306 – Constantine I is proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops.
315 – The Arch of Constantine is completed near the Colosseum in Rome to commemorate Constantine I’s victory over Maxentius at the Milvian Bridge.
677 – Climax of the Siege of Thessalonica by the Slavs in a three-day assault on the city walls.
864 – The Edict of Pistres of Charles the Bald orders defensive measures against the Vikings.
1137 – Eleanor of Aquitaine marries Prince Louis, later King Louis VII of France, at the Cathedral of Saint-André in Bordeaux.
1139 – Battle of Ourique: The Almoravids, led by Ali ibn Yusuf, are defeated by Prince Afonso Henriques who is proclaimed King of Portugal.
1261 – The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.
1278 – The naval Battle of Algeciras takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista resulting in a victory for the Emirate of Granada and the Maranid Dynasty over the Kingdom of Castile.
1467 – The Battle of Molinella: The first battle in Italy in which firearms are used extensively.
1536 – Sebastián de Belalcázar on his search of El Dorado founds the city of Santiago de Cali.
1538 – The city of Guayaquil is founded by the Spanish Conquistador Francisco de Orellana and given the name Muy Noble y Muy Leal Ciudad de Santiago de Guayaquil.
1547 – Henry II of France is crowned.
1554 – Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral.
1567 – Don Diego de Losada founds the city of Santiago de Leon de Caracas, modern-day Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela.
1593 – Henry IV of France publicly converts from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism.
1603 – James VI of Scotland is crowned king of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707.
1609 – The English ship Sea Venture, en route to Virginia, is deliberately driven ashore during a storm at Bermuda to prevent its sinking; the survivors go on to found a new colony there.
1693 – Ignacio de Maya founds the Real Santiago de las Sabinas, now known as Sabinas Hidalgo, Nuevo León, Mexico.
1722 – Dummer’s War begins along the Maine-Massachusetts border.
1755 – British governor Charles Lawrence and the Nova Scotia Council order the deportation of the Acadians.
1759 – French and Indian War: In Western New York, British forces capture Fort Niagara from the French, who subsequently abandon Fort Rouillé.
1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war’s last action, the Siege of Cuddalore, is ended by a preliminary peace agreement.
1788 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completes his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K550).
1792 – The Brunswick Manifesto is issued to the population of Paris promising vengeance if the French royal family is harmed.
1797 – Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife (Spain).
1799 – At Abu Qir in Egypt, Napoleon I of France defeats 10,000 Ottomans under Mustafa Pasha.
1814 – War of 1812: An American attack on Canada is repulsed.
1824 – Costa Rica annexes Guanacaste from Nicaragua.
1837 – The first commercial use of an electrical telegraph is successfully demonstrated in London by William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone.
1853 – Joaquin Murrieta, the famous Californio bandit known as the “Robin Hood of El Dorado”, is killed.
1861 – American Civil War: The United States Congress passes the Crittenden–Johnson Resolution, stating that the war is being fought to preserve the Union and not to end slavery.
1866 – The United States Congress passes legislation authorizing the rank of General of the Army. Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant becomes the first to be promoted to this rank.
1868 – The Wyoming Territory is established.
1869 – The Japanese daimyōs begin returning their land holdings to the emperor as part of the Meiji Restoration reforms. (Traditional Japanese Date: June 17, 1869).
1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War begins when the Japanese fire upon a Chinese warship.
1898 – In the Puerto Rican Campaign, the United States seizes Puerto Rico from Spain.
1908 – Ajinomoto is founded. Kikunae Ikeda of the Tokyo Imperial University discovers that a key ingredient in kombu soup stock is monosodium glutamate (MSG), and patents a process for manufacturing it.
1909 – Louis Blériot makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine from Calais to Dover, England, United Kingdom in 37 minutes.
1915 – RFC Captain Lanoe Hawker becomes the first British pursuit aviator to earn the Victoria Cross.
1917 – Sir Robert Borden introduces the first income tax in Canada as a “temporary” measure (lowest bracket is 4% and highest is 25%).
1925 – Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union (TASS) is established.
1934 – The Nazis assassinate Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss in a failed coup attempt.
1940 – General Henri Guisan orders the Swiss Army to resist German invasion and makes surrender illegal.
1942 – The Norwegian Manifesto calls for nonviolent resistance to the German occupation.
1943 – World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by the Grand Council of Fascism and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
1944 – World War II: Operation Spring is one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war.
1946 – Nuclear weapons testing: Operation Crossroads: An atomic bomb is detonated underwater in the lagoon of Bikini Atoll.
1956 – Forty-five miles south of Nantucket Island, the Italian ocean liner SS Andrea Doria collides with the MS Stockholm in heavy fog and sinks the next day, killing 51.
1957 – The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed, under President Habib Bourguiba.
1958 – The African Regroupment Party (PRA) holds its first congress in Cotonou.
1961 – Cold War: In a speech John F. Kennedy emphasizes that any attack on Berlin is an attack on NATO.
1965 – Bob Dylan goes electric at the Newport Folk Festival, signaling a major change in folk and rock music.
1969 – Vietnam War: U.S. President Richard Nixon declares the Nixon Doctrine, stating that the United States now expects its Asian allies to take care of their own military defense. This is the start of the “Vietnamization” of the war.
1973 – Soviet Mars 5 space probe is launched.
1976 – Viking program: Viking 1 takes the famous Face on Mars photo.
1978 – Puerto Rican police shoot two nationalists in the Cerro Maravilla murders.
1978 – Birth of Louise Joy Brown, the first human to have been born after conception by in vitro fertilisation, or IVF.
1979 – Another section of the Sinai Peninsula is peacefully returned by Israel to Egypt.
1983 – Black July: Thirty-seven Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by the fellow Sinhalese prisoners.
1984 – Salyut 7 cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya becomes the first woman to perform a space walk.
1993 – Israel launches a massive attack against Lebanon in what the Israelis call Operation Accountability, and the Lebanese call the Seven-Day War.
1993 – The Saint James Church massacre occurs in Kenilworth, Cape Town, South Africa.
1994 – Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, that formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.
1995 – A gas bottle explodes in Saint Michel station of line B of the RER (Paris regional train network). Eight are killed and 80 wounded.
1996 – In a military coup in Burundi, Pierre Buyoya deposes Sylvestre Ntibantunganya.
2000 – Concorde Air France Flight 4590 crashes at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, killing 113 people.
2007 – Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India’s first female president.
2010 – WikiLeaks publishes classified documents about the War in Afghanistan, one of the largest leaks in U.S. military history.
2018 – As-Suwayda attacks: Coordinated attacks occur in Syria.
2019 – National extreme heat records set this day in the UK, Belgium and Germany during the July 2019 European heatwave.
Births on July 25
975 – Thietmar, bishop of Merseburg (d. 1018)
1016 – Casimir I the Restorer, duke of Poland (d. 1058)
1109 – Afonso I, king of Portugal (d. 1185)
1165 – Ibn Arabi, Andalusian Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher (d. 1240)
1261 – Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (d. 1312)
1291 – Hawys Gadarn, Welsh noblewoman (d. 1353)
1336 – Albert I, Duke of Bavaria (d. 1404)
1394 – James I, king of Scotland (d. 1437)
1404 – Philip I, Duke of Brabant (d. 1430)
1421 – Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, English politician (d. 1461)
1450 – Jakob Wimpfeling, Renaissance humanist (d. 1528)
1486 – Albrecht VII, Duke of Mecklenburg (d. 1547)
1498 – Hernando de Aragón, Archbishop of Zaragoza (d. 1575)
1532 – Alphonsus Rodriguez, Jesuit lay brother and saint (d. 1617)
1556 – George Peele, English translator, poet, and dramatist (d. 1596)
1562 – Katō Kiyomasa, Japanese warlord (d. 1611)
1573 – Christoph Scheiner, German astronomer and Jesuit (d. 1650)
1581 – Brian Twyne, English archivist (d. 1644)
1605 – Theodore Haak, German scholar (d. 1690)
1633 – Joseph Williamson, English politician (d. 1701)
1654 – Agostino Steffani, Italian composer and diplomat (d. 1728)
1657 – Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, German composer (d. 1714)
1658 – Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll, Scottish general (d. 1703)
1683 – Pieter Langendijk, Dutch playwright and poet (d. 1756)
1750 – Henry Knox, American general and politician, 1st United States Secretary of War (d. 1806)
1753 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires, French-Spanish captain and politician, 10th Viceroy of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata (d. 1810)
1797 – Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel (d. 1889)
1806 – Maria Weston Chapman, American abolitionist (d. 1885)
1839 – Francis Garnier, French captain and explorer (d. 1873)
1844 – Thomas Eakins, American painter, sculptor, and photographer (d. 1916)
1847 – Paul Langerhans, German pathologist, physiologist and biologist (d. 1888)
1848 – Arthur Balfour, Scottish-English lieutenant and politician, 33rd Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1930)
1857 – Frank J. Sprague, American naval officer and inventor (d. 1934)
1865 – Jac. P. Thijsse, Dutch botanist and conservationist (d. 1945)
1866 – Frederick Blackman, English physiologist and academic (d. 1947)
1867 – Max Dauthendey, German author and painter (d. 1918)
1867 – Alexander Rummler, American painter (d. 1959)
1869 – Platon, Estonian bishop and saint (d. 1919)
1870 – Maxfield Parrish, American painter and illustrator (d. 1966)
1875 – Jim Corbett, Indian hunter, environmentalist, and author (d. 1955)
1878 – Masaharu Anesaki, Japanese philosopher and scholar (d. 1949)
1882 – George S. Rentz, American commander (d. 1942)
1883 – Alfredo Casella, Italian pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 1947)
1886 – Edward Cummins, American golfer (d. 1926)
1894 – Walter Brennan, American actor (d. 1974)
1894 – Gavrilo Princip, Bosnian Serb revolutionary (d. 1918)
1895 – Ingeborg Spangsfeldt, Danish actress (d. 1968)
1896 – Jack Perrin, American actor and stuntman (d. 1967)
1896 – Josephine Tey, Scottish author and playwright (d. 1952)
1901 – Ruth Krauss, American author and poet (d. 1993)
1901 – Mohammed Helmy, Egyptian physician and Righteous Among the Nations (d.1982)
1901 – Lila Lee, American actress and singer (d. 1973)
1902 – Eric Hoffer, American philosopher and author (d. 1983)
1905 – Elias Canetti, Bulgarian-Swiss novelist, playwright, and memoirist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
1905 – Georges Grignard, French race car driver (d. 1977)
1905 – Denys Watkins-Pitchford, English author and illustrator (d. 1990)
1906 – Johnny Hodges, American saxophonist and clarinet player (d. 1970)
1908 – Bill Bowes, English cricketer (d. 1987)
1908 – Ambroise-Marie Carré, French priest and author (d. 2004)
1908 – Jack Gilford, American actor (d. 1990)
1914 – Woody Strode, American football player and actor (d. 1994)
1915 – S. U. Ethirmanasingham, Sri Lankan businessman and politician
1915 – Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., American lieutenant and pilot (d. 1944)
1916 – Lucien Saulnier, Canadian lawyer and politician (d. 1989)
1917 – Fritz Honegger, Swiss lawyer and politician (d. 1999)
1918 – Jane Frank, American painter and sculptor (d. 1986)
1920 – Rosalind Franklin, English biophysicist, chemist, and academic (d. 1958)
1921 – Adolph Herseth, American soldier and trumpet player (d. 2013)
1921 – Lionel Terray, French mountaineer (d. 1965)
1923 – Estelle Getty, American actress (d. 2008)
1923 – Edgar Gilbert, American mathematician and theorist (d. 2013)
1923 – Maria Gripe, Swedish journalist and author (d. 2007)
1924 – Frank Church, American lawyer and politician (d. 1984)
1924 – Scotch Taylor, South African cricketer and hockey player (d. 2004)
1925 – Benny Benjamin, American R&B drummer (The Funk Brothers) (d. 1969)
1925 – Jerry Paris, American actor and director (d. 1986)
1925 – Dick Passwater, American race car driver
1925 – Jutta Zilliacus, Finnish journalist and politician
1926 – Whitey Lockman, American baseball player, coach, and manager (d. 2009)
1926 – Bernard Thompson, British television producer and director (d. 1998)
1926 – Beatriz Segall, Brazilian actress (d. 2018)
1927 – Daniel Ceccaldi, French actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2003)
1927 – Midge Decter, American journalist and author
1927 – Sadiq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani politician, 10th Governor of Punjab (d. 2000)
1927 – Jean-Marie Seroney, Kenyan activist and politician (d. 1982)
1928 – Dolphy, Filipino actor, singer, and producer (d. 2012)
1928 – Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (d. 1988)
1928 – Nils Taube, Estonian-English businessman (d. 2008)
1929 – Judd Buchanan, Canadian businessman and politician, 36th Canadian Minister of Public Works
1929 – Somnath Chatterjee, Indian lawyer and politician, 14th Speaker of the Lok Sabha (d. 2018)
1929 – Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1995)
1930 – Murray Chapple, New Zealand cricketer and manager (d. 1985)
1930 – Maureen Forrester, Canadian actress and singer (d. 2010)
1930 – Alice Parizeau, Polish-Canadian journalist and criminologist (d. 1990)
1930 – Herbert Scarf, American economist and academic (d. 2015)
1930 – Annie Ross, Scottish-American singer and actress
1931 – James Butler, English sculptor and educator
1932 – Paul J. Weitz, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2017)
1934 – Don Ellis, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1978)
1934 – Claude Zidi, French director and screenwriter
1935 – Barbara Harris, American actress and singer (d. 2018)
1935 – Adnan Khashoggi, Saudi Arabian businessman (d. 2017)
1935 – Gilbert Parent, Canadian educator and politician, 33rd Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada (d. 2009)
1935 – John Robinson, American football player and coach
1935 – Larry Sherry, American baseball player and coach (d. 2006)
1935 – Lars Werner, Swedish lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
1936 – Gerry Ashmore, English race car driver
1936 – Glenn Murcutt, English-Australian architect and academic
1937 – Colin Renfrew, Baron Renfrew of Kaimsthorn, English archaeologist and academic
1940 – Richard Ballantine, American-English journalist and author (d. 2013)
1941 – Manny Charlton, Spanish-born Scottish rock musician and songwriter
1941 – Nate Thurmond, American basketball player (d. 2016)
1941 – Emmett Till, American lynching victim (d. 1955)
1942 – Bruce Woodley, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Jim McCarty, English singer and drummer
1943 – Erika Steinbach, Polish-German politician
1944 – Sally Beauman, English journalist and author (d. 2016)
1946 – José Areas, Nicaraguan drummer
1946 – Nicole Farhi, French fashion designer and sculptor
1946 – John Gibson, American radio host
1946 – Rita Marley, Cuban-Jamaican singer
1946 – P. Selvarasa, Sri Lankan politician
1946 – Ljupka Dimitrovska, Macedonian-Croatian pop singer (d. 2016)
1948 – Steve Goodman, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1984)
1950 – Mark Clarke, English singer-songwriter and bass player
1951 – Jack Thompson, American lawyer and activist
1951 – Verdine White, American bass player and producer
1952 – Eduardo Souto de Moura, Portuguese architect, designed the Estádio Municipal de Braga
1953 – Joseph A. Tunzi, Chicago based author, foremost expert on Elvis Presley
1953 – Robert Zoellick, American banker and politician, 14th United States Deputy Secretary of State
1954 – Ken Greer, Canadian guitarist, keyboard player, and producer
1954 – Sheena McDonald, Scottish journalist
1954 – Walter Payton, American football player and race car driver (d. 1999)
1954 – Jochem Ziegert, German footballer and manager
1955 – Iman, Somalian-English model and actress
1955 – Randall Bewley, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2009)
1956 – Andy Goldsworthy, English-Scottish sculptor and photographer
1956 – Frances Arnold, American scientist and engineer
1957 – Mark Hunter, English politician
1957 – Steve Podborski, Canadian skier
1958 – Alexei Filippenko, American astrophysicist and academic
1958 – Thurston Moore, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1959 – Fyodor Cherenkov, Russian footballer and manager (d. 2014)
1959 – Geoffrey Zakarian, American chef and author
1960 – Alain Robidoux, Canadian snooker player
1960 – Justice Howard, American photographer
1960 – Māris Martinsons, Latvian film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor
1962 – Carin Bakkum, Dutch tennis player
1962 – Doug Drabek, American baseball player and coach
1963 – Denis Coderre, Canadian politician, 44th Mayor of Montreal
1963 – Julian Hodgson, Welsh chess player
1964 – Anne Applebaum, American journalist and author
1964 – Tony Granato, American ice hockey player and coach
1964 – Breuk Iversen, American designer and journalist
1965 – Marty Brown, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Illeana Douglas, American actress, director, producer, and screenwriter
1965 – Dale Shearer, Australian rugby league player
1966 – Daryl Halligan, New Zealand rugby player and sportscaster
1966 – Maureen Herman, American bass player
1966 – Diana Johnson, English politician
1967 – Matt LeBlanc, American actor and producer
1967 – Ruth Peetoom, Dutch minister and politician
1967 – Tommy Skjerven, Norwegian footballer and referee
1968 – Rudi Bryson, South African cricketer
1968 – Shi Tao, Chinese journalist and poet
1969 – Jon Barry, American basketball player and sportscaster
1969 – Annastacia Palaszczuk, Australian politician, 39th Premier of Queensland
1971 – Roger Creager, American singer-songwriter
1971 – Tracy Murray, American basketball player
1971 – Billy Wagner, American baseball player and coach
1972 – David Penna, Australian rugby league player and coach
1973 – Dani Filth, English singer-songwriter
1973 – Kevin Phillips, English footballer
1973 – Igli Tare, Albanian footballer
1974 – Lauren Faust, American animator, producer, and screenwriter
1974 – Julia Laffranque, Estonian lawyer and judge
1974 – Kenzo Suzuki, Japanese rugby player and wrestler
1975 – Jody Craddock, English footballer and coach
1132 – Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily.
