- 554 Ravenna becomes seat of Byzantine military governor in Italy
- 1183 Taira no Munemori and Taira clan take young Emperor Antoku and 3 sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape Minamoto clan (Traditional Japanese date: 25th Day of the 7th Month of the 2nd Year of Juei).
Letter from Kublai Khan to the Japanese Emperor
1281 During Kublai Khan's second Mongol invasion of Japan his invading Chinese fleet of 3,500 vessels disappears in a typhoon near Japan
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Event of Interest
1498 Christopher Columbus landed at the mouth of the Orinoco River in what is now Venezuela
Christopher Columbus
Event of Interest
1585 Queen Elizabeth I of England refuses sovereignty of Netherlands
Elizabeth I
- 1590 Publication of Christopher Marlowe's play "Tamburlaine the Great" is recorded by Stationers' Company of London.
- 1597 Cornelis de Houtmans fleet is 1st Dutch visit to Java
- 1624 Dutch fleet seizes Callao the Lima in Peru
- 1636 Spanish troops occupy Corbie at Amiens
- 1642 Able Tasman's ships Heemskerck/Zeehaen depart out from Batavia
- 1678 Battle of Mons - French repulse William of Orange
- 1743 Prussian army occupies Saksen, beginning 2nd Silezian War
- 1756 French capture Fort Oswego, NY
- 1758 Battle of Zorndorf: Prussia beats Russia, 1000s killed
- 1762 English fleet occupies Havana
- 1765 Massachusetts colonists challenge British rule by an Elm (Liberty Tree)
- 1782 Suriname forbids selling slave mothers without their babies
- 1790 Sweden & Russia sign Peace of Verela
- 1813 British warship Pelican attacks & captures US war brigantine Argus
- 1816 Great Britain annexes Tristan da Cunha
- 1820 1st US eye hospital, the NY Eye Infirmary, opens in NYC
- 1824 General Lafayette returns to US
- 1825 Dutch King Willem I throws foreign students out
- 1842 Second Seminole War declared over by Colonel Worth; Indians go on to be removed from Florida to Oklahoma
Event of Interest
1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for refusing to pay taxes
Henry David Thoreau
- 1846 The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chondrite-type meteorite strikes near the town of Cape Girardeau in Cape Girardeau County, Missouri.
- 1848 Oregon Territory created
- 1861 79th NY troops mutinies
- 1861 Martial Law is declared at St Louis, Missouri, due to pro-secession sentiment which surged throughout Missouri after the Battle of Wilson's Creek
Event of Interest
1862 Abraham Lincoln receives the first group of African Americans to confer with a US president
Abraham Lincoln
- 1864 -16] Confederate General Joe Wheeler besieges Dalton, Georgia
- 1864 2nd day of battle at Deep Bottom Run Virginia: Federal assault
- 1873 "Field & Stream" begins publishing
- 1875 Society of Regte Afrikaanders establishes in Paarl
- 1876 Prairie View State University forms
- 1880 Construction of Cologne Cathedral completed after it began in 1248 - largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe
Event of Interest
1882 Queen Victoria receives Zulu chief Cetewayo
Queen Victoria
Event of Interest
1890 Cecil Rhodes' colonists reach Mashonaland (Fort Victoria)
Cecil Rhodes
- 1893 France introduces motor vehicle registration, includes a driving test
- 1894 Sir Oliver Joseph Lodge demonstrates wireless telegraphy (radio) using Morse code at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science at Oxford University
- 1897 The town of Anosimena is captured by French troops from Menabe defenders in Madagascar.
- 1900 1st electric tram in Netherland (Leidseplein-Brouwersgracht)
- 1901 SS Islander hits iceberg near Alaska & sinks killing 70
- 1901 The first claimed powered flight, by Gustave Whitehead in his Number 21.
