This Week In History

July 13 - In 1977, a 25-hour blackout hit the New York City area after lightning struck upstate power lines.

July 14 - In 1789, French revolutionaries stormed the Bastille Prison in Paris, sparking the French Revolution.

July 15 - In 1815, after his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte surrendered to British Royal Navy Captain Frederick Lewis Maitland aboard the HMS Bellerophon.

July 16 - In 1918, Russia’s Czar Nicholas II, his empress, and their five children were executed by the Bolsheviks.

July 17 - In 1821, the Kingdom of Spain ceded the territory of Florida to the United States.

July 18 - In 1976, Nadia Comăneci became the first athlete in Olympic Games history to score a perfect 10 in gymnastics.