southern Cultures. 6 (2): 9–30. doi:10.1353/scu.2000.0030. S2CID 143563131.
2. ^ "Mockingbird 'dropped from GCSE exam'". BBC News. May 25, 2014. Retrieved July 11, 2020. Steinbeck's six-chapter novella written in 1937 about displaced ranch workers during the Great Depression
3. ^ Pauli, Michelle (March 2, 2006). "Harper Lee tops librarians' must-read list", Guardian Unlimited. Retrieved on February 13, 2008.
4. ^ Zipp, Yvonne (July 7, 2010). "Scout, Atticus & Boo", The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved on July 10, 2010.

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12 July 1971 – The Australian Aboriginal Flag is flown for the first time.

Australian Aboriginal Flag

Redirect to:

• Australian Aboriginal flag

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13 July 1977 – Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ethiopian-Somali War.

Ethiopian-Somali War

Redirect to:

• Ogaden War

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14 July 1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.

Billy the Kid

American outlaw and gunfighter (1859–1881)

For other uses, see Billy the Kid (disambiguation).

Henry McCarty (September 17 or November 23, 1859 – July 14, 1881), alias William H. Bonney, better known as Billy the Kid, was an American outlaw and gunfighter of the Old West who is alleged to have killed 21 men before he was shot and killed at the age of 21.^[2][3] He is also known for his involvement in New Mexico's Lincoln County War, during which he allegedly committed three murders.

McCarty was orphaned at the age of 15. His first arrest was for stealing food at the age of 16 in 1875. Ten days later, he robbed a Chinese laundry and was arrested again but escaped shortly afterwards. He fled from New Mexico Territory into neighboring Arizona Territory, making himself both an outlaw and a federal fugitive. In 1877, he began to call himself "William H. Bonney".^[4]

After killing a blacksmith during an altercation in August 1877, Bonney became a wanted man in Arizona and returned to New Mexico, where he joined a group of cattle rustlers. He became well known in the region when he joined the Regulators and took part in the Lincoln County War of 1878. He and two other Regulators were later charged with killing three men, including Lincoln County Sheriff William J. Brady and one of his deputies.

Bonney's notoriety grew in December 1880 when the Las Vegas Gazette, in Las Vegas, New Mexico, and The Sun, in New York City, carried stories about his crimes.^[5] Sheriff Pat Garrett captured Bonney later that month. In April 1881, Bonney was tried for and convicted of Brady's murder, and was sentenced to hang in May of that year. He escaped from jail on April 28, killing two sheriff's deputies in the process, and evaded capture for more than two months. Garrett shot and killed Bonney, by then aged 21, in Fort Sumner on July 14, 1881.

During the decades following his death, legends grew that Bonney had survived, and a number of men claimed to be him.^[6] Billy the Kid remains one of the most notorious figures from the era, whose life and likeness have been frequently dramatized in Western popular culture. He has been a feature of more than 50 movies and several television series.

1. ^ Nolan, Frederick (2015). The West of Billy the Kid. University of Oklahoma Press. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-8061-4887-8. Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
2. ^ Rasch 1995, pp. 23–35.
3. ^ Wallis 2007, pp. 244–245.
4. ^ Wallis 2007, p. 144.
5. ^ Utley 1989, pp. 145–146.
6. ^ "The Old Man Who Claimed to Be Billy the Kid". Atlas Obscura. March 30, 2017. Archived from the original on July 8, 2017. Retrieved July 19, 2017.

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15 July 1955 – Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others.

Mainau Declaration

One of two socio-political appeals by Nobel Prize-winning scientists, published in 1955 and 2015

The Mainau Declaration is either of two socio-political appeals by Nobel laureates who participated in the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, the annual gathering with young scientists at the German town of Lindau. The name denotes that these declarations were presented on Mainau Island in Lake Constance, the traditional venue of the last day of the one-week meeting.^[1]

1. ^ Burmester, Ralph (2015). Science at First Hand, 65 years Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings. Germany: Deutsches Museum Bonn. pp. 48/49.

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16 July 1935 – The world's first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Parking meter

Device for collecting money to use a given parking space

A parking meter is a device used to collect money in exchange for the right to park a vehicle in a particular place for a limited amount of time. Parking meters can be used by municipalities as a tool for enforcing their integrated on-street parking policy, usually related to their traffic and mobility management policies, but are also used for revenue.

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17 July 1932 – Altona Bloody Sunday: A riot between the Nazi Party paramilitary forces, the SS and SA, and the German Communist Party ensues.

Altona Bloody Sunday

1932 violent confrontation between Nazi and Communist demonstrators in Altona, Prussia

Altona Bloody Sunday (German: Altonaer Blutsonntag) is the name given to the events of 17 July 1932 when a recruitment march by the Nazi SA led to violent clashes between the police, the SA and supporters of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) in Altona, which at the time belonged to the Prussian province of Schleswig-Holstein but is now part of Hamburg. Eighteen people were killed. The national government under Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen and Reich President Paul von Hindenburg used the incident as a rationale to depose the acting government of the Free State of Prussia by means of an emergency decree in what came to be known as the Prussian coup d'état of 20 July 1932.

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18 July 1389 – France and England agree to the Truce of Leulinghem, inaugurating a 13-year peace, the longest period of sustained peace during the Hundred Years' War.

Truce of Leulinghem

1389 truce between England and France

The Truce of Leulinghem was a truce agreed to by Richard II's kingdom of England and its allies, and Charles VI's kingdom of France and its allies, on 18 July 1389, ending the Caroline War of the Hundred Years' War. England was on the edge of financial collapse and suffering from internal political divisions. On the other side, Charles VI was suffering from a mental illness that handicapped the furthering of the war by the French government. Neither side was willing to concede on the primary cause of the war, the legal status of the Duchy of Aquitaine and the King of England's homage to the King of France through his possession of the duchy. However, both sides faced major internal issues that could badly damage their kingdoms if the war continued. The truce was originally negotiated by representatives of the kings to last three years, but the two kings met in person at Leulinghem, near the English fortress of Calais, and agreed to extend the truce to a twenty-seven years' period. Other provisions were agreed to, in attempts to bring an end to the Papal schism, to launch a joint crusade against the Turks in the Balkans, to seal the marriage of Richard to Charles' daughter Isabella along with an 800,000 franc dowry, and to guarantee to continue peace negotiations, in order to establish a lasting treaty between the kingdoms. The treaty brought peace to the Iberian peninsula, where Portugal and Castile were supporting the English and French respectively. The English evacuated all their holdings in northern France except Calais.

The truce was the result of a decade of failed peace negotiations and inaugurated a thirteen years peace, the longest period of sustained peace during the Hundred Years' War. During the years following the truce, Richard reneged on his agreement to assist in ending the schism, leading the French to unilaterally withdraw from the obedience of either pope and seize Avignon by military force. French foreign policy also began to focus on Italy, and Genoa became a French protectorate. In England, Richard used the lapse in fighting to attack his political enemies and confiscate their lands, which he redistributed as rewards to his supporters. He then left for Ireland to put down a revolt among the Irish chieftains, but during his absence a number of his exiled opponents returned, led by his cousin Henry of Bolingbroke, Duke of Lancaster. Henry began an insurrection and seized most of England before Richard could return. Upon his return, Richard was imprisoned, and before he was starved to death he was forced to agree to abdicate. Henry was crowned in his place. The French initially interpreted events in England as a repudiation of the truce and raised an army and put garrisons in place on the fronts. Henry IV reaffirmed the truce which remained in place for several more years.

Henry made a number of aggressive political moves against France in the following years, marrying Joanna, widow of the duke of Brittany in April 1402, and forming alliances with several German rulers, including a marriage alliance with Bavaria. Scotland was the first nation to break the truce, invading England in August in coordination with a revolt in Wales. The French reentered the conflict in September 1403, landing an army in Wales.