Boxing Title Fight
1903 Champion James J. Jeffries scores a 10th round TKO win over former champion James J Corbett in San Francisco; his 6th heavyweight boxing title defence
James J. Jeffries
- 1905 Ngindo-rebellion killed 5 RC German clergymen in East-Africa
- 1908 Race riot in Springfield Illinois
- 1908 The first beauty contest is held in Folkestone, England.
- 1910 6th International Congress of Esperantists held in Washington, D.C.
- 1911 General Leconte appointed temporary President of Haiti
- 1911 United States Senate leaders begin to rotate the office of President pro tempore (for the time being) of the Senate among leading candidates to fill the vacancy left by William P. Frye's death.
- 1912 2,500 US marines invade Nicaragua; US remains until 1925
- 1914 British field marshal John French & Gen Wilson land in France
- 1915 British transport Royal Edward sank by German U boat kills 1000
- 1917 China declares war on Germany & Austria
- 1919 Chicago White Sox outfielder Happy Felsch ties MLB record of 4 outfield assists in a game in 15-6 loss to Boston Red Sox
- 1920 Little Entente formed by Czechoslovakia & Yugoslavia
- 1920 VII Summer Olympic Games open in Antwerp, Belgium; first time Olympic Oath voiced, doves released to symbolise peace, and Olympic Flag flown
- 1921 Tannu Tuva, later Tuvinian People's Republic is established as a completely independent country (which is supported by Russia).
- 1922 1st "old time" musicians broadcasted on radio (Jenkins-WSB Atlanta)
- 1925 Mount Rushmore Monument first proposed
- 1925 The original Hetch Hetchy Moccasin Powerhouse is completed and goes on line.
- 1928 Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur's "Front Page," premieres in NYC
- 1929 Jewish Agency for Palestine forms
- 1932 X Summer Olympic Games close in Los Angeles, USA
- 1932 Brooklyn Dodgers reliever John Quinn, 49, becomes oldest pitcher to win a MLB game in a 2-1, 10th inning victory over NY Giants at the Polo Grounds
- 1932 Philips makes 1 millionth radio
Baseball Record
1933 Jimmie Foxx hits for cycle & sets AL record with 9 RBIs
Jimmie Foxx
- 1935 Social Security Act becomes law
- 1936 Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States
- 1936 United States beats Canada, 19-8 in poor conditions outdoors to win the gold medal in the inaugural men's basketball competition at the Olympic Games in Berlin
- 1936 American swimmers Adolph Kiefer and Al Vande Veghe quinella the 100m backstroke at the Berlin Olympics
- 1936 The Berlin Olympics rowing competition concludes with Germany winning 5 of 7 gold medals, although the United States wins the coveted eights gold
- 1937 China declares war on Japan
- 1937 Detroit Tigers score MLB record 36 runs in double header vs St. Louis Browns at Navin Field; win 16-1 & 20-7
- 1937 Appalachian Trail is formally completed, traversing 2,000 miles and 14 US States, Georgia to Maine
- 1938 BBC's 1st feature film on TV (Student of Prague)
- 1939 First night MLB game in the City of Chicago is played at Comiskey Park; White Sox beat St. Louis Browns, 5-2
- 1940 Dutch Premier De Geer vacations in Switzerland
Event of Interest
1941 US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue the joint declaration that later becomes known as the Atlantic Charter
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Winston Churchill
Event of Interest
1942 Dwight D. Eisenhower named commander for invasion of North Africa
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Event of Interest
1944 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives at Corsica
Winston Churchill
Victory over Japan
1945 V-J Day, Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW II (also August 15 depending on time zone)
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Event of Interest
1945 Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh movement launch a coordinated uprising against French rule across Vietnam following the Japanese surrender
Ho Chi Minh
- 1945 Japanese government notifies the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration
