ON THIS DAY JUNE 25

1848 A photograph of the June Days uprising in Paris becomes the first known instance of photojournalism.

1876 At the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Major-general George Custer and the Seventh Cavalry are wiped out by Sioux and Cheyenne warriors, led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull, in what becomes known as “Custer’s Last Stand”.

1900 Taoist monk Wang Yuanlu discovers a cache of ancient texts in China’s Mogao Caves. Among them is the Diamond Sutra, the world’s oldest-known book.

1940 A conference of editors in Pretoria agrees to voluntary censorship regarding military matters.

1941 Germans invade Dubno, Ukraine, giving Ukrainians permission to do whatever they wanted to the region’s 12 000 Jews.

1947 The Diary of a Young Girl (aka The Diary of Anne Frank) is published. It was first named Het Achterhuis, after the family’s bolt hole. 1948 In response to the Ussr-imposed Berlin Blockade, the West launches the Berlin Airlift. 1950 The Korean War begins with the invasion of South Korea by North Korea. South Africa, as one of the founding members of the UN, sends a fighter squadron – No 2 “Cheetah” Squadron flying piston-engined P-51 Mustangs – to aid the South. By the war’s end the squadron had been re-equipped with jet-powered F-86 Sabres, but 74 of the 94 Mustangs and four of the 22 Sabres were lost, along with 33 pilots. 1960 Madagascar gains independence.

1975 Mozambique achieves independence. 1982 Porn star John Holmes acquitted of murder in the gruesome Wonderland slayings. 2017 A tanker carrying fuel bursts into flames in Pakistan, killing more than 200 people.

| THE HISTORIAN