Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/July
Selected anniversaries / On this day archive
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| An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Main Page 2026 day arrangement | ||||||
July 1: Canada Day (1867)
Sack of Lunenburg
- 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Five American privateer vessels raided the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (depicted).
- 1935 – The first Grant Park Music Festival was held in Chicago's Grant Park.
- 1940 – Second World War: The Grand Quartier Général of the French Army was disbanded, following the French surrender.
- 1960 – Ghana became a republic, with Kwame Nkrumah as its first president.
- 1970 – The Belfast Banking Company, which issued banknotes in Northern Ireland, merged with its rival Northern Bank.
- Erik Satie (d. 1925)
- Diana, Princess of Wales (b. 1961)
- Learie Constantine (d. 1971)
- Liv Tyler (b. 1977)
A demonstration against the Soviet blockade of Lithuania
- 1779 – American Revolutionary War: French troops landed near St. George's, Grenada, and began their capture of the island.
- 1990 – Singing Revolution: The Soviet economic blockade of Lithuania (pictured) was lifted when the Lithuanian parliament agreed to suspend the effects of their act to re-establish Lithuania as a state.
- 1998 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling, the second novel of the Harry Potter series, was published.
- 2013 – In the Indonesian province of Aceh on the northern end of Sumatra, a Mw 6.1 strike-slip earthquake killed at least 35 people and injured 276 others.
- 2020 – A landslide at a jade mine in Hpakant killed 175–200 miners, the deadliest mining accident in Burmese history.
- Walter Potter (b. 1835)
- Ernest Hemingway (d. 1961)
- Alex Morgan (b. 1989)
- Julian McMahon (d. 2025)
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The 2017 Boundary Fire
- 1810 – Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811: A French frigate squadron under Guy-Victor Duperré defeated a convoy of three British East Indiamen near the Comoro Islands.
- 1970 – The Troubles: The British Army began the Falls Curfew in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which resulted in greater Irish republican resistance.
- 1988 – The US Navy warship Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 2005 – Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain with the coming into effect of a law passed by the Cortes Generales.
- 2017 – In Arizona, the Boundary Fire (pictured) burned out after 32 days, burning 17,788 acres (7,199 ha) of the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests.
- Leoš Janáček (b. 1854)
- Bo Xilai (b. 1949)
- Lisa Kahn (d. 2013)
- Diogo Jota and André Silva (d. 2025)
July 4: Independence Day in the United States (1776); Republic Day in the Philippines (1946); Liberation Day in Rwanda (1994)
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- 414 – Byzantine emperor Theodosius II proclaimed his elder sister Aelia Pulcheria as Augusta.
- 1776 – In Philadelphia, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence (signing pictured), announcing that the thirteen American colonies were no longer a part of the British Empire.
- 1954 – In what is known as "The Miracle of Bern", West Germany defeated Hungary 3–2 to win the FIFA World Cup.
- 1988 – Kylie Minogue's first album, Kylie, was released, and went on to top the charts in the UK and New Zealand.
- 2024 – Keir Starmer leads the Labour Party to a landslide victory in the United Kingdom general election, ending fourteen years of Conservative rule.
- John Adams and Thomas Jefferson (d. 1826)
- Suzanne Lenglen (d. 1938)
- Roland Ratzenberger (b. 1960)
- Rikako Ikee (b. 2000)
July 5: Fifth of July in New York
Coat of arms of the Regency of Algiers
- 1830 – Algiers surrendered to French invaders, ending the Regency of Algiers (coat of arms pictured).
- 1922 – Brazilian Army rebels took over Fort Copacabana and launched a rebellion in Rio de Janeiro against President Epitácio Pessoa and President-elect Artur Bernardes.
- 1937 – The Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam, the canned precooked meat product that would eventually enter into pop culture, folklore, and urban legend.
- 1950 – Korean War: In the first encounter between North Korean and American forces, an unprepared and undisciplined U.S. Army task force was routed at the Battle of Osan.
- 1990 – An explosion at a petrochemical plant in Channelview, Texas, killed 17 people and injured five others.
- Gerard 't Hooft (b. 1946)
- Shohei Ohtani (b. 1994)
- Régine Crespin (d. 2007)
- Jon Landau (d. 2024)
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Nicolae Ceausescu
- 1483 – The last monarch of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty, Richard III, was crowned King of England.
- 1801 – French Revolutionary Wars: A Royal Navy squadron failed to eliminate a smaller French Navy squadron at Algeciras before they could join their Spanish allies.