- 1947 Babe Didrikson Zaharias gives up amateur status for $300,000
- 1947 Pakistan gains independence from Great Britain
- 1948 XIV Olympic Games close at London, Great Britain
Event of Interest
1948 Australian fast bowler Ray Lindwall takes 6-20 as England dismissed for a record low 52 in 5th cricket Test at the Oval; Don Bradman out for 0 in final Test innings
Donald Bradman
- 1949 Military coup in Syria under colonel Sami Hinnawi
Film Release
1951 "A Place in the Sun", directed by George Stevens, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters, is released (Academy Awards Best Director 1952)
Shelley Winters
Elizabeth Taylor
- 1952 Mátyás Rákosi appointed premier of Hungary
- 1953 20th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Detroit 24, All-Stars 10 (93,818)
- 1953 KXLF TV channel 4 in Butte, MT (CBS/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1954 WGR TV (now WGRZ) TV channel 2 in Buffalo, NY (NBC) begins
- 1958 Canadian Football League plays 1st game (Winnipeg 29, Edmonton 21)
- 1958 Cleveland Indian Vic Power steals home twice in 1 game
- 1958 KLM Superconstellation crashes west of Ireland, killing 99
- 1959 26th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: Baltimore 29, All-Stars 0 (70,000)
- 1959 First (American Football League) meeting is held in Chicago; charter memberships handed to Dallas, NY, Houston, Denver, LA and Minneapolis-Saint Paul; 'AFL' named following week
- 1960 UN peace-keeping troops deployed to the Republic of Congo
- 1960 Australian driver Jack Brabham clinches his second consecutive F1 World Drivers Championship by winning the Portuguese Grand Prix at Boavista
- 1961 Philadelphia Phillies crash, 9-2 to Chicago Cubs for 17th straight defeat; 11th straight time opposing pitcher throws complete game against Phillies
- 1962 French & Italian workers break through at Mont Blanc Vehicular Tunnel
Event of Interest
1962 NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A. Walker takes X-15 to 60,000 m
Joseph A. Walker
- 1965 Continental Football League plays 1st games
- 1966 1st US lunar orbiter begins orbiting Moon
- 1966 Cleveland Stadium's 1st rock concert is held, featuring Beatles
- 1967 Belgian embassy in Kinshasa, Congo, plundered
- 1967 British pirate radio station Radio 270 broadcast from an offshore lugger, is forced to close down
- 1967 Radio Scotland & Radio Swinging Holland go off the air
Event of Interest
1967 Celebrity hairdresser Vidal Sassoon cuts actress Mia Farrow's hair into the famous pixie cut, costing $5,000. In reality, just a publicity stunt, Farrow had previously cut her own hair.
Vidal Sassoon
- 1968 Montreal Expos officially become a member of NL
- 1969 NY Mets fall 9½ games back, later to win pennant
- 1969 In response to events in Derry, Irish nationalists hold protests throughout Northern Ireland, some of these became violent
- 1969 British Army deploys on the streets of Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of Operation Banner
- 1970 City University of NY inaugurates open admissions
- 1970 Steven Stills arrested for drug possession
- 1971 Bahrain proclaims independence after 110 years of British rule
- 1971 British begin internment without trial in Northern Ireland
- 1971 Cards Bob Gibson, 35, no-hits Pirates, 11-0
- 1971 France performs nuclear test
- 1972 2 British soldiers are killed by an IRA booby trap bomb in Belfast
- 1972 A Catholic civilian is shot dead during an IRA attack on a British Army patrol in Belfast
Event of Interest
1973 Johnny Unitas files $725,000 suit against Balt Colts
Johnny Unitas
Coup d'état
1975 -15] Pakistani military coup against Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
Event of Interest
1975 Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow
Dmitri Shostakovich
- 1975 Norwegian King Olav V opens Longyearbyen Airport on Spitsbergen
- 1976 10,000 Northern Ireland women demonstrate for peace in Belfast
- 1977 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Pebble Beach: Lanny Wadkins wins his only major title in event's 1st sudden-death playoff with Gene Littler
