- 3114 BC According to the Lounsbury correlation, the start of the Mayan calendar
- 523 St John I begins his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1099 Raniero elected as Pope Paschal II
- 1326 Neopagan religious figure Aradia de Toscano initiated into a Dianic witchcraft cult, goes on to found tradition of Stregheria (according to Wicca writer Raven Grimassi)
- 1516 The Treaty of Noyon between France and Spain is signed. Francis recognises Charles's claim to Naples, and Charles recognises Francis's claim to Milan.
Cortés Captures Cuauhtémoc
1521 Spanish conquistadors under Hernán Cortés capture Aztec Emperor Cuauhtémoc in Tenochtitlan marking the end of the Aztec Empire
- 1536 Buddhist monks from Kyōto's Enryaku Temple set fire to 21 Nichiren temples throughout Kyoto in the Tenbun Hokke Disturbance. (Traditional Japanese date: July 27, 1536).
Servetus Arrested
1553 Spanish theologian and physician Michael Servetus arrested as a heretic in Geneva (put on trial the next day, eventually found guilty of heresy and burned to death)
- 1578 Duke Frans of Anjou recognized as protector of Netherlands
Eastward Hoe
1605 Controversial play "Eastward Hoe" by Ben Jonson, George Chapman, and John Marston premieres at the Blackfriars Theatre, London, landing two of the authors in prison for offending the King James I [date approximate]
Jamestown's First Days
1608 John Smith's story of Jamestown's first days submitted for publication
Chief Minister Richelieu
1624 Cardinal Richelieu appointed Chief Minister of France by Louis XIII
Wallenstein Dismissed
1630 Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II dismisses his supreme commander Albrecht von Wallenstein
Mars' South Polar Cap
1642 Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens discovers Mars' southern polar cap
- 1645 Sweden & Denmark sign Peace of Brömsebro
Battle of Blenheim
1704 Battle of Blenheim (Second Battle of Höchstädt): A combined British, German and Dutch army led by John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough, decisively beats the French and Bavarians
French Royals Imprisoned
1792 Revolutionaries imprison French royals, including Marie Antoinette
- 1799 British fleet under Lord Seymour overthrows Suriname
- 1814 Anglo-Dutch Treaty: Cape of Good Hope formally ceded to the British and transporting of slaves prohibited
- 1852 Steamer "Atlantic" crossing Lake Erie from Buffalo to Detroit collides with a fishing boat, sinks with 250 aboard
- 1864 Battle of Deep Bottom, Virginia (Strawberry Plains) & Fussell's Mill, Virginia
- 1868 Earthquakes kill 25,000 & causes $300 million damages in Peru & Ecuador
Ring Cycle Opens Bayreuth
1876 The Bayreuth Festspielhaus opens with the first complete performance of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle
Esquimalt & Nanaimo Railway
1886 John A. Macdonald uses a silver hammer to pound a gold spike, officially completing the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway in British Columbia
Capture of Manila
1898 US forces under Admiral George Dewey capture Manila during Spanish–American War
- 1902 English cricket team beats Australia by one wicket in a famous victory at The Oval, in London
Brownsville Affair
1906 Black soldiers accused of raiding Brownsville in Texas; despite support from local commanding officers, President Theodore Roosevelt orders dishonorable discharge for 167 soldiers; all cleared of wrongdoing 1972, 165 posthumously
- 1906 Chicago Cub's pitcher Jack Taylor ends a string of completing 202 MLB games (187 complete, 15 relief) against Brooklyn Superbas in 3rd inning of an 11-3 win at Washington Park, NYC
- 1907 1st taxicabs operate in New York City, imported by Harry N. Allen
Edward VII meets Franz Joseph
1908 King Edward VII of Great Britain meets with Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria at Ischl; the King tries to persuade the Emperor to advise Germany against aggressive (anti-British) policies
A Royal Fantasy!
