Selected anniversaries / On this day archive
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An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Main Page 2025 day arrangement |
July 1: Canada Day (1867)
- 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Five American privateer vessels raided the British settlement at Lunenburg, Nova Scotia (depicted).
- 1935 – The first Grant Park Music Festival was held in Chicago's Grant Park.
- 1940 – Second World War: The Grand Quartier Général of the French Army was disbanded, following the French surrender.
- 1960 – Ghana became a republic, with Kwame Nkrumah as its first president.
- 1970 – The Belfast Banking Company, which issued banknotes in Northern Ireland, merged with its rival Northern Bank.
- Rhoda Delaval (d. 1725)
- Plácido Zuloaga (d. 1910)
- David Duke (b. 1950)
- Pauli Murray (d. 1985)
- 1779 – American Revolutionary War: French troops landed near St. George's, Grenada, and began their capture of the island.
- 1990 – Singing Revolution: The Soviet economic blockade of Lithuania (pictured) was lifted when the Lithuanian parliament agreed to suspend the effects of their act to re-establish Lithuania as a state.
- 1998 – Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling, the second novel of the Harry Potter series, was published.
- 2013 – In the Indonesian province of Aceh on the northern end of Sumatra, a Mw 6.1 strike-slip earthquake killed at least 35 people and injured 276 others.
- 2020 – A landslide at a jade mine in Hpakant killed 175–200 miners, the deadliest mining accident in Burmese history.
- Robert Ridgway (b. 1850)
- Leonard J. Arrington (b. 1917)
- Carlos Menem (b. 1930)
- Maria Lourdes Sereno (b. 1960)
- 1810 – Mauritius campaign of 1809–1811: A French frigate squadron under Guy-Victor Duperré defeated a convoy of three British East Indiamen near the Comoro Islands.
- 1970 – The Troubles: The British Army began the Falls Curfew in Belfast, Northern Ireland, which resulted in greater Irish republican resistance.
- 1988 – The US Navy warship Vincennes shot down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
- 2005 – Same-sex marriage became legal in Spain with the coming into effect of a law passed by the Cortes Generales.
- 2017 – In Arizona, the Boundary Fire (pictured) burned out after 32 days, burning 17,788 acres (7,199 ha) of the Coconino and Kaibab National Forests.
- Robert Adam (b. 1728)
- Einar Mäkinen (b. 1895)
- Tom Cruise (b. 1962)
- Teemu Selänne (b. 1970)
July 4: Independence Day in the United States (1776); Republic Day in the Philippines (1946); Liberation Day in Rwanda (1994)
- 1837 – The Grand Junction Railway, the world's first long-distance railway with steam traction, opened between Birmingham and Newton Junction.
- 1918 – World War I: Allied forces led by the Australian general John Monash won the Battle of Hamel, demonstrating the effectiveness of combined-arms techniques in trench warfare.
- 1941 – German AB-Aktion in Poland: After capturing Lwów, the Nazis executed professors of the University of Lwów along with their families.
- 1945 – The Brazilian cruiser Bahia (pictured) was accidentally sunk by one of its own crewmen, killing more than 300 people.
- 1998 – The monster movie Pulgasari, the most-widely-seen North Korean film ever made, premiered in Tokyo, Japan.
- Usama ibn Munqidh (b. 1095)
- Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (b. 1715)
- Andre Spitzer (b. 1945)
- Swastima Khadka (b. 1995)
July 5: Fifth of July in New York
- 1830 – Algiers surrendered to French invaders, ending the Regency of Algiers (coat of arms pictured).
- 1922 – Brazilian Army rebels took over Fort Copacabana and launched a rebellion in Rio de Janeiro against President Epitácio Pessoa and President-elect Artur Bernardes.
- 1937 – The Hormel Foods Corporation introduced Spam, the canned precooked meat product that would eventually enter into pop culture, folklore, and urban legend.
- 1950 – Korean War: In the first encounter between North Korean and American forces, an unprepared and undisciplined U.S. Army task force was routed at the Battle of Osan.
- 1990 – An explosion at a petrochemical plant in Channelview, Texas, killed 17 people and injured five others.
- Sarah Siddons (b. 1755)
- Sophie Wyss (b. 1897)
- John Curtin (d. 1945)
- Megan Rapinoe (b. 1985)
- 1685 – Troops loyal to James II of England defeated those of James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth at the Battle of Sedgemoor, the final battle of the Monmouth Rebellion.
