- 455 Roman military commander Avitus is proclaimed emperor of the Western Roman Empire
- 660 Battle of Hwangsanbeol: At Nonsan, China a 50,000 strong Silla force led by general Kim Yu-shin annihilate the army of Baekje and kill their leader general Gyebaek
- 695 18 Rabbit [Yax K'uk Mo'], ascends to the throne of the important Maya city state of Copán - reigns for 43 years
- 1517 Gelderse crowd robber murders population of Asperen
Historic Expedition
1536 French navigator Jacques Cartier returns to Saint-Malo, France from his exploration of what is now Canada
- 1541 Estevão da Gama departs Massawa, leaving behind 400 matchlock men and 150 slaves under his brother Christovão da Gama, with orders to help the Emperor of Ethiopia defeat Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi who has invaded his Empire
- 1553 Battle at Sievershausen: Saxons-Brunwick alliance led by Elector Maurice defeat forces of Margrave Albert Alcibiades of Brandenburg-Bayreuth in a bloody battle with 4,000 killed
- 1572 Death of the Gorcum Martyrs: Calvinist militant force the Watergeuzen (the Sea Beggars) capture and hang 19 Catholic priests in Brielle
- 1609 Emperor Rudolf II grants Bohemian protestants freedom of religion
Event of Interest
1672 William III inaugurated as viceroy of Holland and Zealand
- 1686 Germany, Sweden and Spain sign anti-French League of Augsburg
Battle of Interest
1745 French ships carrying Bonnie Prince Charlie to Scotland, the Du Teillay and the Elisabeth, battle HMS Lion eventually escaping, with 107 killed on both sides [1]
United States Declaration of Independence
1776 US Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington's troops in New York
- 1780 Denmark declares neutrality, joining First League of Armed Neutrality to protect shipping
- 1789 French Revolution: the National Assembly renames itself the National Constituent Assembly
- 1790 Russo-Swedish War: Second Battle of Svensksund - in the Baltic Sea, the Swedish Navy captures one third of the Russian fleet
- 1795 James Swan pays off the $2,024,899 US national debt
- 1800 Mt Vernon Gardens becomes site of 1st summer theater in US
Napoleon Meets the Tsar
1807 Second Treaty of Tilsit signed by France, Russia and Prussia
Event of Interest
1815 Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord takes office as the first Prime Minister of France
Event of Interest
1815 King Louis XVIII leaves Ghent for France
Event of Interest
1816 Argentina declares independence from Spain at the Congress of Tucumán
- 1846 Captain John B. Montgomery claims Yerba Buena (San Francisco) for US
- 1846 The territory of the District of Columbia south of the Potomac River (39 mi² or about 100 km²) is returned to Virginia through an Act of Congress
- 1852 Fire destroys 1,100 construction sites in Montreal, Canada
- 1853 Commodore Matthew Perry and four US Navy vessels visit Japan to force them to open up to American trade and end their policy of isolation
- 1860 Temperature hits 115°F in Fort Scott and 112°F in Topeka, Kansas
Event of Interest
1862 Confederate General John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Kentucky
- 1863 Confederate General John Hunt Morgan begins "Morgan's Raid", his cavalry aid into Indiana by leading 2,100 men across the Ohio river
- 1863 US Union troops enter Port Hudson, Louisiana, gaining control of the Mississippi River
- 1864 Battle of Monocacy, Maryland, confederate forces led by Lieutenant General Jubal Early
Historic Expedition
1867 An unsuccessful expedition led by E.D Young sets out to search for Dr David Livingstone (Scottish missionary and explorer)
- 1868 1st African American cabinet member in South Carolina, Francis L. Cardozo as Secretary of State
- 1868 Louisiana and South Carolina are the last states to ratify the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution, guaranteeing civil rights
- 1872 Doughnut cutter patents granted to John Blondel, Thomaston, Maine
$48 Million Prize Money: Anyone For Tennis?