1148 – Louis VII of France lays siege to Damascus during the Second Crusade.
1304 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle: King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf.
1411 – Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place.
1412 – Behnam Hadloyo becomes Syriac Orthodox Patriarch of Mardin.
1487 – Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands, strike against a ban on foreign beer.
1534 – French explorer Jacques Cartier plants a cross on the Gaspé Peninsula and takes possession of the territory in the name of Francis I of France.
1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots, is forced to abdicate and replaced by her 1-year-old son James VI.
1701 – Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds the trading post at Fort Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit.
1783 – The Kingdom of Georgia and the Russian Empire sign the Treaty of Georgievsk.
1814 – War of 1812: General Phineas Riall advances toward the Niagara River to halt Jacob Brown’s American invaders.
1823 – Afro-Chileans are emancipated.
1823 – In Maracaibo, Venezuela, the naval Battle of Lake Maracaibo takes place, where Admiral José Prudencio Padilla defeats the Spanish Navy, thus culminating the independence for the Gran Colombia.
1847 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
1847 – Richard March Hoe, American inventor, patented the rotary-type printing press.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Kernstown: Confederate General Jubal Early defeats Union troops led by General George Crook in an effort to keep them out of the Shenandoah Valley.
1866 – Reconstruction: Tennessee becomes the first U.S. state to be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War.
1901 – O. Henry is released from prison in Columbus, Ohio, after serving three years for embezzlement from a bank.
1910 – The Ottoman Empire captures the city of Shkodër, putting down the Albanian Revolt of 1910.
1911 – Hiram Bingham III re-discovers Machu Picchu, “the Lost City of the Incas”.
1915 – The passenger ship SS Eastland capsizes while tied to a dock in the Chicago River. A total of 844 passengers and crew are killed in the largest loss of life disaster from a single shipwreck on the Great Lakes.
1922 – The draft of the British Mandate of Palestine was formally confirmed by the Council of the League of Nations; it came into effect on 26 September 1923.
1923 – The Treaty of Lausanne, settling the boundaries of modern Turkey, is signed in Switzerland by Greece, Bulgaria and other countries that fought in World War I.
1924 – Themistoklis Sofoulis becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
1927 – The Menin Gate war memorial is unveiled at Ypres.
1929 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it is first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928, by most leading world powers).
1935 – The Dust Bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109 °F (43 °C) in Chicago and 104 °F (40 °C) in Milwaukee.
1937 – Alabama drops rape charges against the “Scottsboro Boys”.
1943 – World War II: Operation Gomorrah begins: British and Canadian aeroplanes bomb Hamburg by night, and American planes bomb the city by day. By the end of the operation in November, 9,000 tons of explosives will have killed more than 30,000 people and destroyed 280,000 buildings.
1950 – Cape Canaveral Air Force Station begins operations with the launch of a Bumper rocket.
1959 – At the opening of the American National Exhibition in Moscow, U.S. Vice President Richard Nixon and Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev have a “Kitchen Debate”.
1963 – The ship Bluenose II was launched in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. The schooner is a major Canadian symbol.
1966 – Michael Pelkey makes the first BASE jump from El Capitan along with Brian Schubert. Both came out with broken bones. BASE jumping has now been banned from El Cap.
1967 – During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (“Long live free Quebec!”); the statement angered the Canadian government and many Anglophone Canadians.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 splashes down safely in the Pacific Ocean.
1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States Supreme Court unanimously ruled that President Richard Nixon did not have the authority to withhold subpoenaed White House tapes and they order him to surrender the tapes to the Watergate special prosecutor.
1977 – End of a four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.
1980 – The Quietly Confident Quartet of Australia wins the men’s 4 x 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics, the only time the United States has not won the event at Olympic level.
1982 – Heavy rain causes a mudslide that destroys a bridge at Nagasaki, Japan, killing 299.
1983 – The Black July anti-Tamil riots begin in Sri Lanka, killing between 400 and 3,000. Black July is generally regarded as the beginning of the Sri Lankan Civil War.
1983 – George Brett batting for the Kansas City Royals against the New York Yankees, has a game-winning home run nullified in the “Pine Tar Incident”.
1987 – US supertanker SS Bridgeton collides with mines laid by IRGC causing a 43-square-meter dent in the body of the oil tanker.
1987 – Hulda Crooks, at 91 years of age, climbed Mt. Fuji. Crooks became the oldest person to climb Japan’s highest peak.
1998 – Russell Eugene Weston Jr. bursts into the United States Capitol and opens fire killing two police officers. He is later ruled to be incompetent to stand trial.
2001 – Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, the last Tsar of Bulgaria when he was a child, is sworn in as Prime Minister of Bulgaria, becoming the first monarch in history to regain political power through democratic election to a different office.
2001 – The Bandaranaike Airport attack is carried out by 14 Tamil Tiger commandos. Eleven civilian and military aircraft are destroyed and 15 are damaged. All 14 commandos are shot dead, while seven soldiers from the Sri Lanka Air Force are killed. In addition, three civilians and an engineer die. This incident slowed the Sri Lankan economy.
2013 – A high-speed train derails in Spain rounding a curve with an 80 km/h (50 mph) speed limit at 190 km/h (120 mph), killing 78 passengers.
2014 – Air Algérie Flight 5017 loses contact with air traffic controllers 50 minutes after takeoff. It was travelling between Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and Algiers. The wreckage is later found in Mali. All 116 people onboard are killed.
Births on July 24
1242 – Christina von Stommeln, German Roman Catholic mystic, ecstatic, and stigmatic (d. 1312)
1468 – Catherine of Saxony, Archduchess of Austria (d. 1524)
1529 – Charles II, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (d. 1577)
1561 – Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern (d. 1589)
1574 – Thomas Platter the Younger, Swiss physician and author (d. 1628)
1660 – Charles Talbot, 1st Duke of Shrewsbury, English politician, Lord High Treasurer (d. 1718)
1689 – Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, son of Queen Anne of Great Britain and Prince George of Denmark (d. 1700)
1725 – John Newton, English sailor and priest (d. 1807)
1757 – Vladimir Borovikovsky, Ukrainian-Russian painter (d. 1825)
1783 – Simón Bolívar, Venezuelan commander and politician, 2nd President of Venezuela (d. 1830)
1786 – Joseph Nicollet, French mathematician and explorer (d. 1843)
1794 – Johan Georg Forchhammer, Danish mineralogist and geologist (d. 1865)
1802 – Alexandre Dumas, French novelist and playwright (d. 1870)
1803 – Adolphe Adam, French composer and critic (d. 1856)
1803 – Alexander J. Davis, American architect (d. 1892)
1821 – William Poole, American boxer and gangster (d. 1855)
1826 – Jan Gotlib Bloch, Polish theorist and activist (d. 1902)
1851 – Friedrich Schottky, Polish-German mathematician and theorist (d. 1935)
1856 – Émile Picard, French mathematician and academic (d. 1941)
1857 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish journalist and author, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1943)
1857 – Juan Vicente Gómez, Venezuelan general and politician, 27th President of Venezuela (d. 1935)
1860 – Princess Charlotte of Prussia (d. 1919)
1860 – Alphonse Mucha, Czech painter and illustrator (d. 1939)
1864 – Frank Wedekind, German actor and playwright (d. 1918)
1867 – Vicente Acosta, Salvadoran journalist and poet (d. 1908)
1867 – E. F. Benson, English archaeologist and author (d. 1940)
1867 – Fred Tate, English cricketer and coach (d. 1943)
1874 – Oswald Chambers, Scottish minister and author (d. 1917)
1877 – Calogero Vizzini, Italian mob boss (d. 1954)
1878 – Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, Irish author, poet, and playwright (d. 1957)
1880 – Ernest Bloch, Swiss-American composer and educator (d. 1959)
1884 – Maria Caserini, Italian actress (d. 1969)
1886 – Jun’ichirō Tanizaki, Japanese author (d. 1965)
1888 – Arthur Richardson, Australian cricketer and coach (d. 1973)
1889 – Agnes Meyer Driscoll, American cryptanalyst (d. 1971)
1895 – Robert Graves, English poet, novelist, critic (d. 1985)
1897 – Amelia Earhart, American pilot and author (d. 1937)
1899 – Chief Dan George, Canadian actor (d. 1981)
1900 – Zelda Fitzgerald, American author and poet (d. 1948)
1904 – Leo Arnaud, French-American trombonist, composer, and conductor (d. 1991)
1904 – Richard B. Morris, American historian and academic (d. 1989)
1904 – Delmer Daves, American screenwriter, director and producer (d. 1977)
1909 – John William Finn, American lieutenant, Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2010)
1910 – Harry Horner, American director and production designer (d. 1994)
1912 – Essie Summers, New Zealand author (d. 1998)
1913 – Britton Chance, American biologist and sailor (d. 2010)
1914 – Frances Oldham Kelsey, Canadian pharmacologist and physician (d. 2015)
1914 – Ed Mirvish, American-Canadian businessman and philanthropist (d. 2007)
1914 – Alan Waddell, Australian walker (d. 2008)
1915 – Enrique Fernando, Filipino lawyer and jurist, 13th Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Philippines (d. 2004)
1916 – John D. MacDonald, American colonel and author (d. 1986)
1917 – Robert Farnon, Canadian trumpet player, composer, and conductor (d. 2005)
1917 – Jack Moroney, Australian cricketer (d. 1999)
1918 – Ruggiero Ricci, American violinist and educator (d. 2012)
1919 – Robert Marsden Hope, Australian lawyer and judge (d. 1999)
1919 – Kenneth S. Kleinknecht, NASA manager (d. 2007)
1919 – John Winkin, American baseball player, coach, and journalist (d. 2014)
1920 – Bella Abzug, American lawyer and politician (d. 1998)
1920 – Constance Dowling, American model and actress (d. 1969)
1921 – Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian tenor and actor (d. 2008)
1921 – Billy Taylor, American pianist and composer (d. 2010)
1922 – Madeleine Ferron, Canadian radio host and author (d. 2010)
1924 – Wilfred Josephs, English composer (d. 1997)
1924 – Aris Poulianos, Greek anthropologist and archaeologist
1927 – Alex Katz, American painter and sculptor
1927 – Zara Mints, Russian-Estonian philologist and academic (d. 1990)
1930 – Alfred Balk, American journalist and author (d. 2010)
1930 – Keshubhai Patel, Indian politician, 10th Chief Minister of Gujarat
1931 – Ermanno Olmi, Italian director, screenwriter, and cinematographer (d. 2018)
1931 – Éric Tabarly, French commander (d. 1998)
1932 – Gustav Andreas Tammann, German astronomer and academic (d. 2019)
1933 – Doug Sanders, American golfer (d. 2020)
1934 – P. S. Soosaithasan, Sri Lankan accountant and politician (d. 2017)
1935 – Aaron Elkins, American author and academic
1935 – Pat Oliphant, Australian cartoonist
1935 – Mel Ramos, American painter, illustrator, and academic (d. 2018)
1935 – Les Reed, English pianist, composer, and conductor (d. 2019)
1935 – Derek Varnals, South African cricketer
1936 – Ruth Buzzi, American actress and comedian
1936 – Mark Goddard, American actor
1937 – Manoj Kumar, Indian actor, director, producer, and screenwriter
1937 – Quinlan Terry, English architect, designed the Brentwood Cathedral
1938 – Alexis Jacquemin, Belgian economist and academic (d. 2004)
1938 – Eugene J. Martin, American painter (d. 2005)
1938 – John Sparling, New Zealand cricketer
1939 – Walt Bellamy, American basketball player and coach (d. 2013)
1939 – David Simon, Baron Simon of Highbury, English businessman and politician
1940 – Dan Hedaya, American actor
1941 – John Bond, English banker and businessman
1942 – Heinz, German-English singer-songwriter and bass player (d. 2000)
1942 – David Miner, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1942 – Chris Sarandon, American actor
1944 – Jim Armstrong, Northern Irish guitarist
1945 – Frank Close, English physicist and academic
1945 – Azim Premji, Indian businessman and philanthropist
1945 – Hugh Ross, Canadian-American astrophysicist and astronomer
1945 – Anthony Watts, English geologist, geophysicist, and academic
1946 – Gallagher, American comedian and actor
1946 – Friedhelm Haebermann, German footballer and manager
1946 – Hervé Vilard, French singer-songwriter
1947 – Zaheer Abbas, Pakistani cricketer and manager
1947 – Geoff McQueen, English screenwriter and producer (d. 1994)
1947 – Peter Serkin, American pianist and educator
1949 – Michael Richards, American actor and comedian
1950 – Jadranka Stojaković, Yugoslav singer-songwriter (d. 2016)
1951 – Lynda Carter, American actress
1951 – Chris Smith, Baron Smith of Finsbury, English politician, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport
1952 – Ian Cairns, Australian surfer
1952 – Gus Van Sant, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1953 – Julian Brazier, English captain and politician
1953 – Jon Faddis, American trumpet player, composer, and conductor
1953 – Tadashi Kawamata, Japanese contemporary artist
1953 – Claire McCaskill, American lawyer and politician
1953 – James Newcome, English bishop
1954 – Erdoğan Arıca, Turkish footballer and manager (d. 2012)
1954 – Jorge Jesus, Portuguese footballer and manager
1955 – Brad Watson, American author and academic
1956 – Charlie Crist, American lawyer and politician, 44th Governor of Florida
1957 – Pam Tillis, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actress
1958 – Jim Leighton, Scottish footballer and coach
1960 – Catherine Destivelle, French rock climber and mountaineer
1961 – Kerry Dixon, English footballer and manager
1962 – Johnny O’Connell, American race car driver and sportscaster
1963 – Louis Armary, French rugby player
1963 – Karl Malone, American basketball player and coach
1964 – Barry Bonds, American baseball player
1964 – Pedro Passos Coelho, Portuguese economist and politician, 118th Prime Minister of Portugal
1964 – Urmas Kaljend, Estonian footballer
1964 – John Rosengren, American journalist and author
1965 – Andrew Gaze, Australian basketball player and sportscaster
1965 – Kadeem Hardison, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1965 – Doug Liman, American director and producer
1966 – Mo-Do, Italian singer-songwriter (d. 2013)
1966 – Aminatou Haidar, Sahrawi human rights activist
1966 – Martin Keown, English footballer and coach
1968 – Kristin Chenoweth, American actress and singer
1968 – Colleen Doran, American author and illustrator
1968 – Malcolm Ingram, Canadian director, producer, and screenwriter
1968 – Laura Leighton, American actress
1969 – Rick Fox, Bahamian basketball player
1969 – Jennifer Lopez, American actress, singer, and dancer
1971 – Dino Baggio, Italian footballer
1971 – Patty Jenkins, American film director and screenwriter
1972 – Kaiō Hiroyuki, Japanese sumo wrestler
1973 – Russell Bawden, Australian rugby league player
1973 – Ana Cristina Oliveira, Portuguese model and actress
1973 – Amanda Stretton, English race car driver and journalist
1974 – Andy Gomarsall, English rugby player
1975 – Tracey Crouch, English politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics
1975 – Jamie Langenbrunner, American ice hockey player
1975 – Torrie Wilson, American model, fitness competitor, actress and professional wrestler
1975 – Eric Szmanda, American actor
1976 – Rafer Alston, American basketball player
1976 – Tiago Monteiro, Portuguese race car driver and manager
1978 – Andy Irons, American surfer (d. 2010)
1979 – Rose Byrne, Australian actress
1979 – Jerrod Niemann, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1979 – Valerio Scassellati, Italian race car driver
1979 – Anne-Gaëlle Sidot, French tennis player
1979 – Mark Andrew Smith, American author
1979 – Ryan Speier, American baseball player
1980 – Joel Stroetzel, American guitarist
1981 – Doug Bollinger, Australian cricketer
1981 – Summer Glau, American actress
1981 – Mark Robinson, English footballer
1982 – Trevor Matthews, Canadian actor and producer, founded Brookstreet Pictures
1982 – Thiago Medeiros, Brazilian race car driver
1982 – Mewelde Moore, American football player
1982 – Elisabeth Moss, American actress
1982 – Anna Paquin, Canadian-New Zealand actress
1982 – Michael Poppmeier, South African-German rugby player
1983 – Daniele De Rossi, Italian footballer
1983 – Asami Mizukawa, Japanese actress
1984 – Patrick Harvey, Australian actor
1984 – Tyler Kyte, Canadian singer and drummer
1985 – Patrice Bergeron, Canadian ice hockey player
1985 – Aries Merritt, American hurdler
1985 – Lukáš Rosol, Czech tennis player
1985 – Eric Wright, American football player
1986 – Natalie Tran, Australian actress, online producer
1987 – Filipe Francisco dos Santos, Brazilian footballer
1987 – Nathan Gerbe, American ice hockey player
1987 – Zack Sabre Jr., English wrestler
1988 – Han Seung-yeon, South Korean singer and dancer
1988 – Nichkhun, Thai-American singer-songwriter and actor
1988 – Ricky Petterd, Australian footballer
1989 – Maurkice Pouncey, American football player
1989 – Kim Tae-hwan, South Korean footballer
1990 – Daveigh Chase, American actress
1990 – Travis Mahoney, Australian swimmer
1991 – Manuel Fischnaller, Italian footballer
1991 – Emily Bett Rickards, Canadian actress
1992 – Mikaël Kingsbury, Canadian skier
1992 – Mitch Grassi, American singer and songwriter
1994 – Alejandra Álvarez, Ecuadorian tennis player
1994 – Phillip Lindsay, American football player
1995 – Valentine Holmes, Australian rugby league player
1995 – Kyle Kuzma, American basketball player
1995 – Meisei Chikara, Japanese sumo wrestler
1997 – Emre Mor, Turkish football player
2002 – Nicole Pircio, Brazilian rhythmic gymnast
Deaths on July 24
759 – Oswulf, king of Northumbria
811 – Gao Ying, Chinese politician (b. 740)
946 – Muhammad ibn Tughj al-Ikhshid, Egyptian ruler (b. 882)
1115 – Matilda of Tuscany (b. 1046)
1129 – Emperor Shirakawa of Japan (b. 1053)
1198 – Berthold of Hanover, Bishop of Livonia
1345 – Jacob van Artevelde, Flemish statesman (b. 1290)
1568 – Carlos, Prince of Asturias (b. 1545)
1594 – John Boste, English martyr and saint (b. 1544)
1601 – Joris Hoefnagel, Flemish painter (b. 1542)
1612 – John Salusbury, Welsh politician and poet (b. 1567)
1739 – Benedetto Marcello, Italian composer and educator (b. 1686)
1768 – Nathaniel Lardner, English theologian and author (b. 1684)
1862 – Martin Van Buren, American lawyer and politician, 8th President of the United States (b. 1782)
1891 – Hermann Raster, German-American journalist and politician (b. 1827)
1908 – Vicente Acosta, Salvadoran journalist and poet (b. 1867)
811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum’s treasury.