1913 Otto Witte, German acrobat and fantasist, is purportedly crowned King of Albania
- 1914 -14] German army occupies forts at Liege
- 1914 Carl Wickman begins Greyhound, the 1st US bus line, in Minnesota
- 1917 A revolt in Catalonia, the province in northeast Spain that has long seen itself as independent
- 1917 Milt Stock (2), Fred Luderus (2) and Possum Whitted of the Philadelphia Phillies steal 5 bases in an inning in 3-0 win against Boston at Braves Field
- 1918 Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) established as a public company in Germany
- 1919 American thoroughbred racehorse Man o' War's only defeat in 21 start career; Upset wins Sanford Memorial Stakes at Saratoga Race Course
Pan-African Flag
1920 Flag designed by Marcus Garvey consisting of three horizontal stripes of red, black and green is adopted as the pan-African flag
Dulcy
1921 Simon Kaufman & Marc Connelly's comedic play "Dulcy" premieres in NYC
Gustav Stresemann Chancellor
1923 Gustav Stresemann becomes premier of German coalition government
President Mustafa Kemal Atatürk
1923 Turkish National Congress selects Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Pasha as 1st President of Turkey
- 1923 US Steel Corp initiates 8-hour work day
- 1926 Enrique Tirabocchi of Argentina becomes the first to swim the English Channel from France to England (record 16 hours 33 minutes)
- 1928 Soviet Union Spartacan Games begins
- 1931 Cincinnati Reds second baseman Tony Cuccinello goes 6 for 6 in 17-3 rout of Boston at Braves Field
Hitler Refuses Hindenburg Proposal
1932 Adolf Hitler refuses President von Hindenburg's proposal to become vice-chancellor of Germany
Ruffing's Winning HR
1932 Yankees hurler Red Ruffing becomes first MLB pitcher since 1906 to hit an extra-inning, game-winning home run in NY's 1-0 win over the Senators in Washington
- 1933 Jacques van Egmond becomes world champion amateur cyclist
- 1935 Roller derby is born when the Transcontinental Roller Derby begins at the Chicago Coliseum
- 1936 Americans Dorothy Poynton-Hil and Velma Dunn take the gold and silver medals in the 10m platform diving at the Berlin Olympics
- 1936 Nida Senff and Rie Mastenbroek make it a Dutch 1-2 in the women’s 100m backstroke final at the Berlin Olympics
- 1936 Rie Mastenbroek of the Netherlands swims an Olympic record 1:05.9 to win the women’s 100m freestyle at the Berlin Olympics, beating Jeannette Campbell of Argentina by 0:05
- 1937 Second Sino-Japanese War: Japanese forces begin the Battle of Shanghai, a conflict that will last 3 months and involve 1 million troops
- 1939 Yankees set AL shutout margin with 21-0 victory over A's
Eagle Day
1940 Battle of Britain: Hermann Goering's "Adlertag" (Eagle Day) offensive happens, intending to destroy the Royal Air Force; 47-48 German aircraft shot down, the RAF loses 25 planes
- 1941 Red army evacuates Smolensk, Russia, as the German army advances
Manhattan Project Begins
1942 The 'Manhattan Project' commences, under the direction of US General Leslie Groves: its aim - to deliver an atomic bomb
- 1943 Red army recaptures Spas-Demensk from the German army in Kaluga Oblast, Russia
Meeting of Allied Generals
1944 Allied generals Bernard Montgomery, Miles Dempsey and Omar Bradley discuss a future breakthrough in the European theatre during World War II
- 1944 British 8th Army occupies Florence
Jackie Gleason Les Tremayne Show
1944 Jackie Gleason Les Tremayne show premieres on NBC radio
- 1946 Britain diverts illegal emmigrants bound for Palestine to Cyprus
- 1948 3 Finnish gymnasts dead heat for the gold medal in the pommel horse section at London Olympics; Paavo Aaltonen, Veikko Huhtanen & Heikki Savolainen all awarded gold
- 1948 Hungarian boxer László Papp wins the first of 3 consecutive Olympic gold medals; beats British middleweight Johnny Wright on points at the London Games
- 1948 Johan Gren scores twice as Sweden beats Yugoslavia 3-1 to win the football gold medal at the London Olympics
- 1948 José Beyaert of France wins the cycling road race at the London Olympics; Belgium takes gold in the teams section beating Great Britain & France
Satchel Paige Pitches 1st MLB Game
1948 Satchel Paige at 42, pitches his 1st major league complete game
- 1948 The United States successfully defends its Olympic basketball title with a 65-21 win over France at the London Games
US Aid Vietnamese Regime
1950 US President Harry Truman gives military aid to Vietnamese regime of Bảo Đại
- 1951 Great Britain & Iraq sign new oil contract
- 1952 Blues singer Willie Mae "Big Mama" Thornton records "Hound Dog" song, written a day earlier especially for her by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, at Radio Recorders Studio in Los Angeles, California
