Today in 1926, 97 years ago: Gertrude Ederle becomes the first woman to swim across the English Channel.

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Today in 1806, 217 years ago: Francis I of Austria decreed the suppression of the Holy Roman Empire, to prevent Napoleon Bonaparte from appropriating the title and the historical legitimacy that it entailed after his military victories.

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Today in 1915, 108 years ago: World War I: Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.

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Today in 1915, 108 years ago: 240 km northeast of Warsaw (Poland), the German army attacks with chemical weapons the 70 Russian soldiers who were inside the Osovets fortress. When the 2000 Germans entered the fortress, believing that the Russians would be dead, they (their clothes bloodied by the effect of the poison) counteracted, panicking the Germans. The battle was known as “the attack of the dead men.” There was no clear winner between the two sides.​

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Today in 1942, 81 years ago: Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.

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Today in 1917, 106 years ago: World War I: Battle of Mărășești between the Romanian and German armies begins.

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Today in 1934, 89 years ago: in Haiti, US troops withdraw from the island, which they had occupied since 1915. (They had been viciously invaded on the orders of US President Woodrow Wilson.)

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Today in 1985, 38 years ago: Víctor Paz Estenssoro assumes the presidency of Bolivia for the fourth and last time.

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Today in 1932, 91 years ago: the first film exhibition opens in Venice (Italy).

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Today in 1959, 64 years ago: in Argentina, President Arturo Frondizi -who won the elections thanks to the proscription of the Peronist Party - declares the Communist Party illegal.

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Today in 1996, 27 years ago: NASA announces that the ALH 84001 meteorite, thought to originate from Mars, contains evidence of primitive life-forms.

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Today in 1890, 133 years ago: At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.

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Today in 1870, 153 years ago: Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Wörth results in a decisive German victory.

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Today in 1825, 198 years ago: The Bolivian Declaration of Independence is proclaimed.

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Today in 1666, 357 years ago: in Paris (France), Molière premieres his work El médico a palos.

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Today in 1811, 212 years ago: in Spain, the Cortes of Cadiz decreed the abolition of all jurisdictional lordships.

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Today in 1990, 33 years ago: Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

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Today in 1776, 247 years ago: in present-day Colombia, Antonio de la Torre y Miranda founded El Carmen de Bolívar, currently the capital of the Montes de María, located in the department of Bolívar.

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Today in 2008, 15 years ago: Coup d 'état in Mauritania.

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Today in 1991, 32 years ago: Takako Doi, chair of the Social Democratic Party, becomes Japan's first female speaker of the House of Representatives.

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