1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios.
1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.
1677 – Scanian War: Denmark–Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden.
1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.
1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony.
1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor’s coasts.
1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.
1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck takes command of the Union Army.
1874 – Aires de Ornelas e Vasconcelos is appointed the Archbishop of the Portuguese colonial enclave of Goa, India.
1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.
1885 – President Ulysses S. Grant dies of throat cancer.
1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
1908 – The Second Constitution accepted by the Ottomans.
1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on July 28.
1919 – Prince Regent Aleksander Karađorđević signs the decree establishing the University of Ljubljana
1921 – The Communist Party of China (CPC) is established at the founding National Congress.
1926 – Fox Film buys the patents of the Movietone sound system for recording sound onto film.
1927 – The first station of the Indian Broadcasting Company goes on the air in Bombay.
1936 – In Catalonia, Spain, the Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia is founded through the merger of Socialist and Communist parties.
1940 – The United States’ Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the U.S. non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin.
1942 – Bulgarian poet and Communist leader Nikola Vaptsarov is executed by firing squad.
1943 – The Rayleigh bath chair murder occurred in Rayleigh, Essex, England.
1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
1945 – The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin.
1952 – General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt.
1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.
1962 – Telstar relays the first publicly transmitted, live trans-Atlantic television program, featuring Walter Cronkite.
1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.
1962 – Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
1967 – Detroit Riots: In Detroit, one of the worst riots in United States history begins on 12th Street in the predominantly African American inner city. It ultimately kills 43 people, injures 342 and burns about 1,400 buildings.
1968 – Glenville shootout: In Cleveland, Ohio, a violent shootout between a Black Militant organization and the Cleveland Police Department occurs. During the shootout, a riot begins and lasts for five days.
1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel.
1970 – Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernization programs and end to a decade long civil war.
1972 – The United States launches Landsat 1, the first Earth-resources satellite.
1974 – The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece’s metapolitefsi era.
1980 – Phạm Tuân becomes the first Vietnamese citizen and the first Asian in space when he flies aboard the Soyuz 37 mission as an Intercosmos Research Cosmonaut.
1982 – Outside Santa Clarita, California, actor Vic Morrow and two children are killed when a helicopter crashes onto them while shooting a scene from Twilight Zone: The Movie.
1983 – Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
1983 – Gimli Glider: Air Canada Flight 143 runs out of fuel and makes a deadstick landing at Gimli, Manitoba.
1988 – General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.
1992 – A Vatican commission, led by Joseph Ratzinger, establishes that limiting certain rights of homosexual people and non-married couples is not equivalent to discrimination on grounds of race or gender.
1992 – Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.
1995 – Comet Hale–Bopp is discovered; it becomes visible to the naked eye on Earth nearly a year later.
1997 – Digital Equipment Corporation files antitrust charges against chipmaker Intel.
1999 – ANA Flight 61 is hijacked in Tokyo, Japan by Yuji Nishizawa.
1999 – Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-93, with Eileen Collins becoming the first female space shuttle commander. The shuttle also carried and deployed the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
2005 – Three bombs explode in the Naama Bay area of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, killing 88 people.
2014 – TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashes in Xixi village near Huxi, Penghu, during approach to Phengu Airport. 48 of the 58 people on board are killed and five more people on the ground are injured.
2015 – NASA announces discovery of Kepler-452b by Kepler.
2016 – Kabul twin bombing occurred in the vicinity of Deh Mazang when protesters, mostly from the Shiite Hazara minority, were marching against route changing of the TUTAP power project. At least 80 people were killed and 260 were injured.
2018 – A wildfire in East Attica, Greece caused the death of 102 people. It was the deadliest wildfire in history of Greece and the second-deadliest in the world, in the 21st century, after the 2009 bushfires in Australia that killed 180.
Births on July 23
1301 – Otto, Duke of Austria (d. 1339)
1339 – Louis I, Duke of Anjou (d. 1384)
1370 – Pier Paolo Vergerio the Elder, humanist (d. 1444 or 1445)
1401 – Francesco I Sforza, Italian husband of Bianca Maria Visconti (d. 1466)
1441 – Danjong of Joseon, King of Joseon (d. 1457)
1503 – Anne of Bohemia and Hungary (d. 1547)
1614 – Bonaventura Peeters the Elder, Flemish painter (d. 1652)
1635 – Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, New France garrison commander (d. 1660)
1649 – Pope Clement XI (d. 1721)
1705 – Francis Blomefield, English historian and author (d. 1752)
1713 – Luís António Verney, Portuguese philosopher and pedagogue (d. 1792)
1773 – Thomas Brisbane, Scottish general and politician, 6th Governor of New South Wales (d. 1860)
1775 – Étienne-Louis Malus, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1812)
1777 – Philipp Otto Runge, German painter and illustrator (d. 1810)
1796 – Franz Berwald, Swedish surgeon and composer (d. 1868)
1802 – Manuel María Lombardini, Mexican general and president (1853) (d. 1853)
1823 – Alexandre-Antonin Taché, Canadian archbishop and missionary (d. 1894)
1838 – Édouard Colonne, French violinist and conductor (d. 1910)
1851 – Peder Severin Krøyer, Norwegian-Danish painter (d. 1909)
1856 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian lawyer and journalist (d. 1920)
1864 – Apolinario Mabini, Filipino lawyer and politician, 1st Prime Minister of the Philippines (d. 1903)
1865 – Henry Norris, English businessman and politician (d. 1934)
1866 – Francesco Cilea, Italian composer and academic (d. 1950)
1878 – James Thomas Milton Anderson, Canadian lawyer and politician, 5th Premier of Saskatchewan (d. 1946)
1882 – Kâzım Karabekir, Turkish general and politician, 5th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1948)
1883 – Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, French-English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of the County of London (d. 1963)
1884 – Emil Jannings, Swiss-German actor (d. 1950)
1885 – Izaak Killam, Canadian financier and philanthropist (d. 1955)
1885 – Georges V. Matchabelli, Georgian-American businessman, created Prince Matchabelli perfume (d. 1935)
1886 – Salvador de Madariaga, Spanish historian and diplomat (d. 1978)
1886 – Walter H. Schottky, Swiss-German physicist and engineer (d. 1976)
1888 – Raymond Chandler, American crime novelist and screenwriter (d. 1959)
1891 – Louis T. Wright, American surgeon and civil rights activist (d. 1952)
1892 – Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1975)
1894 – Arthur Treacher, English-American actor and television personality (d. 1975)
1895 – Aileen Pringle, American actress (d. 1989)
1898 – Daniel Cosío Villegas, Mexican historian, economist (d. 1976)
1898 – Bengt Djurberg, Swedish actor and singer (d. 1941)
1898 – Red Dutton, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1987)
1898 – Herman Kruusenberg, Estonian wrestler (d. 1970)
1898 – Jacob Marschak, Ukrainian-American economist, journalist, and author (d. 1977)
1899 – Gustav Heinemann, German lawyer and politician, 3rd President of West Germany (d. 1976)
1900 – Julia Davis Adams, American author and journalist (d. 1993)
1900 – John Babcock, Canadian-American sergeant (d. 2010)
1900 – Inger Margrethe Boberg, Danish folklore researcher and writer (d. 1957)
1901 – Hank Worden, American actor and singer (d. 1992)
1901 – Isabel Luberza Oppenheimer, Puerto Rican brothel owner and madam in barrio Maragüez, Ponce, Puerto Rico (d. 1974)
1905 – Leopold Engleitner, Austrian author and educator (d. 2013)
1906 – Vladimir Prelog, Croatian-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1998)
1906 – Chandra Shekhar Azad, Indian activist (d. 1931)
1912 – M. H. Abrams, American author, critic, and academic (d. 2015)
1912 – Michael Wilding, English actor (d. 1979)
1913 – Michael Foot, English journalist and politician, Secretary of State for Employment (d. 2010)
AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.
911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy.
1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations.
1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster.
1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.
1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it.
1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice’s “Kingdom of the Morea”, thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea.
1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world’s first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France.
1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.
1848 – The first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association.
1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.
1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks.
1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
1932 – In the Preußenschlag (“Prussian coup”), German President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the government of Prussia
1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven.
1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.
1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany’s secret service, defects to East Germany.
1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world’s first elected female head of government.
1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).
1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11’s crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the “Football War”.
1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d’état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.
1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.
1982 – Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
1989 – Burma’s ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.
2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.
2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.
2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.
Births on July 20
356 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (d. 323 BC)
647 – Yazid I, Arabian caliph (d. 683)
682 – Taichō, Japanese monk and scholar (d. 767)
1304 – Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1374)
1313 – John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tibetot (d. 1367)
1346 – Margaret, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1361)
1470 – John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath, English noble (d. 1539)
1519 – Pope Innocent IX (d. 1591)
1537 – Arnaud d’Ossat, French cardinal (d. 1604)
1583 – Alban Roe, English Benedictine martyr (d. 1642)
1591 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (d. 1643)
1592 – Johan Björnsson Printz, governor of New Sweden (d. 1663)
1601 – Robert Wallop, English politician (d. 1667)
1620 – Nikolaes Heinsius the Elder, Dutch poet and scholar (d. 1681)
1649 – William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (d. 1709)
1754 – Antoine Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher and academic (d. 1836)
1757 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian politician and diplomat (d. 1811)
1762 – Jakob Haibel, Austrian tenor and composer (d. 1826)
1774 – Auguste de Marmont, French general (d. 1852)
1789 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1839)
1804 – Richard Owen, English biologist, anatomist, and paleontologist (d. 1892)
1822 – Gregor Mendel, Austro-German monk, geneticist and botanist (d. 1884)
1838 – Augustin Daly, American playwright and manager (d. 1899)
1838 – William Paine Lord, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Oregon (d. 1911)
1838 – Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, English civil servant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1928)
1847 – Max Liebermann, German painter and academic (d. 1935)
1849 – Robert Anderson Van Wyck, American lawyer and politician, 91st Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
1852 – Theo Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1932)
1854 – Philomène Belliveau, Canadian artist (d. 1940)
1864 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
1864 – Ruggero Oddi, Italian physiologist and anatomist (d. 1913)
1868 – Miron Cristea, Romanian cleric and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1939)
1873 – Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian pilot (d. 1932)
1876 – Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician and academic (d. 1944)
1877 – Tom Crean, Irish sailor and explorer (d. 1938)
1882 – Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1937)
1889 – John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, Scottish broadcaster, co-founded BBC (d. 1971)
1890 – Verna Felton, American actress (d. 1966)
1890 – Julie Vinter Hansen, Danish-Swiss astronomer and academic (d. 1960)
1890 – Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (d. 1964)
1893 – George Llewelyn Davies, English soldier (d. 1915)
1895 – László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
1897 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
1900 – Maurice Leyland, English cricketer and coach (d. 1967)
1901 – Vehbi Koç, Turkish businessman and philanthropist, founded Koç Holding (d. 1996)
1901 – Eugenio Lopez Sr., Filipino businessman and founder of the Lopez Group of Companies (d. 1975)
1901 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player and manager (d. 1971)
1902 – Leonidas Berry, American gastroenterologist (d. 1995)
1905 – Joseph Levis, American foil fencer (d. 2005)
1909 – Eric Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1993)
1910 – Vilém Tauský, Czech-English conductor and composer (d. 2004)
1911 – Baqa Jilani, Indian cricketer (d. 1941)
1911 – José Zabala-Santos, Filipino author and illustrator (d. 1985)
1912 – George Johnston, Australian journalist and author (d. 1970)
1914 – Dobri Dobrev, Bulgarian philanthropist (d. 2018)
1914 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (d. 2005)
1914 – Ersilio Tonini, Italian cardinal (d. 2013)
1918 – Cindy Walker, American singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 2006)
1919 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (d. 2008)
1919 – Jacquemine Charrott Lodwidge, English writer (d. 2012)
1920 – Elliot Richardson, American lieutenant and politician, 11th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1999)
1921 – Henri Alleg, English-French journalist and author (d. 2013)
1922 – Alan Stephenson Boyd, American lawyer and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Transportation
1923 – Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d. 2005)
1924 – Lola Albright, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
1924 – Thomas Berger, American author and playwright (d. 2014)
1924 – Mort Garson, Canadian-American songwriter and composer (d. 2008)
1925 – Jacques Delors, French economist and politician, 8th President of the European Commission
1925 – Frantz Fanon, French–Algerian psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1961)
1927 – Barbara Bergmann, American economist and academic (d. 2015)
1927 – Heather Chasen, English actress (d. 2020)
1927 – Michael Gielen, Austrian conductor and composer (d. 2019)
1927 – Ian P. Howard, English-Canadian psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
1928 – Józef Czyrek, Polish economist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2013)
1928 – Belaid Abdessalam, Prime Minister of Algeria
1929 – Hazel Hawke, Australian social worker and pianist, 23rd Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2013)
1929 – Mike Ilitch, American businessman, co-founded Little Caesars (d. 2017)
1929 – Rajendra Kumar, Pakistani-Indian actor and producer (d. 1999)
1929 – David Tonkin, Australian politician, 38th Premier of South Australia (d. 2000)
1930 – Giannis Agouris, Greek journalist and author (d. 2006)
1930 – Chuck Daly, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
1930 – William H. Goetzmann, American historian and author (d. 2010)
1930 – Sally Ann Howes, English-American singer and actress
1931 – Tony Marsh, English race car driver (d. 2009)
1932 – Nam June Paik, American artist (d. 2006)
1932 – Otto Schily, German lawyer and politician, German Minister of the Interior
1933 – Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
1933 – Cormac McCarthy, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
1933 – Rex Williams, English snooker player
1935 – Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo, English businessman and art collector
1935 – Sleepy LaBeef, American rockabilly singer and musician (d. 2019)
1936 – Alistair MacLeod, Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2014)
1936 – Barbara Mikulski, American social worker and politician
1938 – Deniz Baykal, Turkish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
1938 – Roger Hunt, English footballer
1938 – Tony Oliva, Cuban-American baseball player and coach
1938 – Diana Rigg, English actress
1938 – Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
1939 – Judy Chicago, American painter and sculptor
1941 – Don Chuy, American football player (d. 2014)
1941 – Periklis Korovesis, Greek author and journalist
1941 – Kurt Raab, German actor, screenwriter, and production designer (d. 1988)
1942 – Pete Hamilton, American race car driver
1943 – Chris Amon, New Zealand race car driver (d. 2016)
1943 – Bob McNab, English footballer
1943 – Adrian Păunescu, Romanian poet, journalist, and politician (d. 2010)
1943 – Wendy Richard, English actress (d. 2009)
1944 – Mel Daniels, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1944 – W. Cary Edwards, American politician (d. 2010)
1944 – Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor
1944 – T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer-songwriter
1945 – Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter
1945 – Larry Craig, American soldier and politician
1945 – John Lodge, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1945 – Bo Rein, American football player and coach (d. 1980)
1946 – Randal Kleiser, American actor, director, and producer
1947 – Gerd Binnig, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1947 – Carlos Santana, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 – Muse Watson, American actor and producer
1950 – Edward Leigh, English lawyer and politician
1950 – Lucille Lemay, Canadian archer
1951 – Jeff Rawle, English actor and screenwriter
1953 – Dave Evans, Welsh-Australian singer-songwriter
1953 – Thomas Friedman, American journalist and author
1953 – Marcia Hines, American-Australian singer and actress
1954 – Moira Harris, American actress
1954 – Jay Jay French, American guitarist and producer
1955 – Desmond Douglas, Jamaican-English table tennis player
1955 – René-Daniel Dubois, Canadian actor and playwright
1955 – Jem Finer, English banjo player and songwriter
1956 – Paul Cook, English drummer
1956 – Thomas N’Kono, Cameroonian footballer
1956 – Jim Prentice, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Alberta (d. 2016)
1958 – Mick MacNeil, Scottish keyboard player and songwriter
1959 – Radney Foster, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1960 – Claudio Langes, Italian race car driver
1960 – Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher
1960 – Sudesh Berry, Indian actor
1961 – Óscar Elías Biscet, Cuban physician and activist, founded the Lawton Foundation
1962 – Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver
1962 – Julie Bindel, English journalist, author, and academic
1963 – Frank Whaley, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1964 – Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1964 – Terri Irwin, American-Australian zoologist and author
1964 – Sebastiano Rossi, Italian footballer
1964 – Bernd Schneider, German race car driver
1965 – Jess Walter, American journalist and author
1966 – Stone Gossard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico
1967 – Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player
1968 – Hami Mandıralı, Turkish footballer and manager
1968 – Kool G Rap, American hip-hop artist
1969 – Josh Holloway, American actor
1969 – Kreso Kovacec, Croatian-German footballer
1969 – Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist
1969 – Joon Park, South Korean-American singer
1969 – Tobi Vail, American singer and guitarist
1971 – Charles Johnson, American baseball player
1971 – Sandra Oh, Canadian actress
1972 – Jamie Ainscough, Australian rugby league player
1972 – Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player
1972 – Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician
1972 – Vitamin C, American singer-songwriter
1973 – Omar Epps, American actor
1973 – Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
1973 – Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
1973 – Nixon McLean, Caribbean cricketer
1973 – Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer
1973 – Claudio Reyna, American soccer player
1975 – Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor
1975 – Judy Greer, American actress and producer
1975 – Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer
1975 – Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish journalist and politician, 5th Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs
1975 – Jason Raize, American singer and actor
1975 – Yusuf Şimşek, Turkish footballer and manager
1976 – Erica Hill, American journalist
1976 – Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach
1976 – Andrew Stockdale, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
AD 64 – The Great Fire of Rome causes widespread devastation and rages on for six days, destroying half of the city.