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19 July 64 – Great Fire of Rome: a fire begins to burn in the merchant area of Rome and soon burns completely out of control.

Great Fire of Rome

Conflagration in Ancient Rome (AD 64)

The Great Fire of Rome (Latin: incendium magnum Romae) began on the 18th of July 64 AD.^[1] The fire began in the merchant shops around Rome's chariot stadium, Circus Maximus. After six days, the fire was brought under control, but before the damage could be assessed, the fire reignited and burned for another three days. In the aftermath of the fire, 71% of Rome had been destroyed (10 out of 14 districts).^[2]

According to Tacitus and later Christian tradition, Emperor Nero blamed the devastation on the Christian community in the city, initiating the empire's first persecution against the Christians.^[3] Other contemporary historians blamed Nero's incompetence but it is commonly agreed by historians now that Rome was so tightly packed a fire was inevitable.

1. ^ "Great Fire of Rome". National Geographic Society. 18 June 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
2. ^ "The Great Fire of Rome | Background". Secrets of the Dead. PBS. 29 May 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2019.
3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Dando-Collins 2010 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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20 July 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.

Persecution of Falun Gong

Antireligious campaign in China

The persecution of Falun Gong is the campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eliminate the spiritual practice of Falun Gong in China, maintaining a doctrine of state atheism.^[1] It is characterized by a multifaceted propaganda campaign, a program of enforced ideological conversion and re-education and reportedly a variety of extralegal coercive measures such as arbitrary arrests, forced labor and physical torture, sometimes resulting in death.^[2]

Falun Gong is a modern qigong discipline combining slow-moving exercises and meditation with a moral philosophy. It was founded by Li Hongzhi, who introduced it to the public in May 1992 in Changchun, Jilin. Following a period of rapid growth in the 1990s, the CCP launched a campaign to "eradicate" Falun Gong on 20 July 1999.^[3]

The Chinese government had alleged that Falun Gong was an "evil cult" or "heretical sect" and had used that official rationale to justify to ban and eliminate the movement.^[4][5][6] An extra-constitutional body called the 6-10 Office was created to lead the persecution of Falun Gong.^[7] The authorities mobilized the state media apparatus, judiciary, police, army, the education system, families and workplaces against the group.^[8] The campaign was driven by large-scale propaganda through television, newspaper, radio and the Internet.^[9] There are reports of systematic torture,^[10][11] illegal imprisonment, forced labor, organ harvesting^[12] and abusive psychiatric measures, with the apparent aim of forcing practitioners to recant their belief in Falun Gong.^[3]

Foreign observers estimate that hundreds of thousands and perhaps millions of Falun Gong practitioners have been detained in "re-education through labor" camps, prisons and other detention facilities for refusing to renounce the spiritual practice.^[7][13] Former prisoners have reported that Falun Gong practitioners consistently received "the longest sentences and worst treatment" in labor camps, and in some facilities Falun Gong practitioners formed the substantial majority of detainees.^[14][15] As of 2009^[update], at least 2,000 Falun Gong practitioners had been reportedly tortured to death in the persecution campaign.^[16] Some international observers and judicial authorities have described the campaign against Falun Gong as a genocide.^[17][18] In 2009, courts in Spain and Argentina indicted senior Chinese officials for genocide and crimes against humanity for their role in orchestrating the suppression of Falun Gong.^[19][20][21]

In 2006, allegations emerged that many Falun Gong practitioners had been killed to supply China's organ transplant industry.^[12][22] An initial investigation found that "the source of 41,500 transplants for the six-year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained" and concluded that "there has been and continues today to be large scale organ seizures from unwilling Falun Gong practitioners".^[12] Ethan Gutmann estimates 65,000 Falun Gong practitioners were killed for their organs from 2000 to 2008.^[23][24] Following additional analysis, the researchers significantly raised the estimates on the number of Falun Gong practitioners who may have been targeted for organ harvesting.^[25] In 2008, United Nations Special Rapporteurs reiterated their requests for "the Chinese government to fully explain the allegation of taking vital organs from Falun Gong practitioners and the source of organs for the sudden increase in organ transplants that has been going on in China since the year 2000".^[26]

1. ^ Dillon, Michael (2001). Religious Minorities and China. Minority Rights Group International.^{[ISBN missing][page needed]}
2. ^ "China: The crackdown on Falun Gong and other so-called 'heretical organizations'". Amnesty International. 23 March 2000. Retrieved 17 March 2010.
3. ^ ^{a b} Spiegel 2002.
4. ^ Yoffe, Emily (10 August 2001). "The Gong Show". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
5. ^ "China Uses "Rule of Law" to Justify Falun Gong Crackdown". Human Rights Watch. 9 November 1999. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
6. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "China: Treatment of Falun Gong practitioners by state authorities; whether state authorities treat Falun Gong leaders differently than other Falun Gong practitioners (2013–September 2015)". Refworld. Retrieved 22 February 2023.
7. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference CECC2008 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. ^ Johnson, Ian (2005). Wild Grass: Three Portraits of Change in Modern China. New York: Vintage. ISBN 978-0375719196.
9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Leung was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
10. ^ (23 March 2000) The crackdown on Falun Gong and other so-called heretical organizations, Amnesty International
11. ^ Cite error: The named reference breaking was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
12. ^ ^{a b c} Cite error: The named reference orgharv was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
13. ^ "China (includes Tibet, Hong Kong, and Macau)".
14. ^ Human Rights Watch V. Abuses Against Petitioners in Beijing of report "We Could Disappear at Any Time" December 2005
15. ^ Leeshai Lemish, "The Games are Over, the Persecution Continues"^{[permanent dead link]}, National Post 7 October 2008
16. ^ Andrew Jacobs. 'China Still Presses Crusade Against Falun Gong', New York Times, 27 April 2009.
17. ^ Samuel Totten and Paul Robert Bartrop Dictionary of Genocide. (Greewood publishing group: 2008), p 69
18. ^ The Standard. 'Rights lawyers look to UN over plight of Falun Gong' Archived 17 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine, 21 September 2005.
19. ^ Reuters, "Argentine judge asks China arrests over Falun Gong" Archived 3 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, 22 December 2009.
20. ^ Genocide Prevention Network, 'Spanish Court Indicts Chinese Leaders for Persecution of Falun Gong'.
21. ^ La Audiencia pide interrogar al ex presidente chino Jiang por genocidio, 14 November 2009
22. ^ Cite error: The named reference CGOH was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
23. ^ Cite error: The named reference Jay was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
24. ^ Ethan Gutmann (10 March 2011) "How many harvested?" revisited Archived 20 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine, eastofethan.com
25. ^ Samuels, Gabriel (29 June 2016). "China kills millions of innocent meditators for their organs, report finds". The Independent. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022.
26. ^ Market Wired (8 May 2008) China's Organ Harvesting Questioned Again by UN Special Rapporteurs: FalunHR Reports Retrieved 26 October 2014

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21 July 1983 – The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).

Lowest temperature recorded on Earth

Earth's low-temperature record.