- 1915 – First World War: The British and French prime ministers, H. H. Asquith and René Viviani, met at Calais to discuss future offensives including the Gallipoli campaign.
- 1940 – The Story Bridge in Brisbane, the longest cantilever bridge in Australia, was opened by Sir Leslie Wilson, Governor of Queensland.
- 2013 – In the first fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 airliner, Asiana Airlines Flight 214 (wreckage pictured) crashed on final approach to San Francisco International Airport, resulting in three deaths.
- Godelieve (d. 1070)
- Jean-Marie Defrance (d. 1835)
- Eva Green (b. 1980)
- Ludwig Ahgren (b. 1995)
- 1575 – Anglo-Scottish Wars: A dispute between Sir John Forster and Sir John Carmichael led to a Scottish raid on Northumberland, England, in which 27 men were killed.
- 1800 – War of the Second Coalition: The British Royal Navy force attacked the well-defended French anchorage of Dunkirk (depicted), capturing a French frigate.
- 1937 – The Peel Commission published a report stating that the League of Nations' Mandate for Palestine had become unworkable and recommended the partition of British-administered Mandatory Palestine into two states.
- 1983 – After writing a letter to Soviet premier Yuri Andropov, American schoolgirl Samantha Smith visited the Soviet Union as Andropov's personal guest, becoming known as "America's Youngest Ambassador".
- Momchil (d. 1345)
- Gustav Mahler (b. 1860)
- Mary Surratt (d. 1865)
- Marie-Louise Dubreil-Jacotin (b. 1905)
- 1758 – French and Indian War: French forces defeated the British at Fort Carillon in the British colony of New York.
- 1950 – Korean War: American troops withdrew from Cheonan, in modern-day South Korea, after suffering heavy casualties from a North Korean attack.
- 1962 – Following student protests at Rangoon University, Burmese general Ne Win ordered the demolition of the historic students' union building.
- 1965 – Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 was destroyed by a bomb near 100 Mile House, Canada, killing 52.
- 2014 – In the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-finals at, Germany defeated Brazil 7–1 (players pictured), breaking several tournament records.
- Qatr al-Nada (d. 900)
- Peter Sainthill (b. 1593)
- Christiaan Huygens (d. 1685)
- Beck (b. 1970)
- 1640 – The Virginia Governor's Council made John Punch the first legally recognized slave in England's North American colonies.
- 1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: French victory at the Battle of Melle enabled their subsequent capture of Ghent from the Austrian Netherlands.
- 1790 – Russo-Swedish War: During the Battle of Svensksund in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captured a third of the Russian fleet.
- 1850 – Following Zachary Taylor's death, Millard Fillmore (pictured) became president of the United States, the last member of the Whig Party to hold that office.
- 1995 – Sri Lankan civil war: After advising civilians to take shelter in places of worship, the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed a church in Navaly, killing at least 147 people.
- Ariwara no Narihira (d. 880)
- Mercedes Sosa (b. 1935)
- Shelton Benjamin (b. 1975)
- mxmtoon (b. 2000)
July 10: Independence Day in the Bahamas (1973)

- 645 – In a plot to eliminate the Japanese Soga clan, Prince Naka no Ōe assassinated Soga no Iruka (depicted), beginning the Isshi incident.
- 1519 – Zhu Chenhao declared Ming emperor Zhengde to be a usurper, beginning the Prince of Ning rebellion.
- 1668 – Anglo-Spanish War (1654–1660): Henry Morgan with an English privateer force landed at Porto Bello (in modern-day Panama) in an attempt to capture the Spanish city.
- 1925 – Indian mystic and spiritual master Meher Baba began his silence until his death in 1969, only communicating by means of an alphabet board or by unique hand gestures.
- 1978 – Moktar Ould Daddah, the first president of Mauritania, was ousted in a coup d'état led by Mustafa Ould Salek.
- Ladislaus IV of Hungary (d. 1290)
- Humphrey Stafford, 1st Duke of Buckingham (d. 1460)
- Catherine Cornaro (d. 1510)
- Ed Lowe (b. 1920)
July 11: Day of Remembrance of the Victims of Genocide in Poland

- 813 – Byzantine emperor Michael I Rangabe (depicted), under threat by conspiracies, abdicated in favor of his general Leo the Armenian, and became a monk.
- 1848 – Waterloo Bridge Station, which later became Britain's busiest railway station by passenger usage, was opened by the London and South Western Railway.
