August 1

• August 1, 527
  Justin I, Byzantine emperor, dies. Justinian I leaves the sole Eastern Roman Emperor and declares his wife Theodora empress
• August 1, 902
  Aghlabid emirate of Ifriqiya, modern day Tunisia, capture the last major Byzantine stronghold on the island, Taormina, completing Muslim conquest of Sicily
• August 1, 1096
  The crusaders under Peter the Hermit reached Constantinople during People's Crusade
• August 1, 1291
  The Everlasting League are formed from three small cantons becoming the basis of Swiss Confederation
• August 1, 1464
  Piero de Medici succeeded his father, Cosimo, as ruler of Florence, after death of latter
• August 1, 1514
  Vasily III, ruler of Moscow, captures Smolensk from Grand Duchy of Lithuania during Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars
• August 1, 1588
  Sir Francis Drake captures the Rosario, one of the largest Spanish Armada galleons
• August 1, 1664
  The Turkish army is defeated by French and German troops in Battle of St. Gotthard, Hungary, which becomes the key episode of the Austro–Turkish War of 1663–64
• August 1, 1672
  King Charles II demonetizes copper tokens and announces copper farthings and halfpence will be minted
• August 1, 1689
  Siege of Derry, Ireland, by the Catholic Army of King James II ends in failure after
• August 1, 1714
  After death of Queen Anne, Elector of Hanover George I accesses the throne of Great Britain and becomes the first King of England from Hanoverian dynasty which ruled to 1901
• August 1, 1759
  British and Hanoverian armies defeat the French at the Battle of Minden, Germany
• August 1, 1774
  Joseph Priestley, English natural philosopher and chemist, succeeds in isolating oxygen from air by focusing the sun’s rays on a sample of mercuric oxide, and calls the new gas "dephlogisticated air"
• August 1, 1794
  Whiskey Rebellion, a tax protest in the United States, begins
• August 1, 1798
  Admiral Horatio Nelson's fleet of 14 ships routes the French fleet capturing six and destroying seven of the 17 French vessels in the Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay, Egypt
• August 1, 1808
  Joachim Murat, French marshal and Napoleon's brother in law, becomes king of Naples and Sicily
• August 1, 1820
  13.8 kilometer-long Regent's Canal opens in London for commercial cargo transfer
• August 1, 1831
  London Bridge is opened to traffic instead of demolished old bridge
• August 1, 1834
  The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 goes into effect abolishing slavery throughout the British Empire: in Canada, in the West Indies and in all Caribbean holdings
• August 1, 1894
  The First Sino-Japanese War between Japan and China over control of Korea is officially declared
• August 1, 1914
  Germany mobilize and declare war on Russia after the last refuse Kaiser Wilhelm II' demand to suspend the Russian general mobilization during the First World War
• August 1, 1934
  United States occupation of Haiti ends after Franklin D. Roosevelt reaffirms an August 1933 disengagement agreement
• August 1, 1941
  The first Jeep car is produced
• August 1, 1971
  The Concert for Bangladesh, a benefit concert to fund relief efforts for refugees from East Pakistan, is organised by former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison

July 31

• July 31, 431
  First Council of Ephesus ends with emergence of cult of the Virgin Mary and exile of Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople, who do not believe that Christ was truly God
• July 31, 904
  Arab forces capture Byzantium city of Thessaloniki for a short term
• July 31, 1498
  During his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus arrives at an island he named Trinidad because of its 3 hills
• July 31, 1703
  English novelist Daniel Defoe is made to stand in the pillory as punishment for offending the government and church with his satire "The Shortest Way With Dissenters", but is pelted with flowers
• July 31, 1922
  18-year-old Ralph Samuelson rides world's first water skis in Minnesota, United States
• July 31, 1932
  The Nazi party becomes the largest single party in the German parliament after German federal election
• July 31, 2007
  Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, the longest-running British Army operation, comes to an end
• July 31, 2011
  In Thailand over 12.8 million people are affected by severe flooding, which couses damages estimated at US$45 billion and leaves 790 people killed, with 58 of the country's 77 provinces affected