- 1962 – The United States conducted the Sedan nuclear test as part of Project Plowshare, a program to investigate the use of nuclear explosions for civilian purposes.
- 1971 – After visiting several Asian communist countries, Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu (pictured) gave a speech on a number of neo-Stalinist and socialist-realist ideals, which became known as the July Theses.
- 1989 – A Palestinian Islamic Jihad member carried out a suicide attack by hijacking a bus and forcing it into a ravine near Kiryat Ye'arim, Israel.
- Maria Luisa, Duchess of Lucca (b. 1782)
- Maria Goretti (d. 1902)
- George W. Bush (b. 1946)
- Zhu De (d. 1976)
Memorial service for the shot Dallas police officers
- 1777 – American Revolutionary War: British forces caught up with American troops withdrawing from Ticonderoga, capturing more than 200 men at the Battle of Hubbardton.
- 1898 – US president William McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution, annexing Hawaii as a territory of the United States.
- 1911 – Four countries signed the North Pacific Fur Seal Convention, which banned the hunting of seals in the pelagic zone.
- 1974 – West Germany won the FIFA World Cup final against the Netherlands at the Munich Olympiastadion.
- 2016 – A U.S. Army Reserve veteran ambushed and shot at police officers (memorial service pictured) in Dallas, killing five of them and injuring nine others, before being killed by a bomb attached to a police robot.
- Fernande Sadler (b. 1869)
- Henri Nestlé (d. 1890)
- James Marriott (b. 1997)
- Alfredo Di Stéfano (d. 2014)
Shinzō Abe
- 1776 – The United States Declaration of Independence received its first formal public reading, in Philadelphia.
- 1874 – Members of the North-West Mounted Police at Fort Dufferin began their March West, their first journey to the Canadian Prairies.
- 1947 – Following reports of the capture of a "flying disc" by U.S. Army Air Forces personnel near Roswell, New Mexico, the military stated that the crashed object was a conventional weather balloon.
- 1990 – West Germany won the FIFA World Cup final against defending champions Argentina, with Andreas Brehme scoring the game's only goal.
- 2022 – Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe (pictured) was assassinated with an improvised firearm due to resentment against the Unification Church.
- Etta Lemon (d. 1953)
- Tzipi Livni (b. 1958)
- Virgil van Dijk (b. 1991)
- Kim Il Sung (d. 1994)
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Italy players celebrating
- 551 – An estimated 30,000 people died when a massive earthquake struck the Roman province of Phoenice.
- 1763 – The Mozart family grand tour began, presenting child prodigies Maria Anna and Wolfgang in Western Europe.
- 1981 – Nintendo released the arcade game Donkey Kong, which featured the debut of Mario, one of the most famous characters in video-game history.
- 2006 – Italy won their fourth World Cup title, defeating France 5–3 on penalties following a 1–1 draw after extra time (players pictured).
- 2008 – Under the belief that Israel and the United States were planning to attack its nuclear program, Iran conducted the Great Prophet III missile test and war games exercise.
- Elizabeth of Austria (b. 1526)
- Courtney Love (b. 1964)
- Shin Jae-chul (d. 2012)
- Fernando de la Rúa (d. 2019)
July 10: Independence Day in the Bahamas (1973)
Lady Jane Grey
- 1372 – The Treaty of Tagilde was signed between Ferdinand I of Portugal and representatives of John of Gaunt of England, marking the beginning of the Anglo-Portuguese Alliance, which remains in effect today.
- 1553 – Lady Jane Grey (pictured) was proclaimed the successor to King Edward VI of England, beginning her disputed reign as the "Nine Days' Queen".
- 1921 – Irish War of Independence: One day after a truce was agreed between the Irish Republican Army and British forces, violence broke out between Catholics and Protestants in Belfast.
- 1941 – The Holocaust: Ethnic Poles murdered at least 340 Jewish residents of Jedwabne in German-occupied Poland.
- 2011 – The Russian river cruise liner Bulgaria was caught in a storm in Tatarstan on the Volga River and sank in several minutes, resulting in 122 deaths.
- Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (d. 1460)
- Eleonora di Garzia di Toledo (d. 1576)
- Mahathir Mohamad (b. 1925)
- Gwendoline Yeo (b. 1977)
July 11: Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide in Poland
Spain squad celebrating
- 1833 – Yagan, a Noongar warrior wanted for leading attacks on British colonists in Western Australia, was killed, becoming a symbol of the unjust and sometimes brutal treatment of indigenous Australians by colonial settlers.