The lowest natural temperature ever directly recorded at ground level on Earth is −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F; 184.0 K) at the then-Soviet Vostok Station in Antarctica on 21 July 1983 by ground measurements.^[1]

On 10 August 2010, satellite observations showed a surface temperature of −92 °C (−134 °F; 181 K) at 81°48′S 59°18′E / 81.8°S 59.3°E / -81.8; 59.3, along a ridge between Dome Argus and Dome Fuji, at 3,900 m (12,800 ft) elevation.^[2] The result was reported at the 46th annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco in December 2013; it is a provisional figure, and may be subject to revision.^[3] The value is not listed as the record lowest temperature as it was measured by remote sensing from satellite and not by ground-based thermometers, unlike the 1983 record.^[4] The temperature announced reflects that of the ice surface, while the Vostok readings measured the air above the ice, and so the two are not directly comparable. More recent work^[5] shows many locations in the high Antarctic where surface temperatures drop to approximately −98 °C (−144 °F; 175 K). Due to the very strong temperature gradient near the surface, these imply near-surface air temperature minima of approximately −94 °C (−137 °F; 179 K).

1. ^ Turner, J.; Anderson, P.; Lachlan-Cope, T.; Colwell, S.; Phillips; Kirchgaessner, A. L.; Marshall, G. J.; King, J. C.; Bracegirdle, T.; Vaughan, D. G.; Lagun, V.; Orr, A. (2009). "Record low surface air temperature at Vostok station, Antarctica" (PDF). Journal of Geophysical Research. 114 (D24): D24102. Bibcode:2009JGRD..11424102T. doi:10.1029/2009JD012104.
2. ^ "NASA-USGS Landsat 8 Satellite Pinpoints Coldest Spots on Earth". NASA. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
3. ^ "Coldest spot on Earth identified by satellite". BBC. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
4. ^ "World Record Cold in Antarctica?". USA Today. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
5. ^ Scambos, T. A.; Campbell, G. G.; Pope, A.; Haran, T.; Muto, A.; Lazzara, M.; Reijmer, C. H.; Van Den Broeke, M. R. (2018). "Ultralow Surface Temperatures in East Antarctica from Satellite Thermal Infrared Mapping: The Coldest Places on Earth". Geophysical Research Letters. 45 (12): 6124–6133. Bibcode:2018GeoRL..45.6124S. doi:10.1029/2018GL078133. hdl:1874/367883.

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22 July 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Atlanta – outside Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate General John Bell Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill.

Battle of Atlanta

1864 battle of the American Civil War

This article is about the battle during the American Civil War. For the 1983 professional wrestling match, see Last Battle of Atlanta.

The Battle of Atlanta took place during the Atlanta Campaign of the American Civil War on July 22, 1864, just southeast of Atlanta, Georgia. Continuing their summer campaign to seize the important rail and supply hub of Atlanta, Union forces commanded by William Tecumseh Sherman overwhelmed and defeated Confederate forces defending the city under John Bell Hood. Union Major General James B. McPherson was killed during the battle, the second-highest-ranking Union officer killed in action during the war. Despite the implication of finality in its name, the battle occurred midway through the Atlanta campaign, and the city did not fall until September 2, 1864, after a Union siege and various attempts to seize railroads and supply lines leading to Atlanta. After taking the city, Sherman's troops headed south-southeastward toward Milledgeville, the state capital, and on to Savannah with the March to the Sea.

The fall of Atlanta was especially noteworthy for its political ramifications. In the 1864 election, former Union general George B. McClellan, a Democrat, ran against President Lincoln, although he repudiated his own party's platform calling for an armistice with the Confederacy. The capture of Atlanta and Hood's burning of military facilities as he evacuated were extensively covered by Northern newspapers, significantly boosting Northern morale, and Lincoln was re-elected by a significant margin.

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} Cite error: The named reference NPSAtlanta was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ Davis, Stephen, All the Fighting They Want: The Atlanta Campaign from Peachtree Creek to the City's Surrender, July 18–September 2, 1864 (Emerging Civil War Series), p. 99
3. ^ Bonds 2009, p. 172.
4. ^ ^{a b} Castel, Albert E. (1992). Decision in the West: The Atlanta Campaign of 1864. Modern War Studies. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. p. 412. ISBN 9780700605620. OCLC 25712831.

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23 July 1982 – The International Whaling Commission decides to end commercial whaling by 1985-86.

Whaling

Hunting of whales

For other uses, see Whaling (disambiguation).

"Hunting Whales" redirects here. For the album by The Checks, see Hunting Whales (album).

Whaling is the hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that was important in the Industrial Revolution. Whaling was practiced as an organized industry as early as 875 AD. By the 16th century, it had become the principal industry in the Basque coastal regions of Spain and France. The whaling industry spread throughout the world and became very profitable in terms of trade and resources. Some regions of the world's oceans, along the animals' migration routes, had a particularly dense whale population and became targets for large concentrations of whaling ships, and the industry continued to grow well into the 20th century. The depletion of some whale species to near extinction led to the banning of whaling in many countries by 1969 and to an international cessation of whaling as an industry in the late 1980s.

Archaeological evidence suggests the earliest known forms of whaling date to at least 3000 BC, practiced by the Inuit and other peoples in the North Atlantic and North Pacific.^[1] Coastal communities around the world have long histories of subsistence use of cetaceans, by dolphin drive hunting and by harvesting drift whales. Widespread commercial whaling emerged with organized fleets of whaling ships in the 17th century; competitive national whaling industries in the 18th and 19th centuries; and the introduction of factory ships and explosive harpoons along with the concept of whale harvesting in the first half of the 20th century. By the late 1930s, more than 50,000 whales were killed annually.^[2] In 1982, the International Whaling Commission (IWC) decided that there should be a pause on commercial whaling on all whale species from 1986 onwards because of the extreme depletion of most of the whale stocks.^[3]

Contemporary whaling for whale meat is subject to intense debate. Canada, Iceland, Japan, Norway, Russia, South Korea, the United States and the Danish dependencies of the Faroe Islands and Greenland continue to hunt in the 21st century. Countries that support commercial whaling—notably Iceland, Japan, and Norway—wish to lift the IWC moratorium on certain whale stocks for hunting.^[4] Anti-whaling countries and environmental activists oppose lifting the ban. Under the terms of the IWC moratorium, aboriginal whaling is allowed to continue on a subsistence basis.^[5] Over the past few decades, whale watching has become a significant industry in many parts of the world; in some countries it has replaced whaling, but in a few others the two business models exist in an uneasy tension. The live capture of cetaceans for display in aquaria (e.g., captive killer whales) continues.

1. ^ "whaling". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 2001. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
2. ^ Francis, Daniel. "Whaling". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Dominion Institute. Retrieved May 16, 2010.
3. ^ "Commercial Whaling". iwc.int.
4. ^ ABC News. "Japan, Norway Move to End Whaling Ban". ABC News.
5. ^ "Aboriginal substance whaling". About Whales and Dolphins. Retrieved 24 February 2016.

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24 July 1983 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.

Black July

1983 anti-Tamil riots in Sri Lanka

Black July (Tamil: கறுப்பு யூலை, romanized: Kaṟuppu Yūlai; Sinhala: කළු ජූලිය, romanized: Kalu Juliya) was an anti-Tamil pogrom^[5] that occurred in Sri Lanka during July 1983.^[6][7] The pogrom was premeditated,^{[8][9][10][11][note 1]} and was finally triggered by a deadly ambush on 23 July 1983, which caused the death of 13 Sri Lanka Army soldiers, by the Tamil militant group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).^[13] Although initially orchestrated by members of the ruling UNP, the pogrom soon escalated into mass violence with significant public participation.^[14]

On the night of 24 July 1983, anti-Tamil rioting started in the capital city of Colombo and then spread to other parts of the country. Over seven days, mainly Sinhalese mobs attacked, burned, looted, and killed Tamil civilians. Estimates of the death toll range between 400 and 3,000,^[15] and 150,000 people became homeless.^[16][17] According to Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR), the total number of Tamils killed in the Black July pogrom was 5,638.^[4] Around 18,000 homes and 5,000 shops were destroyed.^[18] The economic cost of the riots was estimated to be $300 million.^[16] The NGO International Commission of Jurists described the violence of the pogrom as having "amounted to acts of genocide" in a report published in December 1983.^[19]

