Human Saga

On July 17

On July 17, the Human Saga records one pivotal event: Spanish Civil War (1936).

On this day

17 July 1936 – 1 April 1939Spanish Civil WarMilitary & conflict

On 17 July 1936 a coalition of conservative, monarchist, and far-right army officers launched a coup against Spain's elected Second Republic, beginning in Spanish Morocco and spreading to mainland garrisons the next day.

Also this week in history (Jul 14 – Jul 20)

On 14 July 1789 a Parisian crowd seeking arms and gunpowder stormed the Bastille, a royal fortress-prison that symbolised Bourbon absolutism.

19 July 1870 – 10 May 1871; German Empire proclaimed 18 January 1871The Franco-Prussian War, German unification and the Paris CommuneMilitary & conflict

The Franco-Prussian War (July 1870 – May 1871) completed the unification of Germany and reshaped the European order.

20 July 1969 (mission 16–24 July 1969)Apollo 11 Moon landingScience, technology & invention

On 20 July 1969 the American Apollo 11 mission achieved the first crewed landing on the Moon.

In 1054 the long-building rift between the Latin (Roman) and Greek (Byzantine) churches hardened into formal schism.

On 19 and 20 July 1848 some three hundred people gathered at the Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, New York, for the first women's rights convention in the United States.

On 14 July 1889, the centenary of the storming of the Bastille, a Marxist International Socialist Congress convened in Paris and founded the Second International, a federation of socialist and labour parties drawn from some twenty…

On 16 July 1995 Amazon.com opened to the public as an online bookstore, founded a year earlier by Jeff Bezos, who had left a Wall Street firm to capitalise on the rapid growth of internet use.

On 14 July 2015, after years of negotiation, Iran and the P5+1 group (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany, with the European Union) reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in Vienna.

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