On This Day: 8 July

Muslim defenders watch as some 15,000 starving Christian soldiers begin the siege of Jerusalem by marching in a religious procession around the city		1099
Vasco da Gama leaves Lisbon with four ships, in search of a sea route to India		1497
Peter I (the Great) of Russia soundly defeats the invading Swedish army of Charles XII at the Battle of Poltava, effectively ending Sweden's status as a major power in Europe		1709
An earthquake of estimated magnitude 9.2 causes a tsunami of estimated magnitude 8.7, which inundates the port of Valpariso and damages more than 1,000 km (620 miles) of Chile's coastline		1730
Fort Ticonderoga: French victory stems the British advance on Quebec		1758
The Second US Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition, beseeching King George III to prevent further conflict in a final attempt to avoid war between Great Britain		1775
Church bells (possibly including the Liberty Bell) are rung after John Nixon, lieutenant–colonel of militia and commander of the defences of Philadelphia, makes the first public proclamation of the Declaration of Independence from the steps of the Pennsylvania State House		1776
Joseph Bonaparte approves the Bayonne Statute, a royal charter intended as the basis for his rule as king of Spain		1808
The Chippewa people turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom		1822
King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway		1859
Canada's North–West Mounted Police begin their March West – an arduous and ill–planned journey of nearly 900 miles (1,400 km) in response to fears of a US military intervention, which would end on 9 October and was later portrayed by the force as an epic journey of endurance		1874
Five Black Republicans are murdered by white supremacists in Hamburg, South Carolina		1876
The Wall Street Journal is published for the first time		1889
In Richsburg, Michigan, John L. Sullivan knocks out Jake Kilrain in the 75^th round, in the last bare–knuckle world heavyweight title fight		1889
Fingerprints are found at a murder scene in Buenos Aires, leading to the first conviction on such evidence		1892
St. John's, Newfoundland, is devastated by fire		1892
May Sutton (USA) becomes the first overseas winner of a Wimbledon singles title		1905
The Ziegfeld Follies open in New York for the first time		1907
Serbia declares war on Bulgaria		1913
National Savings stamps go on sale in Britain		1918
Britain takes over the East African Protectorate as Kenya Colony		1920
Virginia Woolf finishes typesetting the first English edition of T. S. Eliot's The Waste Land, for the Hogarth Press		1923
New York municipal radio station WNYC goes on air for the first time		1924
The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22		1932
The first rugby union test match between Australia and South Africa is played at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town		1933
Jean Moulin, French resistance leader, is tortured to death by Nazis including Klaus Barbie		1943
Margaret Roberts, of Somerville College, is elected President of Oxford University Conservative Association		1946
Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident		1947
General Douglas MacArthur is appointed Commander of UN forces in Korea		1950
US pilot Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union		1960
Christine Truman and Angela Mortimer contest the first (and last) all–English Wimbledon ladies' singles final		1961
Starting gates are used in a horse race for the first time in Britain, at Newmarket		1965
Great train robber Ronald Biggs, 15 months into a 30 year jail sentence, escapes from Wandsworth prison by scaling a 30–foot wall with three other prisoners, after a ladder was thrown over the wall from the outside during afternoon exercise		1965
US President Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self–determination as official US Government policy, leading to the Indian Self–Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975		1965
George Beattie (28) and Seamus Cusack (19) are shot dead by British soldiers during a riot in Londonderry. An unofficial inquiry finds that they were unarmed. The policy of internment was introduced in Northern Ireland one month later, leading to a massive upsurge of violence in the province		1971
Prince Richard of Gloucester – youngest grandchild of King George V and Queen Mary, and the Queen's youngest cousin – marries Birgitte van Deurs, a Danish lawyer's daughter whom he met at Cambridge (he is the first in the line of succession to the throne that is not descended from King George VI, and at 2020 he is 27th overall)		1972
The Prince of Wales's Trust is founded		1976
Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler make the first successful ascent of Everest without supplementary oxygen		1978
105 passengers lose their lives, and over 200 more are injured, when the Island Express train from Bangalore to Kanyakumari (in India) derails on a bridge and falls into a lake		1988
West Germany beats Argentina in the FIFA World Cup final; 1 billion people watch on TV; Pedro Monzon of Argentina becomes the first player to be sent of in a World Cup final		1990
Kim Jong–il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il–sung		1994
Howett Irving 'Izzy' Campbell, a black man later found to be suffering from severe schizophrenia, slashes three young children and four adults with a machete at a school picnic in the Blackenhall area of Wolverhampton. Nursery nurse Lisa Potts, one of the injured adults, would later be awarded the George Medal for bravery		1996
Orangemen block roads in Northern Ireland, in protest at being banned from marching through a Catholic area of Drumcree		1996
Bookshops open at midnight as Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire – the fourth book in the series – is published simultaneously on both sides of the Atlantic, with an initial print run of 5.3 million – 1.5m in the UK and 3.8m in the USA		2000
116 of the 117 people on board lose their lives when Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes near Port Sudan Airport during an emergency landing attempt		2003
Laleh and Ladan Bijani, 29–year–old Iranian twins joined at the head, both suffer a fatal loss of blood after a three–day separation operation in Singapore, in which surgeons discovered that their brains had become fused together		2003
The G8 summit ends with an agreement to boost aid for developing countries by $50bn (Â£28.8bn) and cancel the debt of the 18 poorest nations in Africa. Bob Geldof speaks of a "great day", but Kumi Naidoo, Chair of the Global Call to Action against Poverty, is disappointed: "The people have roared but the G8 has whispered"		2005
Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the US Space Shuttle program		2011
Israel launches an offensive on Gaza, amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers		2014

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On This Day: 8 July