Sri Lankan Tamils fled to other countries in the ensuing years, and a large number of Tamil youth joined militant groups.^[15][17] Black July is generally seen as the start of the Sri Lankan Civil War between the Tamil militants and the government of Sri Lanka.^[17][20] July became a period of remembrance for the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora community around the world.^[21]

1. ^ "Visual Evidence I: Vitality, Value and Pitfall – Borella Junction, 24/25 July 1983". 29 October 2011.
2. ^ "Black July 1983 remembered". Tamil Guardian. 23 July 2014.
3. ^ Jeyaraj, D. B. S. (24 July 2010). "Horror of a pogrom: Remembering "Black July" 1983". dbsjeyaraj.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2010.
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Recorded figures of Arrests, Killings, Disappearances".
5. ^ Community, Gender and Violence, edited by Partha Chatterjee, Pradeep Jeganathan
6. ^ Rajan Hoole, Black July: Further Evidence Of Advance Planning https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/black-july-further-evidence-of-advance-planning/
7. ^ Rajan Hoole, Sri Lanka’s Black July: Borella, 24th Evening https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/sri-lankas-black-july-borella-24th-evening/
8. ^ T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 2, Chapter 2 – The Jaffna Massacre (2003)
9. ^ T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 2, Chapter 3 – The Final Solution (2003)
10. ^ T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 2, Chapter 4 – Massacre of Prisoners (2003)
11. ^ T. Sabaratnam, Pirapaharan, Volume 2, Chapter 5 – The Second Massacre (2003)
12. ^ A. Jeyaratnam Wilson, The Break-up of Sri Lanka: The Sinhalese-Tamil Conflict. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1988. p.173
13. ^ Nidheesh, MK (2 September 2016). "Book review: The Assassination of Rajiv Gandhi by Neena Gopal". Live Mint. Retrieved 1 November 2018.
14. ^ E.M. Thornton & Niththyananthan, R. – Sri Lanka, Island of Terror – An Indictment, (ISBN 0 9510073 0 0), 1984, Appendix A
15. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference BBC230703 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
16. ^ ^{a b} Aspinall, Jeffrey & Regan 2013, p. 104.
17. ^ ^{a b c} Cite error: The named reference BBC230708 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
18. ^ "Peace and Conflict Timeline: 24 July 1983". Centre for Poverty Analysis. Archived from the original on 29 July 2013. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
19. ^ "ICJ Review no. 31 (December 1983)" (PDF). p. 24. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 March 2014.
20. ^ Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja (1986). Sri Lanka: Ethnic Fratricide and the Dismantling of Democracy. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0-226-78952-7.
21. ^ "Black July '83". Blackjuly83.com. Retrieved 30 May 2022.

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25 July 2008 Bangalore serial blasts occurred on 25 July 2008 in Bangalore, India. A series of nine bombs exploded in which two people were killed and 20 injured

25 July 2008 Bangalore serial blasts

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26 July 1974 – Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms the country's first civil government after seven years of military rule.

Greek military junta of 1967–1974

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27 July 1890 – Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later.

Vincent van Gogh

Dutch painter (1853–1890)

"Van Gogh" redirects here. For other uses, see Van Gogh (disambiguation) and Vincent van Gogh (disambiguation).

In this Dutch name, the surname is van Gogh, not Gogh.

Vincent Willem van Gogh (Dutch: [ˈvɪnsɛnt ˈʋɪləɱ‿vɑŋ‿ˈɣɔx] ^ⓘ;^{[note 1]} 30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) was a Dutch Post-Impressionist painter who is among the most famous and influential figures in the history of Western art. In just over a decade, he created approximately 2100 artworks, including around 860 oil paintings, most of them in the last two years of his life. His oeuvre includes landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and self-portraits, most of which are characterized by bold colors and dramatic brushwork that contributed to the rise of expressionism in modern art. Van Gogh's work was beginning to gain critical attention before he died at age 37, by what was suspected at the time to be a suicide.^[5] During his lifetime, only one of Van Gogh's paintings, The Red Vineyard, was sold.

Born into an upper-middle-class family, Van Gogh drew as a child and was serious, quiet and thoughtful, but showed signs of mental instability. As a young man, he worked as an art dealer, often travelling, but became depressed after he was transferred to London. He turned to religion and spent time as a missionary in southern Belgium. Later he drifted into ill-health and solitude. He was keenly aware of modernist trends in art and, while back with his parents, took up painting in 1881. His younger brother, Theo, supported him financially, and the two of them maintained a long correspondence.

Van Gogh's early works consist of mostly still lifes and depictions of peasant laborers. In 1886, he moved to Paris, where he met members of the artistic avant-garde, including Émile Bernard and Paul Gauguin, who were seeking new paths beyond Impressionism. Frustrated in Paris and inspired by a growing spirit of artistic change and collaboration, in February 1888, Van Gogh moved to Arles in southern France to establish an artistic retreat and commune. Once there, Van Gogh's art changed. His paintings grew brighter and he turned his attention to the natural world, depicting local olive groves, wheat fields and sunflowers. Van Gogh invited Gauguin to join him in Arles and eagerly anticipated Gauguin's arrival in the fall of 1888.

Van Gogh suffered from psychotic episodes and delusions. Though he worried about his mental stability, he often neglected his physical health, did not eat properly and drank heavily. His friendship with Gauguin ended after a confrontation with a razor when, in a rage, he severed his left ear. Van Gogh spent time in psychiatric hospitals, including a period at Saint-Rémy. After he discharged himself and moved to the Auberge Ravoux in Auvers-sur-Oise near Paris, he came under the care of the homeopathic doctor Paul Gachet. His depression persisted, and on 27 July 1890, Van Gogh is believed to have shot himself in the chest with a revolver, dying from his injuries two days later.

Van Gogh's work began to attract critical artistic attention in the last year of his life. After his death, Van Gogh's art and life story captured public imagination as an emblem of misunderstood genius, due in large part to the efforts of his widowed sister-in-law Johanna van Gogh-Bonger.^[6][7] His bold use of color, expressive line and thick application of paint inspired avant-garde artistic groups like the Fauves and German Expressionists in the early 20th century. Van Gogh's work gained widespread critical and commercial success in the following decades, and he has become a lasting icon of the romantic ideal of the tortured artist. Today, Van Gogh's works are among the world's most expensive paintings ever sold. His legacy is honored and celebrated by the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, which holds the world's largest collection of his paintings and drawings.

1. ^ "BBC – Magazine Monitor: How to Say: Van Gogh". BBC. 22 January 2010. Archived from the original on 26 September 2016. Retrieved 10 September 2016.
2. ^ Sweetman (1990), 7.
3. ^ Davies (2007), p. 83.
4. ^ Veltkamp, Paul. "Pronunciation of the Name 'Van Gogh'". vggallery.com. Archived from the original on 22 September 2015.
5. ^ Paintings, Authors: Department of European. "Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) | Essay | The Metropolitan Museum of Art | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History". The Met’s Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
6. ^ "The Woman Who Made Vincent van Gogh". The New York Times. 14 April 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2023.
7. ^ McQuillan (1989), 9.

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28 July 1935 – First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress

American WWII-era heavy bomber

"B-17" redirects here. For other uses, see B17 (disambiguation). "Flying Fortress" redirects here. For the film, see Flying Fortress (film). "B-17 Flying Fortress" redirects here. For the video game, see B-17 Flying Fortress (video game).

The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater of Operations and dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during World War II. It is the third-most produced bomber of all time, behind the American four-engined Consolidated B-24 Liberator and the German multirole, twin-engined Junkers Ju 88. It was also employed as a transport, antisubmarine aircraft, drone controller, and search-and-rescue aircraft.