July 30

• July 30, 762
  Al-Mansur, the second Abbasid caliph, founds Baghdad and makes it the capital of Abbasid Caliphate
• July 30, 1178
  Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, is crowned King of Burgundy
• July 30, 1358
  Étienne Marcel, a provost of the merchants of Paris and the leader of the Third Estate, is murdered in Paris
• July 30, 1419
  The group of the followers of Jan Hus threw the judge, the burgomaster, and some thirteen council members out of the window of the New Town Hall in Prague triggering Hussite Wars in central Europe
• July 30, 1619
  The first representative assembly in America, the House of Burgesses, becomes the first legislative assembly in America when it convened at Jamestown
• July 30, 1733
  Society of Freemasons opens first American lodge in Boston
• July 30, 1811
  Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, Mexican hero priest, is executed by Spanish firing squad during Mexican War of Independence
• July 30, 1863
  Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company and developer of the Model T, is born in Dearborn Township, Michigan
• July 30, 1864
  The town of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, is burned by Confederate forces under General John McCausland
• July 30, 1930
  The first football world cup, played in Uruguay, is won by Uruguay national football team
• July 30, 1932
  Flowers and Trees, the first commercially released film to be produced in the full-color three-strip Technicolor process, is produced by Walt Disney
• July 30, 1943
  45,000 civilians are killed and practically the entire city destroyed during bombing of Hamburg by the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces
• July 30, 1971
  Lunar Rover is used after Apollo 15 landing on the moon
• July 30, 1980
  British New Hebrides becomes independent and takes name Vanuatu
• July 30, 2000
  Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez is re-elected with 59 percent of the vote
• July 30, 2012
  In the worst power outage in world history, the India blackouts leave 620 million people without power
• July 30, 2012
  In the worst power outage in world history, the India blackouts leave 620 million people without power

July 29

• July 29, 1613
  The Globe Theatre, a 20-sided timber building for Shakespeare's plays, is destroyed by fire during a performance of "Henry VIII", but no one is hurt
• July 29, 1693
  The Army of the Grand Alliance is destroyed by the French at the Battle of Neerwinden in the Netherlands
• July 29, 1773
  A large earthquake destroys so much of Antigua that the Spanish move away and built a new capital on a plateau 30 miles away that becomes Guatemala City
• July 29, 1830
  Bourbon monarchy is overthrown during the July Revolution after attempt of Charles X to limit the political and civil rights, so the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, becomes constitutional monarch of France
• July 29, 1875
  Peasants in Bosnia and Herzegovina in the Balkans rebel against the Ottoman army
• July 29, 1914
  Russia, an Serbia's ally, orders a troop mobilization against Austria-Hungary after Austro-Hungarian forces begin to shell the Serbian capital, Belgrade
• July 29, 1958
  United States President Dwight Eisenhower signs the National Aeronautics and Space Act creating NASA, the United States government agency responsible for the civilian space program
• July 29, 1961
  Wallis and Futuna Islands becomes a French overseas territory
• July 29, 2003
  Second Liberian Civil War ends
• July 29, 2010
  Heavy monsoon rains begin to cause widespread flooding in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, killing nearly 2,000 and leaving roughly a million homeless

July 28

• July 28, 1148
  The siege of city of Damascus by a combined force of crusaders fails ending in a decisive crusader defeat in Second Crusade
• July 28, 1540
  Thomas Cromwell, King Henry VIII's chief minister, is executed
• July 28, 1576
  Martin Frobisher, English navigator, discovers Frobisher Bay in Canada
• July 28, 1751
  In France the first volume of the Encyclopedie, edited by Diderot and Jean le Rond d'Alembert, is published with a print run of 1,625
• July 28, 1794
  French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre and 22 other followers are executed to thunderous cheers, marking end of the Reign of Terror, a period of violence against counter-revolutionary activities
• July 28, 1809
  Arthur Wellesley leads the Anglo-Spanish army to triumph against a French army under the Spanish King Joseph Bonaparte at Talavera de la Reina, some 120 kilometers southwest of Madrid
• July 28, 1821
  Peru declares its independence from Spain
• July 29, 1830
  Bourbon monarchy is overthrown during the July Revolution after attempt of Charles X to limit the political and civil rights, so the ascent of his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans, becomes constitutional monarch of France
• July 28, 1851
  Total solar eclipse is captured on a daguerreotype photograph at at the Royal Observatory in Königsberg, Prussia
• July 28, 1914
  Austria-Hungary invade the Kingdom of Serbia after the last reject an unacceptable ultimatum to Serbia including demand of the person who killed Archduke Franz Ferdinand, starting World War I
• July 28, 1914
  The Foxtrot is first danced by Harry Fox at New Amsterdam Roof Garden, New York City
• July 28, 1915
  United States marines land in Haiti to safeguard the interests of U.S. corporations, staring almost 20-years-long occupation of Haiti
• July 28, 1932
  U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the U.S. Army to forcibly evict the Bonus Army of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C., demanding the immediate payment of their military bonus

