By Day: Historical Events on July 29th

The Treaty of San Germano is signed between Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX, ending the Papal-Imperial conflict.

The Spanish Armada is defeated. The Spanish fleet was led by the Duke of Medina Sidonia and its purpose was to overthrow Elizabeth I, to reinstate Catholicism in England and to end England's support for the Dutch Republic to prevent attacks by English and Dutch privateers against Spanish interests in the Americas. The English fleet was under the command of Charles Howard, 2nd Baron Howard of Effingham. His second in command was Sir Francis Drake. The Spanish Armada defeat is considered one of England's greatest military achievements. More

The secret Taft-Katsura Agreement is signed in which the United States acknowledged Japanese rule over Korea and condoned the Anglo-Japanese alliance of 1902. At the same time, Japan recognized U.S. control of the Philippines. More

President Eisenhower signs into law the bill passed by the U. S. Congress establishing NASA. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration began operations on October 1, 1958. More

Ranger 7, an unmanned U.S. lunar probe reaches the Moon and takes the first close-up images of earths' satellite. During its final 17 minutes of flight, it sent back 4,316 images of the lunar surface. The last image taken 2.3 seconds before impact had a resolution of just half-a-meter. More

The 1st Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, arrives in Vietnam Cam Ranh Bay. The 101st fought in 45 operations spanning seven years. Seventeen members of the 101st Airborne received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their conduct in combat in this conflict. The unit officially came home to Fort Campbell on April 6, 1972. The 101st Airborne suffered heavy casualties during the Vietnam War, 4,011 were killed in action, and 18,259 were wounded. This was over twice the amount of soldiers lost from their unit during WWII. More