In a USAAC competition, Boeing's prototype Model 299/XB-17 outperformed two other entries but crashed, losing the initial 200-bomber contract to the Douglas B-18 Bolo. Still, the Air Corps ordered 13 more B-17s for further evaluation, which were introduced into service in 1938. The B-17 evolved through numerous design advances^[4][5] but from its inception, the USAAC (from 1941 the United States Army Air Forces, USAAF) promoted the aircraft as a strategic weapon. It was a relatively fast, high-flying, long-range bomber with heavy defensive armament at the expense of bombload. It also developed a reputation for toughness based upon stories and photos of badly damaged B-17s safely returning to base.

The B-17 saw early action in the Pacific War, where it conducted raids against Japanese shipping and airfields.^[6] But it was primarily employed by the USAAF in the daylight component of the Allied strategic bombing campaign over Europe, complementing RAF Bomber Command's night bombers in attacking German industrial, military and civilian targets.^[7] Of the roughly 1.5 million tons of bombs dropped on Nazi Germany and its occupied territories by Allied aircraft, over 640 000 tons (42.6%) were dropped from B-17s.^[8]

As of February 2024, six aircraft remain airworthy, none of which had been flown in combat. Dozens more are in storage or on static display, the oldest of which is The Swoose, a B-17D which was flown in combat in the Pacific on the first day of the United States' involvement in World War II.

1. ^ Cite error: The named reference first flight was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Yenne.p8 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
3. ^ Angelucci and Matricardi 1988, p. 46.
4. ^ Parker 2013, pp. 35, 40–48.
5. ^ Herman 2012, pp. 292–299, 305, 333.
6. ^ Parker 2013, p. 41.
7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Carey Pointblank was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
8. ^ Cite error: The named reference Yenne.p46 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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29 July 1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.

Greek republic referendum, 1973

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• 1973 Greek republic referendum

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30 July 1916 – Black Tom Island explosion in Jersey City, New Jersey.

Black Tom explosion

1916 sabotage and munitions explosion in New York Harbor

The Black Tom explosion was an act of sabotage by agents of the German Empire, to destroy U.S.-made munitions that were to be supplied to the Allies in World War I. The explosions, which occurred on July 30, 1916, in New York Harbor, killed at least four people and destroyed some $20,000,000 ($560 million in 2024 dollars) worth of military goods.^[1][2] This incident, which happened prior to U.S. entry into World War I, also damaged the Statue of Liberty.^[3] It was one of the largest artificial non-nuclear explosions in history.

1. ^ "A Byte out of FBI history". Federal Bureau of Investigation. July 30, 2004. Archived from the original on July 15, 2009. Retrieved July 5, 2009.
2. ^ "Long: Terrorism's 100th anniversary | Commentary | roanoke.com". May 1, 2021. Archived from the original on May 1, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
3. ^ Warner, Michael (April 14, 2007). "The Kaiser Sows Destruction: Protecting the Homeland the First Time Around". Wayback Machine. Archived from the original on June 13, 2007. Retrieved September 30, 2021.

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31 July 1588 – The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.

Spanish Armada

Fleet sailing against England in 1588

This article is about the Spanish fleet that sailed against England in 1588. For the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish Navy.

The Spanish Armada (often known as Invincible Armada, or the Enterprise of England, Spanish: Grande y Felicísima Armada, lit. 'Great and Most Fortunate Navy') was a Spanish fleet that sailed from Lisbon in late May 1588, commanded by the Alonso de Guzmán, Duke of Medina Sidonia, an aristocrat without previous naval experience appointed by Philip II of Spain. His orders were to sail up the English Channel, join with the Duke of Parma in Flanders, and escort an invasion force that would land in England and overthrow Elizabeth I. Its purpose was to reinstate Catholicism in England, end support for the Dutch Republic, and prevent attacks by English and Dutch privateers against Spanish interests in the Americas.

The Spanish were opposed by an English fleet based in Plymouth. Faster and more manoeuvrable than the larger Spanish galleons, they were able to attack the Armada as it sailed up the Channel. Several subordinates advised Medina Sidonia to anchor in The Solent and occupy the Isle of Wight, but he refused to deviate from his instructions to join with Parma. Although the Armada reached Calais largely intact, while awaiting communication from Parma, it was attacked at night by English fire ships and forced to scatter. The Armada suffered further losses in the ensuing Battle of Gravelines, and was in danger of running aground on the Dutch coast when the wind changed, allowing it to escape into the North Sea. Pursued by the English, the Spanish ships returned home via Scotland and Ireland. Up to 24 ships were wrecked along the way before the rest managed to get home. Among the factors contributing to the defeat and withdrawal of the Armada were bad weather conditions and the better employment of naval guns and battle tactics by the English.

The expedition was the largest engagement of the undeclared Anglo-Spanish War. The following year, England organized a similar large-scale campaign against Spain, known as the "English Armada", and sometimes called the "counter-Armada of 1589", which failed. Three further Spanish armadas were sent against England and Ireland in 1596, 1597, and 1601,^[23] but these likewise ended in failure.

1. ^ Mattingly p. 401: "the defeat of the Spanish armada really was decisive"
2. ^ Parker & Martin p. 5: "an unmitigated disaster"
3. ^ Vego p. 148: "the decisive defeat of the Spanish armada"
4. ^ ^{a b} Martin & Parker 1999, p. 40.
5. ^ ^{a b} Martin & Parker 1999, p. 65.
6. ^ ^{a b c d} Casado Soto 1991, p. 117.
7. ^ Kinard, Jeff. Artillery: An Illustrated History of Its Impact. p. 92.
8. ^ Burke, Peter. The New Cambridge Modern History: Volume 13, Companion Volume.
9. ^ Martin & Parker 1999, pp. 60–63.
10. ^ Kamen, Henry (2014). Spain, 1469–1714: A Society of Conflict. Routledge. p. 123.
11. ^ Martin & Parker 1999, p. 94.
12. ^ Lewis 1960, p. 184.
13. ^ John Knox Laughton,State Papers Relating to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada, Anno 1588, printed for the Navy Records Society, MDCCCXCV, Vol. II, pp. 8–9, Wynter to Walsyngham: indicates that the ships used as fire-ships were drawn from those at hand in the fleet and not hulks from Dover.
14. ^ Bicheno 2012, p. 262.
15. ^ Lewis 1960, p. 182.
16. ^ Aubrey N. Newman, David T. Johnson, P.M. Jones (1985) The Eighteenth Century Annual Bulletin of Historical Literature 69 (1), 108 doi:10.1111/j.1467-8314.1985.tb00698.
17. ^ Casado Soto 1991, p. 122.
18. ^ Mattingly 2005, p. 426.
19. ^ Lewis 1960, p. 208.
20. ^ Gracia Rivas, Manuel: The Medical Services of the ‘’Gran Armada’’, in Rodríguez-Salgado, M. J. and Simon Adams (eds.): "England, Spain and the Gran Armada, 1585–1604". Barnes & Noble, 1991. ISBN 0389209554, p. 212
21. ^ Lewis 1960, pp. 208–209.
22. ^ Hanson 2011, p. 563.
23. ^ Graham 1972, pp. 258–61.

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1 August 1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.

Dahomey

1600–1904 kingdom in West Africa

This article is about the kingdom from 1600 until 1900. For the republic from 1958–1975 (now known as Benin), see Republic of Dahomey.

For the documentary film, see Dahomey (film).