July 27

• July 27, 1214
  Philip II of France decisively defeats Emperor Otto IV at battle of Bouvines confirming French conquest of Normandy and other English territories
• July 27, 1245
  Pope Innocent IV pronounces the deposition of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II at First Council of Lyons
• July 27, 1299
  The Ottoman Empire is founded by leader Turkic tribe Osman I, who announces the independence of small principality from the Seljuk Sultanate
• July 27, 1586
  Sir Walter Raleigh returns to England from colony of Virginia with the samples of tobacco
• July 27, 1663
  British Parliament passes a second Navigation Act, requiring all goods bound for the colonies be sent in British ships from British ports
• July 27, 1689
  Jacobite Scottish Highlanders defeat royal force at Killiecrankie during Jacobite Rising
• July 27, 1694
  The Bank of England, one of the oldest central banks in the world, receives a royal charter as a commercial institution to provide war finance to the government
• July 27, 1789
  President Washington signs a measure establishing the Department of Foreign Affairs, forerunner of the Department of State and the first established executive department
• July 27, 1794
  French revolutionary leader Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and placed under arrest
• July 27, 1866
  Successful transatlantic telegraph cable, laid by Massachusetts merchant and financier Cyrus West Field, follows an earlier attempt in 1858, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication
• July 27, 1880
  In the Battle of Maiwand, which ends with British defeat, an Afghan woman named Malalai carries the Afghan flag forward after the soldiers carrying the flag were killed by the British, becoming a heroine for her show of courage
• July 27, 1890
  Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh fatally shoots himself in Auvers-sur-Oise, France
• July 27, 1921
  Researchers at the University of Toronto led by biochemist Frederick Banting announce the discovery of the hormone insulin, which enables an effective treatment for diabetes
• July 27, 1944
  United States regains possession of Guam from Japanese
• July 27, 1953
  The United Nations Command, the North Korean People's Army, and the Chinese People's Volunteers, signed the Armistice Agreement to end the Korean War and established the Korean Demilitarized Zone, de facto a new border between the two nations
• July 27, 1954
  The world's first nuclear power plant generates electricity by nuclear power, at Obninsk, Soviet Union
• July 27, 1976
  In Tangshan, China, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake occurs and becomes, the second greatest earthquake in recorded history, with official casualty figure 255,000 deaths
• July 27, 1990
  Belarus declares itself sovereign by issuing the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic
• July 27, 1993
  Cuban athlete Javier Sotomayor makes jump of 2.45 meters and sets new world record in the high jump
• July 27, 2002
  A Ukrainian Air Force Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes at an air show in Ukraine, killing 77 spectators and injuring more than 100 others and becomes the largest air show disaster in history

July 26

• July 26, 657
  Battle of Siffin occurs between Governor of Syria Muawiyah I and Rashidun Caliphate during the first Muslim civil war
• July 26, 811
  The Bulgarian under monarch Krum beat the Byzantines at the Battle at Pliska and kill Byzantine Emperor Nikephoros I
• July 26, 1529
  Francisco Pizarro is made governor for life and captain-general in New Spain
• July 26, 1758
  British battle fleet under General James Wolfe capture France's Fortress of Louisbourg on Ile Royale in Nova Scotia after a 7-week siege, thus gaining control of the entrance to the Saint Lawrence River
• July 26, 1759
  The French relinquish Fort Carillon in Ticonderoga, New York, to the British under General Jeffrey Amherst
• July 26, 1775
  The Continental Congress established a postal system for the colonies with Benjamin Franklin as the first postmaster general in Philadelphia
• July 26, 1794
  The French defeat an Austrian army at the Battle of Fleurus in France
• July 26, 1830
  King Charles X of France issues five ordinances limiting the political and civil rights of citizens triggering July Revolution
• July 26, 1847
  Liberia becomes the first African colony to become an independent state after Declaration of Independence from American Colonization Society, and promulgate a constitution based on the political principles denoted in the United States Constitution
• July 26, 1848
  Seneca Falls Convention, the first women's rights convention in the United States, sign the Declaration of Sentiments written by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, which leads to the battle for suffrage and women's legal rights
• July 26, 1953
  Fidel Castro leads attack on Moncada Barracks, beginning Cuban revolution
• July 26, 1956
  Egypt nationalize Suez Canal, triggering Suez Crisis
• July 26, 1957
  USSR launches the first intercontinental multistage ballistic missile, R-7 Semyorka
• July 26, 1963
  Syncom 2, the first geostationary satellite, is launched from Cape Canaveral, United States
• July 26, 1965
  Republic of Maldives gains independence from Britain

