July 8 in Military History

King Charles II grants the Charter of Rhode Island with unprecedented guarantees of religious freedom, principles that would later influence the military's approach to chaplaincy and religious accommodation.

Peter the Great's army annihilates the Swedish Army of King Charles XII at Poltava in modern Ukraine, ending Swedish dominance in Northern Europe and launching Russia as a major military power.

Commodore Matthew Perry's "Black Ships" arrive in Edo Bay, Japan, demanding the opening of Japanese ports to American trade, an event that triggers the Meiji Restoration and Japan's transformation into a modern military power.

American Red Cross volunteer Ernest Hemingway is severely wounded by mortar fire on the Italian front. His experiences would inspire "A Farewell to Arms," one of the great novels of World War I.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at 41.22, its lowest point of the Great Depression, deepening the fiscal crisis that forced severe cuts in U.S. Army and Navy modernization programs through the mid-1930s.

After a month of savage fighting, British and Canadian forces finally enter the city of Caen, Normandy, an objective originally planned for capture on D-Day itself.

General Douglas MacArthur is appointed Commander of United Nations forces in Korea, beginning his controversial command of the multinational effort to repel the North Korean invasion.

A Soviet MiG-19 shoots down a U.S. Air Force RB-47H reconnaissance aircraft over the Barents Sea, killing four crew members and capturing two, just weeks after the Francis Gary Powers U-2 incident.

Space Shuttle Atlantis launches on STS-135, the final mission of NASA's Space Shuttle program, ending 30 years of operations that had extensive military and intelligence satellite applications.

Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on mission STS-135, the 135th and final shuttle mission, ending three decades of the U.S. heavy-lift human spaceflight program managed jointly by NASA and defense contractors.