- 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
Historic Event
1498 Christopher Columbus landed at the mouth of the Orinoco River in what is now Venezuela
Historic Event
1585 Queen Elizabeth I of England refuses sovereignty of Netherlands
- 1590 Publication of Christopher Marlowe's play "Tamburlaine the Great" is recorded by Stationers' Company of London (likely first performed 1587)
Historic Event
1597 Cornelis de Houtman's Dutch fleet arrives back in Holland, the 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 US Army Colonel Worth, after nearly 7 years; more than 3000 Seminole Nation survivors re-located from Florida to Oklahoma, only about 300 allowed to remain [1]
Historic Event
1846 Henry David Thoreau jailed for refusing to pay taxes
- 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
Meeting of Interest
1862 Abraham Lincoln receives the first group of African Americans to confer with a US president
- 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 Ceremony to mark the completion of Cologne Cathedral attended by Emperor William I. First begun in 1248, now the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe.
Historic Event
1882 Queen Victoria receives Zulu chief Cetewayo
- 1885 British Criminal Law Amendment Act raises age of consent from 13 to 16, protects against child prostitution
- 1885 Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.
Historic Event
1890 Cecil Rhodes' colonists reach Mashonaland (Fort Victoria)
- 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
- 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
Historic Event
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 radio broadcast (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 "The Front Page," premieres in NYC
- 1929 Jewish Agency for Palestine forms
- 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
- 1932 X Summer Olympic Games close in Los Angeles, USA
Baseball Record
1933 Jimmie Foxx hits for cycle & sets AL record with 9 RBIs
- 1935 Social Security Act becomes law
- 1936 American swimmers Adolph Kiefer and Al Vande Veghe quinella the 100m backstroke at the Berlin Olympics
- 1936 Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States
- 1936 The Berlin Olympics rowing competition concludes with Germany winning 5 of 7 gold medals, although the United States wins the coveted eights gold
- 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
- 1937 Appalachian Trail is formally completed, traversing 2,000 miles and 14 US States, Georgia to Maine
- 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
- 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
Historic Event
1941 US President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill issue the joint declaration that later becomes known as the Atlantic Charter
Historic Event
1942 Dwight D. Eisenhower named commander for invasion of North Africa
- 1943 -Aug 24th: Quadrant conference over strike in Pacific Ocean
- 1943 1st allied air raid on Borneo
- 1943 US 45th Division occupies Falcone 40 km outside of Messina
Historic Event
1944 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrives at Corsica
- 1944 Operation Tractable: new Canadian offensive
- 1944 Soviet offensive at Weichsel
Historic Event
1945 Ho Chi Minh's Viet Minh movement launch a coordinated uprising against French rule across Vietnam following the Japanese surrender
Potsdam Declaration
1945 Japanese government notifies the Allies that it had accepted the Potsdam Declaration
Victory over Japan
1945 V-J Day, Japan surrenders unconditionally to end WW II (also August 15 depending on time zone)
Sports History
1947 Babe Didrikson Zaharias gives up amateur status for $300,000
- 1947 Pakistan gains independence from Great Britain
Cricket Record
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
- 1948 XIV Olympic Games close at London, Great Britain
- 1949 Military coup in Syria under colonel Sami Hinnawi
Film Premiere
1951 "A Place in the Sun", film adptation of Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy", directed by George Stevens, starring Montgomery Clift, Elizabeth Taylor and Shelley Winters premieres in Los Angeles, California; wins 6 Academy Awards, including Best Director, 1952
Historic Publication
1952 Alan Turing's ground-breaking paper on mathematical biology “The Chemical Basis of Morphogenesis” is published [1]
- 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 Australian driver Jack Brabham clinches his second consecutive F1 World Drivers Championship by winning the Portuguese Grand Prix at Boavista
- 1960 UN peace-keeping troops deployed to the Republic of Congo
- 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
Historic Event
1962 NASA civilian test pilot Joseph A. Walker takes X-15 to 60,000 m
- 1962 US mail truck in Plymouth, Mass robbed of more than $1.5 million
- 1964 Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait and Syria form common market
- 1964 LA Angels pitcher Bo Belinsky is suspended after hotel room fight with elderly Los Angeles Times sportswriter Braven Dyer
The Beatles on Ed Sullivan
1965 Beatles tape an appearance for "The Ed Sullivan Show"
- 1965 Continental Football League plays 1st games
- 1966 1st US lunar orbiter begins orbiting Moon
- 1966 Cleveland Stadium's 1st rock concert: The Beatles headline; fans break through barriers and rush stage causing a 30-minute delay while order is restored
- 1967 Belgian embassy in Kinshasa, Congo, plundered
- 1967 British pirate radio station Radio 270 broadcast from an offshore lugger, is forced to close down
Film & TV History
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.