- 1914 – The US Navy launched the USS Nevada (BB-36) as its first Standard-type battleship.
- 1960 – To Kill a Mockingbird, a novel by Harper Lee featuring themes of racial injustice and the loss of innocence in the Deep South of America, was published.
- 2010 – The Islamist militia group Al-Shabaab carried out multiple suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, killing 74 people and injuring 85 others.
- Matthew McCauley (b. 1850)
- H. M. Brock (b. 1875)
- Nicolai Gedda (b. 1925)
- Balaji Sadasivan (b. 1955)
- 1913 – Second Balkan War: The Serbian Army began the Siege of Vidin, which they abandoned six days later when an armistice between the Serbs and Bulgarians was signed.
- 1920 – The Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty was signed, with Soviet Russia agreeing to recognize an independent Lithuania.
- 1948 – Arab–Israeli War: Israel Defense Forces officer Yitzhak Rabin signed an order to expel Palestinians from the towns of Lydda and Ramle.
- 1997 – Hayao Miyazaki's animated film Princess Mononoke is released, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan for a few months.
- 2007 – Two U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters (pictured) conducted a series of air-to-ground attacks in Baghdad.
- Josiah Wedgwood (b. 1730)
- Elsie de Wolfe (d. 1950)
- Sanjay Manjrekar (b. 1965)
- Mylène Jampanoï (b. 1980)
July 13: Kashmir Martyrs' Day in Pakistan
- 1260 – Livonian Crusade: Samogitian forces defeated Teutonic knights and the Livonian Order at the Battle of Durbe.
- 1713 – Eight representatives of the Wabanaki Confederacy ratify the Treaty of Portsmouth, ending their hostilities against the British in Queen Anne's War.
- 1942 – World War II: The 1st Filipino Infantry Regiment was converted from a battalion to accommodate a larger number of volunteers spurred on by the Japanese invasion of the Philippines.
- 2013 – Typhoon Soulik (pictured) made landfall in East China and Taiwan, killing at least 20 people.
- 2020 – After a five day search, the body of American actress and singer Naya Rivera was recovered from Lake Piru, confirming her death.
- Wu Yuanheng (d. 815)
- Hubert Walter (d. 1205)
- Harrison Ford (b. 1942)
- Lamine Yamal (b. 2007)
July 14: Bastille Day in France (1789); Festino di Santa Rosalia begins in Palermo, Italy
- 1223 – Louis VIII (seal pictured) became King of France and began a three-year reign.
- 1798 – The Sedition Act became law, making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the U.S. government.
- 1865 – A seven-man team made the first ascent of the Matterhorn, marking the end of the golden age of alpinism.
- 1960 – Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 1-11 ditched off Polillo Island in the Philippines, killing one person and injuring 44.
- 2014 – Lightning strikes started four fires in the Methow River in the American state of Washington, collectively known as the Carlton Complex Fire.
- Andreas Joseph Hofmann (b. 1752)
- Georgiana Hill (b. 1825)
- Mihran Kassabian (d. 1910)
- Herbert Maryon (d. 1965)
July 15: Statehood Day in Ukraine (2022)
- 1410 – The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald, the decisive engagement of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War.
- 1815 – Aboard HMS Bellerophon, French emperor Napoleon (pictured) surrendered to Royal Navy captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, concluding the Napoleonic Wars.
- 1983 – Sega's first home video game console, the SG-1000 (pictured), was released in Japan.
- 2009 – A Mw 7.8 earthquake struck a remote region of Fiordland, New Zealand, the country's largest earthquake magnitude since the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake
- 2018 – Croatian Mario Mandžukić scored the first own goal in a FIFA World Cup final in their defeat to France.
- Joan Beaufort, Queen of Scots (d. 1445)
- Nugroho Notosusanto (b. 1930)
- Betty Wagoner (b. 1930)
- Cherry (b. 1975)
- 1377 – The ten-year-old Richard II was crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
- 1782 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail premiered in Vienna, after which Emperor Joseph II anecdotally remarked that it had "too many notes".
- 1950 – Korean War: A Korean People's Army unit massacred 31 prisoners of war of the U.S. Army on a mountain near the village of Tuman.
- 1994 – Fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 began colliding with the planet Jupiter (impact site pictured), with the first impact causing a fireball that reached a peak temperature of 24,000 kelvin.
- 2004 – Millennium Park, a public park in Chicago, Illinois, and one of the world's largest rooftop gardens, opened to the public.