- 1936 – New York City's Triborough Bridge, the "biggest traffic machine ever built", opened to traffic.
- 1982 – Italy defeated West Germany 3–1 to win their third FIFA World Cup title.
- 1991 – Shortly after taking off from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria Airways Flight 2120 caught fire and crashed, killing all 261 people on board.
- 2010 – Spain defeated the Netherlands 1–0 after extra time to win their first FIFA World Cup title (pictured lifting the trophy).
- Iskaq Tjokrohadisurjo (b. 1896)
- Giorgio Armani (b. 1934)
- Lady Bird Johnson (d. 2007)
- Satoru Iwata (d. 2015)
Saint Basil's Cathedral
- 1561 – Saint Basil's Cathedral (pictured), located in Red Square, Moscow, was consecrated.
- 1963 – Sixteen-year-old Pauline Reade, the first victim of serial killers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, disappeared in Gorton, England.
- 1979 – Rowdy fans at Comiskey Park in Chicago stormed the field during a Major League Baseball promotional event at which a crate of disco records was blown up.
- 1998 – France defeated the defending champions Brazil 3–0 to win their first FIFA World Cup title.
- 2006 – Hezbollah forces crossed the Israel–Lebanon border and attacked Israeli military positions while firing rockets and mortars at Israeli towns, sparking a five-week war.
- Alexander Hamilton (d. 1804)
- Malala Yousafzai (b. 1997)
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (b. 1998)
- Mau Piailug (d. 2010)
July 13: Kashmir Martyrs' Day in Pakistan
Mario Götze scoring the winning goal
- 1643 – English Civil War: Royalist forces defeated the Parliamentarians at the Battle of Roundway Down near Devizes, Wiltshire.
- 1794 – The Battle of Trippstadt between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria began.
- 1831 – Wallachian officials adopted the Regulamentul Organic, which engendered a period of reforms that provided for the westernization of the local society.
- 1962 – In an unprecedented reshuffle, British prime minister Harold Macmillan dismissed seven members of his cabinet.
- 2014 – Germany won the FIFA World Cup final against Argentina, with Mario Götze scoring the game's only goal (pictured) in the extra time.
- Afonso, Hereditary Prince of Portugal (d. 1491)
- Kate Sheppard (d. 1934)
- Ernő Rubik (b. 1944)
- Ken Jeong (b. 1969)
July 14: Bastille Day in France (1789); Festino di Santa Rosalia begins in Palermo, Italy
The seal of Louis VIII of France
- 1223 – Louis VIII (seal pictured) became King of France and began a three-year reign.
- 1798 – The Sedition Act became law, making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the U.S. government.
- 1865 – A seven-man team made the first ascent of the Matterhorn, marking the end of the golden age of alpinism.
- 1960 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 1-11 ditched off Polillo Island in the Philippines, killing one person and injuring 44.
- 2014 – Lightning strikes started four fires in the Methow River in the American state of Washington, collectively known as the Carlton Complex Fire.
- Andreas Joseph Hofmann (b. 1752)
- Georgiana Hill (b. 1825)
- Harry Atwood (d. 1967)
- Ivana Trump (d. 2022)
July 15: Statehood Day in Ukraine (2022)
- 1410 – The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald, the decisive engagement of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War.
- 1815 – Aboard HMS Bellerophon, French emperor Napoleon surrendered to Royal Navy captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, concluding the Napoleonic Wars.
- 1983 – Sega's first home video game console, the SG-1000 (pictured), was released in Japan.
- 2009 – A Mw 7.8 earthquake struck a remote region of Fiordland, New Zealand, the country's largest earthquake magnitude since the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake.
- 2018 – Croatian Mario Mandžukić scored the first own goal in a FIFA World Cup final in their defeat to France.
- Rembrandt (b. 1606)
- Nina Bari (d. 1961)
- Cherry (b. 1975)
- Celeste Holm (d. 2012)
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First edition cover of The Catcher in the Rye
- 1232 – Muhammad ibn Yusuf, who later established the Emirate of Granada, the last Muslim state in Spain, was elected the ruler of Arjona.
- 1950 – Uruguay won the decisive match of the FIFA World Cup against Brazil 2–1 at Maracanã Stadium, Rio de Janeiro.
- 1916 – Max Reger's Hebbel Requiem was first performed in a memorial concert for the composer, conducted by Philipp Wolfrum.
- 1951 – The Catcher in the Rye, an American coming-of-age novel by J. D. Salinger, was first published (cover pictured).