484 – Leontius, Roman usurper, is crowned Eastern emperor at Tarsus (modern Turkey). He is recognized in Antioch and makes it his capital.
711 – Umayyad conquest of Hispania: Battle of Guadalete: Umayyad forces under Tariq ibn Ziyad defeat the Visigoths led by King Roderic.
939 – Battle of Simancas: King Ramiro II of León defeats the Moorish army under Caliph Abd-al-Rahman III near the city of Simancas.
998 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Battle of Apamea: Fatimids defeat a Byzantine army near Apamea.
1333 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Battle of Halidon Hill: The English win a decisive victory over the Scots.
1544 – Italian War of 1542–46: The first Siege of Boulogne begins.
1545 – The Tudor warship Mary Rose sinks off Portsmouth; in 1982 the wreck is salvaged in one of the most complex and expensive projects in the history of maritime archaeology.
1553 – Lady Jane Grey is replaced by Mary I of England as Queen of England after only nine days on the throne.
1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The Spanish Armada is sighted in the English Channel.
1701 – Representatives of the Iroquois Confederacy sign the Nanfan Treaty, ceding a large territory north of the Ohio River to England.
1702 – Great Northern War: A numerically superior Polish-Saxon army of Augustus II the Strong, operating from an advantageous defensive position, is defeated by a Swedish army half its size under the command of King Charles XII in the Battle of Klissow.
1817 – Unsuccessful in his attempt to conquer the Kingdom of Hawaii for the Russian-American Company, Georg Anton Schäffer is forced to admit defeat and leave Kauai.
1821 – Coronation of George IV of the United Kingdom.
1832 – The British Medical Association is founded as the Provincial Medical and Surgical Association by Sir Charles Hastings at a meeting in the Board Room of the Worcester Infirmary.
1843 – Brunel’s steamship the SS Great Britain is launched, becoming the first ocean-going craft with an iron hull and screw propeller, becoming the largest vessel afloat in the world.
1845 – Great New York City Fire of 1845: The last great fire to affect Manhattan began early in the morning and was subdued that afternoon. The fire killed four firefighters, 26 civilians, and destroyed 345 buildings.
1848 – Women’s rights: A two-day Women’s Rights Convention opens in Seneca Falls, New York.
1863 – American Civil War: Morgan’s Raid: At Buffington Island in Ohio, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan’s raid into the north is mostly thwarted when a large group of his men are captured while trying to escape across the Ohio River.
1864 – Taiping Rebellion: Third Battle of Nanking: The Qing dynasty finally defeats the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: France declares war on Prussia.
1900 – The first line of the Paris Métro opens for operation.
1903 – Maurice Garin wins the first Tour de France.
1916 – World War I: Battle of Fromelles: British and Australian troops attack German trenches as part of the Battle of the Somme.
1936 – Spanish Civil War: The CNT and UGT call a general strike in Spain – mobilizing workers’ militias against the Nationalist forces.
1940 – World War II: Battle of Cape Spada: The Royal Navy and the Regia Marina clash; the Italian light cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni sinks, with 121 casualties.
1940 – Field Marshal Ceremony: First occasion in World War II, that Hitler appointed field marshals due to military achievements.
1940 – World War II: Army order 112 forms the Intelligence Corps of the British Army.
1942 – World War II: The Second Happy Time of Hitler’s submarines comes to an end, as the increasingly effective American convoy system compels them to return to the central Atlantic.
1943 – World War II: Rome is heavily bombed by more than 500 Allied aircraft, inflicting thousands of casualties.
1947 – Prime Minister of the shadow Burmese government, Bogyoke Aung San and eight others are assassinated.
1947 – Korean politician Lyuh Woon-hyung is assassinated.
1952 – Opening of the Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.
1961 – Tunisia imposes a blockade on the French naval base at Bizerte; the French would capture the entire town four days later.
1963 – Joe Walker flies a North American X-15 to a record altitude of 106,010 meters (347,800 feet) on X-15 Flight 90. Exceeding an altitude of 100 km, this flight qualifies as a human spaceflight under international convention.
1964 – Vietnam War: At a rally in Saigon, South Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Khánh calls for expanding the war into North Vietnam.
1969 – Chappaquiddick incident: U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy crashes his car into a tidal pond at Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger Mary Jo Kopechne.
1972 – Dhofar Rebellion: British SAS units help the Omani government against Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman rebels in the Battle of Mirbat.
1976 – Sagarmatha National Park in Nepal is created.
1977 – The world’s first Global Positioning System (GPS) signal was transmitted from Navigation Technology Satellite 2 (NTS-2) and received at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at 12:41 a.m. Eastern time (ET).
1979 – The Sandinista rebels overthrow the government of the Somoza family in Nicaragua.
1979 – The oil tanker SS Atlantic Empress collides with another oil tanker, causing the largest ever ship-borne oil spill.
1980 – Opening of the Summer Olympics in Moscow.
1981 – In a private meeting with U.S. President Ronald Reagan, French President François Mitterrand reveals the existence of the Farewell Dossier, a collection of documents showing the Soviet Union had been stealing American technological research and development.
1982 – In one of the first militant attacks by Hezbollah, David S. Dodge, president of the American University of Beirut, is kidnapped.
1983 – The first three-dimensional reconstruction of a human head in a CT is published.
1985 – The Val di Stava dam collapses killing 268 people in Val di Stava, Italy.
1989 – United Airlines Flight 232 crashes in Sioux City, Iowa killing 111.
1992 – A car bomb kills Judge Paolo Borsellino and five members of his escort.
1997 – The Troubles: The Provisional Irish Republican Army resumes a ceasefire to end their 25-year paramilitary campaign to end British rule in Northern Ireland.
2014 – Gunmen in Egypt’s western desert province of New Valley Governorate attack a military checkpoint, killing at least 21 soldiers. Egypt reportedly declares a state of emergency on its border with Sudan.
Births on July 19
810 – Muhammad al-Bukhari, Persian scholar (d. 870)
1223 – Baibars, sultan of Egypt (d. 1277)
1420 – William VIII, Marquess of Montferrat (d. 1483)
1569 – Conrad Vorstius, Dutch theologian (d. 1622)
1670 – Richard Leveridge, English singer-songwriter (d. 1758)
1688 – Giuseppe Castiglione, Italian missionary and painter (d. 1766)
1744 – Heinrich Christian Boie, German author and poet (d. 1806)
1759 – Marianna Auenbrugger, Austrian pianist and composer (d. 1782)
1759 – Seraphim of Sarov, Russian monk and saint (d. 1833)
1771 – Thomas Talbot, Irish-Canadian colonel and politician (d. 1853)
1794 – José Justo Corro, Mexican politician and president, (1836-1837) (d. 1864)
1789 – John Martin, English painter, engraver, and illustrator (d. 1854)
1800 – Juan José Flores, Venezuelan general and politician, 1st President of Ecuador (d. 1864)
1814 – Samuel Colt, American businessman, founded the Colt’s Manufacturing Company (d. 1862)
1819 – Gottfried Keller, Swiss author, poet, and playwright (d. 1890)
1822 – Princess Augusta of Cambridge (d. 1916)
1827 – Mangal Pandey, Indian soldier (d. 1857)
1834 – Edgar Degas, French painter, sculptor, and illustrator (d. 1917)
1835 – Justo Rufino Barrios, Guatemalan president (d. 1885)
1842 – Frederic T. Greenhalge, English-American lawyer and politician, 38th Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1896)
1846 – Edward Charles Pickering, American astronomer and physicist (d. 1919)
1849 – Ferdinand Brunetière, French scholar and critic (d. 1906)
1865 – Georges Friedel, French mineralogist and crystallographer (d. 1933)
1865 – Charles Horace Mayo, American surgeon, founded the Mayo Clinic (d. 1939)
1860 – Lizzie Borden, American woman, tried and acquitted for the murders of her parents in 1892 (d. 1927)
1868 – Florence Foster Jenkins, American soprano and educator (d. 1944)
1869 – Xenophon Stratigos, Greek general and politician, Greek Minister of Transport (d. 1927)
1875 – Alice Dunbar Nelson, African-American poet and activist (d. 1935)
1876 – Joseph Fielding Smith, American religious leader, 10th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (d. 1972)
1877 – Arthur Fielder, English cricketer (d. 1949)
1881 – Friedrich Dessauer, German physicist and philosopher (d. 1963)
1883 – Max Fleischer, Austrian-American animator and producer (d. 1972)
1886 – Michael Fekete, Hungarian-Israeli mathematician and academic (d. 1957)
1888 – Enno Lolling, German physician (d. 1945)
1890 – George II of Greece (d. 1947)
1892 – Dick Irvin, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 1957)
1893 – Vladimir Mayakovsky, Russian actor, playwright, and poet (d. 1930)
1894 – Aleksandr Khinchin, Russian mathematician and academic (d. 1959)
1894 – Khawaja Nazimuddin, Bangladeshi-Pakistani politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Pakistan (d. 1965)
1894 – Percy Spencer, American physicist and inventor of the microwave oven (d. 1969)
1895 – Xu Beihong, Chinese painter and academic (d. 1953)
1896 – Reginald Baker, English film producer (d. 1985)
1896 – A. J. Cronin, Scottish physician and novelist (d. 1981)
1896 – Bob Meusel, American baseball player and sailor (d. 1977)
1898 – Herbert Marcuse, German-American sociologist and philosopher (d. 1979)
1899 – Balai Chand Mukhopadhyay, Indian physician, author, poet, and playwright (d. 1979)
1902 – Samudrala Raghavacharya, Indian singer, director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 1968)
1904 – Robert Todd Lincoln Beckwith, American lawyer and farmer (d. 1985)
1907 – Isabel Jewell, American actress (d. 1972)
1908 – Daniel Fry, American contactee (d. 1992)
1909 – Balamani Amma, Indian poet and author (d. 2004)
1912 – Peter Leo Gerety, American prelate (d. 2016)
1914 – Marius Russo, American baseball player (d. 2005)
1915 – Åke Hellman, Finnish painter (d. 2017)
1916 – Phil Cavarretta, American baseball player and manager (d. 2010)
1917 – William Scranton, American captain and politician, 13th United States Ambassador to the United Nations (d. 2013)
1919 – Patricia Medina, English-American actress (d. 2012)
1919 – Miltos Sachtouris, Greek poet and author (d. 2005)
1919 – Ron Searle, English-Canadian soldier, publisher, and politician, 4th Mayor of Mississauga (d. 2015)
1920 – Robert Mann, American violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 2018)
1920 – Richard Oriani, Salvadoran-American metallurgist and engineer (d. 2015)
1921 – Harold Camping, American evangelist, author, radio host (d. 2013)
1921 – André Moynet, French soldier, race car driver, and politician (d. 1993)
1921 – Elizabeth Spencer, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 2019)
1921 – Rosalyn Sussman Yalow, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2011)
1922 – George McGovern, American lieutenant, historian, and politician (d. 2012)
1922 – Rachel Robinson, American professor, registered nurse, and the widow of baseball player Jackie Robinson
1923 – Theo Barker, English historian (d. 2001)
1923 – Alex Hannum, American basketball player and coach (d. 2002)
1923 – Joseph Hansen, American author and poet (d. 2004)
1923 – William A. Rusher, American lawyer and journalist (d. 2011)
1923 – Lon Simmons, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 2015)
1924 – Stanley K. Hathaway, American soldier, lawyer, and politician, 40th United States Secretary of the Interior (d. 2005)
1924 – Pat Hingle, American actor and producer (d. 2009)
1924 – Arthur Rankin Jr., American director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2014)
1925 – Sue Thompson, American singer
1926 – Helen Gallagher, American actress, singer, and dancer
1928 – Samuel John Hazo, American author
1928 – Choi Yun-chil, South Korean long-distance runner and a two-time national champion in the marathon.
180 – Twelve inhabitants of Scillium (near Kasserine, modern-day Tunisia) in North Africa are executed for being Christians. This is the earliest record of Christianity in that part of the world.
1048 – Damasus II is elected pope.