The Kingdom of Dahomey (/dəˈhoʊmi/) was a West African kingdom located within present-day Benin that existed from approximately 1600 until 1904. It developed on the Abomey Plateau amongst the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by expanding south to conquer key cities like Whydah belonging to the Kingdom of Whydah on the Atlantic coast which granted it unhindered access to the tricontinental Atlantic Slave Trade.

For much of the middle 19th century, the Kingdom of Dahomey became a key regional state, after eventually ending tributary status to the Oyo Empire.^[1] European visitors extensively documented the kingdom, and it became one of the most familiar African nations known to Europeans.^[2] The Kingdom of Dahomey was an important regional power that had an organized domestic economy built on conquest and slave labor,^[3] significant international trade and diplomatic relations with Europeans, a centralized administration, taxation systems, and an organized military. Notable in the kingdom were significant artwork, an all-female military unit called the Dahomey Amazons by European observers, and the elaborate religious practices of Vodun.^[4]

The growth of Dahomey coincided with the growth of the Atlantic slave trade, and it became known to Europeans as a major supplier of slaves.^[2] Dahomey was a highly militaristic society constantly organised for warfare; it engaged in wars and raids against neighboring nations and sold captives into the Atlantic slave trade in exchange for European goods such as rifles, gunpowder, fabrics, cowrie shells, tobacco, pipes, and alcohol.^[5][6] Other captives became slaves in Dahomey, where they worked on royal plantations^[7] or were killed in human sacrifices during the festival celebrations known as the Annual Customs of Dahomey.^[8] The Annual Customs of Dahomey involved significant collection and distribution of gifts and tribute, religious Vodun ceremonies, military parades, and discussions by dignitaries about the future for the kingdom.

In the 1840s, Dahomey began to face decline with British pressure to abolish the slave trade, which included the British Royal Navy imposing a naval blockade against the kingdom and enforcing anti-slavery patrols near its coast.^[9] Dahomey was also weakened after failing to invade and capture slaves in Abeokuta, a Yoruba city-state which was founded by the Oyo Empire refugees migrating southward.^[10] Dahomey later began experiencing territorial disputes with France which led to the First Franco-Dahomean War in 1890, resulting in French victory. The kingdom finally fell in 1894 when the last king, Béhanzin, was defeated by France in the Second Franco-Dahomean War, leading to the country being annexed into French West Africa as the colony of French Dahomey, later gaining independence in 1960 as the Republic of Dahomey, which would later rename itself Benin in 1975.

1. ^ ^{a b} Heywood, Linda M.; John K. Thornton (2009). "Kongo and Dahomey, 1660–1815". In Bailyn, Bernard & Patricia L. Denault (ed.). Soundings in Atlantic history: latent structures and intellectual currents, 1500–1830. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
2. ^ ^{a b} Law, Robin (July 1986). "Dahomey and the Slave Trade: Reflections on the Historiography of the Rise of Dahomey". The Journal of African History. 27 (2): 237–267. doi:10.1017/S0021853700036665. ISSN 1469-5138. S2CID 165754199.
3. ^ Polanyi, Karl (1966). Dahomey and the Slave Trade: An Analysis of an Archaic Economy. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
4. ^ R. Rummel (1997)"Death by government". Transaction Publishers. p. 63. ISBN 1-56000-927-6
5. ^ "The women soldiers of Dahomey pedagogical unit 1 | Women".
6. ^ "Dahomey | historical kingdom, Africa | Britannica". www.britannica.com. May 30, 2023.
7. ^ "Dahomey | historical kingdom, Africa | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved September 22, 2022.
8. ^ Law, Robin (July 1986). "Dahomey and the Slave Trade: Reflections on the Historiography of the Rise of Dahomey". The Journal of African History. 27 (2): 237–267. doi:10.1017/S0021853700036665. ISSN 1469-5138. S2CID 165754199.
9. ^ Law, Robin (1997). "The Politics of Commercial Transition: Factional Conflict in Dahomey in the Context of the Ending of the Atlantic Slave Trade" (PDF). The Journal of African History. 38 (2): 213–233. doi:10.1017/s0021853796006846. hdl:1893/280. S2CID 15681629. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 21, 2017. Retrieved April 20, 2018.
10. ^ Akintoye, Stephen (2010). A history of the Yoruba people. Amalion Publishing. pp. 300–303. ISBN 9782359260069.

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2 August 1939 – Albert Einstein and Leó Szilárd write a letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt, urging him to begin the Manhattan Project to develop a nuclear weapon.

Einstein–Szilárd letter

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3 August 1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.

Jesse Owens

American track and field athlete (1913–1980)

For the film, see Jesse Owens (film).

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic Games.^[3]

Owens specialized in the sprints and the long jump and was recognized in his lifetime as "perhaps the greatest and most famous athlete in track and field history".^[4] He set three world records and tied another, all in less than an hour, at the 1935 Big Ten track meet in Ann Arbor, Michigan, a feat that has never been equaled and has been called "the greatest 45 minutes ever in sport".^[5]

He achieved international fame at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, by winning four gold medals: 100 meters, long jump, 200 meters, and 4 × 100-meter relay. He was the most successful athlete at the Games and, as a black American man, was credited with "single-handedly crushing Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy".^[6]

The Jesse Owens Award is USA Track & Field's highest accolade for the year's best track and field athlete. Owens was ranked by ESPN as the sixth-greatest North American athlete of the 20th century and the highest-ranked in his sport. In 1999, he was on the six-man short-list for the BBC's Sports Personality of the Century.

1. ^ "East Technical High School". Cleveland Metro Schools. April 5, 2017.
2. ^ Edmondson, Jacqueline (2007). Jesse Owens: A Biography. US: Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 29. ISBN 978-0-313-33988-2. Retrieved September 6, 2014.
3. ^ Treasure Trove: A Collection of ICSE Poems and Short Stories. Darya Ganj, New Delhi, India: Evergreen Publications Ltd. 2020. p. 103. ISBN 978-93-5063-700-5.
4. ^ Litsky, Frank (1980), "Jesse Owens Dies of Cancer at 66", The New York Times, New York, retrieved March 23, 2014
5. ^ Rothschild, Richard (May 24, 2010). "Greatest 45 minutes ever in sports". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on August 9, 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2019.
6. ^ Schwartz, Larry (2000). "Owens Pierced a Myth". ESPN Internet Ventures. Archived from the original on July 6, 2000.

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4 August 1902 – The Greenwich foot tunnel under the River Thames opens.

Greenwich foot tunnel

Tunnel under the River Thames in London

The Greenwich Foot Tunnel crosses beneath the River Thames in East London, linking Greenwich (Royal Borough of Greenwich) on the south bank with Millwall (London Borough of Tower Hamlets) on the north. Approximately 4,000 people use the tunnel (open 24/7) each day. It opened in 1902.

1. ^ ^{a b} Cite error: The named reference RBG-history was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

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5 August 1957 – American Bandstand, a show dedicated to the teenage "baby-boomers" by playing the songs and showing popular dances of the time, debuts on the ABC television network.

American Bandstand

American TV program featuring musical performances and dancing (aired 1952–2002)

American Bandstand (AB) is an American music-performance and dance television program that aired regularly in various versions from 1952 to 1989,^[1] and was hosted from 1956 until its final season by Dick Clark, who also served as the program's producer. It featured teenagers dancing to Top 40 music introduced by Clark. The program was televised from Philadelphia from its 1952 debut until its move to Los Angeles in 1963.

Over the decades, a wide range of musical acts, from Jerry Lee Lewis to Run-DMC, appeared in person to lip-sync one of their latest singles. Artists would sing naturally to the studio audience over a background of their own disc, while viewers at home would hear only the original recording.^[2] Freddy Cannon holds the record for most appearances, at 110.

