This day in history

In Gleneagles, Scotland, G8 leaders agree to significantly increase aid to developing countries and to cancel the debt of the 18 poorest nations in Africa.

Ronald Briggs, one of the Great Train Robbers, scales the wall of Wandsworth Prison in London using a rope ladder and escapes after serving just 15 months of his jail sentence. He is later found living in Brazil.

Following the overthrow of President Jacobo Arbenz Guzman, Colonel Carlos Castillo Armas is elected president of the junta in Guatemala. 

Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, sails into Tokyo Bay, Japan, with a squadron of four vessels to seek talks with the Japanese Government. 

The first ringing of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, America.

Peter the Great, at the head of a 50,000 strong Russian Army, defeats Charles XII of Sweden’s 20,000 troops at the Battle of Poltava in Ukraine.

Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama sets sail from Lisbon in search of a sea route to India.

General Douglas MacArthur is appointed head of the United Nations Command in Korea.

Torrential rains in the Carpathian Mountains cause serious flooding in the Czech Republic, Poland and Germany claiming the lives of 104 people.