This Day in History: May 7th

[Fenris]

THIS DAY IN HISTORY FOR MAY 7TH

In 558 CE, the dome of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople collapsed. Byzantine Emperor Justinian immediately ordered the dome rebuilt, and the reconstructed dome is finished, with a higher profile than the original, in 563.



In 1763 CE, Pontiac's Rebellion begins. Pontiac's Rebellion, also known as Pontiac's Conspiracy, was a three-year revolt by Native Americans against British rule. It is named after one of its major leaders, Chief Pontiac, and was underway from 1763 to 1766.

In 1824 CE, a deaf Ludwig van Beethoven conducts the debut of his 9th Symphony in Vienna.



In 1832 CE, Greece wins its formal independence from the Ottoman Empire after a ten year struggle. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.

In 1840 CE, the Great Natchez Tornado hit the town of Natchez, Mississippi, killing 317 people. It remains the second deadliest tornado in United States history. The final death toll was 48 on land and 269 on the river, mostly from the sinking of flatboats. The death toll is slightly disputed because of the land death toll of 48. It is believed that people died on plantations, and since this was pre-Civil War Mississippi, slave deaths weren't necessarily counted.

In 1861 CE, Tennessee secedes from the Union in response to the attack at Fort Sumter.

In 1915 CE, the RMS Lusitania was torpedoed and sunk by a German U-Boat as it carried food and passengers from the United States to England despite German threats of sinking. 1198 passengers were killed, and the event played a major part in the decision of the United States to enter World War I. Since the disaster, many historians have questioned the innocence of the vessel. She had originally said she would take, along with her passengers, platinum, bullion, diamonds and various other precious stones, but these things were never found and port records do not list them either. She is believed to have instead carried, under the guise of bales of fur and cheese boxes, 3 inch (76 mm) shells and millions of rounds of rifle ammunition. If true, these materials comprised "a contraband and explosive cargo which was forbidden by American law and... should never have been placed on a passenger liner" (Simpson, Colin. The Lusitania. Little, Brown and Company, Boston., 1972; 157-158).



In 1946 CE, Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with about 20 employees. Their first product, manufactured in the late 1940s, was a rice boiler.



In 1954 CE, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended in a French defeat. The battle was fought between Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap and French airborne and Foreign Legion forces near the village of Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam and became the last battle in the Indochina War which had begun in 1947.

In 1960 CE, the Soviet Union revealed it had downed an American U-2 spy plane and captured its pilot, Gary Powers. Powers was convicted of espionage on August 19 and sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment and 7 years of hard labor. But he only served one and three-quarter years before being exchanged for Colonel Rudolph Ivanovich Abel on February 10, 1962.



In 1999 CE, three Chinese embassy workers are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft mistakenly bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo War. The bombing strained relations between China and NATO countries and provoked angry demonstrations outside Western embassies in Beijing.

In 1999 CE, in the tiny west African nation of Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.

BORN ON MAY 7TH

1833 - Johannes Brahms, composer

1840 - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, composer

1892 - Josip Broz Tito, president of Yugoslavia

1901 - Gary Cooper, actor

1909 - Edwin H. Land, inventor and founder of Polaroid

1919 - Eva Peron, wife of Argentina's President Juan Peron

1933 - Johnny Unitas, American football star

1939 - Ruud Lubbers, politician and Prime Minister of the Netherlands

1950 - Tim Russert, host of NBC's Meet the Press (and total media whore. -- ed.)

1956 - Jan Peter Balkenende, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

1968 - Traci Lords, actress

DIED ON MAY 7TH

973 - Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor

1539 - Guru Nanak Devji, The Founder of the Sikh religion

1825 - Antonio Salieri, composer

1896 - H. H. Holmes, serial killer

2000 - Douglas Fairbanks Jr., actor

Please post with any comments or corrections. The author greatly appreciates it.

[NoPasaran]

1. Tennessee seceded in 1861, not 1871

[Fenris]

2. Thank you again NoPasaran. I did know that.

I don't know why I typed 71. Bad typist.

[Fenris]

3. Kick

:kick: