1980: Solidarity formed.
Solidarity, the Polish trade union and political party that became a hotbed of resistance to Soviet control, was founded this day in 1980 when delegates of 36 unions met and united under the leadership of Lech Wa??sa.
| 2002: | | Hundreds of thousands of rural protesters converged on London to demonstrate in favour of foxhunting, which two years later the House of Commons banned in England and Wales. |
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| 1989: | | | American composer Irving Berlin died in New York City. |
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| 1980: | | | The Iran-Iraq War began when Iraqi armed forces invaded western Iran along the countries' joint border. |
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| 1940: | | Jean Decoux, the French governor-general of Indochina appointed by the Vichy government after the fall of France, concluded an agreement with the Japanese that permitted the stationing of 30,000 Japanese troops in Indochina. |
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| 1927: | | Gene Tunney successfully defended his world heavyweight boxing title by defeating Jack Dempsey after the controversial “long count” in the seventh round. |
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| 1922: | | Chinese-born American theoretical physicist Chen Ning Yang, corecipient with Tsung-Dao Lee of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1957, was born. |
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| 1776: | | American officer Nathan Hale was hanged by the British for spying during the American Revolution. |
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| 1609: | | Spain's Philip III issued a royal order for deportation of the Moriscos (Christians of Moorish ancestry). |
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| 530: | | Pope Felix IV died, having named Boniface II as his successor. |
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