- 1977 77,691 see NY Cosmos beat Fort Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 at Giants Stadium
- 1979 Rainbow seen in Northern Wales for a 3 hours duration
Presidential Convention
1980 Democratic Convention in NYC nominates Jimmy Carter and Walter Mondale for president
Jimmy Carter
Walter Mondale
Event of Interest
1981 Phils Mike Schmidt hits his 300th career HR off NY Met Mike Scott
Mike Schmidt
- 1983 Robert de Castella wins Helsinki marathon (2:10:03)
- 1984 IBM releases PC DOS version 3.0
- 1984 West Indies complete 5-0 series annihilation of England
- 1985 Political violence by the youth begins after the funeral of assassinated Victoria Mxenge, a civil rights lawyer, who was respected and liked by the Congress of South African Students
Event of Interest
1986 Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrested
Benazir Bhutto
Baseball Record
1987 Oakland's Mark McGwire sets rookie HR record at 39, en route to 49
Mark McGwire
Event of Interest
1989 President P. W. Botha of South Africa resigns
P. W. Botha
- 1990 Angel's Louis Palonia is 74th to hit an inside park grandslam
- 1990 Denver vote for a 1% sales tax to pay for a baseball franchise
- 1991 Twins Dave Winfield is 23rd to hit 400 HR
- 1993 Nigerian presidential election
Event of Interest
1993 Reggie Jackson Day - NY Yanks retire 13th # (#44)
Reggie Jackson
- 1993 St Louis reliever Lee Smith is fastest to get 40 saves
PGA Championship
1994 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Southern Hills CC: Nick Price of Zimbabwe wins his 2nd PGA C'ship by 6 strokes from American Corey Pavin
Nick Price
- 1994 Doc Gooden leaves Betty Ford Center
- 1994 British Open Women's Golf, Woburn, Duke's Course: Liselotte Neumann wins by 3 strokes from fellow Swede Annika Sörenstam; first LPGA sanctioned Open
- 1994 Space telescope Hubble photographs Uranus with rings
- 1994 Terrorist "Carlos" arrested in Khartoum, Sudan
- 1995 Shannon Faulkner becomes 1st woman to attend the Citadel
- 1995 Iran's official news agency, IRNA, reports that Iran has been unable to sell 200 million barrels per day of crude oil since the imposition of a unilateral oil embargo by the US
Music Single
1995 "Battle of Brit Pop" rival bands Oasis (Roll with It) and Blur (Country House) release singles on the same day
Noel Gallagher
- 1997 "1776" opens at Criterion Theater NYC
Event of Interest
1997 Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh formally sentenced to death by Oklahoma Court of Appeals
Timothy McVeigh
- 1997 Soyuz TM-25 lands
Event of Interest
1998 Winnie Mandela sued by the South African government
Winnie Mandela
- 1999 New Zealand win their 3rd Tri Nations Rugby Series as South Africa edges Australia, 10-9 in Cape Town; All Blacks' only defeat comes in final round dead rubber, 28-7 against Wallabies in Sydney
- 2003 Widescale power blackout in the northeast United States and Canada.
- 2004 The Australian women's 4 x 100m freestyle relay team of Alice Mills, Lisbeth Lenton, Petria Thomas & Jodie Henry smash the world record to take gold in 3:35.94 at the Athens Olympics
- 2007 Coordinated bombings in Yazidi communities in Iraq kill at least 500 people, the second-deadliest terror attack of all time
- 2008 Japanese swimmer Kosuke Kitajima repeats his Athens Olympics 100/200m breaststroke double at the Beijing Games winning the 200m in Olympic record 2:07.64
- 2008 Australian women's 4 x 200m freestyle relay team of Stephanie Rice, Bronte Barratt, Kylie Palmer & Linda Mackenzie swims world record 7:44.31 to beat China and take the gold medal at the Beijing Olympics
- 2008 A popular Chinese 1-2 in the 200m butterfly at the Beijing Olympics with Liu Zige swimming world record 2:04.18 to beat teammate Jiao Liuyang
- 2008 French swimmer Alain Bernard wins the coveted 100m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympics beating Eamon O'Sullivan of Australia by 0.11
- 2010 1st Summer Youth Olympic Games opens in Singapore
