On this day

In 1876, Lieutenant colonel George Custer died at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

In 1903, George Orwell (Eric Arthur Blair) was born.

In 1948, the Berlin Airlift began.

In 1950, North Korea invaded South Korea, thus initiating the Korean War.

In 1984, Michel Foucault died in Paris of an AIDs-related illness.

In 1997, Jacques-Yves Cousteau died in Paris.

In 2006, Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip captured Gilad Shalit in a raid. Shalit remains a prisoner to this day.