July 27

Events

1789 - The first U.S. federal government agency, the Department of Foreign Affairs, is established (later renamed Department of State).
1794 - French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution."
1866 - The Atlantic Cable is successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.
1880 - Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand - In a pyrrhic victory, Afghan forces led by Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan.
1953 - Korean War ends: The United States, People's Republic of China, and North Korea, sign an armistice agreement.
1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends (started on May 9, 1945).
1990 - The Supreme Soviet of the Belarusian Soviet Republic declares independence of Belarus from the Soviet Union.
1996 - Centennial Olympic Park bombing: In Atlanta, Georgia, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics, killing two and injuring 111.
2007 - WikiSlavia a Russian language encylopedia aligns as an independent section of Metapedia.

1824 - Alexandre Dumas, French author (d. 1895)
1870 - Hilaire Belloc, French-born British writer (d. 1953)
1891 - Ernest Elmhurst, author of The World Hoax and defendant in the Great Sedition Trial of 1944 (d. 1967)
1922 - Norman Lear, American television writer and producer
1971 - Matthew F. Hale, leader of the Creativity Movement