Sputnik 1 launched by U.S.S.R.
On this day in 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, which orbited Earth until 1958, inaugurated the space age, and heightened Cold War competition between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S. 1957.
Jean-Claude Duvalier (“Baby Doc”), who was president of Haiti from 1971 to 1986, died in Port-au-Prince while he was on trial for alleged human rights abuses. 2014.
The Battle of Mogadishu ended with 18 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of Somalis dead. It brought to an end the U.S.-led military intervention in Somalia that had begun in 1992. 1993.
The racehorse Secretariat, who in 1973 won the U.S. Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes), was euthanized after contracting laminitis.1989.
The Crimean War began as Ottoman Turks (later joined by England and France) declared war on Russia; the fighting lasted more than two years and ended with Russia’s defeat. 1853.
The Gregorian calendar was introduced, and over the following centuries numerous countries adopted it. 1582.