1203 – The Fourth Crusade captures Constantinople by assault. The Byzantine emperor Alexios III Angelos flees from his capital into exile.
1402 – Zhu Di, better known by his era name as the Yongle Emperor, assumes the throne over the Ming dynasty of China.
1429 – Hundred Years’ War: Charles VII of France is crowned the King of France in the Reims Cathedral after a successful campaign by Joan of Arc.
1453 – Battle of Castillon: The last battle of Hundred Years’ War, the French under Jean Bureau defeat the English under the Earl of Shrewsbury, who is killed in the battle in Gascony.
1717 – King George I of Great Britain sails down the River Thames with a barge of 50 musicians, where George Frideric Handel’s Water Music is premiered.
1762 – Catherine II becomes tsar of Russia upon the murder of Peter III of Russia.
1771 – Bloody Falls massacre: Chipewyan chief Matonabbee, traveling as the guide to Samuel Hearne on his Arctic overland journey, massacres a group of unsuspecting Inuit.
1791 – Members of the French National Guard under the command of General Lafayette open fire on a crowd of radical Jacobins at the Champ de Mars, Paris, during the French Revolution, killing scores of people.
1794 – The 16 Carmelite Martyrs of Compiègne are executed ten days prior to the end of the French Revolution’s Reign of Terror.
1867 – Harvard School of Dental Medicine is established in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the first dental school in the U.S. that is affiliated with a university.
1821: The Kingdom of Spain cedes the territory of Florida to the United States.
1899 – NEC Corporation is organized as the first Japanese joint venture with foreign capital.
1902 – Willis Carrier creates the first air conditioner in Buffalo, New York.
1917 – King George V issues a Proclamation stating that the male line descendants of the British Royal Family will bear the surname Windsor.
1918 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his immediate family and retainers are executed by Bolshevik Chekists at the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
1918 – The RMS Carpathia, the ship that rescued the 705 survivors from the RMS Titanic, is sunk off Ireland by the German SM U-55; five lives are lost.
1932 – Altona Bloody Sunday: A riot between the Nazi Party paramilitary forces, the SS and SA, and the German Communist Party ensues.
1936 – Spanish Civil War: An Armed Forces rebellion against the recently elected leftist Popular Front government of Spain starts the civil war.
1938 – Douglas Corrigan takes off from Brooklyn to fly the “wrong way” to Ireland and becomes known as “Wrong Way” Corrigan.
1944 – Port Chicago disaster: Near the San Francisco Bay, two ships laden with ammunition for the war explode in Port Chicago, California, killing 320.
1944 – World War II: At Sainte-Foy-de-Montgommery. in Normandy Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was strafed by allied aircraft while returning to his headquarters.
1945 – World War II: The main three leaders of the Allied nations, Winston Churchill, Harry S. Truman and Joseph Stalin, meet in the German city of Potsdam to decide the future of a defeated Germany.
1953 – The largest number of United States midshipman casualties in a single event results from an aircraft crash in Florida, killing 44.
1955 – Disneyland is dedicated and opened by Walt Disney in Anaheim, California.
1962 – Nuclear weapons testing: The “Small Boy” test shot Little Feller I becomes the last atmospheric test detonation at the Nevada National Security Site.
1968 – Abdul Rahman Arif is overthrown and the Ba’ath Party is installed as the governing power in Iraq with Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr as the new Iraqi President.
1973 – King Mohammed Zahir Shah of Afghanistan, while having surgery in Italy, is deposed by his cousin Mohammed Daoud Khan.
1975 – Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: An American Apollo and a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock with each other in orbit marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations.
1976 – East Timor is annexed, and becomes the 27th province of Indonesia.
1976 – The opening of the Summer Olympics in Montreal is marred by 25 African teams boycotting the games because of New Zealand’s participation. Contrary to rulings by other international sports organizations, the IOC had declined to exclude New Zealand because of their participation in South African sporting events during apartheid.
1979 – Nicaraguan dictator General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns and flees to Miami, Florida, United States.
1981 – A structural failure leads to the collapse of a walkway at the Hyatt Regency in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 people and injuring more than 200.
1984 – The national drinking age in the United States was changed from 18 to 21.
1985 – Founding of the EUREKA Network by former head of states François Mitterrand (France) and Helmut Kohl (Germany).
1989 – First flight of the B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber.
1989 – Holy See–Poland relations are restored.
1996 – TWA Flight 800: Off the coast of Long Island, New York, a Paris-bound TWA Boeing 747 explodes, killing all 230 on board.
1998 – The 7.0 Mw Papua New Guinea earthquake triggers a tsunami that destroys ten villages in Papua New Guinea, killing up to 2,700 people, and leaving several thousand injured.
1998 – A diplomatic conference adopts the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, establishing a permanent international court to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression.
2000 – During approach to Lok Nayak Jayaprakash Airport, Alliance Air Flight 7412 suddenly crashes into a residential neighborhood in Patna, killing 60 people.
2001 – Concorde is brought back into service nearly a year after the July 2000 crash.
2006 – The 7.7 Mw Pangandaran tsunami earthquake severely affects the Indonesian island of Java, killing 668 people, and leaving more than 9,000 injured.
2007 – TAM Airlines Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, crashes into a warehouse after landing too fast and missing the end of the São Paulo–Congonhas Airport runway, killing 199 people.
2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777, crashes near the border of Ukraine and Russia after being shot down. All 298 people on board are killed.
2014 – A French regional train on the Pau-Bayonne line crashes into a high-speed train near the town of Denguin, resulting in at least 25 injuries.
2015 – At least 120 people are killed and 130 injured by a suicide bombing in Diyala Governorate, Iraq.
2018 – 12 new moons are discovered orbiting. Jupiter
Births on July 17
1487 – Ismail I of Iran (d. 1524)
1499 – Maria Salviati, Italian noblewoman (d. 1543)
1531 – Antoine de Créqui Canaples, Roman Catholic cardinal (d. 1574)
1674 – Isaac Watts, English hymnwriter and theologian (d. 1748)
1695 – Christian Karl Reinhard of Leiningen-Dachsburg-Falkenburg-Heidesheim (d. 1766)
1698 – Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician and philosopher (d. 1759)
1708 – Frederick Christian, Margrave of Brandenburg-Bayreuth (d. 1769)
1714 – Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten, German philosopher and academic (d. 1762)
1744 – Elbridge Gerry, American merchant and politician, 5th Vice President of the United States (d. 1814)
1763 – John Jacob Astor, German-American businessman and philanthropist (d. 1848)
1774 – John Wilbur, American minister and theologian (d. 1856)
1797 – Paul Delaroche, French painter and academic (d. 1856)
1823 – Leander Clark, American businessman, judge, and politician (d. 1910)
1831 – Xianfeng Emperor of China (d. 1861)
1837 – Joseph-Alfred Mousseau, Canadian lawyer, judge, and politician, 7th Secretary of State for Canada (d. 1886)
1839 – Ephraim Shay, American engineer, invented the Shay locomotive (d. 1916)
1853 – Alexius Meinong, Ukrainian-Austrian philosopher and academic (d. 1920)
1868 – Henri Nathansen, Danish director and playwright (d. 1944)
1870 – Charles Davidson Dunbar, Scottish soldier and bagpipe player (d. 1939)
1871 – Lyonel Feininger, German-American painter and illustrator (d. 1956)
1879 – Jack Laviolette, Canadian ice hockey player, coach, and manager (d. 1960)
1882 – James Somerville, English admiral and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Somerset (d. 1949)
1888 – Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Ukrainian-Israeli novelist, short story writer, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
1889 – Erle Stanley Gardner, American lawyer and author (d. 1970)
1894 – Georges Lemaître, Belgian priest, astronomer, and cosmologist (d. 1966)
1896 – Rupert Atkinson, English RAF officer (d. 1919)
1898 – Berenice Abbott, American photographer (d. 1991)
1898 – Osmond Borradaile, Canadian soldier and cinematographer (d. 1999)
1899 – James Cagney, American actor and dancer (d. 1986)
1900 – Marcel Dalio, French actor (d. 1983)
1901 – Luigi Chinetti, Italian-American race car driver (d. 1994)
1901 – Bruno Jasieński, Polish poet and author (d. 1938)
1901 – Patrick Smith, Irish farmer and politician, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine (d. 1982)
1902 – Christina Stead, Australian author and academic (d. 1983)
1905 – William Gargan, American actor (d. 1979)
1910 – James Coyne, Canadian lawyer and banker, 2nd Governor of the Bank of Canada (d. 2012)
1910 – Frank Olson, American chemist and microbiologist (d. 1953)
1911 – Lionel Ferbos, American trumpet player (d. 2014)
1911 – Heinz Lehmann, German-Canadian psychiatrist and academic (d. 1999)
1912 – Erwin Bauer, German race car driver (d. 1958)
1912 – Art Linkletter, Canadian-American radio and television host (d. 2010)
1913 – Bertrand Goldberg, American architect, designed the Marina City Building (d. 1997)
1914 – Eleanor Steber, American soprano and educator (d. 1990)
1915 – Bijon Bhattacharya, Indian actor, singer, and screenwriter (d. 1978)
1915 – Arthur Rothstein, American photographer and educator (d. 1985)
1917 – Lou Boudreau, American baseball player and manager (d. 2001)
1917 – Phyllis Diller, American actress, comedian, and voice artist (d. 2012)
1917 – Kenan Evren, Turkish general and politician, 7th President of Turkey (d. 2015)
1917 – Christiane Rochefort, French author (d. 1998)
1918 – Carlos Manuel Arana Osorio, Guatemalan soldier and politician, President of Guatemala (d. 2003)
1918 – Red Sovine, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1980)
1920 – Gordon Gould, American physicist and academic, invented the laser (d. 2005)
1920 – Juan Antonio Samaranch, Spanish businessman, 7th President of the International Olympic Committee (d. 2010)
1921 – George Barnes, American guitarist, producer, and songwriter (d. 1977)
1921 – Louis Lachenal, French mountaineer (d. 1955)
1921 – Mary Osborne, American guitarist (d. 1992)
1921 – Toni Stone, American baseball player (d. 1996)
1921 – František Zvarík, Slovak actor (d. 2008)
1923 – Jeanne Block, American psychologist (d. 1981)
1923 – John Cooper, English car designer, co-founded the Cooper Car Company (d. 2000)
1924 – Garde Gardom, Canadian lawyer and politician, 26th Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia (d. 2013)
1925 – Jimmy Scott, American singer and actor (d. 2014)
1925 – Mohammad Hasan Sharq, Afghan politician
1926 – Édouard Carpentier, French-Canadian wrestler (d. 2010)
1926 – Willis Carto, American activist and theorist (d. 2015)
1928 – Vince Guaraldi, American singer-songwriter and pianist (d. 1976)
1929 – Sergei K. Godunov, Russian mathematician and academic
1932 – Niccolò Castiglioni, Italian composer (d. 1996)
1932 – Red Kerr, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
1932 – Wojciech Kilar, Polish pianist and composer (d. 2013)
1932 – Karla Kuskin, American author and illustrator (d. 2009)
1932 – Slick Leonard, American basketball player and coach
1932 – Quino, Spanish-Argentinian cartoonist
1932 – Hal Riney, American businessman, founded Publicis & Hal Riney (d. 2008)
1933 – Keiko Awaji, Japanese actress (d. 2014)
1933 – Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, Maltese politician, 9th Prime Minister of Malta
1933 – Tony Pithey, Zimbabwean-South African cricketer (d. 2006)
1934 – Lucio Tan, Chinese-Filipino billionaire businessman and educator
1935 – Diahann Carroll, American actress and singer (d. 2019)
1935 – Peter Schickele, American composer and educator
1935 – Donald Sutherland, Canadian actor and producer
1938 – Hermann Huppen, Belgian author and illustrator
1939 – Andrée Champagne, Canadian actress and politician
1939 – Spencer Davis, Welsh singer-songwriter and guitarist
1939 – Ali Khamenei, Iranian cleric and politician, 2nd Supreme Leader of Iran
1940 – Tim Brooke-Taylor, English actor and screenwriter (d. 2020)
1941 – Daryle Lamonica, American football player
1941 – Bob Taylor, English cricketer
1941 – Achim Warmbold, German race car driver and manager
1942 – Don Kessinger, American baseball player and manager
1942 – Gale Garnett, New Zealand–born Canadian singer
1942 – Connie Hawkins, American basketball player (d. 2017)
1942 – Zoot Money, English singer-songwriter and keyboard player
1943 – LaVyrle Spencer, American author and educator
1944 – Mark Burgess, New Zealand cricketer and footballer
997 – Battle of Spercheios: Bulgarian forces of Tsar Samuel are defeated by a Byzantine army under general Nikephoros Ouranos at the Spercheios River in Greece.
1054 – Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian Churches through the act of placing an invalidly-issued Papal bull of Excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the start of the East–West Schism.
1212 – Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: After Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade, forces of Kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Sancho VII of Navarre, Peter II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal defeat those of the Berber Muslim leader Almohad, thus marking a significant turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain.
1232 – The Spanish town of Arjona declares independence and names its native Muhammad ibn Yusuf as ruler. This marks Muhammad’s first rise to prominence; he would later establish the Nasrid Emirate of Granada, the last independent Muslim state in Spain.
1251 – Celebrated by the Carmelite Order – but doubted by modern historians – as the day when Saint Simon Stock had a vision of the Virgin Mary
1377 – King Richard II of England is crowned.
1661 – The first banknotes in Europe are issued by the Swedish bank Stockholms Banco.
1683 – Manchu Qing dynasty naval forces under traitorous commander Shi Lang defeat the Kingdom of Tungning in the Battle of Penghu near the Pescadores Islands.
1769 – Father Junípero Serra founds California’s first mission, Mission San Diego de Alcalá. Over the following decades, it evolves into the city of San Diego, California.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: Light infantry of the Continental Army seize a fortified British Army position in a midnight bayonet attack at the Battle of Stony Point.
1790 – The District of Columbia is established as the capital of the United States after signature of the Residence Act.
1809 – The city of La Paz, in what is today Bolivia, declares its independence from the Spanish Crown during the La Paz revolution and forms the Junta Tuitiva, the first independent government in Spanish America, led by Pedro Domingo Murillo.
1849 – Antonio María Claret y Clará founds the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, popularly known as the Claretians in Vic, in the province of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
1861 – American Civil War: At the order of President Abraham Lincoln, Union troops begin a 25-mile march into Virginia for what will become the First Battle of Bull Run, the first major land battle of the war.
1862 – American Civil War: David Farragut is promoted to rear admiral, becoming the first officer in United States Navy to hold an admiral rank.
1909 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar is forced out as Shah of Persia and is replaced by his son Ahmad Shah Qajar.
1910 – John Robertson Duigan makes the first flight of the Duigan pusher biplane, the first aircraft built in Australia.
1915 – Henry James becomes a British citizen to highlight his commitment to Britain during the first World War.
1915 – At Treasure Island on the Delaware River in the United States, the First Order of the Arrow ceremony takes place and the Order of the Arrow is founded to honor American Boy Scouts who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law.
1927 – Augusto César Sandino leads a raid on U.S. Marines and Nicaraguan Guardia Nacional that had been sent to apprehend him in the village of Ocotal, but is repulsed by one of the first dive-bombing attacks in history.
1931 – Emperor Haile Selassie signs the first constitution of Ethiopia.
1935 – The world’s first parking meter is installed in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
1941 – Joe DiMaggio hits safely for the 56th consecutive game, a streak that still stands as an MLB record.
1942 – Holocaust: Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup (Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv): The government of Vichy France orders the mass arrest of 13,152 Jews who are held at the Vélodrome d’Hiver in Paris before deportation to Auschwitz.
1945 – World War II: The heavy cruiser USS Indianapolis leaves San Francisco with parts for the atomic bomb “Little Boy” bound for Tinian Island.
1945 – Manhattan Project: The Atomic Age begins when the United States successfully detonates a plutonium-based test nuclear weapon near Alamogordo, New Mexico.
1948 – Following token resistance, the city of Nazareth, revered by Christians as the hometown of Jesus, capitulates to Israeli troops during Operation Dekel in the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
1948 – The storming of the cockpit of the Miss Macao passenger seaplane, operated by a subsidiary of the Cathay Pacific Airways, marks the first aircraft hijacking of a commercial plane.
1950 – Chaplain–Medic massacre: American POWs are massacred by North Korean Army.
1951 – King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates in favor of his son, Baudouin I of Belgium.
1956 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus closes its last “Big Tent” show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; due to changing economics, all subsequent circus shows will be held in arenas.
1965 – The Mont Blanc Tunnel linking France and Italy opens.