- Fulrad (d. 784)
- al-Nasir Ahmad, Sultan of Egypt (d. 1344)
- Ellen Oliver (b. 1870)
- Gareth Bale (b. 1989)
July 17: Constitution Day in South Korea (1948); World Emoji Day
- 1850 – William Cranch Bond and John Adams Whipple took a daguerreotype of Vega, the first astrophotograph of a star other than the Sun.
- 1862 – The garrotting and robbery of James Pilkington, a British member of Parliament, led to a moral panic in London.
- 1918 – Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II and his family (pictured) were murdered by Bolsheviks at Yekaterinburg.
- 1944 – Laden with munitions for World War II, two ships exploded at the Port Chicago Naval Magazine in California, killing 320 people and injuring more than 400 others.
- 2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
- Edward the Elder (d. 924)
- Jadwiga of Poland (d. 1399)
- Angela Merkel (b. 1954)
- Wonwoo (b. 1996)
- 1806 – An explosion at a gunpowder magazine in Birgu, Malta, killed an estimated 200 people.
- 1841 – Pedro II, the last emperor of Brazil, was crowned (depicted) at the Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro.
- 1949 – Francisco Javier Arana, the chief of the Guatemalan armed forces, was killed in a shootout with supporters of President Juan José Arévalo.
- 1984 – A gunman massacred 21 people and injured 15 others at a McDonald's restaurant in the district of San Ysidro of San Diego, California.
- 2019 – An arson attack at the studio of Kyoto Animation in Japan led to the deaths of 36 people.
- Abu'l-Hasan Ali ibn al-Furat (d. 924)
- Philip Snowden (b. 1864)
- James E. Boyd (b. 1906)
- Inge Sørensen (b. 1924)
- 1333 – Second War of Scottish Independence: Scottish forces under Sir Archibald Douglas were heavily defeated by the English at the Battle of Halidon Hill while trying to relieve Berwick-upon-Tweed.
- 1545 – The English warship Mary Rose sank outside Portsmouth during the Battle of the Solent; it was raised from the seabed in 1982.
- 1916 – First World War: The "worst 24 hours in Australia's entire history" occurred when Australian forces unsuccessfully attacked German defences at Fromelles, France.
- 1957 – The Ordeal of Gilbert Pinfold, a largely autobiographical novel by Evelyn Waugh, was published.
- 2013 – The NASA spacecraft Cassini took a photograph of Saturn with Earth in the distance (detail pictured), for which people were invited to "wave at Saturn".
- William McSherry (b. 1799)
- Khawaja Nazimuddin (b. 1894)
- Kgalema Motlanthe (b. 1949)
- Sylvia Daoust (d. 2004)
- 1651 – Wars of the Three Kingdoms: After crossing the Firth of Forth, English Commonwealth forces defeated a Scottish army at the Battle of Inverkeithing, opening the rest of the country to occupation.
- 1867 – The United States Congress established the Indian Peace Commission to seek peace treaties with a number of Native American tribes.
- 1917 – Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić and Yugoslav Committee president Ante Trumbić signed the Corfu Declaration, agreeing to seek the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
- 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elected Sirimavo Bandaranaike as prime minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
- 1969 – The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later (bootprint pictured).
- Clements Markham (b. 1830)
- Wiley Rutledge (b. 1894)
- Anna Vyrubova (d. 1964)
- Chris Cornell (b. 1964)
July 21: Belgian National Day (1831), Marine Day in Japan (2025),
- 625 – Paulinus was consecrated as the first bishop of York by Justus, the archbishop of Canterbury.
- 1378 – Unrepresented labourers revolted and violently took over the government of the Republic of Florence (depicted), demanding that they be granted political office.
- 1946 – After weeks of unrest, rioters lynched Bolivian president Gualberto Villarroel, desecrating and hanging his corpse in the streets of La Paz.
- 1959 – The inaugural International Mathematical Olympiad, the leading mathematical competition for pre-university students, began in Romania.
- 1977 – Libyan forces carried out a raid at Sallum, sparking a four-day war with Egypt.
- John Atta Mills (b. 1944)
- Claus von Stauffenberg (d. 1944)
- Jimmie Foxx (d. 1967)
- Lettice Curtis (d. 2014)
July 22: Feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene (Christianity)
- 838 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The forces of the Abbasid Caliphate defeated Byzantine troops led by Emperor Theophilos at the Battle of Anzen, near present-day Dazman, Turkey.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Confederate forces unsuccessfully attacked Union troops at the Battle of Atlanta.
