@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Wednesday, July 28, the 209th day of 2010. There are 156 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1540, King Henry VIII's chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, was executed, the same day Henry married his fifth wife, Catherine Howard.

In 1609, the Sea Venture, commanded by Admiral Sir George Somers, ran ashore on Bermuda, where the passengers and crew built two ships and ten months later relieved the ailing Virginia colony at Jamestown.

In 1821, Peru declared its independence from Spain.

In 1914, the First World War began as Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia.

In 1965, US president Lyndon B. Johnson announced he was increasing the number of American troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000 "almost immediately".

In 1990, political newcomer and upset winner Alberto Fujimori – the son of Japanese immigrants – was sworn in for his first term as president of Peru.

In 2005, the Irish Republican Army renounced the use of violence against British rule in Northern Ireland and said it would disarm.

Thought for Today

"It is impossible to write ancient history because we lack source materials, and impossible to write modern history because we have far too many." — Charles Péguy, French poet and writer (1873-1914).