- 2007 – An earthquake of magnitude Mw6.6 struck Niigata Prefecture, Japan, causing a leak of radioactive gases from the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa Nuclear Power Plant.
- Yasuo Fukuda (b. 1936)
- Sergio Busquets (b. 1988)
- Evelyn Ebsworth (d. 2015)
- Connie Francis (d. 2025)
July 17: Constitution Day in South Korea (1948); World Emoji Day
Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr
- 1771 – Dene men, acting as guides to Samuel Hearne on his exploration of the Coppermine River in present-day Nunavut, Canada, massacred a group of about twenty Copper Inuit.
- 1863 – The New Zealand Wars resumed as British forces led by General Duncan Cameron began the invasion of the Waikato.
- 1968 – Led by Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr (pictured), the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party overthrew Iraqi president Abdul Rahman Arif in a bloodless coup.
- 1994 – Brazil won the FIFA World Cup final against Italy 3–2 on penalties following a 0–0 draw after extra time.
- 2007 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overran the runway at Congonhas Airport in São Paulo, Brazil, killing 199 people.
- Eunice Newton Foote (b. 1819)
- Wong Kar-wai (b. 1958)
- Jules Bianchi (d. 2015)
- Felix Baumgartner (d. 2025)
Nadia Comăneci on the balance beam
- 1290 – King Edward I issued an edict to expel all Jews from England.
- 1723 – Johann Sebastian Bach directed the first performance of his cantata Erforsche mich, Gott, und erfahre mein Herz in Leipzig.
- 1976 – At the Olympic Games in Montreal, Nadia Comăneci (pictured) became the first person to score a perfect 10 in a modern Olympics gymnastics event.
- 1989 – American actress Rebecca Schaeffer was shot and killed by Robert John Bardo, eventually prompting the passage of anti-stalking laws in California.
- 1995 – Selena's album Dreaming of You, instrumental in popularizing Tejano music, was released posthumously.
- Benito Juárez (d. 1872)
- Richard Branson (b. 1950)
- M.I.A. (b. 1975)
- Amy Gillett (d. 2005)
Detail from The Day the Earth Smiled, with Earth as a pale dot between Saturn's rings
- 1845 – A fire in Manhattan, New York, destroyed 345 buildings, killed 30 people, and caused at least $5 million in damage.
- 1903 – French cyclist Maurice Garin won the first edition of the Tour de France.
- 1919 – Following Peace Day celebrations marking the end of the First World War, English ex-servicemen unhappy with unemployment and other grievances rioted and burned down Luton Town Hall.
- 1997 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced that it would resume its ceasefire, ending its 28-year campaign against British rule in Northern Ireland.
- 2013 – The NASA spacecraft Cassini took a photograph of Saturn with Earth in the distance (detail pictured), for which people were invited to "wave at Saturn".
- Margaret Fuller (d. 1850)
- Nicola Sturgeon (b. 1970)
- Christopher Luxon (b. 1970)
- Janusz Zajdel (d. 1985)
Forensic experts at the site of the Suruç bombing
- 1807 – French brothers Claude and Nicéphore Niépce received a patent for their Pyréolophore, one of the world's first internal combustion engines.
- 1951 – Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated while visiting the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.
- 1976 – The Viking 1 lander became the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission.
- 1997 – USS Constitution, one of the United States Navy's original six frigates, sailed for the first time in 116 years after a full restoration.
- 2015 – A suicide attack (aftermath pictured) in Suruç, Turkey, for which Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility, killed 34 people and injured 104 others.
- Alexander the Great (b. 356 BC)
- Amanda Clement (d. 1971)
- Bruce Lee (d. 1973)
- Gisele Bündchen (b. 1980)
July 21: Belgian National Day (1831), Marine Day in Japan (2025)
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Sirimavo Bandaranaike
- 905 – Louis III, Holy Roman Emperor, was captured and blinded during his attempt to restore Carolingian power over Italy by King Berengar I.
- 1877 – Much of central Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was burned and looted during the Great Railroad Strike of 1877.
- 1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike (pictured) was sworn in as prime minister of Ceylon, becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of government.
- 1990 – The Taiwanese military ordered the deportation of dozens of illegal immigrants from mainland China in sealed boat holds, causing 25 deaths due to suffocation.
- 2007 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book in the popular Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling, was released and sold 15 million copies in its first 24 hours, making it the fastest-selling book in history.