- 1894 – Jules-Albert de Dion (pictured) finished first in the world's first motor race, but did not win as his steam-powered car was against the rules.
- 1944 – World War II: In opposition to the government-in-exile based in London, the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation was proclaimed to govern territory recaptured from Germany.
- 1954 – A limited state of martial law was declared in Russell County, Alabama, due to organized crime.
- Thomas Macnamara Russell (d. 1824)
- James Whale (b. 1889)
- Louise Fletcher (b. 1934)
- Johann Breyer (d. 2014)
July 23: Seventeenth of Tammuz (Judaism, 2024), Birthday of Haile Selassie (Rastafari)
- 1860 – The trial of the Eastbourne manslaughter, which later became an important legal precedent in the United Kingdom for discussions of corporal punishment in schools, began in Lewes.
- 1927 – Wilfred Rhodes (pictured) of England and Yorkshire became the only person to play in 1,000 first-class cricket matches.
- 1942 – The Holocaust: The gas chambers at Treblinka extermination camp began operation, killing 6,500 Jews who had been transported from the Warsaw Ghetto the day before.
- 1995 – Hale–Bopp, one of the most widely observed comets of the 20th century, was independently discovered by astronomers Alan Hale and Thomas Bopp.
- 1999 – In Tulia, Texas, 47 people were arrested for dealing cocaine; years later, 35 of the 47 were pardoned by the Governor of Texas.
- John Day (d. 1584)
- Bonaventura Peeters the Elder (b. 1614)
- Daniel Radcliffe (b. 1989)
- Hassan II of Morocco (d. 1999)
July 24: Pioneer Day in Utah, United States (1847)
- 1411 – Scottish clansmen led by Donald of Islay, Lord of the Isles, and Alexander Stewart, Earl of Mar, fought the Battle of Harlaw near Inverurie, Scotland.
- 1959 – Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev and U.S. vice president Richard Nixon held an impromptu debate at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow.
- 1974 – The Metapolitefsi period began with Konstantinos Karamanlis (pictured) taking office as Prime Minister of Greece after the collapse of the military junta.
- 1980 – The Australian swimming team, nicknamed the Quietly Confident Quartet, won the men's 4 × 100 metre medley relay at the Moscow Olympics.
- 2014 – Air Algérie Flight 5017 disappeared from radar shortly after take-off from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso; its wreckage was found the following day in Mali with no survivors.
- Prince William, Duke of Gloucester (b. 1689)
- John William Finn (b. 1909)
- Ada Baker (d. 1949)
- James Chadwick (d. 1974)
July 25: National Day of Galicia, Saint James's Day, Tenjin Matsuri
- 306 – Constantine the Great was proclaimed Roman emperor by his troops after the death of Constantius Chlorus.
- 1788 – Mozart completed his Symphony No. 40, one of his two extant symphonies in a minor key.
- 1898 – Spanish–American War: After more than two months of sea-based bombardment, the United States invaded Puerto Rico.
- 1943 – The Grand Council of Fascism voted a motion of no confidence against Benito Mussolini, who was arrested the same day by King Victor Emmanuel III and replaced by Pietro Badoglio.
- 1976 – The orbiting spacecraft Viking 1 took a photograph of an apparent face on Mars in a classic example of pareidolia.
- 2007 – Pratibha Patil (pictured) was sworn in as the first female president of India.
- Elliott Fitch Shepard (b. 1833)
- Enriqueta Legorreta (b. 1914)
- Nestor Makhno (d. 1934)
- Beji Caid Essebsi (d. 2019)
July 26: Independence Day in the Maldives (1965), Kargil Vijay Diwas in India
- 1551 – The Knights Hospitaller surrendered the Castello of Gozo to the Ottoman Empire following a brief siege, leading to the mass enslavement and dispersal of the Gozitan population.
- 1759 – French and Indian War: Troops led by French brigadier general François-Charles de Bourlamaque attempted to blow up Fort Carillon, near present-day Ticonderoga, New York, rather than defending it against approaching British forces.
- 1887 – L. L. Zamenhof (pictured) published Unua Libro, the first publication to describe Esperanto, a constructed international language.
- 1953 – The Battle of the Samichon River, the last engagement of the Korean War, ended a few hours before the signing of the Korean Armistice Agreement.
- 2007 – After widespread controversy throughout Wales, Shambo, a black Friesian bull that had been adopted by the local Hindu community, was slaughtered due to concerns about bovine tuberculosis.