1877 First ever Wimbledon tennis championship begins - first official lawn tennis tournament - men's singles only
- 1878 American inventor Henry Tibbe patents an improved corncob pipe design
Event of Interest
1893 Daniel Hale Williams repairs the torn pericardium of a knife wound patient, James Cornish, without penicillin or blood transfusion
- 1900 The Commonwealth of Australia is established by the British House of Commons
- 1908 CHU (Christian Historic Union) Dutch political party forms
- 1910 Walter Brookins, flying a Wright biplane over Atlantic City, New Jersey, becomes 1st to fly an airplane to an altitude of 1 mile (actually reaching 6,175 feet or 1.169 miles) [1]
- 1914 1st US duplicate auction bridge championship held, Lake Placid, NY
HMS Vanguard Disaster
1917 British battleship HMS Vanguard explodes at Scapa Flow (the result of an internal explosion of faulty cordite), killing 804
- 1918 101 killed and 171 injured in worst US train wreck, Nashville, Tennessee
- 1918 US Congress creates Distinguished Service Medal (not to be confused with other countries' decorations of the same name)
Appointment of Interest
1926 Chiang Kai-shek appointed to national-revolutionary supreme commander in China
- 1926 Coup under General Sinel de Cordes in Portugal
- 1927 William T. Francis named US minister to Liberia
- 1932 The state of São Paulo revolts against the Brazilian federal government, starting the Constitutionalist Revolution
- 1932 Washington Redskins (then Boston Braves) formed
- 1932 Yanks' Ben Chapman hits 2 inside-the-park HRs, tying record
- 1933 Philadelphia-based NFL team Frankford Yellow Jackets sold; rebranded Philadelphia Eagles
Event of Interest
1934 SS-Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler takes command of German Concentration Camps
- 1939 A meeting of 6,000 Indians, held at the Indian Sports Ground in Johannesburg South Africa, launch the Passive Resistance Campaign against apartheid and racial policy in South Africa
- 1940 German Evangelist Church protests against euthanasia pogroms
- 1941 Dutch-American Physicist Abraham Pais is awarded his Ph.D. in Holland five days before a Nazi deadline banning Jews from receiving degrees
- 1943 5th day of Battle of Kursk, USSR: Operation Citadel - Germans occupy Verchopenje
- 1943 British air raid sinks U-435
- 1944 In World War II, US troops secure Saipan as Japan falls
- 1944 U-740 sunk by depth charges from a British Liberator aircraft
Engagement of Interest
1947 Engagement of Britain's Princess Elizabeth and Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten
Event of Interest
1947 Spain votes for Franco monarchy
Sports History
1948 Satchel Paige, 42, debuts in majors pitching 2 scoreless innings for Cleveland in St. Louis
- 1950 13.15" (33.40 cm) of rainfall, York, Nebraska (state 24-hour record)
Event of Interest
1951 US President Harry Truman asks Congress to formally end state of war with Germany
- 1953 1st helicopter passenger service (NYC)
- 1953 Phillies Robin Roberts ends streak of 28 consecutive complete games
Music History
1955 Bill Haley & His Comets "Rock Around the Clock" tops the billboards chart, one of the best-selling singles ever
- 1955 E. Frederic Morrow is the first African American executive on US White House staff
- 1955 Strike in Belgium for 5 day work week
Event of Interest
1955 The Russell-Einstein Manifesto is released by Bertrand Russell in London on the need to avoid nuclear war
Film & TV History
1956 Dick Clark's 1st appearance as host of American Bandstand
Event of Interest
1957 Discovery of element 102 (Nobelium) announced by International team at Nobel Institute of Physics in Stockholm. Named after Alfred Nobel.
- 1958 Giant splash caused by fall of 90 million tons of rock & ice into Lituya Bay, Alaska, washes 1,800 feet up the mountain
Event of Interest
1962 Andy Warhol's first West Coast gallery exhibition in the Ferus Gallery of Los Angeles
- 1962 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Johnston Island
- 1963 Crusher Lisowski beats Verne Gagne in Minneapolis, to become NWA champ
- 1965 John Edrich completes 310* v NZ in 532 minutes, 52 fours 5 sixes
- 1965 Senators Frank Howard ties record with 7 strikeouts in DH
- 1967 WRET TV channel 36 in Charlotte, North Carolina (NBC/CBS) begins broadcasting
- 1968 15.68" (39.83 cm) of rainfall, Columbus, Mississippi (state 24-hour record)
- 1968 BBC-TV broadcasts "Farewell", folk-rock band The Seekers final performance, draws 10 million viewers
Sports History
1968 Wilt Chamberlain becomes the first reigning NBA MVP to be traded the next season when he moves from Philadelphia 76'ers to LA Lakers
Sports History
1969 Tom Seaver's no-hit bid against Cubs ends with 1 out in 9th
- 1970 In Atlanta, Chief-No-ka-homa is joined by cousin Chief Round-the-Horn
Event of Interest
1971 Henry Kissinger visits the People's Republic of China to negotiate a detente between the US and China
Music History
1972 1st tour by Paul McCartney & Wings in France
Event of Interest
1972 Kwame Nkrumah is re-buried in Nkroful in his native Ghana
- 1972 Springhill Massacre: British snipers shoot dead five Catholic civilians and wounded two others in Springhill, Belfast
- 1972 The ceasefire between the Provisional IRA and the British Army comes to an end
- 1972 USSR performs underground nuclear test
- 1973 9th Maccabiah games opens in Tel Aviv, Israel
Election of Interest
1974 Pierre Trudeau's Liberal Party wins Canadian parliamentary election
- 1975 The National Assembly of Senegal passes a law that paves way for a (albeit highly restricted) multi-party system
- 1976 England all out for 71 v WI at Old Trafford, Holding 14 5-7-17-5
- 1976 Houston Astro Larry Dierker no-hits Montreal Expos, 6-0
- 1976 Uganda asks UN to condemn Israeli hostage rescue raid on Entebbe - it does not
- 1978 American Nazi Party holds a rally at Marquette Park, Chicago
- 1978 Nearly 100,000 demonstrators march on Washington, D.C. for ERA
- 1979 A car bomb destroys a Renault owned by famed "Nazi hunters" Serge and Beate Klarsfeld at their home in France. A note purportedly from ODESSA claims responsibility.
