July 25 Through History

Explanation: Blériot piloted a Blériot XI monoplane powered by a 25-horsepower engine. This 37-minute flight earned him the prize of 1,000 pounds sterling offered by the Daily Mail newspaper, and revolutionized the military and civilian perception of aviation.

Explanation: Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, is one of the rare works by Mozart written in a minor key, which gives it a dark and passionate character very unusual for the time. Mozart composed it in just a few weeks during the summer of 1788.

Explanation: The Ordinances of Saint-Cloud suspended freedom of the press, dissolved the Chamber of Deputies, and changed the electoral law. Published on July 26 in Le Moniteur Universel, they triggered three days of popular uprising in Paris, the Trois Glorieuses, which led to the abdication of Charles X and the rise of Louis-Philippe I.

Explanation: The proclamation of the Republic ended the monarchy of Bey Muhammad VIII al-Amin, who had been reigning since 1943. Bourguiba became the first president of the Tunisian Republic and remained in power until 1987, when he was deposed by Ben Ali for health reasons.

Explanation: Flight AF 4590 crashed into the Hôtelissimo in Gonesse two minutes after takeoff. The investigation revealed that a metal strip that had fallen from a DC-10 on the runway burst a tire, whose debris punctured a fuel tank. This accident, which caused 113 deaths, marked the beginning of the end for the Concorde, which was withdrawn from service in 2003.

Explanation: The Corinth Canal, 6.3 km long and only 24 meters wide, connects the Gulf of Corinth to the Aegean Sea, saving ships a 700 km detour around the Peloponnese. Its construction had been considered as far back as antiquity by Nero, who symbolically laid the first stone in 67 AD.

Explanation: Although the phrase "Paris is well worth a mass" is universally attributed to Henry IV, historians doubt he ever actually said it. Regardless, Henry IV's conversion allowed him to enter Paris in March 1594 and put an end to the Wars of Religion. He would promulgate the Edict of Nantes in 1598 to guarantee freedom of worship for Protestants.

Explanation: Dino Grandi, president of the Chamber of Fasces and Corporations, presented the motion that placed the armed forces under the command of King Victor Emmanuel III, thereby stripping Mussolini of his military power. Arrested that evening, Mussolini was first held in a villa in the Abruzzo region, before being freed by a German commando unit on September 12, 1943.

Explanation: Louise Brown is the first human being born through in vitro fertilization (IVF), a technique developed by doctors Patrick Steptoe and Robert Edwards. The latter received the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 2010 for this discovery. Since the birth of Louise Brown, more than 8 million children have been conceived through IVF worldwide.

Explanation: This first partition caused Poland to lose about 30% of its territory and 35% of its population. It was followed by two more partitions, in 1793 and 1795, which led to the complete disappearance of Poland as an independent state for 123 years, until its restoration in 1918 after World War I.