- Winsor McCay (d. 1934)
- Betty Davis (b. 1944)
- Liz Truss (b. 1975)
- Ed Gein (d. 1984)
- 1054 – During his invasion of Scotland, Siward, Earl of Northumbria, defeated Macbeth, King of Scotland, in an engagement north of the Firth of Forth.
- 1225 – Saint Mary's Church on Gotland, later to become Visby Cathedral (pictured), was consecrated.
- 1916 – First World War: British mariner Charles Fryatt was executed in Bruges, Belgium, after a German court-martial found him guilty of being a franc-tireur.
- 1949 – The world's first commercial jet airliner to reach production, the de Havilland Comet, had its maiden flight.
- 1990 – Jamaat al Muslimeen, a radical Islamic group, began a coup attempt against the government of Trinidad and Tobago by taking hostages, including Prime Minister A. N. R. Robinson, before surrendering five days later.
- Iwane Matsui (b. 1878)
- Kenneth Bainbridge (b. 1904)
- Ferruccio Busoni (d. 1924)
- Edna O'Brien (d. 2024)
- 1540 – King Henry VIII of England had his chief minister Thomas Cromwell executed for treason and heresy.
- 1866 – Aged 18, Vinnie Ream became the youngest artist and first woman to receive a United States government commission for a statue—that of Abraham Lincoln currently in the Capitol rotunda.
- 1911 – The Australasian Antarctic Expedition began with the departure of SY Aurora from London.
- 1939 – During the excavation of a 7th-century ship burial at Sutton Hoo in Suffolk, England, archaeologists discovered a helmet (reconstruction pictured) that is widely associated with King Rædwald of East Anglia.
- 2005 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army announced the formal end of its armed campaign to overthrow British rule in Northern Ireland and create a united Ireland.
- Louis Antoine de Saint-Just (d. 1794)
- Lucy Burns (b. 1879)
- Vida Blue (b. 1949)
- Zach Parise (b. 1984)
July 29: Torch Festival in China (2024)
- 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Byzantine forces defeated troops of the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion in the mountains of Belasica near present-day Klyuch.
- 1693 – Nine Years' War: French troops defeated the forces of the Grand Alliance led by William III of England at the Battle of Landen in present-day Neerwinden, Belgium.
- 1818 – French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel submitted a memoir on the diffraction of light to the Royal Academy of Sciences, providing strong support for the wave theory of light.
- 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal (pictured), connecting Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, opened on a limited basis.
- 1954 – The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, was published by Allen & Unwin.
- Francisco Rodrigues da Cruz (b. 1859)
- Isidor Isaac Rabi (b. 1898)
- Jaojoby (b. 1955)
- Virginia S. Baker (d. 1998)

- 1724 – Bach's chorale cantata Wo Gott der Herr nicht bei uns hält, a paraphrase of Psalm 124 based on a 1524 hymn by Justus Jonas, was first performed in Leipzig.
- 1811 – Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (depicted), a leader of the Mexican War of Independence, was executed by Spanish forces in Chihuahua City, Mexico.
- 1871 – The boiler of the Staten Island Ferry Westfield II exploded at South Ferry in New York City, killing at least 45 people.
- 1990 – British Conservative member of Parliament Ian Gow was killed outside his home in a car bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army.
- 2014 – More than 150 people died after heavy rains triggered a landslide in the village of Malin in Maharashtra, India.
- Tatwine (d. 734)
- Casey Stengel (b. 1890)
- Gerald Moore (b. 1899)
- C. T. Vivian (b. 1924)
July 31: Lā Hae Hawaiʻi (Flag Day) and Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day) in Hawaii (1843)

- 1874 – Patrick Francis Healy was inaugurated as president of Georgetown University, becoming the first African-American president of a predominantly white university in the United States.
- 1924 – A private senator's bill by Herbert Payne to introduce compulsory voting in Australia became law.
- 1954 – A team of Italian climbers became the first to reach the summit of K2, the world's second-highest mountain.
- 1964 – The space probe Ranger 7 captured thousands of close-up photographs of the Moon over its final minutes of flight and transmitted them to Earth before crashing on the lunar surface.
- 2000 – Three years after being hit by a mudslide, the Ten Thousand Buddhas Monastery (pagoda pictured) in Hong Kong fully reopened.
- Fred Keenor (b. 1894)
- David Norris (b. 1944)
- J. K. Rowling (b. 1965)
Selected anniversaries / On this day archive
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