The show's popularity helped Clark become a media mogul and inspired similar long-running music programs, such as Soul Train and British series Top of the Pops. Clark eventually assumed ownership of the program through his Dick Clark Productions company.

1. ^ Fontenot, Robert. "American Bandstand Timeline". About.com. Archived from the original on April 12, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2013.
2. ^ Arena, Neil (2022). Tonite, Tonite - the story of the original Mello-Kings. London: Arena & Stephens. pp. 88–89. ISBN 9781739083199.

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6 August 2012 – NASA's Curiosity rover lands on the surface of Mars.

Curiosity rover

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• Curiosity (rover)

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7 August 1858 – Australian rules football was founded and the first match was played between Melbourne Football Club and Scotch Grammar. The Melbourne Football Club (the oldest remaining sporting club in the world), was also founded on this day.

Australian rules football

Contact sport originating in Australia

"Australian rules" redirects here. For other uses, see Australian rules (disambiguation).

"Australian football" redirects here. For the overview of all football codes in Australia, see Football in Australia.

Australian rules football, also called Australian football or Aussie rules,^[2] or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an oval field, often a modified cricket ground. Points are scored by kicking the oval ball between the central goal posts (worth six points), or between a central and outer post (worth one point, otherwise known as a "behind").

During general play, players may position themselves anywhere on the field and use any part of their bodies to move the ball. The primary methods are kicking, handballing and running with the ball. There are rules on how the ball can be handled; for example, players running with the ball must intermittently bounce or touch it on the ground. Throwing the ball is not allowed, and players must not get caught holding the ball. A distinctive feature of the game is the mark, where players anywhere on the field who catch the ball from a kick (with specific conditions) are awarded unimpeded possession.^[3] Possession of the ball is in dispute at all times except when a free kick or mark is paid. Players can tackle using their hands or use their whole body to obstruct opponents. Dangerous physical contact (such as pushing an opponent in the back), interference when marking, and deliberately slowing the play are discouraged with free kicks, distance penalties, or suspension for a certain number of matches depending on the severity of the infringement. The game features frequent physical contests, spectacular marking, fast movement of both players and the ball, and high scoring.

The sport's origins can be traced to football matches played in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1858, inspired by English public school football games. Seeking to develop a game more suited to adults and Australian conditions, the Melbourne Football Club published the first laws of Australian football in May 1859.^[4][5]

Australian football has the highest spectator attendance and television viewership of all sports in Australia,^[6][7] while the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's only fully professional competition, is the nation's wealthiest sporting body.^[8] The AFL Grand Final, held annually at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, is the second-highest-attended club championship event in the world. The sport is also played at amateur level in many countries and in several variations. Its rules are governed by the AFL Commission with the advice of the AFL's Laws of the Game Committee.

1. ^ ^{a b} Collins, Ben (22 November 2016). "Women's football explosion results in record participation" Archived 22 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine, AFL. Retrieved 22 November 2016.
2. ^ "About the AFL: Australian Football (Official title of the code)". Australian Football League. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2017.
3. ^ 2012 Laws of the game Archived 22 May 2012 at the Wayback Machine Section 14, page 45
4. ^ History Archived 13 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine Official Website of the Australian Football League
5. ^ Wendy Lewis; Simon Balderstone; John Bowan (2006). Events That Shaped Australia. New Holland. p. 61. ISBN 978-1-74110-492-9.
6. ^ Kwek, Glenda (26 March 2013). "AFL leaves other codes in the dust" Archived 6 November 2016 at the Wayback Machine, The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
7. ^ "AFL is clearly Australia's most watched Football Code, while V8 Supercars have the local edge over Formula 1" Archived 6 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine (14 March 2014), Roy Morgan. Retrieved 18 December 2016.
8. ^ "The richest codes in world sport: Forget the medals, these sports are chasing the gold" (8 May 2014). Courier Mail. Retrieved 9 October 2016.

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8 August 1963 – Great Train Robbery: in England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes.

Great Train Robbery (1963)

1963 robbery in Ledburn, England

The Great Train Robbery was the robbery of £2.61 million^[2] (calculated to present-day value of £58 million), from a Royal Mail train heading from Glasgow to London on the West Coast Main Line in the early hours of 8 August 1963 at Bridego Railway Bridge, Ledburn, near Mentmore in Buckinghamshire, England.^[3]

After tampering with the lineside signals to bring the train to a halt, a gang of 15, led by Bruce Reynolds, attacked the train. Other gang members included Gordon Goody, Buster Edwards, Charlie Wilson, Roy James, John Daly, Jimmy White, Ronnie Biggs, Tommy Wisbey, Jim Hussey, Bob Welch and Roger Cordrey, as well as three men known only as numbers "1", "2" and "3"; two were later identified as Harry Smith and Danny Pembroke. A 16th man, an unnamed retired train driver, was also present.^[4]

With careful planning based on inside information from an individual known as "The Ulsterman", whose real identity has never been established, the robbers escaped with over £2.61 million. The bulk of the stolen money has never been recovered. The gang did not use any firearms, though Jack Mills, the train driver, was beaten over the head with a metal bar and suffered serious head injuries. After his partial recovery, Mills returned to work doing light duties. He retired in 1967 and died in 1970 due to an unrelated illness. Mills never overcame the trauma of the robbery.^[5] After the robbery, the gang hid at Leatherslade Farm. The police found this hideout, and incriminating evidence, a monopoly board with fingerprints,^[2] led to the eventual arrest and conviction of most of the gang. The ringleaders were sentenced to 30 years in prison.

1. ^ "Pressure makes Network Rail change bridge name". The Railway Magazine. Archived from the original on 19 December 2013. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
2. ^ ^{a b} "Great Train Robbery". Retrieved 28 January 2023.
3. ^ "The Great Train Robbery, 1963". British Transport Police. Archived from the original on 11 August 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2013.
4. ^ "The Great Train Robbers: Who were they?". BBC. 18 December 2013. Archived from the original on 22 December 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
5. ^ Russell-Pavier, N.; Richards, S. (2013). The Great Train Robbery: Crime of the Century: The Definitive Account. Orion. p. 293. ISBN 978-0-297-86440-0. Retrieved 25 January 2022.

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9 August 1965 – Singapore is expelled from Malaysia and becomes the only country to date to gain independence unwillingly.

History of the Republic of Singapore

For the full history of Singapore before independence dating back to settlement, see History of Singapore.

History of modern Singapore

The history of the Republic of Singapore began when Singapore was expelled from Malaysia and became an independent republic on 9 August 1965.^[1] After the separation, the fledgling nation had to become self-sufficient, however was faced with problems including mass unemployment, housing shortages and lack of land and natural resources such as petroleum. During Lee Kuan Yew's term as prime minister from 1959 to 1990, his government curbed unemployment, raised the standard of living and implemented a large-scale public housing programme. The country's economic infrastructure was developed, racial tension was eliminated and an independent national defence system was established. Singapore evolved from a third world nation to first world nation towards the end of the 20th century.^[2]

In 1990, Goh Chok Tong succeeded Lee as prime minister. During his tenure, the country tackled the economic impacts of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2003 SARS outbreak, as well as terrorist threats posed by the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) post-9/11 and the Bali bombings. In 2004, Lee Hsien Loong, the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, became the third prime minister.^[3]

1. ^ "Road to Independence". U.S. Library of Congress. Retrieved 14 April 2006.
2. ^ "Country Groups". The World Bank. Retrieved 2 May 2006.
3. ^ "Country profile: Singapore". BBC News. 15 July 2009. Retrieved 14 April 2006.

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10 August 1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.

Magellan (spacecraft)

NASA mission to map the surface of Venus via robotic probe (launched 1989)

The Magellan spacecraft was a 1,035-kilogram (2,282 lb) robotic space probe launched by NASA of the United States, on May 4, 1989, to map the surface of Venus by using synthetic-aperture radar and to measure the planetary gravitational field.