1965 – South Vietnamese Colonel Phạm Ngọc Thảo, a formerly undetected communist spy and double agent, is hunted down and killed by unknown individuals after being sentenced to death in absentia for a February 1965 coup attempt against Nguyễn Khánh.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11, the first mission to land astronauts on the Moon, is launched from the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Kennedy, Florida.
1979 – Iraqi President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr resigns and is replaced by Saddam Hussein.
1983 – Sikorsky S-61 disaster: A helicopter crashes off the Isles of Scilly, causing 20 fatalities.
1990 – The Luzon earthquake strikes the Philippines with an intensity of 7.7, affecting Benguet, Pangasinan, Nueva Ecija, La Union, Aurora, Bataan, Zambales and Tarlac.
1990 – The Parliament of the Ukrainian SSR declares state sovereignty over the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.
1999 – John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife, Carolyn, and her sister, Lauren Bessette, died when the Piper Saratoga PA-32R aircraft he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard.
2004 – Millennium Park, considered Chicago’s first and most ambitious early 21st-century architectural project, is opened to the public by Mayor Richard M. Daley.
2007 – An earthquake of magnitude 6.8 and 6.6 aftershock occurs off the Niigata coast of Japan killing eight people, injuring at least 800 and damaging a nuclear power plant.
2013 – As many as 27 children die and 25 others are hospitalized after eating lunch served at their school in eastern India.
2015 – Four U.S. Marines and one gunman die in a shooting spree targeting military installations in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
2019 – 100 years old building in Mumbai, India, collapsed, killing at least 10 people and many remaining trapped.
Births on July 16
1194 – Clare of Assisi, an Italian nun and saint (d. 1253)
1486 – Andrea del Sarto, Italian painter (d. 1530)
1517 – Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk, English duchess (d. 1559)
1529 – Petrus Peckius the Elder, Dutch jurist, writer on international maritime law (d. 1589)
1611 – Cecilia Renata of Austria (d. 1644)
1661 – Pierre Le Moyne d’Iberville, Canadian captain, explorer, and politician (d. 1706)
1714 – Marc René, marquis de Montalembert, French engineer and author (d. 1800)
1722 – Joseph Wilton, English sculptor and academic (d. 1803)
1723 – Joshua Reynolds, English painter and academic (d. 1792)
1731 – Samuel Huntington, American jurist and politician, 18th Governor of Connecticut (d. 1796)
1749 – Cyrus Griffin, American lawyer, judge, and politician, 16th President of the Continental Congress (d. 1810)
1796 – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, French painter and etcher (d. 1875)
1821 – Mary Baker Eddy, American religious leader and author, founded Christian Science (d. 1910)
1841 – Nikolai von Glehn, Estonian-German architect and activist (d. 1923)
1858 – Eugène Ysaÿe, Belgian violinist, composer, and conductor (d. 1931)
1862 – Ida B. Wells, American journalist and activist (d. 1931)
1863 – Anderson Dawson, Australian politician, 14th Premier of Queensland (d. 1910)
1870 – Lambert McKenna, Irish priest, lexicographer, and scholar (d. 1956)
1871 – John Maxwell, American golfer (d. 1906)
1872 – Roald Amundsen, Norwegian pilot and explorer (d. 1928)
1872 – Frank Cooper, Australian politician, 25th Premier of Queensland (d. 1949)
1880 – Kathleen Norris, American journalist and author (d. 1966)
1882 – Violette Neatley Anderson, American judge (d. 1937)
1883 – Charles Sheeler, American photographer and painter (d. 1965)
1884 – Anna Vyrubova, Russian author (d. 1964)
1887 – Shoeless Joe Jackson, American baseball player and manager (d. 1951)
1888 – Percy Kilbride, American actor (d. 1964)
1888 – Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
1889 – Arthur Bowie Chrisman, American author (d. 1953)
1895 – Wilfrid Hamel, Canadian businessman and politician, 35th Mayor of Quebec City (d. 1968)
1896 – Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer, German biologist and eugenicist (d. 1969)
1896 – Trygve Lie, Norwegian trade union leader and politician, 1st Secretary-General of the United Nations (d. 1968)
1902 – Alexander Luria, Russian psychologist and physician (d. 1977)
1902 – Mary Philbin, American actress (d. 1993)
1903 – Fritz Bauer, German lawyer and judge (d. 1968)
1903 – Carmen Lombardo, Canadian singer-songwriter (d. 1971)
1903 – Irmgard Flügge-Lotz, German mathematician and engineer (d. 1974)
1904 – Goffredo Petrassi, Italian composer and conductor (d. 2003)
1906 – Vincent Sherman, American actor, director, and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1907 – Frances Horwich, American educator and television host (d. 2001)
1907 – Orville Redenbacher, American farmer and businessman, founded Orville Redenbacher’s (d. 1995)
1907 – Barbara Stanwyck, American actress (d. 1990)
1910 – Stan McCabe, Australian cricketer (d. 1968)
1910 – Gordon Prange, American historian, author, and academic (d. 1980)
1911 – Ginger Rogers, American actress, singer, and dancer (d. 1995)
1911 – Sonny Tufts, American actor (d. 1970)
1912 – Milt Bocek, American baseball player (d. 2007)
1912 – Amy Patterson, Argentine composer, singer, poet, and teacher (d. 2019)
1915 – Barnard Hughes, American actor (d. 2006)
1915 – Elaine Barrie, American actress (d. 2003)
1918 – Denis Edward Arnold, English soldier (d. 2015)
1918 – Paul Farnes, famed World War II Royal Air Force (RAF) fighter pilot and one of “The Few” surviving pilots of the Battle of Britain (d. 2020)
1918 – Samuel Victor Perry, English biochemist and rugby player (d. 2009)
1919 – Hermine Braunsteiner, Austrian SS officer (d. 1999)
1919 – Choi Kyu-hah, South Korean politician, 4th President of South Korea (d. 2006)
1920 – Anatole Broyard, American critic and editor (d. 1990)
1923 – Chris Argyris, American psychologist, theorist, and academic (d. 2013)
1923 – Bola Sete, Brazilian guitarist (d. 1987)
1924 – James L. Greenfield, American journalist and politician
1924 – Bess Myerson, American model, actress, game show panelist, and politician, Miss America 1945 (d. 2014)
1924 – Rupert Deese, Northern Mariana Islander ceramic artist (d. 2010)
1925 – Frank Jobe, American sergeant and surgeon (d. 2014)
1925 – Rosita Quintana, Argentine actress
1925 – Cal Tjader, American jazz musician (d. 1982)
1926 – Ivica Horvat, Croatian footballer and manager (d. 2012)
1926 – Irwin Rose, American biologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
1927 – Pierre F. Côté, Canadian lawyer and civil servant (d. 2013)
1927 – Shirley Hughes, English author and illustrator
1927 – Derek Hawksworth, English footballer
1928 – Anita Brookner, English novelist and art historian (d. 2016)
1928 – Bella Davidovich, Soviet-American pianist
1928 – Robert Sheckley, American author and screenwriter (d. 2005)
1928 – Jim Rathmann, American race car driver (d. 2011)
1928 – Dave Treen, American lawyer and politician, 51st Governor of Louisiana (d. 2009)
1928 – Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer and author (d. 2000)
1929 – Charles Ray Hatcher, American serial killer (d. 1984)
1929 – Sheri S. Tepper, American author and poet (d. 2016)
1929 – Gaby Tanguy, French swimmer
1930 – Guy Béart, Egyptian-French singer-songwriter (d. 2015)
1930 – Michael Bilirakis, American lawyer and politician
1930 – Bert Rechichar, American football defensive back and kicker (d. 2019)
1931 – Fergus Gordon Kerr, Scottish Roman Catholic priest of the English Dominican Province
1931 – Norm Sherry, American former catcher, manager, and coach in Major League Baseball
1932 – John Chilton, English trumpet player and composer (d. 2016)
1932 – Max McGee, American football player and sportscaster (d. 2007)
1932 – Dick Thornburgh, American lawyer and politician, 76th United States Attorney General
1933 – Julian A. Brodsky, American businessman
1934 – Tomás Eloy Martínez, Argentine journalist (d. 2010)
1934 – Katherine D. Ortega, 38th Treasurer of the United States
1934 – Donald M. Payne, American educator and politician (d. 2012)
1935 – Carl Epting Mundy Jr., American general (d. 2014)
1935 – Lynn Wyatt, American socialite and philanthropist
1936 – Yasuo Fukuda, Japanese politician, 91st Prime Minister of Japan
1936 – Buddy Merrill, American guitarist
1936 – Jerry Norman, American sinologist and linguist (d. 2012)
484 BC – Dedication of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in ancient Rome
AD 70 – Titus and his armies breach the walls of Jerusalem. (17th of Tammuz in the Hebrew calendar).
756 – An Lushan Rebellion: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang is ordered by his Imperial Guards to execute chancellor Yang Guozhong by forcing him to commit suicide or face a mutiny. General An Lushan has other members of the emperor’s family killed.
1099 – First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege.
1149 – The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem.
1207 – King John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop Stephen Langton.
1240 – Swedish–Novgorodian Wars: A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva.
1381 – John Ball, a leader in the Peasants’ Revolt, is hanged, drawn, and quartered in the presence of King Richard II of England.
1410 – Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War: Battle of Grunwald: The allied forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeat the army of the Teutonic Order.
1482 – Muhammad XII is crowned the twenty-second and last Nasrid king of Granada.
1738 – Baruch Laibov and Alexander Voznitzin are burned alive in St. Petersburg, Russia. Vonitzin had converted to Judaism with Laibov’s help, with the consent of Empress Anna Ivanovna.
1741 – Aleksei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska.
1789 – Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is named by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard of Paris.
1799 – The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon’s Egyptian Campaign.
1806 – Pike Expedition: United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, Missouri, to explore the west.
1815 – Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon.
1823 – A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy.
1834 – The Spanish Inquisition is officially disbanded after nearly 356 years.
1838 – Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School, discounting Biblical miracles and declaring Jesus a great man, but not God. The Protestant community reacts with outrage.
1862 – The CSS Arkansas, the most effective ironclad on the Mississippi River, battles with Union ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut, severely damaging three ships and sustaining heavy damage herself. The encounter changed the complexion of warfare on the Mississippi and helped to reverse Rebel fortunes on the river in the summer of 1862.
1870 – Reconstruction Era of the United States: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union.
1870 – Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory are transferred to Canada from the Hudson’s Bay Company, and the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are established from these vast territories.
1888 – The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts killing approximately 500 people, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
1910 – In his book Clinical Psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin gives a name to Alzheimer’s disease, naming it after his colleague Alois Alzheimer.
1916 – In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).
1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack.
1920 – The Polish Parliament establishes Silesian Voivodeship before the Polish-German plebiscite.
1922 – Japanese Communist Party is established in Japan.
1927 – Massacre of July 15, 1927: Eighty-nine protesters are killed by the Austrian police in Vienna.
1946 – State of North Borneo, today in Sabah, Malaysia, annexed by the United Kingdom.
1954 – First flight of the Boeing 367-80, prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series.
1955 – Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others.
1959 – The steel strike of 1959 begins, leading to significant importation of foreign steel for the first time in United States history.
1966 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone.
1971 – The United Red Army is founded in Japan.
1974 – In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d’état, deposing President Makarios and installing Nikos Sampson as Cypriot president.
1975 – Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first joint Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was both the last launch of an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets.
1979 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter gives his “malaise speech”.
1983 – An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured.
1996 – A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport.
1998 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP S. Shanmuganathan is killed by a claymore mine.
2002 – “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and to possession of explosives during the commission of a felony.
2002 – Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan hands down the death sentence to British born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh and life terms to three others suspected of murdering The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
2003 – AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day.
2006 – Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched.
2014 – A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 24 and injuring more than 160 others.
2016 – Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup.
Births on July 15
980 – Ichijō, Japanese emperor (d. 1011)
1273 – Ewostatewos, Ethiopian monk and saint (d. 1352)
1353 – Vladimir the Bold, Russian prince (d. 1410)
1359 – Antonio Correr, Italian cardinal (d. 1445)
1442 – Boček IV of Poděbrady, Bohemian nobleman (d. 1496)
1455 – Queen Yun, Korean queen (d. 1482)
1471 – Eskender, Ethiopian emperor (d. 1494)
1478 – Barbara Jagiellon, duchess consort of Saxony and Margravine consort of Meissen (d. 1534)
1573 – Inigo Jones, English architect, designed the Queen’s House (d. 1652)
1600 – Jan Cossiers, Flemish painter (d. 1671)
1606 – Rembrandt, Dutch painter and etcher (d. 1669)
1611 – Jai Singh I, maharaja of Jaipur (d. 1667)
1613 – Gu Yanwu, Chinese philologist and geographer (d. 1682)
1631 – Jens Juel, Danish politician and diplomat, Governor-general of Norway (d. 1700)
1631 – Richard Cumberland, English philosopher (d. 1718)
1638 – Giovanni Buonaventura Viviani, Italian violinist and composer (d. 1693)
1704 – August Gottlieb Spangenberg, German bishop and theologian (d. 1792)
1779 – Clement Clarke Moore, American author, poet, and educator (d. 1863)
1793 – Almira Hart Lincoln Phelps, American educator, author, editor (d. 1884)
1796 – Thomas Bulfinch, American mythologist (d. 1867)
1799 – Reuben Chapman, American lawyer and politician, 13th Governor of Alabama (d. 1882)
1800 – Sidney Breese, American jurist and politician (d. 1878)
1808 – Henry Edward Manning, English cardinal (d. 1892)
1812 – James Hope-Scott, English lawyer and academic (d. 1873)
1817 – Sir John Fowler, 1st Baronet, English engineer, designed the Forth Bridge (d. 1898)
1827 – W. W. Thayer American lawyer and politician, 6th Governor of Oregon (d. 1899)
1848 – Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist and sociologist (d. 1923)
1850 – Frances Xavier Cabrini, Italian-American nun and saint (d. 1917)
1852 – Josef Josephi, Polish-born singer and actor (d. 1920)
1858 – Emmeline Pankhurst, English political activist and suffragist (d. 1928)
1864 – Marie Tempest, English actress and singer (d. 1942)
1865 – Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe, Anglo-Irish businessman and publisher, founded the Amalgamated Press (d. 1922)
1865 – Wilhelm Wirtinger, Austrian-German mathematician and theorist (d. 1945)
1867 – Jean-Baptiste Charcot, French physician and explorer (d. 1936)
1871 – Doppo Kunikida, Japanese journalist, author, and poet (d. 1908)
1880 – Enrique Mosca, Argentinian lawyer and politician (d. 1950)
1887 – Wharton Esherick, American sculptor (d. 1970)
1892 – Walter Benjamin, German philosopher and critic (d. 1940)
1893 – Enid Bennett, Australian-American actress (d. 1969)
1893 – Dick Rauch, American football player and coach (d. 1970)
1894 – Tadeusz Sendzimir, Polish-American engineer (d. 1989)
1899 – Seán Lemass, Irish soldier and politician, 4th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1971)
1902 – Jean Rey, Belgian lawyer and politician, 2nd President of the European Commission (d. 1983)
1903 – Walter D. Edmonds, American journalist and author (d. 1998)
1903 – K. Kamaraj, Indian journalist and politician (d. 1975)
1904 – Rudolf Arnheim, German-American psychologist and author (d. 2007)
1905 – Dorothy Fields, American songwriter (d. 1974)
1905 – Anita Farra, Italian actress (d. 2008)
1906 – R. S. Mugali, Indian poet and academic (d. 1993)
1906 – Rudolf Uhlenhaut, English-German engineer (d. 1989)
1909 – Jean Hamburger, French physician and surgeon (d. 1992)
1911 – Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, English geographer and politician, Secretary of State for Air (d. 1994)
1913 – Cowboy Copas, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1963)
1913 – Hammond Innes, English journalist and author (d. 1998)
1913 – Abraham Sutzkever, Russian poet and author (d. 2010)
1914 – Akhtar Hameed Khan, Pakistani economist, scholar, and activist (d. 1999)
1914 – Howard Vernon, Swiss-French actor (d. 1996)
1915 – Albert Ghiorso, American chemist and academic (d. 2010)
1915 – Kashmir Singh Katoch, Indian army officer (d. 2007)
1916 – Sumner Gerard, American politician and diplomat (d. 2004)
1917 – Robert Conquest, English-American historian, poet, and academic (d. 2015)
1917 – Joan Roberts, American actress and singer (d. 2012)
1917 – Nur Muhammad Taraki, Afghan journalist and politician (d. 1979)
1918 – Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2003)
1918 – Brenda Milner, English-Canadian neuropsychologist and academic
1919 – Fritz Langanke, German lieutenant (d. 2012)
1919 – Iris Murdoch, Anglo-Irish British novelist and philosopher (d. 1999)
1921 – Jack Beeson, American pianist and composer (d. 2010)
1921 – Henri Colpi, Swiss-French director and screenwriter (d. 2006)
1921 – Robert Bruce Merrifield, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2006)
1921 – Jean Heywood, British actress (d. 2019)
1922 – Leon M. Lederman, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2018)
1922 – Jean-Pierre Richard, French writer (d. 2019)
1923 – Francisco de Andrade, Portuguese sailor
1924 – Jeremiah Denton, American admiral and politician (d. 2014)
1924 – Marianne Bernadotte, Swedish actress and philanthropist
1925 – Philip Carey, American actor (d. 2009)
1925 – Taylor Hardwick, American architect, designed Haydon Burns Library and Friendship Fountain Park (d. 2014)
1925 – D. A. Pennebaker, American documentary filmmaker (d. 2019)
1925 – Evan Hultman, American politician
1925 – Antony Carbone, American actor
1925 – Pandel Savic, American football player (d. 2018)
1926 – Driss Chraïbi, Moroccan-French journalist and author (d. 2007)
1926 – Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentinian general and politician, 44th President of Argentina (d. 2003)
1926 – Raymond Gosling, English physicist and academic (d. 2015)
1926 – Sir John Graham, 4th Baronet, English diplomat (d. 2019)
756 – An Lushan Rebellion: Emperor Xuanzong flees the capital Chang’an as An Lushan’s forces advance toward the city.
