Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/July 31
This is a list of selected July 31 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Daniel Defoe -
Lunar Rover-Manned land vehicle (NASA) -
Lunar Prospector
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1667 – The Second Anglo-Dutch War between England and the United Provinces ended with the signing of the Treaty of Breda in the Dutch city of Breda. | contradictory |
| 1703 – English writer Daniel Defoe was placed in a pillory for seditious libel after publishing a pamphlet politically satirising the High Church Tories. | refimprove |
| 1930 – The Shadow, one of the most famous pulp heroes of the 20th Century, debuted as the mysterious narrator of a radio program. | Tagged with {{trivia}} |
| 1948 – New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport was dedicated as New York International Airport. | outdated |
| 1971 – Apollo program: The first Lunar Rover was used during the Apollo 15 mission to the moon. | needs more footnotes |
| 1999 – NASA's Lunar Prospector (artist's impression pictured) was deliberately crashed into the Shoemaker crater near the Moon's south pole in an unsuccessful attempt to detect the presence of water. | needs more footnotes |
| 2007 – The Troubles: Operation Banner, the British armed forces' operation in Northern Ireland, ended after 38 years with a military stalemate and ceasefire. | unreferenced section |
Eligible
- 1972 – The Troubles: Free Derry, an autonomous self-declared area of Derry, Northern Ireland, was brought to an end by the British Army's Operation Motorman.
July 31: Ka Hae Hawai'i Day (Flag Day) in Hawaii; Feast day of Saint Ignatius of Loyola
- 1201 – John Komnenos the Fat briefly seized the throne of the Byzantine Empire from Alexios III Angelos, but he was soon caught and executed.
- 1917 – World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele began near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium, with the Allied Powers aiming to force German troops to withdraw from the Channel Ports.
- 1941 – The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring ordered SS General Reinhard Heydrich to settle "the final solution of the Jewish question".
- 1991 – The Soviet Union and the United States signed the bilateral START I treaty, the largest and most complex arms control treaty in history, which eventually removed 80% of all strategic nuclear weapons then in existence.
- 2006 – Following intestinal surgery, Fidel Castro provisionally transferred the duties of the Cuban presidency to his brother Raúl (pictured).