The Magellan probe was the first interplanetary mission to be launched from the Space Shuttle, the first one to use the Inertial Upper Stage booster, and the first spacecraft to test aerobraking as a method for circularizing its orbit. Magellan was the fifth successful NASA mission to Venus, and it ended an eleven-year gap in U.S. interplanetary probe launches.

1. ^ "Magellan". NASA's Solar System Exploration website. Retrieved November 30, 2022.

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11 August 1984 – "We begin bombing in five minutes" – United States President Ronald Reagan, while running for re-election, jokes while preparing to make his weekly Saturday address on National Public Radio.

We begin bombing in five minutes

Joke made by U.S. President Ronald Reagan during the Cold War

We begin bombing in five minutes

The audio leaked to the public

---

Problems playing this file? See media help.

"We begin bombing in five minutes" is the last sentence of a controversial, off-the-record joke made by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1984, during the Cold War. While preparing for a scheduled radio address from his vacation home in California, Reagan joked with those present about outlawing and bombing Russia. The joke was not broadcast live, but was recorded and later leaked to the public. The Soviet Union criticized the joke, as did Reagan's opponent in the 1984 United States presidential election, Walter Mondale.

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12 August 30 BC – Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite.

Cleopatra VII

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• Cleopatra

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13 August 1920 – Polish–Soviet War: the Battle of Warsaw begins and will last till August 25. The Red Army is defeated.

Battle of Warsaw (1920)

Battle of the Polish–Soviet War

For other uses, see Battle of Warsaw (disambiguation).

The Battle of Warsaw (Polish: Bitwa Warszawska; Russian: Варшавская битва, Varshavskaya bitva), also known as the Miracle on the Vistula (Polish: Cud nad Wisłą), was a series of battles that resulted in a decisive Polish victory in 1920 during the Polish–Soviet War. Poland, on the verge of total defeat, repulsed and defeated the Red Army.

After the Polish Kiev offensive, Soviet forces launched a successful counterattack in summer 1920, forcing the Polish army to retreat westward in disarray. The Polish forces seemed on the verge of disintegration and observers predicted a decisive Soviet victory.

The Battle of Warsaw was fought from August 12–25, 1920, as Red Army forces commanded by Mikhail Tukhachevsky approached the Polish capital of Warsaw and the nearby Modlin Fortress. On August 16, Polish forces commanded by Tadeusz Rozwadowski counterattacked from the south, disrupting the enemy's offensive, forcing the Russian forces into a disorganized withdrawal eastward and behind the Neman River. Estimated Russian losses were 10,000 killed, 500 missing, 30,000 wounded, and 66,000 taken prisoner, compared with Polish losses of some 4,500 killed, 10,000 missing, and 22,000 wounded.

The defeat crippled the Red Army; Vladimir Lenin, the Bolshevik leader, called it "an enormous defeat" for his forces.^[3] In the following months, several more Polish follow-up victories secured Poland's independence and led to a peace treaty with Soviet Russia and Soviet Ukraine later that year, securing the Polish state's eastern frontiers until 1938.

The politician and diplomat Edgar Vincent regards this event as one of the most important battles in history on his expanded list of most decisive battles, since the Polish victory over the Soviets halted the spread of communism further westwards into Europe. A Soviet victory, which would have led to the creation of a pro-Soviet Communist Poland, would have put the Soviets directly on the eastern border of Germany, where considerable revolutionary ferment was present at the time.

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Cite error: The named reference Szczep was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
2. ^ Soviet casualties refer to all the operations during the battle, from the fighting on the approaches to Warsaw, through the counteroffensive, to the battles of Białystok and Osowiec, while the estimate of Red Army strength may be only for the units that were close to Warsaw, not counting the units held in reserve that took part in the later battles.
3. ^ Timothy Snyder (2007), Sketches from a Secret War, Yale University Press, p. 11

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14 August 1975 – The Rocky Horror Picture Show, the longest-running release in film history, opens at the USA Theatre in Westwood, Los Angeles, California.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

1975 film by Jim Sharman

For other uses, see The Rocky Horror Picture Show (disambiguation).

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a 1975 independent^[6][7] musical comedy horror film produced by Lou Adler and Michael White, directed by Jim Sharman, and distributed by 20th Century-Fox. The screenplay was written by Sharman and actor Richard O'Brien, who is also a member of the cast. The film is based on the 1973 musical stage production The Rocky Horror Show, with music, book, and lyrics by O'Brien. The production is a tribute to the science fiction and horror B movies of the 1930s through to the early 1960s. Along with O'Brien, the film stars Tim Curry, Susan Sarandon, and Barry Bostwick and is narrated by Charles Gray, with cast members from the original Royal Court Theatre, Roxy Theatre, and Belasco Theatre productions, including Nell Campbell and Patricia Quinn.

The story centres on a young engaged couple whose car breaks down in the rain near a castle, where they search for help. The castle is occupied by strangers in elaborate costumes celebrating. They discover the head of the house is Dr. Frank N. Furter, an apparently mad scientist, who creates a living muscle man named Rocky. Frank seduces the couple and it is finally revealed he is actually an alien transvestite from the planet Transsexual in the galaxy of Transylvania.

The film was shot in the United Kingdom at Bray Studios and on location at an old country estate named Oakley Court, best known for its earlier use by Hammer Film Productions. A number of props and set pieces were reused from the Hammer horror films. Although the film is both a parody of and tribute to many kitsch science fiction and horror films, costume designer Sue Blane conducted no research for her designs. Blane has claimed that her creations for the film directly affected the development of punk rock fashion trends, such as torn fishnet stockings and colourfully dyed hair.^[8]

Initial reception was extremely negative, but it soon became a hit as a midnight movie, when audiences began participating with the film at the Waverly Theater in New York City in 1976. Audience members returned to the cinemas frequently and talked back to the screen and began dressing as the characters, spawning similar performance groups across the United States. At almost the same time, fans in costume began performing alongside the film. This "shadow cast" mimed the actions on screen above and behind them, while lip-synching their characters' lines.

Still in limited release in 2024, some 48 years after its premiere, it is the longest-running theatrical release in film history. In many cities, live amateur shadow-casts act out the film as it is being shown and heavily draw upon a tradition of audience participation.^[9] The film is most often shown close to Halloween. Today, the film has a large international cult following and has been considered by many as one of the greatest musical films of all time. In 2005, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

1. ^ "ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW (AA)". British Board of Film Classification. 17 June 1975. Retrieved 18 April 2015.
2. ^ Armstrong, Richard; et al. (7 November 2007). The Rough Guide to Film. Rough Guides. p. 506. ISBN 978-1-4053-8498-8.
3. ^ ^{a b} "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". American Film Institute. Archived from the original on 18 September 2017. Retrieved 11 December 2015.
4. ^ Solomon, Aubrey (2002). Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History. Scarecrow Press. p. 258. ISBN 978-0-8108-4244-1.
5. ^ Ivan-Zadeh, Larushka (19 June 2020). "The Rocky Horror Picture Show: The film that's saved lives". BBC. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
6. ^ The Top 10 Indie Movies of All Time | A Cinefix Movie List - IGN
7. ^ 10 Indie Movies That Became Pop Culture Hits|Collider
8. ^ Thompson, Dave (1 February 2016). The Rocky Horror Picture Show FAQ: Everything Left to Know About the Campy Cult Classic. Applause Theatre & Cinema Books. p. 1785. ISBN 978-1-4950-0747-7.
9. ^ "Rocky Horror Picture Show – a How-To Guide for Audience Participation". 30 September 2014. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 19 January 2022.

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