1223 – Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II.
1420 – Battle of Vítkov Hill, decisive victory of Czech Hussite forces commanded by Jan Žižka against Crusade army led by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor.
1769 – An expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá leaves its base in California and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California).
1771 – Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua in modern California by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra.
1789 – French Revolution: Citizens of Paris storm the Bastille.
1789 – Alexander Mackenzie finally completes his journey to the mouth of the great river he hoped would take him to the Pacific, but which turns out to flow into the Arctic Ocean. Later named after him, the Mackenzie is the second-longest river system in North America.
1790 – French Revolution: Citizens of Paris celebrate the unity of the French people and the national reconciliation in the Fête de la Fédération.
1791 – The Priestley Riots drive Joseph Priestley, a supporter of the French Revolution, out of Birmingham, England.
1798 – The Sedition Act becomes law in the United States making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government.
1853 – Opening of the first major US world’s fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City.
1865 – The first ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom die on the descent.
1874 – The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, destroying 812 buildings, killing 20, and resulting in the fire insurance industry demanding municipal reforms from Chicago’s city council.
1877 – The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 began in Martinsburg, West Virginia when wages of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers were cut for the third time in a year. The strike was ended on Sept 4 by local and state militias and federal troops.
1881 – Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
1900 – Armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance capture Tientsin during the Boxer Rebellion.
1902 – The Campanile in St Mark’s Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta.
1911 – Harry Atwood, an exhibition pilot for the Wright brothers, lands his airplane at the South Lawn of the White House. He is later awarded a Gold medal from U.S. President William Howard Taft for this feat.
1915 – World War I: The McMahon–Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British official Henry McMahon concerning the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire begins.
1916 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Delville Wood as an action within the Battle of the Somme, which was to last until 3 September 1916.
1928 – New Vietnam Revolutionary Party is founded in Huế, providing some of the communist party’s most important leaders in its early years.
1933 – Gleichschaltung: In Germany, all political parties are outlawed except the Nazi Party.
1933 – The Nazi eugenics begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring that calls for the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders.
1938 – Howard Hughes sets a new record by completing a 91-hour airplane flight around the world.
1940 – People’s Seimas held parliamentary elections, and the Union of Labor Lithuania (ULL) won, paving the way for Lithuania to become Lithuanian SSR; Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, consolidating into the Soviet Union on July 21, 1940.
1943 – In Diamond, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.
1948 – Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, is shot and wounded near the Italian Parliament.
1950 – Korean War: North Korean troops initiate the Battle of Taejon.
1957 – Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.
1958 – Iraqi Revolution: In Iraq the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who becomes the nation’s new leader.
1960 – Jane Goodall arrives at the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania to begin her famous study of chimpanzees in the wild.
1965 – The Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet.
1969 – Football War: After Honduras loses a soccer match against El Salvador, riots break out in Honduras against Salvadoran migrant workers.
1969 – The Federal Reserve Banks begins removing large denominations of United States currency from circulation.
1976 – Capital punishment is abolished in Canada.
1992 – 386BSD is released by Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz beginning the Open Source operating system revolution. Linus Torvalds releases his Linux soon afterwards.
2002 – French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations.
2003 – Hurricane Claudette gathers strength over the Gulf of Mexico and heads for the Texas coast, killing two people.
2013 – The dedication of statue of Rachel Carson, a sculpture named for the environmentalist, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
2015 – NASA’s New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System.
2016 – A terrorist vehicular attack in Nice, France kills 86 civilians and injures over 400 others.
Births on July 14
926 – Murakami, emperor of Japan (d. 967)
1410 – Arnold, Duke of Guelders, (d. 1473)
1448 – Philip, Elector Palatine (d. 1508)
1454 – Poliziano, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1494)
1515 – Philip I, Duke of Pomerania (d. 1560)
1602 – Cardinal Mazarin, Italian-French cardinal and politician, 2nd Chief Minister of the French Monarch (d. 1661)
1608 – George Goring, Lord Goring, English general (d. 1657)
1610 – Ferdinando II de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (d. 1670)
1634 – Pasquier Quesnel, French priest and theologian (d. 1719)
1671 – Jacques d’Allonville, French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1732)
1675 – Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French general (d. 1747)
1676 – Caspar Abel, German historian, poet, and theologian (d. 1763)
1696 – William Oldys, English historian and author (d. 17610
1721 – John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (d. 1807)
1743 – Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (d. 1816)
1755 – Michel de Beaupuy, French general (d. 1796)
1785 – Mordecai Manuel Noah, American journalist, playwright, and diplomat (d. 1851)
1795 – Eleanor Anne Porden, British Romantic poet; wife of the explorer, John Franklin (d. 1825)
1801 – Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist and anatomist (d. 1858)
1816 – Arthur de Gobineau, French author and diplomat (d. 1882)
1829 – Edward Benson, English archbishop (d. 1896)
1859 – Willy Hess, German violinist and educator (d. 1928)
1861 – Kate M. Gordon, American activist (d. 1931)
1862 – Florence Bascom, American geologist and educator (d. 1945)
1862 – Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (d. 1918)
1863 – Arthur Coningham, Australian cricketer (d. 1939)
1865 – Arthur Capper, American journalist and politician, 20th Governor of Kansas (d. 1951)
1866 – Juliette Wytsman, Belgian painter (d. 1925)
1868 – Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist and spy (d. 1926)
1872 – Albert Marque, French sculptor and doll maker (d. 1939)
1874 – Abbas II of Egypt (d. 1944)
1874 – Crawford Vaughan, Australian politician, 27th Premier of South Australia (d. 1947)
1878 – Donald Meek, Scottish actor (d. 1946)
1885 – Sisavang Vong, Laotian king (d. 1959)
1888 – Scipio Slataper, Italian author and critic (d. 1915)
1889 – Marco de Gastyne, French painter and illustrator (d. 1982)
1889 – Ante Pavelić, Croatian fascist dictator during World War II (d. 1959)
1893 – Clarence J. Brown, American publisher and politician, 36th Lieutenant Governor of Ohio (d. 1965)
1893 – Garimella Satyanarayana, Indian poet and author (d. 1952)
1894 – Dave Fleischer, American animator, director, and producer (d. 1979)
1896 – Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish soldier and anarchist (d. 1936)
1898 – Happy Chandler, American lawyer and politician, 49th Governor of Kentucky, second Commissioner of Baseball (d. 1991)
1901 – Gerald Finzi, English composer and academic (d. 1956)
1901 – George Tobias, American actor (d. 1980)
1903 – Irving Stone, American author and educator (d. 1989)
1906 – Tom Carvel, Greek-American businessman, founded Carvel (d. 1990)
1906 – William H. Tunner, American general (d. 1983)
1907 – Chico Landi, Brazilian race car driver (d. 1989)
1910 – William Hanna, American animator, director, producer, and actor, co-founded Hanna-Barbera (d. 2001)
1911 – Pavel Prudnikau, Belarusian poet and author (d. 2000)
1912 – Woody Guthrie, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1967)
1912 – Buddy Moreno, American musician (d. 2015)
1913 – Gerald Ford, American commander, lawyer, and politician, 38th President of the United States (d. 2006)
1914 – Fred Fox, French musician (d. 2019)
1918 – Ingmar Bergman, Swedish director, producer, and screenwriter (d. 2007)
1918 – Arthur Laurents, American director, screenwriter, and playwright (d. 20110
1918 – Jay Wright Forrester, American computer engineer and systems scientist (d. 2016)
1920 – Shankarrao Chavan, Indian lawyer and politician, Indian Minister of Finance (d. 2004)
1920 – Marijohn Wilkin, American country and gospel songwriter (d. 2006)
1921 – Sixto Durán Ballén, American-Ecuadorian architect and politician, 48th President of Ecuador (d. 2016)
1921 – Leon Garfield, English author (d. 1996)
1921 – Armand Gaudreault, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2013)
1921 – Geoffrey Wilkinson, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
1922 – Robin Olds, American general and pilot (d. 2007)
1922 – Elfriede Rinkel, German SS officer (d. 2018)
1922 – Käbi Laretei, Estonian-Swedish concert pianist (d. 2014)
1923 – René Favaloro, Argentine surgeon and cardiologist (d. 2000)
1923 – Dale Robertson, American actor (d. 2013)
1923 – Robert Zildjian, American businessman, founded Sabian (d. 2013)
1924 – Warren Giese, American football player, coach, and politician (d. 2013)
1925 – Bruce L. Douglas, American politician
1926 – Wallace Jones, American basketball player and coach (d. 2014)
1926 – Harry Dean Stanton, American actor, musician, and singer (d. 2017)
1926 – Himayat Ali Shair, Urdu poet (d. 2019)
1927 – John Chancellor, American journalist (d. 1996)
1927 – Mike Esposito, American author and illustrator (d. 2010)
1928 – Nancy Olson, American actress
1928 – William Rees-Mogg, English journalist and public servant (d. 2012)
1930 – Polly Bergen, American actress and singer (d. 2014)
1930 – Benoît Sinzogan, Beninese military officer and politician
1931 – Jacqueline de Ribes, French fashion designer and philanthropist
1931 – E. V. Thompson, English police officer and author (d. 2012)
1932 – Rosey Grier, American football player and actor
1932 – Del Reeves, American country singer-songwriter (d. 2007)
1933 – Robert Bourassa, Canadian lawyer and politician, 22nd Premier of Quebec (d. 1996)
1933 – Dumaagiin Sodnom, Mongolian politician; 13th Prime Minister of Mongolia
1933 – Franz, Duke of Bavaria, head of the House of Wittelsbach
1936 – Robert F. Overmyer, American colonel, pilot, and astronaut (d. 1996)
1937 – Yoshirō Mori, Japanese journalist and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Japan
1938 – Jerry Rubin, American activist, author, and businessman (d. 1994)
1938 – Tommy Vig, Hungarian vibraphone player, drummer, and composer
1939 – Karel Gott, Czech singer-songwriter and actor (d. 2019)
1939 – George Edgar Slusser, American scholar and author (d. 2014)
1940 – Susan Howatch, English author and academic
1941 – Maulana Karenga, American philosopher, author, and activist, created Kwanzaa
1941 – Andreas Khol, German-Austrian lawyer and politician
1942 – Javier Solana, Spanish physicist and politician, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs
1945 – Jim Gordon, American drummer and songwriter
1946 – Sue Lawley, English journalist
1946 – John Wood, Australian actor and screenwriter
1947 – John Blackman, Australian radio and television presenter
1947 – Claudia J. Kennedy, American general
1947 – Salih Neftçi, Turkish economist and author (d. 2009)
1947 – Navin Ramgoolam, Mauritius physician and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Mauritius
1948 – Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, Zulu king
1948 – Tom Latham, American politician
1948 – Earl Williams, American baseball player (d. 2013)
1949 – Tommy Mottola, American businessman and music publisher
1950 – Bruce Oldfield, English fashion designer
1952 – Bob Casale, American guitarist, keyboard player, and producer (d. 2014)
1952 – Franklin Graham, American evangelist and missionary
1952 – George Lewis, American musician and composer
1952 – Joel Silver, American actor and producer, co-founded Dark Castle Entertainment
1953 – Martha Coakley, American lawyer and politician, 58th Attorney General of Massachusetts
1955 – L. Brent Bozell III, American journalist and activist, founded the Media Research Center
1958 – Mircea Geoană, Romanian politician and diplomat, 97th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs
1959 – Aubrey McClendon, American businessman (d. 2016)
1960 – Anna Bligh, Australian politician, 37th Premier of Queensland
1960 – Kyle Gass, American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor
1960 – Angélique Kidjo, Beninese singer-songwriter, activist, and actor
1960 – Jane Lynch, American actress and game show host
1960 – Mike McPhee, Canadian ice hockey player
1961 – Jackie Earle Haley, American actor
1962 – Vanessa Lawrence, English geographer and civil servant
1963 – Jacques Lacombe, Canadian organist and conductor
1964 – Brett Ogle, Australian golfer
1964 – Igor Shpilband, Russian-American ice dancer and coach
1965 – Urmas Kruuse, Estonian lawyer and politician, 41st Mayor of Tartu
1965 – Collins Nweke, Belgian politician of Nigerian origin, 1st foreign born person elected to political office in West Flanders
1966 – Matthew Fox, American actor
1966 – Matt Hume, American mixed martial artist and trainer
1966 – Brian Selznick, American author and illustrator
1967 – Marios Constantinou, Cypriot footballer and manager
1967 – Jeff Jarrett, American wrestler and promoter, co-founder of Impact Wrestling
1967 – Patrick J. Kennedy, American politician
1967 – Hashan Tillakaratne, Sri Lankan cricketer
1967 – Robin Ventura, American baseball player and manager
1968 – Michael Palmer, Singaporean lawyer and politician, 8th Speaker of the Parliament of Singapore
1969 – José Hernández, Puerto Rican-American baseball player and coach
1969 – Sven Sester, Estonian politician
1970 – Jacob Young, Norwegian guitarist
1971 – Howard Webb, English footballer and referee
1973 – Tani Fuga, Samoan rugby player
1973 – Paul Methric, American rapper and producer
1974 – Erick Dampier, American basketball player
1974 – David Mitchell, British comedian
1975 – Derlei, Brazilian footballer
1975 – Tim Hudson, American baseball player
1975 – Jamey Johnson, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1977 – Gordon Cree, Scottish singer-songwriter and pianist
1977 – Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden
1978 – Mattias Ekström, Swedish race car driver
1979 – Bernie Castro, Dominican baseball player
1979 – Axel Teichmann, German skier
1980 – George Smith, Australian rugby player
1981 – Matti Hautamäki, Finnish ski jumper
1981 – Robbie Maddison, Australian motorcycle racer
1982 – Dmitry Chaplin, Russian-American dancer and choreographer
1982 – Achille Coser, Italian footballer
1983 – Igor Andreev, Russian tennis player
1983 – Thomas Howard, American football player (d. 2013)
1983 – Tito Muñoz, American conductor and academic
1984 – Renaldo Balkman, American basketball player
1984 – Erica Blasberg, American golfer (d. 2010)
1984 – Lenka Dlhopolcová, Slovak tennis player
1984 – Mounir El Hamdaoui, Moroccan footballer
1984 – Samir Handanović, Slovenian footballer
1984 – Nilmar, Brazilian footballer
1985 – Billy Celeski, Australian footballer
1985 – Darrelle Revis, American football player
1985 – Chris Wright, English cricketer
1986 – Alexander Gerndt, Swedish footballer
1986 – Nikolay Kulemin, Russian ice hockey player
1986 – Dan Smith, English singer-songwriter
1987 – Aqeel Ahmed, English director, producer, and screenwriter
1987 – Margus Hunt, Estonian-American football player, discus thrower, and shot putter
1987 – Adam Johnson, English footballer
1987 – Dan Reynolds, American singer-songwriter
1987 – Sean Smith, American football player
1987 – Ryan Sweeting, Bahamian-American tennis player
1988 – Conor McGregor, Irish mixed martial artist
1988 – Jérémy Stravius, French swimmer
1988 – James Vaughan, English footballer
1989 – Sakari Mattila, Finnish footballer
1989 – Rolando McClain, American football player
1989 – Cyril Rioli, Australian rules footballer
1991 – Shabazz Napier, American basketball player
1993 – Sayaka Yamamoto, Japanese singer
1995 – Megan Cunningham, Scottish footballer
1995 – Serge Gnabry, German footballer
1995 – Kim Hyo-joo, South Korean golfer
1995 – Federico Mattiello, Italian footballer
1997 – Cengiz Ünder, Turkish footballer
Deaths on July 14
664 – Eorcenberht, king of Kent
809 – Ōtomo no Otomaro, Japanese general and Shōgun (b. 731)
850 – Wei Fu, chancellor of the Tang Dynasty
937 – Arnulf I, duke of Bavaria
1223 – Philip II, king of France (b. 1165)
1242 – Hōjō Yasutoki, regent of Japan (b. 1183)
1262 – Richard de Clare, 6th Earl of Gloucester, English soldier (b. 1222)
1486 – Margaret of Denmark, daughter of Christian I of Denmark (b. 1456)
1526 – John de Vere, 14th Earl of Oxford, English peer, landowner, and Lord Great Chamberlain of England (b. 1499)
1575 – Richard Taverner, English translator (b. 1505)
1614 – Camillus de Lellis, Italian priest and saint (b. 1550)
1723 – Claude Fleury, French historian and author (b. 1640)
1742 – Richard Bentley, English scholar and theologian (b. 1662)
1766 – František Maxmilián Kaňka, Czech architect (b. 1674)
1774 – James O’Hara, 2nd Baron Tyrawley, Irish field marshal (b. 1682)
1780 – Charles Batteux, French philosopher and academic (b. 1713)
1789 – Jacques de Flesselles, French politician (b. 1721)
1789 – Bernard-René de Launay, French politician (b. 1740)
1790 – Ernst Gideon von Laudon, Austrian field marshal (b. 1717)
1809 – Nicodemus the Hagiorite, Greek monk and saint (b. 1749)
1816 – Francisco de Miranda, Venezuelan general (b. 1750)
1817 – Germaine de Staël, French philosopher and author (b. 1766)
1827 – Augustin-Jean Fresnel, French physicist and engineer, reviver of a wave theory of light, inventor of catadioptric lighthouse lens (b. 1788)
587 BC – Babylon’s siege of Jerusalem ends following the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.
1174 – William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–74, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.