- 1953 4-5 million French go on strike against economizations
Event of Interest
1953 US President Dwight Eisenhower establishes Government Contract Compliance Committee
- 1954 21st NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Detroit 31, All-Stars 6 (93,470)
Baseball Record
1955 Larry Doby's ends AL record of 167 errorless games in outfield
Don't Be Cruel
1956 Elvis Presley releases music single "Don't Be Cruel"
- 1956 WBIR TV channel 10 in Knoxville, TN (CBS) begins broadcasting
Sports History
1958 MLB Cleveland Indians' right fielder Rocky Colavito makes his pitching debut, hurling 3 hitless innings, Detroit 3, Cleveland 2
Sports History
1962 Bert Campaneris of Daytona Beach (FSL) pitches ambidextrously
Sports History
1963 Dave DeBusschere pitches a shutout against the Cleveland Indians
- 1963 US Customs agents confiscate 21 gold coins from Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas
Sports History
1963 Warren Spahn sets left-hander strike out mark at 2,382
Bonnie and Clyde
1967 "Bonnie and Clyde" crime film directed by Arthur Penn and starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway, is released
- 1967 WQLN TV channel 54 in Erie, Pennsylvania (PBS) begins broadcasting
Sports History
1969 Baltimore Oriole Jim Palmer no-hits Oakland A's, 8-0
Election of Interest
1969 Temp Commissioner Bowie Kuhn elected for 7-year term by unanimous vote
- 1970 Pamphlet bombs which scatter revolutionary African National Congress propaganda leaflets explode in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Back Seat of My Car
1971 Paul & Linda McCartney release single "Back Seat of My Car"
- 1972 Dutch KRO-TV transmits 440th & last episode of American western series "Bonanza"
Cricket History
1975 Batsman Viv Richards out for 291 v England for the West Indies, at the cricket Oval, London
- 1975 Bayardo Bar attack: Provisional Irish Republican Army volunteers carry out a gun and bomb attack on a pub in Belfast frequented by Ulster Volunteer Force commanders; 4 Protestant civilians and 1 UVF member are killed
- 1976 South Africa pledges support for a negotiated settlement in Rhodesia
- 1977 1st test glide of space shuttle
- 1977 Randy Bachman quits band Bachman-Turner Overdrive, they then disband
- 1978 Bomb attack in Beirut, 175 killed
- 1980 Suriname president Johan Ferrier ousted
- 1980 Tatyana Kazankina of USSR sets 1.5k woman's record (3:52.47) in USSR
- 1981 American swimmer Mary T. Meagher breaks her own world women's 200 m butterfly record (2:05.96) in Brown Deer, Wisconsin
- 1981 Last broadcast of "The Waltons" on CBS-TV
- 1981 Test Cricket debut of Mike Whitney for Australia versus England at Old Trafford
- 1984 Morocco & Libya sign "Arabic-African Union" treaty
- 1985 South African Defence Force soldiers, travelling in a convoy of more than ten armoured vehicles, surrounded the Thaba-Juluba high school in Soweto and arrest 200 students during a clampdown on school boycotts
- 1986 KRE-AM in Berkeley CA changes call letters to KBLX (now KBFN)
- 1987 Cards outfield sets record of no putouts in a 4-2 in 13 inning
World Record
1987 Jackie Joyner-Kersee ties world record with 24'5½" jump
- 1988 Boston Red Sox win AL record 24 straight home games
- 1988 Palace of Auburn Hills in Detroit opens
- 1988 Ronald J Dossenbach sets world record for pedaling across Canada from Vancouver, BC to Halifax, NS in 13 days, 15 hr, 4 min
- 1988 US beats Jamaica 5-1 in 2nd round of 1990 world soccer cup
- 1989 2 hot-air balloons crash at Alice Springs, Australia, 13 killed
- 1989 US space shuttle STS-28 lands
Music History
1990 American soul singer Curtis Mayfield becomes paralyzed from neck down after stage lighting equipment falls on him at an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York; although unable to perform live, he continued to compose, sing, and record
- 1991 American Michael Ray Barrowman swims world record 200m breaststroke (2:10.60) at the World Championships in Fort Lauderale, Florida
- 1991 US Vice-President Dan Quayle makes a speech attacking lawyers at the annual meeting of the American Bar Association
Sports History
1993 Blue Jay Rickey Henderson pays Turner Ward $25,000 for his #24
South Park
1997 Animated TV sitcom "South Park" debuts on Comedy Central
- 1997 Boston Red Sox trade Mike Stanley back to the NY Yankees
- 1997 San Diego Padres trade Rickey Henderson to Anaheim Angels
- 2004 156 Congolese Tutsi refugees massacred at the Gatumba refugee camp in Burundi
- 2004 28th Olympic Games opens at Athens, Greece
- 2004 Black Friday crackdown by NSS on a peaceful protest in the capital city of Maldives, Malé.