- Nelson Dewey (d. 1889)
- Fiammetta Wilson (d. 1920)
- Johnny Peirson (b. 1925)
- Erling Haaland (b. 2000)
July 22: Feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene (Christianity)
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First flag of Sarawak
- 1209 – A crusader army captured Béziers, France, and massacred the city's inhabitants in the first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade.
- 1691 – Williamite forces defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Aughrim, the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland.
- 1951 – Soviet space dogs: Dezik and Tsygan were launched into a sub-orbital spaceflight from Kapustin Yar and became the first dogs to fly in space and the first to safely return.
- 1963 – The United Kingdom granted self-government to Sarawak (first flag pictured), the day would be celebrated as Sarawak Day.
- 1976 – Japan completed its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War.
- Adam Malik (b. 1917)
- Selena Gomez (b. 1992)
- Ursula Franklin (d. 2016)
- Ozzy Osbourne (d. 2025)
July 23: Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)
Megawati Sukarnoputri reciting the oath of office
- 1921 – The first National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party opened in a house in Shanghai.
- 1940 – Sumner Welles, U.S. Under Secretary of State, issued a declaration that the U.S. government would not recognize the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic states.
- 1982 – A helicopter crashed during the filming of Twilight Zone: The Movie in Valencia, California, killing actor Vic Morrow and two child actors.
- 2001 – Megawati Sukarnoputri was sworn in (pictured) as the first female president of Indonesia following her predecessor's impeachment.
- 2010 – The English-Irish boy band One Direction were formed while auditioning for the 2010 series of the British singing competition The X Factor.
- John Babcock (b. 1900)
- Sergio Mattarella (b. 1941)
- Olivia Manning (d. 1980)
- Amy Winehouse (d. 2011)
July 24: Pioneer Day in Utah, United States (1847)
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Depiction of the Albanian revolt of 1910
- 1411 – Scottish clansmen led by Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles, and Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, fought the Battle of Harlaw near Inverurie, Scotland.
- 1910 – Ottoman forces captured the city of Shkodër, ending the Albanian revolt of 1910 (depicted).
- 1920 – Franco-Syrian War: At the Battle of Maysalun forces of the Arab Kingdom of Syria were defeated by a French army moving to occupy the territory allocated to them by the San Remo conference.
- 1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne was signed to settle part of the partition of the Ottoman Empire, establishing the boundaries of Greece, Bulgaria and Turkey.
- 2019 – Boris Johnson became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after winning the Conservative Party leadership election.
- Martin Van Buren (d. 1862)
- Zelda Fitzgerald (b. 1900)
- Nayib Bukele (b. 1981)
- Hamzah Haz (d. 2024)
July 25: National Day of Galicia; Saint James's Day; Tenjin Matsuri; Puerto Rico Constitution Day
The Concorde involved in the Air France Flight 4590 accident
- 1261 – Alexios Strategopoulos led Nicaean forces to recapture Constantinople, leading to the reestablishment of the Byzantine Empire and the end of the Latin Empire.
- 1893 – The Corinth Canal was formally opened, bisecting the narrow Isthmus of Corinth in Greece to connect the Ionian Sea's Gulf of Corinth with the Aegean Sea's Saronic Gulf.
- 1950 – Korean War: After American troops withdrew, North Korean forces captured the village of Yongdong in South Korea.
- 2000 – Air France Flight 4590 (plane used pictured), a Concorde en route from Paris to New York, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 109 passengers on board and four people on the ground.
- 2010 – WikiLeaks published 75,000 classified documents about the War in Afghanistan in one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.
- Sibylla, Queen of Jerusalem (d. 1190)
- Matt LeBlanc (b. 1967)
- Meg Donnelly (b. 2000)
- Azimzhan Askarov (d. 2020)
July 26: Independence Day in the Maldives (1965), Kargil Vijay Diwas in India
Flag of Stellaland
- 1759 – French and Indian War: Troops led by French brigadier general François-Charles de Bourlamaque attempted to blow up Fort Carillon, near present-day Ticonderoga, New York, rather than defending it against approaching British forces.
- 1882 – Boer mercenaries established the Republic of Stellaland (later flag pictured) in land claimed by the United Kingdom as part of British Bechuanaland.
- 1953 – The Battle of the Samichon River, the last engagement of the Korean War, ended a few hours before the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement.
- 1968 – After coming second to Nguyễn Văn Thiệu in a rigged presidential election, Trương Đình Dzu was jailed by a South Vietnamese military court for illicit currency transactions.
- 2012 – The New Irish Republican Army was formed from a merger of a number of dissident republican militant groups.