- 1967 Radio Scotland & Radio Swinging Holland go off the air
- 1968 Montreal Expos officially become a member of NL
- 1969 British Army deploys on the streets of Northern Ireland, marking the beginning of Operation Banner
- 1969 In response to events in Derry, Irish nationalists hold protests throughout Northern Ireland, some of these became violent
- 1969 NY Mets fall 9½ games back, later to win pennant
- 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
Sports History
1973 Johnny Unitas files $725,000 suit against Baltimore Colts
- 1973 US ends secret bombing of Cambodia
- 1974 Congress authorizes US citizens to own gold
- 1974 Turkish army attacks Nicosia Cyprus
- 1974 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1974 USSR performs underground nuclear test
Coup d'état
1975 -15] Pakistani military coup against Bangladeshi President Sheikh Mujibur Rahman
- 1975 Norwegian King Olav V opens Longyearbyen Airport on Spitsbergen
Music History
1975 Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich is buried at the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow
- 1976 10,000 Northern Ireland women demonstrate for peace in Belfast
- 1977 77,691 see NY Cosmos beat Fort Lauderdale Strikers 8-3 at Giants Stadium
- 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
- 1979 Rainbow seen in Northern Wales for a 3 hours duration
- 1980 17,000 workers go on strike at the Lenin Shipyard in Gdańsk, Poland, marking the beginning of the Solidarity movement
Presidential Convention
1980 Democratic Convention in NYC nominates Jimmy Carter for president and Walter Mondale for vice president
- 1981 George Foster hits his 8th HR into red seats at Riverfront
Sports History
1981 Phils Mike Schmidt hits his 300th career HR off NY Met Mike Scott
- 1982 Atlanta snaps an 11-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over Padres
- 1982 Iran "Ramadan-offensive" in Iraq
Music History
1985 Michael Jackson buys ATV Music (including publishing rights to most of the Beatles song catalog) for $47.5M; 10 years later he sells 1/2 of his interest to Sony for $150M
- 1985 Political violence by the youth begins after funeral of assassinated Victoria Mxenge, a civil rights lawyer, who was respected and liked by the Congress of South African Students
Historic Event
1986 Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto arrested
- 1986 Phillies & Pirates play a 6 game series in 4 days
- 1987 "Les Miserables" opens at Rock Theatre, Szeged, Hungary
Baseball Record
1987 Oakland's Mark McGwire sets rookie HR record at 39, en route to 49
- 1988 Detroit beats Sox, 18-6, at Fenway, ends Boston winning streak at 24
- 1988 PGA Championship Men's Golf, Oak Tree GC: Jeff Sluman wins his only major title by 3 shots from Paul Azinger
Historic Event
1989 President P. W. Botha of South Africa resigns
- 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
Sports History
1991 MLB Minnesota Twins Dave Winfield is 23rd to hit 400 HR
- 1993 Nigerian presidential election
Sports History
1993 Reggie Jackson Day - NY Yanks retire 13th # (#44)
- 1993 St Louis reliever Lee Smith is fastest to get 40 saves
Sports History
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 Doc Gooden leaves Betty Ford Center
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
- 1994 Space telescope Hubble photographs Uranus with rings
- 1994 Terrorist "Carlos" arrested in Khartoum, Sudan
- 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
- 1995 Shannon Faulkner becomes 1st woman to attend the Citadel
Historic Event
1997 Convicted Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh formally sentenced to death by Oklahoma Court of Appeals
- 1997 Revival of Sherman Edwards historical musical "1776", featuring Brent Spiner, opens at Criterion Theater, NYC; runs for 333 performances
- 1997 Soyuz TM-25 lands
Historic Event
1998 Winnie Mandela sued by the South African government
- 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 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 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 French swimmer Alain Bernard wins the coveted 100m freestyle gold medal at the Beijing Olympics beating Eamon O'Sullivan of Australia by 0.11