- 2004 Hurricane Charley, a Category 4 storm, strikes Punta Gorda, Florida and devastates the surrounding area.
- 2006 Cleveland Indians first baseman Travis Hafner ties Don Mattingley's MLB mark of 6 grand slams in a season when he homers off Kansas City's Luke Hudson
World Record
2008 American super-swimmer Michael Phelps wins 3 gold medals, all in world record time, in the one day at the Beijing Olympics; 200m I/M (1:54.23), 200m butterfly (1.52.03) and 4 x 200m freestyle relay (6:58.56)
- 2008 Australian swimmer Stephanie Rice wraps up the medley double at the Beijing Olympics when she swims world record 2:08.45 to win the 200m I/M gold medal
- 2008 Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini sets new world record 1:54.82 to claim 200m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympics; runner-up Sara Isaković is Slovenia's first Olympic swim medal winner
- 2008 The Baltic state slides into recession with a 0.9% fall in second-quarter GDP after a drop of 0.5% in the first quarter; it falls deeper into recession in the third quarter when the economy contracted 3.3%
- 2012 Nadzeya Ostapchuk of Belarus is stripped of her shot-put gold medal after failing a drugs test
Crash My Party
2013 "Crash My Party" 4th studio album by Luke Bryan is released (Billboard Album of the Year 2014)
- 2014 Iranian mathematician Maryam Mirzakhani is the first woman to win the Fields Medal in mathematics
- 2014 Israeli and Palestinian cease fire agreed to on August 8 is extended for another 120 hours to provide time for further negotiations
- 2015 76 people are killed & 212 are wounded by an ISIL truck bomb in Baghdad, Iraq
Event of Interest
2015 Swedish Prosecutors announce they are dropping allegations against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange of sexual molestation and coercion
- 2016 American swimmer Michael Phelps ends his career at the Rio Olympics as part of the winning 4x100 medley relay, his record 23rd gold medal
- 2016 Great Britain sets a world record of 3:14.051 to comfortably beat the United States in the women's cycling team pursuit at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics
Olympic Gold
2016 Jamaican sprinter Elaine Thompson wins blue ribband women's 100m gold in 10.71 at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; American Tori Bowie second in 10.83 and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica 3rd 10.86
- 2016 The dominant Great Britain men's crew wins the eight at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; US scores a comfortable win over GB in the women's eight
Event of Interest
2017 Grace Mugabe, wife of the President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe, is accused of assault in Johannesburg, South Africa
- 2017 Gunmen kill at least 18 at a cafe in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, Islamic extremists blamed
- 2017 More than 60 children reported to have died at Gorakhpur Hospital, India, prompting an investigation
- 2019 Entertainment companies CBS and Viacom announce they will merge with a combined 28 billion revenue
- 2019 Measles cases have tripled worldwide in 2019 according to WHO with 364,808 reported against vs 129,239 in 2018
- 2020 Israel strikes historic deal with the United Arab Emirates to normalize relations, Israel suspends plans to annex parts of the occupied West Bank
- 2020 New details about enormous "Terror Crocodile" (Deinosuchus), the size of a bus, with teeth as big as bananas, that lived during late Cretaceous period (75-84 million years ago) in North America published [1]
- 2023 Suspected air strike on Finote Selam in Ethiopia's Amhara region kills at least 26 people as government forces fight Fante paramilitary force [1]
