July 14 in History

The French Revolution, which ran from 1789 to 1799, was a decade of upheaval that overthrew the French monarchy, dismantled the privileges of the old aristocratic order, and tried to rebuild the country on the principles of citizenship and popular sovereignty. Its ideas about rights, equality, and the nation spread across Europe and beyond, and it remains a reference point for modern debates about democracy, revolution, and state power.

In July 2015, NASA's New Horizons became the first spacecraft to visit Pluto, passing the dwarf planet and its moons after a journey of more than nine years. The flyby transformed Pluto from a blurry smudge into a world with mountains, plains, and an atmosphere, and it completed the first reconnaissance of the planets known at the time of the mission's launch.