On this day in 1844 , the last known pair of great auks, the flightless birds of the alcid family, were killed in Eldey, off the coast of Iceland.
On this day in 1940 , the British Navy attacked the French fleet, fearing that the ships would fall into German hands after the armistice between those two nations.
On this day in 1970, the British Army imposed the “Falls Curfew” on Belfast, Northern Ireland, which only resulted in greater Irish republican resistance.