- 1979 Dr Walter Massey named director of Argonne National Laboratory
Voyager 2 Spacecraft
1979 Voyager 2 flies past Jupiter
Event of Interest
1980 7 die in a stampede to see Pope John Paul II in Brazil
Event of Interest
1980 Dutch war criminal Pieter Menten sentenced to 10 years
- 1981 Jacksons begin a 36-city tour
Film & TV History
1981 Nintendo release arcade game "Donkey Kong" created by Shigeru Miyamoto in Japan (July 31 in the US)
- 1982 Botham scores 208 in 225 balls, England v India at The Oval
- 1982 Michael Fagan breaks into Buckingham Palace and enters the Queen's bedroom in Buckingham Palace, London
- 1982 Pan Am Boeing 727 crashes in a storm in Kenner, Louisiana, shortly after take-off, killing 153
- 1984 12th Century York Minster damaged in lightning storm
Event of Interest
1985 Colombian drug trafficker Griselda Blanco convicted in New York of manufacturing, smuggling and distributing cocaine and sentenced to 15 years [1]
- 1985 South Africa police arrested Dutch ANC'er Klaas de Jong
Sports History
1986 Atlanta's Dale Murphy doesn't play ending consecutive streak at 740
- 1986 Attorney General's Commission on pornography links hard-core porn to sex crimes
The Bridge
1986 Columbia Records releases "The Bridge", singer-songwriter Billy Joel's tenth studio album
- 1986 Padres trade pitcher Tim Stoddard to Yankees for pitcher Ed Whitson
- 1986 The New Zealand parliament passes the Homosexual Law Reform Bill legalising consensual sex between men aged 16 and older
- 1987 1 million South Koreans demonstrate against Chun Doo Hwan regime
Event of Interest
1987 Colonel Oliver North admits to shredding Iran-Contra evidence
- 1988 Chris Speier hits for the cycle & Ernest Riles hits 10,000th Giant HR
Music History
1988 Jessye Norman begins recording Bizet's "Carmen"
Sports History
1988 Nolan Ryan is 7th to win 100 game on 2 teams, as Astro beat Mets 6-3
- 1989 Two bombs explode in Mecca, killing one pilgrim and wounding 16 others
Cricket History
1990 New Zealand cricket legend Richard Hadlee takes 5-53 in 3rd Test v England at Edgbaston to end Test career with 431 wickets
- 1991 South Africa re-admitted to Olympics
Film & TV History
1992 Kim Basinger gets 1,959th star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
- 1992 Space Shuttle STS 50 (Columbia 13) lands
- 1994 11,000th HR in NY Yankees history (Matt Nokes)
- 1994 Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-18 lands after successful trip to Mir spacestation
- 1994 Sonia O'Sullivan runs world record 2k (5:25.36)
Event of Interest
1995 Former South African President F. W. de Klerk is implicated of knowing and condoning a 'dirty tricks' campaign that was waged against the ANC between 1990 and the 1994 election in a bid to destabilize the organization
Music Concert
1995 Jerry Garcia's unexpectedly final concert with The Grateful Dead, at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois
- 1995 US international postage rates rise to 60 cents per ounce
Blue
1996 "Blue" debut album by LeAnn Rimes is released (Billboard Album of the Year, 1997)
- 1996 US Senate approves 90 cent raise to $4.25 minimum wage
- 1997 Baseball's triple A American Association (formed in 1902) votes to disband
American Pie
1999 Coming of age film "American Pie" is released, directed by Paul Weitz, starring Jason Biggs, Eugene Levy, and an ensemble cast
- 1999 Days of student protests begin after Iranian police and hardliners attack a student dormitory at the University of Tehran
- 2000 Police fired tear gas at fans during a World Cup qualifying soccer game between Zimbabwe and South Africa, setting off a stampede that killed twelve people in Harare, Zimbabwe
The Office
2001 "The Office" mockumentary created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, starring Ricky Gervais and Martin Freeman premieres on BBC Two in the UK
Event of Interest
2002 The African Union is established in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The first chairman is Thabo Mbeki, President of South Africa.
