1794: French Revolutionary figure Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other leaders of “the Terror” are guillotined to thunderous cheers in Paris

1914: Austria-Hungary decides against mediation and declares war on Serbia, the first declaration of war of World War I

1917: Silent Parade organized by James Weldon Johnson, 10,000 African Americans march on Fifth Avenue in NYC to protest against lynching

1943: Operation Gomorrah: RAF bombing over Hamburg causes a firestorm that kills 42,600 German civilians

1976: Tangshan Earthquake, 7.6 in magnitude, kills over 300,000 in northern China, the largest loss of life from an earthquake in the 20th century

2005: The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its 30-year-long armed campaign in Northern Ireland

Source: Onthisday.com