- George Bernard Shaw (b. 1856)
- Mike Enzi (d. 2021)
- Bloeme Evers-Emden (b. 1926)
- Robert Todd Lincoln (d. 1926)
Colonial Pipeline system map in 2012
- 1689 – First Jacobite rising: Scottish and Irish Jacobites defeated Williamite forces at Killiecrankie, Scotland.
- 1955 – The Austrian State Treaty came into effect, ending the Allied occupation of Austria, although the country was not free of Allied troops until October.
- 1965 – Mattachine Midwest, a gay rights organization in Chicago, held its first meeting.
- 2007 – While covering a police pursuit in Phoenix, Arizona, two news helicopters collided in mid-air, killing both crews.
- 2020 – A major oil spill from the Colonial Pipeline was discovered in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina (system map pictured).
- Joe Tinker (b. 1880; d. 1948)
- Carlos Vila Nova (b. 1959)
- Piet de Jong (d. 2016)
- Edna O'Brien (d. 2024)
Surface weather analysis map
- 1899 – A Category 1 hurricane (map pictured) made landfall in Azua Province, Dominican Republic, and destroyed three large schooners at Santo Domingo; only one crew member on the three vessels survived.
- 1915 – U.S. Marines landed at Port-au-Prince to begin a nineteen-year occupation of Haiti.
- 1940 – At the Salzburg Conference, Adolf Hitler demanded the replacement of much of Slovakia's cabinet.
- 2005 – Britain's costliest tornado struck Birmingham, injuring 39 people and causing £40 million of damage across the city.
- 2010 – In the deadliest air accident in Pakistan's history, Airblue Flight 202 crashed into the Margalla Hills north of Islamabad, killing all 152 aboard.
- Johann Sebastian Bach (d. 1750)
- Maximilien Robespierre (d. 1794)
- Clara Ng (b. 1973)
- Huma Qureshi (b. 1986)
Combined coat of arms of Charles and Diana
- 904 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Thessalonica, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, was sacked by Saracen raiders.
- 1567 – The infant James VI was crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
- 1911 – In a case later termed a "legal lynching", Will P. Brady obtained a guilty verdict and death sentence against 15-year-old León Martínez Jr., five days after his arrest for killing a white woman.
- 1950 – Korean War: Over fears that North Korean soldiers were infiltrating refugee columns, U.S. forces concluded a four-day massacre of hundreds of civilians through shootings and air attacks near the village of Nogeun-ri.
- 1981 – An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (combined coat of arms pictured) at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
- Ladislaus I of Hungary (d. 1095)
- Dag Hammarskjöld (b. 1905)
- Mikis Theodorakis (b. 1925)
- Dorothy Hodgkin (d. 1994)
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Emmerson Mnangagwa
- 1916 – World War I: German agents sabotaged U.S.-made munitions in New York Harbor that were to be supplied to the Allies.
- 1966 – In London, the England national football team won the FIFA World Cup, winning the final against West Germany 4–2 after extra time.
- 1981 – Amid a widespread economic crisis and food shortages in Poland, up to 50,000 people, mostly women and children, took part in the largest of nationwide hunger demonstrations in Łódź.
- 2012 – A train fire killed 32 passengers and injured 27 on the Tamil Nadu Express in Andhra Pradesh, India.
- 2018 – Emmerson Mnangagwa (pictured) was elected to his first full term as president, having served as leader since the 2017 Zimbabwean coup d'état.
- Michael Morris, 3rd Baron Killanin (b. 1914)
- Kate Bush (b. 1958)
- Claudette Colbert (d. 1996)
- Lee Teng-hui (d. 2020)
July 31: Lā Hae Hawaiʻi (Flag Day) and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) in Hawaii (1843)
Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette
- 1009 – Sergius IV became the 142nd pope, succeeding John XVIII.
- 1777 – The Second Continental Congress passed a resolution commissioning the Marquis de Lafayette (pictured) as a major general in the American revolutionary forces.
- 1941 – The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring authorised SS officer Reinhard Heydrich to handle preparations for "the Final Solution of the Jewish question".
- 1975 – The Troubles: In a botched paramilitary attack, three members of the popular Miami Showband and two Ulster Volunteer Force gunmen were killed in County Down, Northern Ireland.
- 2002 – Hamas detonated a bomb at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, killing nine students and injuring about 100 more.
- Marion Talbot (b. 1858)
- Charles Inglis (b. 1875)
- Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd (d. 1948)
- Bảo Đại (d. 1997)
Selected anniversaries / On this day archive
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