TODAY IN HISTORY: Dogs orbit Earth on ‘Sputnik’

In 1099, the armies of the First Crusade defeated the Saracens at the “Battle of Ascalon,” a historic Palestinian city on the Mediterranean coast, one month after they had captured Jerusalem.

In 1561, Mary Queen of Scots returned from France to her homeland and became the Roman Catholic monarch of a country rapidly becoming Presbyterian.

In 1692, five women were hanged for witchcraft in Salem, Mass. Their trials had begun after a book by Cotton Mather, a Congressionalist pastor in Boston, stirred up the clergy and their parishioners following its publication in 1689. The hysteria in Salem was the basis for American playwright Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible.” In 1693, the governor of Massachusetts ordered the release of all those held on witchcraft charges.

In 1809, the first Canadian-built steamboat, “The Accommodation,” was launched on the St. Lawrence River at Montreal. Owned by the brewer and banker John Molson, it carried 10 passengers to Quebec City from Montreal on its maiden voyage, which took place at the end of October.

In 1880, French acrobat Blondin walked a tight rope across the Niagara Gorge with his manager on his back.

In 1909, the first automobile races were run at the just-opened Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The winner of the first event was auto engineer Louis Schwitzer, who drove a Stoddard-Dayton touring car twice around the 4-km track at an average speed of 92.3 km/h.

In 1914, Canada declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary at the start of the First World War.

In 1942, 5,000 Canadian troops, supported by the British, carried out the disastrous raid on the French port of Dieppe. It was termed a dress rehearsal for the eventual invasion of Nazi-occupied France. For Canada, it was the costliest day of the Second World War. More than 3,300 troops were killed, wounded or captured. Despite the losses, many military strategists regarded the raid as a valuable lesson for later seaborne landings. Two Canadians and one British soldier won Victoria Crosses that day.

In 1953, Israel’s parliament conferred Israeli citizenship posthumously on all Jews killed by the Nazis during the years of the Holocaust (1933-45) in Europe.

In 1954, the U.S. Congress approved a bill outlawing the Communist party.

In 1960, two dogs, Belka and Strelka, survived an Earth orbit aboard a Soviet “Sputnik” spacecraft, becoming the first living creatures to circle the Earth and come back alive.

In 1974, Rev. Wilbur Kenneth Howard was elected the first black moderator of the United Church of Canada.

In 1977, comedian Groucho Marx died in Los Angeles. He was 86.

In 1979, two Soviet cosmonauts returned from a then-record 175 days in space aboard the “Salyut Six” space station.

In 1982, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to be launched into space.

In 1998, the McDonald’s restaurant in Squamish, B.C., became the first outlet of the fast-food giant in North America to be unionized as the CAW was certified. Just a year later, employees voted to oust the union.

In 2004, Google began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, ending the day up US$15.34 to US$100.34. It offered 19 million shares and raised US$1.6 billion.

In 2007, Pte. Simon Longtin became the first member of Quebec’s Royal 22nd Regiment, to be killed in Afghanistan. He died when the light armoured vehicle he was in hit a roadside bomb.