USPS / FBI / Suez Crisis

-657

The first Muslim civil war was launched beside the Euphrates River by Ali ibn Abi Talib and Muawiyah I during the Battle of Siffin.

-1519

Francisco Pizarro received a royal charter for the west coast of South America.

-1533

The last Sapa Inca Emperor, Atahualpa, was ordered to die by Francisco Pizarro.

-1775

The U.S. Post Office was established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin serving as its first Postmaster General.

-1803

London's Surrey Iron Railway opens as the world's first public railroad.

-1908

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was born when US Attorney General Charles Bonaparte sent a squad of newly hired federal investigators to Chief Examiner Stanley W. Finch.

Eventually, the Chief Examiner's Office was renamed the Bureau of Investigation, which became the FBI in 1935.

-1945

During World War II, the US, Britain, and China demanded that Japan surrender unconditionally in the Potsdam Declaration.

-1956

The Suez Crisis began when Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the British— and French—owned canal.

-1953

Fidel Castro led a failed attack on the Moncada Barracks, intended to spark a revolution in Cuba.

-2016

Hillary Clinton became the first woman nominated by a major party for president at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.