July 25 Was a Very Special Day Quiz

Answer: 1866

On July 25, 1866, the US Congress created the rank of "General of the Army of the United States" for Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant (1822-1885), the military leader who had led the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy in the American Civil War. Grant had remained commander of the army after the end of the war, dealing with various conflicts in the American West, Mexico and Canada, as well as with the many issues related to the Reconstruction of the South.

As General of the Army, Grant wore a four-star insignia; between the years 1866-1888, only one person at a time could hold this rank, which was terminated in 1888, and re-established during WWII as the modern rank of five-star general. Grant was elected President of the US in 1869, and was in office until 1877.

Answer: 1593

This particular episode in the history of France is associated to the famous quote "Paris is well worth a Mass" - though, as in the case of many other famous statements, there is some doubt as to whether Henry IV really said this. In any case, Henry III of Navarre of the House of Bourbon (a cadet branch of the Capetian dynasty), who had been baptized as a Catholic, but raised in the Protestant faith, was persuaded by his mistress and adviser, Gabrielle d'Estrées, to renounce Protestantism in order to be crowned King of France. By converting to Catholicism on 25 July 1593, Henry IV secured the allegiance of most of his subjects at the end of a series of bloody wars of religion.

Henry IV was crowned king on 27 February, 1594; in 1598, he issued the Edict of Nantes, which granted substantial rights to the Huguenots (the French Protestants).

Answer: 1909

Born in Cambrai, in northern France, Louis Blériot (1872-1926) studied as an engineer at the prestigious École Centrale in Paris, where he first became interested in aviation. He designed the first practical headlamp for cars, which allowed him to earn enough money to finance his experiments, in particular the construction of various types of aircraft.

After a number of unsuccessful attempts, Blériot felt sufficiently confident to enter a competition created by British newspaper "Daily Mail", which offered a prize of one thousand pounds for a successful crossing of the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft. Blériot took off from Calais at 4:41 am of 25 July, 1909 - without a compass, and hampered by poor visibility - and almost crash-landed at Dover after 36 minutes and 30 seconds.

A memorial now stands on the site of the landing, near Dover Castle, while the aircraft in which Blériot made the crossing is now held in Paris' Musée des Arts et Métiers.

Answer: 1603

James VI Stuart (1566-1625) was the only son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and her second husband, Henry Darnley. He hardly knew his mother, who abdicated when he was one year old, leaving him King of Scotland. After a troubled childhood, in his early twenties James managed to assume control of his kingdom, and worked hard as securing his status as Queen Elizabeth I of England's natural successor.

His great-grandmother, Margaret Tudor, had been Henry VIII's elder sister, and Elizabeth's aunt. Some English politicians, such as the queen's chief minister, Sir Robert Cecil, facilitated James' accession to the throne - which happened on 24 March, 1603,. the day of Elizabeth's death. James I's English coronation took place on 25 July in Westmister Abbey. Scotland and England were brought into personal union after centuries of conflict; however, the two countries' political union occurred over a century later, in 1707.

Answer: 1956

Named after a 16th-century admiral of the Republic of Genoa, the Andrea Doria was a state-of-the-art luxury liner that was considered the largest and fastest ship built in Italy after WWII. Owned by the Italian Line (Società di navigazione italiana), it was built in Genoa's Ansaldo Shipyards, and undertook its maiden voyage in 1953. On 25 July, 1956, the Andrea Doria (which had sailed from Genoa on 17 July) was approaching the coast of Nantucket, Massachusetts, on its way to New York City, when - mostly because of the heavy fog - it collided with the MS Stockholm, a ship of the Swedish American Line headed in the opposite direction. Considering the magnitude of the impact and the fact that both ships were carrying over 2,000 people, the death toll (51 people) was extremely low. Even though 50% of the Andrea Doria's lifeboats were made unusable in the collision, the ship remained afloat for 11 hours before capsizing, and the improvement in communications since the 1912 Titanic disaster made sure that a number of other ships in the area quickly picked up the distress signal sent by the Italian ship.

