July 31, the 212thday of the year in the Gregorian calendar (213thin case of leap years), marks an important date in world history. Over time, many significant incidents and events occurred today in history i.e., July 31, which included start and end of battles, uprisings, signing of treaties, natural disasters, religious developments, expeditions, and accomplishments and discoveries in scientific fields among others. Some important events that make July 31 special include Christopher Columbus discovering Trinidad, Aurangzeb becoming the sixth Mughal Emperor of India. Ranger 7 successfully transmitting close images of the Moon, the United States, and USSR signing START I and Michael Phelps setting a new record of winning most medals at the Olympics.
Let’s discuss a few major Historical events in Today’s History i.e. July 31
1991: Bush and Gorbachev Sign the START I Treaty
On July 31, 1991, United States President George H.W. Bush and Soviet Union President Mikhail Gorbachev sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty in Moscow, committing each superpower to reduce nuclear arms by a third. In a press conference held at the Kremlin, U.S. President Bush discusses the economic cooperation implicit in the peace negotiations.
Strategic Arms Reduction Talks (START), arms control negotiations between the United States and the Soviet Union (and, later, Russia) aiming to reduce those two countries’ arsenals of nuclear warheads and of the missiles and bombers capable of delivering such weapons. The talks, which began in the year 1982, spanned three eventful decades: the collapse of the Soviet Union, the end of the Cold War, and the early 21st Century major crises.
1423: The Battle of Cravant
The Battle of Cravant was an encounter fought on 31st July 1423, during the Hundred Years War between English and French forces, a victory for the English and their Burgundian allies. The English king can occupy all the country north of the Loire, after the Treaty of Troyes in 1420. In 1422, with Henry V die and an infant King Henry VI of England, hostilities recommenced. It was fought over claims by the English kings to the French throne and was punctuated by several brief and two lengthy periods of peace before it finally ended in the expulsion of the English from France, except for the Calais Pale. Thus, the war was a series of conflicts and divide it into three or four phases: the Edwardian War (1337-1360), the Caroline War (1369-1389), the Lancastrian War (1415-1429), and the slow decline of English fortunes after the appearance of Joan of Arc, (1429-1453). The term “Hundred Years’ War” was a later historical term invented by historians to describe the series of events.
The war owes its historical significance to many factors. Though a dynastic conflict, the war gave impetus to ideas of both French and English nationality. It saw the introduction of novel weapons and tactics, which eroded the earlier system of feudal armies dominated by heavy cavalry. Thus, changing the peasantry’s role, the war introduces the first standing armies in Western Europe since the time of the Western Roman Empire. For all this, as well as for its long duration, it is often viewed as one of the most significant and vital conflicts in the history of medieval warfare.
Reference:
www.history.com
http://news.bbc.co.uk/