1249 – Coronation of Alexander III as King of Scots.
1260 – The Livonian Order suffers its greatest defeat in the 13th century in the Battle of Durbe against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
1558 – Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes at Gravelines.
1573 – Eighty Years’ War: The Siege of Haarlem ends after seven months.
1643 – English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down: In England, Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, commanding the Royalist forces, heavily defeats the Parliamentarian forces led by Sir William Waller.
1787 – The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
1793 – Journalist and French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat is assassinated in his bathtub by Charlotte Corday, a member of the opposing political faction.
1794 – The Battle of Trippstadt is fought between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria.
1814 – The Carabinieri, the national gendarmerie of Italy, is established.
1830 – The General Assembly’s Institution, now the Scottish Church College, one of the pioneering institutions that ushered the Bengali Renaissance, is founded by Alexander Duff and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, in Calcutta, India.
1831 – Regulamentul Organic, a quasi-constitutional organic law is adopted in Wallachia, one of the two Danubian Principalities that were to become the basis of Romania.
1854 – In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General José María Yáñez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon.
1863 – New York City draft riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
1878 – Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman Empire.
1919 – The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.
1941 – World War II: Montenegrins begin a popular uprising against the Axis powers (Trinaestojulski ustanak).
1956 – The Dartmouth workshop is the first conference on artificial intelligence.
1962 – In an unprecedented action, British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan dismisses seven members of his Cabinet, marking the effective end of the National Liberals as a distinct force within British politics.
1973 – Watergate scandal: Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of a secret Oval Office taping system to investigators for the Senate Watergate Committee.
1977 – Somalia declares war on Ethiopia, starting the Ogaden War.
1977 – New York City: Amidst a period of financial and social turmoil experiences an electrical blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to widespread fires and looting.
1985 – The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Moscow and Sydney.
1985 – Vice President George H. W. Bush becomes the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery to remove polyps from his colon.
2003 – French DGSE personnel abort an operation to rescue Íngrid Betancourt from FARC rebels in Colombia, causing a political scandal when details are leaked to the press.
2008 – Battle of Wanat begins when Taliban and al-Qaeda guerrillas attack US Army and Afghan National Army troops in Afghanistan. The U.S. deaths were, at that time, the most in a single battle since the beginning of operations in 2001.
2011 – Mumbai is rocked by three bomb blasts during the evening rush hour, killing 26 and injuring 130.
2011 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 1999 is adopted, which admits South Sudan to member status of the United Nations.
2013 – Typhoon Soulik kills at least nine people and affects more than 160 million in East China and Taiwan.
2016 – Prime Minister of the United Kingdom David Cameron resigns, and is succeeded by Theresa May.
Births on July 13
100 BC – Julius Caesar, Roman general and statesman (d. 44 BC)
1426 – Anne Neville, Countess of Warwick (d. 1492)
1478 – Giulio d’Este, illegitimate son of Italian noble (d. 1561)
1470 – Francesco Armellini Pantalassi de’ Medici, Catholic cardinal (d. 1528)
1527 – John Dee, English-Welsh mathematician, astronomer, and astrologer (d. 1609)
1579 – Arthur Dee, English physician and chemist (d. 1651)
1590 – Pope Clement X (d. 1676)
1606 – Roland Fréart de Chambray (d. 1676)
1607 – Wenceslaus Hollar, Czech-English painter and illustrator (d. 1677)
1608 – Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1657)
1745 – Robert Calder, Scottish-English admiral (d. 1818)
1756 – Thomas Rowlandson, English artist and caricaturist (d. 1827)
1760 – István Pauli, Hungarian-Slovene priest and poet (d. 1829)
1770 – Alexander Balashov, Russian general and politician, Russian Minister of Police (d. 1837)
1793 – John Clare, English poet and author (d. 1864)
1821 – Nathan Bedford Forrest, American general and first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan (d. 1877)
1831 – Arthur Böttcher, German pathologist and anatomist (d. 1889)
1841 – Otto Wagner, Austrian architect, designed the Austrian Postal Savings Bank and Karlsplatz Stadtbahn Station (d. 1918)
1858 – Stewart Culin, American ethnographer and author (d. 1929)
1859 – Sidney Webb, 1st Baron Passfield, English economist and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (d. 1947)
1863 – Margaret Murray, British archaeologist, anthropologist, historian, and folklorist (d. 1963)
1864 – John Jacob Astor IV, American colonel and businessman (d. 1912)
1877 – Robert Henry Mathews, Australian linguist and missionary (d. 1970)
1884 – Yrjö Saarela, Finnish wrestler and coach (d. 1951)
1889 – Emma Asson, Estonian educator and politician (d. 1965)
1889 – Stan Coveleski, American baseball player (d. 1984)
1892 – Léo-Pol Morin, Canadian pianist, composer, and educator (d. 1941)
1892 – Jonni Myyrä, Finnish-American discus and javelin thrower (d. 1955)
1894 – Isaac Babel, Russian short story writer, journalist, and playwright (d. 1940)
1895 – Sidney Blackmer, American actor (d. 1973)
1896 – Mordecai Ardon, Israeli painter and educator (d. 1992)
1898 – Julius Schreck, German commander (d. 1936)
1898 – Ivan Triesault, Estonian-born American actor (d. 1980)
1900 – George Lewis, American clarinet player and songwriter (d. 1969)
1901 – Eric Portman, English actor (d. 1969)
1903 – Kenneth Clark, English historian and author (d. 1983)
1905 – Alfredo M. Santos, Filipino general (d. 1990)
1905 – Eugenio Pagnini, Italian modern pentathlete (d. 1993)
1905 – Magda Foy, American child actress (d. 2000)
1907 – George Weller, American author, playwright, and journalist (d. 2002)
1908 – Dorothy Round, English tennis player (d. 1982)
1908 – Tim Spencer, American country & western singer-songwriter and actor (d. 1974)
1910 – Lien Gisolf, Dutch high jumper (d. 1993)
1910 – Loren Pope, American journalist and author (d. 2008)
1911 – Bob Steele (broadcaster), American radio personality (d. 2002)
1913 – Dave Garroway, American journalist and television personality (d. 1982)
1913 – Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, Danish businessman (d. 2012)
1913 – Kay Linaker, American actress and screenwriter (d. 2008)
1915 – Kaoru Ishikawa, Japanese author and educator (d. 1989)
1918 – Alberto Ascari, Italian race car driver (d. 1955)
1918 – Ronald Bladen, American painter and sculptor (d. 1988)
1918 – Marcia Brown, American author and illustrator (d. 2015)
1919 – Hau Pei-tsun, 13th Premier of the Republic of China (d. 2020)
1919 – William F. Quinn, American lawyer (d. 2006)
1921 – Ernest Gold, Austrian-American composer and conductor (d. 1999)
1922 – Leslie Brooks, American actress (d. 2011)
1922 – Anker Jørgensen, Danish trade union leader and politician, 16th Prime Minister of Denmark (d. 2016)
1922 – Helmy Afify Abd El-Bar, Egyptian military commander (d. 2011)
1922 – Ken Mosdell, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2006)
1923 – Ashley Bryan, American children’s book author and illustrator
1924 – Johnny Gilbert, American game show host and announcer
1925 – Suzanne Zimmerman, American competition swimmer and Olympic medalist
1925 – Huang Zongying, Chinese actress and writer
1926 – Robert H. Justman, American director, producer, and production manager (d. 2008)
1926 – T. Loren Christianson, American politician (d. 2019)
1926 – Thomas Clark, American politician (d. 2020)
1927 – Simone Veil, French lawyer and politician, President of the European Parliament (d. 2017)
1927 – Ian Reed, Australian discus thrower
1928 – Bob Crane, American actor (d. 1978)
1928 – Sven Davidson, Swedish-American tennis player (d. 2008)
1928 – Al Rex, American musician (d. 2020)
1929 – Sofia Muratova, Russian gymnast (d. 2006)
1929 – Svein Ellingsen, Norwegian visual artist and hymnist (d. 2020)
1930 – Sam Greenlee, American author and poet (d. 2014)
1930 – Naomi Shemer, Israeli singer-songwriter (d. 2004)
1931 – Frank Ramsey, American basketball player and coach (d. 2018)
1932 – Hubert Reeves, Canadian-French astrophysicist and author
1933 – David Storey, English author, playwright, and screenwriter (d. 2017)
1933 – Piero Manzoni, Italian artist (d. 1963)
1934 – Peter Gzowski, Canadian journalist and academic (d. 2002)
1934 – Gordon Lee, English footballer and manager
1934 – Wole Soyinka, Nigerian author, poet, and playwright, Nobel Prize laureate
1934 – Aleksei Yeliseyev, Russian engineer and astronaut
1935 – Jack Kemp, American football player and politician, 9th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (d. 2009)
1935 – Earl Lovelace, Trinidadian journalist, author, and playwright
1935 – Kurt Westergaard, Danish cartoonist
1936 – Albert Ayler, American saxophonist and composer (d. 1970)
1937 – Ghillean Prance, English botanist and ecologist
1939 – Lambert Jackson Woodburne, South African admiral (d. 2013)
1940 – Tom Lichtenberg, American football player and coach (d. 2013)
1940 – Paul Prudhomme, American chef and author (d. 2015)
1940 – Patrick Stewart, English actor, director, and producer
1941 – Grahame Corling, Australian cricketer
1941 – Robert Forster, American actor and producer (d. 2019)
1941 – Ehud Manor, Israeli songwriter and translator (d. 2005)
1941 – Jacques Perrin, French actor, director, and producer
1942 – Harrison Ford, American actor and producer
1942 – Roger McGuinn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1943 – Chris Serle, English journalist and actor
1944 – Eric Freeman, Australian cricketer
1944 – Cyril Knowles, English footballer and manager (d. 1991)
1944 – Erno Rubik, Hungarian game designer, architect, and educator, invented the Rubik’s Cube
1945 – Ashley Mallett, Australian cricketer and author
1946 – Bob Kauffman, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1946 – Cheech Marin, American actor and comedian
1948 – Catherine Breillat, French director and screenwriter
1949 – Bryan Murray, Irish actor
1950 – George Nelson, American astronomer and astronaut
1950 – Ma Ying-jeou, Hong Kong-Taiwanese commander and politician, 12th President of the Republic of China
1950 – Jurelang Zedkaia, Marshallese politician, 5th President of the Marshall Islands (d. 2015)
1951 – Rob Bishop, American educator and politician
1951 – Didi Conn, American actress and singer
1953 – David Thompson, American basketball player
1954 – Ray Bright, Australian cricketer
1954 – Louise Mandrell, American singer-songwriter and actress
1956 – Mark Mendoza, American bass player and songwriter
1956 – Michael Spinks, American boxer
1957 – Thierry Boutsen, Belgian race car driver and businessman
1957 – Cameron Crowe, American director, producer, and screenwriter
1959 – Richard Leman, English field hockey player
1959 – Fuziah Salleh, Malaysian politician
1960 – Robert Abraham, American football player
1960 – Ian Hislop, Welsh-English journalist and screenwriter
1960 – Curtis Rouse, American football player (d. 2013)
1961 – Tahira Asif, Pakistani politician (d. 2014)
1961 – Anders Jarryd, Swedish tennis player
1961 – Khalid Mahmood, Pakistani-English engineer and politician
1961 – Stelios Manolas, Greek footballer and manager
1961 – Tim Watson, Australian footballer, coach, and journalist
1962 – Tom Kenny, American voice actor and screenwriter
1962 – Rhonda Vincent, American singer-songwriter and mandolin player
1963 – Neal Foulds, English snooker player and sportscaster
1963 – Kenny Johnson, American actor, producer, and model
1964 – Charlie Hides, American drag queen and comedian
1964 – Paul Thorn, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1965 – Eileen Ivers, American fiddler
1965 – Colin van der Voort, Australian rugby league player
1966 – Gerald Levert, American R&B singer-songwriter, producer, and actor (d. 2006)
1966 – Natalia Luis-Bassa, Venezuelan-English conductor and educator
1967 – Richard Marles, Australian lawyer and politician, 50th Australian Minister for Trade and Investment
1967 – Mark McGowan, Australian politician, 30th Premier of Western Australia
1969 – Brad Godden, Australian rugby league player
1969 – Ken Jeong, American actor, comedian, and physician
1969 – Oleg Serebrian, Moldovan political scientist and politician
1970 – Andrei Tivontchik, German pole vaulter and trainer
1971 – Mark Neeld, Australian footballer and coach
1972 – Sean Waltman, American professional wrestler
1974 – Deborah Cox, Canadian singer-songwriter and actress
1974 – Jarno Trulli, Italian race car driver
1975 – Diego Spotorno, Ecuadorian actor
1975 – Mariada Pieridi, Cypriot singer-songwriter
1976 – Sheldon Souray, Canadian ice hockey player
1977 – Chris Horn, American football player
1978 – Ryan Ludwick, American baseball player
1978 – Prodromos Nikolaidis, Greek basketball player
1979 – Craig Bellamy, Welsh footballer
1979 – Daniel Díaz, Argentinian footballer
1979 – Libuše Průšová, Czech tennis player
1979 – Lucinda Ruh, Swiss figure skater and coach
1981 – Ágnes Kovács, Hungarian swimmer
1981 – Mirco Lorenzetto, Italian cyclist
1982 – Shin-Soo Choo, South Korean baseball player
1982 – Simon Clist, English footballer
1982 – Dominic Isaacs, South African footballer
1982 – Nick Kenny, Australian rugby league player
1982 – Yadier Molina, Puerto Rican-American baseball player
1983 – Kristof Beyens, Belgian sprinter
1983 – Marco Pomante, Italian footballer
1983 – Liu Xiang, Chinese hurdler
1984 – Ida Maria, Norwegian singer-songwriter and guitarist
1985 – Trell Kimmons, American sprinter
1985 – Guillermo Ochoa, Mexican footballer
1985 – Charlotte Dujardin, English equestrian
1988 – Marcos Paulo Gelmini Gomes, Brazilian-Italian footballer
1988 – Colton Haynes, American actor, model and singer
1988 – Steven R. McQueen, American actor and model
1988 – Raúl Spank, German high jumper
1988 – Tulisa, English singer-songwriter and actress
1989 – Leon Bridges, American soul singer, songwriter and record producer
1989 – Charis Giannopoulos, Greek basketball player
1990 – Kieran Foran, New Zealand rugby league player