- 2006 At least 122 people killed after a Sibir Airlines Airbus A310 passenger jet, carrying 200 passengers veers off the runway while landing at Irkutsk Airport in Siberia in wet conditions
- 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, Olympiastadion, Berlin, Germany: Italy beats France, 5-3 on penalties; 1-1 after extra time
- 2011 South Sudan gains independence and secedes from Sudan.
- 2011 Super Rugby Final, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane: Queensland Reds beat Canterbury Crusaders 18-13 at home for their first SR title
- 2013 Adam Ondra onsights Cabane au Canada in Switzerland, the second-ever onsight of a 9a (5.14d) route
Election of Interest
2014 Joko Widodo is elected President of Indonesia
- 2014 Spokesperson for Medical Aid for Palestinians claims that at least 7 children have been killed by Israeli air strikes
- 2014 Typhoon Rammasun, one of only three known Category Five Super Typhoons, forms in the South China Sea - goes on to kill 151 people
- 2015 Chuck Blazer receives a lifetime ban from FIFA and all football related activity due to corruption
Sports History
2017 English international footballer Wayne Rooney announces he will leave Manchester United after 13 years to rejoin his original club, Everton
- 2017 Hundreds of thousands protest against the Turkish government at a rally in Istanbul, Turkey
Victory in Battle
2017 Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi proclaims victory over Islamic State forces in Mosul
- 2017 Thai amateur Atthaya Thitikul becomes youngest winner in a female professional golf event at 14 years, 4 months & 19 days at Ladies European Thailand Championship
- 2018 4 more boys are rescued from Tham Luang Nang Non cave, Thailand after being trapped there with 8 others and their coach for 17 days by monsoon flooding (4 boys and their coach remain)
- 2018 Bright pink is the world's oldest biological colour according to scientists, produced by tiny cyanobacteria in 1.1bn-year-old marine shale rock from Taoudeni basin, Mauritania
Event of Interest
2018 Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki and Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed officially end the "no war, no peace" peace deal made in 2000 in Eritrea's capital, Asmara
- 2018 Hedge fund billionaire David Tepper buys Carolina Panthers for an NFL record $2.275 billion
Event of Interest
2018 Jeremy Hunt becomes UK Foreign Secretary after Boris Johnson's resignation
- 2018 Train derailment kills 24 in the Turkish province of Tekirdag
- 2018 UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson resigns after Theresa May takes a softer Brexit stance
- 2018 US coffee company Starbucks announces it will stop using plastic straws by 2020, reducing use of more than 1 billion straws a year
Appointment of Interest
2018 US President Donald Trump names Brett Kavanaugh as his Supreme Court nominee
- 2019 Indian restaurateur "dosa king" P. Rajagopal finally begins his life sentence for organizing a murder, 15 years after he was convicted
- 2019 Northern Ireland MPs vote to extend same-sex marriage and make abortion legal to bring it in line with rest of UK
- 2020 McGirt v. Oklahoma, in landmark case US Supreme Court rules Congress had not disestablished Oklahoma Indian reserves
- 2021 Death Valley, California, hits temperature of 130 degrees F (54.4 C), one of the highest temperatures ever recorded on earth [1]
- 2021 June 2021 declared US's hottest June ever recorded in 127 years, average temperature 72.6 degrees F (4.2 degrees above average) [1]
- 2022 Russian air strike on a residential building in Chasiv Yar, eastern Ukraine kills at least 47
- 2022 Thousands of Sri Lankan protesters storm the Presidential Palace and set the PM's house on fire in Colombo, leading to promises both will resign amid continuing economic turmoil [1]
Barbie Premieres
2023 Fantasy comedy film "Barbie", starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling and directed by Greta Gerwig premieres at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles
US-China Talks
2023 US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Chinese economic leaders end two days of talks in Beijing, aimed at stabilizing relations between the world's two biggest economies [1]