The disaster was followed by months of hearings, which stopped abruptly when an out-of-court settlement was reached.

Answer: 1799

Abukir, or Abu Qir, is a town on the Mediterranean coast of Egypt, northeast of Alexandria. At the end of the 18th century two famous battles took place there: the first (1798) between the French and the British Navy, and the second, fought on 25 July, 1799, between the French army led by Napoleon Bonaparte and the Ottoman Army led by Seid Mustafa Pasha.

The battle was part of Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and Syria, whose main purpose was the defense of French trade interests against the British; the Rosetta stone was discovered during this campaign.

The Ottoman forces had been transported to Egypt by the British, who wanted to put an end to French rule. At Abukir, the cavalry led by general Joachim Murat (who became Napoleon's brother-in-law the following year) broke through the Ottoman ranks.

The Turkish soldiers fled in panic, and many of them drowned; Mustafa Pasha was captured by Murat, who was injured in the process. The French, however, were soon forced to withdraw from Egypt, due to the difficulty of maintaining their presence there.

Answer: 1943

In the spring of 1943, almost four years since the beginning of WWII, Italy was facing defeat on vqrious fronts, which exposed it to invasion by the Allied forces. Benito Mussolini (1883-1945), who had been elected Prime Minister in 1922 and seized power as the "Duce" (leader) of the country, was facing a loss of support from the population, as well as lack of cooperation from its German allies. Public opinion had increasingly turned against the war, and even King Victor Emmanuel III was starting to consider an exit strategy.

The fall of Tunis on 13 May, and the landing of the Allies in Sicily on 10 July were the final nails in the coffin of Mussolini's power as Italy's dictator. At the Grand Council of Fascism of 24-25 July, a vote of no confidence against Mussolini was expressed; the dictator was arrested in the afternoon of 25 July, and replaced by Marshal Pietro Badoglio. People in the streets celebrated the fall of Fascism, but the last two years of the war were going to be even harder for Italy.

Answer: 1567

Now one of South America's largest cities, Caracas lies within a narrow valley in the Venezuelan Coastal Range (Cordillera de la Costa). At the time of the city's founding, the valley was populated by indigenous populations who had destroyed the previous Spanish settlements. On 25 July, 1567, Captain Diego de Losada, a Spanish conquistador, laid the foundations of the city of Santiago de León de Caracas, taking possession of the land in the name of God and the King of Spain.

The following year, the native chiefs who had led the rebellion against Spain prior to the city's founding were defeated and killed.

In 1577, Caracas became the capital of the Venezuela Province of the Spanish Empire. It became Venezuela's national capital in 1811, when the Declaration of Independence from Spain was signed.

Answer: 1788

A prolific composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) kept a catalogue of his completed works, and this is how we know that his Symphony No. 40 in G minor was completed on 25 July, 1788. The work - also known as the "Great G minor symphony", is one of two extant symphonies written by Mozart in a minor key (the other being No. 25).

The symphony, which exists in two versions, was probably performed a number of times before Mozart's death. As usual for symphonies composed in the classical period (1730-1820), Symphony No. 40 consists of four movements: Molto allegro (fast), Andante (slow), Menuetto-Allegretto (minuet), Allegro assai (fast).

It is one of Mozart's most enduringly popular works, and frequently performed and recorded.

Answer: 1978

Although Louise Brown is often referred to as the first "test-tube baby", her conception took place in a Petri dish on 10 November, 1977. Her parents, Lesley and John Brown, had been trying to conceive for nine years, without success because Lesley suffered from blocked Fallopian tubes. Louise was born on 25 July, 1978, by planned Caesarean section at Oldham General Hospital, in the Greater Manchester area; four years later, her sister Natalie - also conceived by IVF - was born. One of the three doctors who developed the IVF process, Sir Robert G. Edwards, was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his work. Though infertility is often inherited, both Louise and her sister Natalie have children that were conceived naturally.