July 25

• July 25, 306
  After death of the Augustus of the West Constantius Chlorus in Britain, Severus is promoted from Caesar to Emperor by Emperor Galerius, while the troops at Eburacum proclaim Constantius' son, Constantine, which marks start of Civil wars of the Tetrarchy
• July 25, 1564
  Emperor Ferdinand I dies and is succeeded by his son Maximilian II
• July 25, 1587
  Japanese shogun Toyotomi Hideyoshi bans Christianity in Japan and orders all Christians to leave
• July 25, 1593
  Henry IV, France's Protestant King, converts to Catholicism to secure the French crown
• July 25, 1729
  North Carolina separates from Province of Carolina and becomes royal colony
• July 25, 1799
  On his way back from Syria, Napoleon Bonaparte defeat superior Ottoman forces at Battle of Abukir, which temporarily secures French control over Egypt and makes Napoleon more popular in France
• July 25, 1826
  Five members of Decembrist Revolt in Russia are executed by hanging in Saint Petersburg
• July 25, 1837
  Between Euston and Camden Town in London, William Cooke and Charles Wheatstone successfully demonstrate the first commercial use of an electric telegraph
• July 25, 1894
  Japanese forces sink the British steamer Kowshing bringing Chinese reinforcements to Korea, which becomes the first naval battle of the First Sino-Japanese War
• July 25, 1909
  Louis Blériot of France makes the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air machine, in 37 minutes
• July 25, 1934
  Austrian Nazis assassinate Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss of Austria during a failed coup attempt
• July 25, 1957
  Monarchy in Tunisia abolished in favor of a republic and the beylical office is terminated
• July 25, 1978
  Louise Brown, a British citizen, becomes the first "test tube baby", human born through in vitro fertilization
• July 25, 2000
  Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde scheduled from Paris to New York City crashes into a hotel in nearby Gonesse hundred passengers and nine crew members aboard after ignition of fuel tanks, which becomes the only fatal Concorde accident
• July 25, 2007
  Pratibha Patil is sworn in as India's first female president
• July 25, 2010
  Wikileaks, an online publisher of anonymous, covert, and classified material, leaks to the public over 90,000 internal reports about the United States-led involvement in the War in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010

July 24

• July 24, 356 BC
  Herostratus, inhabitant of Ephesus, ancient city in Greece, now Turkey, burns down the Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, in order to become famous
• July 24, 1534
  French navigator Jacques Cartier, traveling to discover a western passage to the markets of Asia, lands in Canada and claims it for France
• July 24, 1567
  In Loch Leven Castle prison, Queen of Scots Mary, is forced to abdicate her throne to her one-year-old son James VI
• July 24, 1651
  Anthony Johnson, an Angolan black, who achieved freedom, receives grant of 250 acres in Virginia and becomes a property owner and slaveholder
• July 24, 1701
  Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac establishes Fort Ponchartrain for France on the future site of the city of Detroit, Michigan, in an attempt to halt the advance of the English into the western Great Lakes region
• July 24, 1704
  Admiral George Rooke with an Anglo-Dutch fleet takes Gibraltar from the Spanish in the War of Spanish Succession
• July 24, 1766
  At Fort Ontario, Canada, Ottawa chief Pontiac and William Johnson sign a peace agreement formally ending the Pontiac's War
• July 24, 1779
  The Siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish and French is begun
• July 24, 1783
  Georgia becomes a protectorate of tsarist Russia
• July 24, 1791
  Maximilien de Robespierre expels all Jacobins opposed to the principles of the French Revolution
• July 24, 1847
  Mormon leader Brigham Young and his followers, the first members of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints arrive in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in present-day Utah
• July 24, 1883
  Matthew Webb, the first person to swim the English Channel, drowns while trying to swim across the Niagara River just below the falls
• July 24, 1911
  American historian Hiram Bingham III with help of local farmer Melchor Arteaga re-discovers Machu Picchu, "the Lost City of the Incas", bringing it to international attention
• July 24, 1923
  Treaty of Lausanne, signed by representatives from the Great Britain, France, Italy and Turkey, leads to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey"
• July 24, 1924
  FIDE, The World Chess Federation is founded as a kind of players' union in Paris, France
• July 24, 1959
  US Vice President Richard Nixon argues with Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev at the opening of the American National Exhibition at Sokolniki Park in Moscow, known as "Kitchen Debate"

July 23

• July 23, 1759
  Russians under Saltikov defeat Prussians at Kay in eastern Germany, and one-fourth of Prussian army of 27,000 lost
• July 23, 1785
  Prussia's King Frederick the Great forms Fürstenbund, an alliance of mostly Protestant princes in the Holy Roman Empire to oppose the long-cherished ambition of Joseph II to add Bavaria to the Habsburg domains
• July 23, 1829
  William Austin Burt, an American inventor, receives a patent for his typographer, a forerunner of the typewriter
• July 23, 1868
  The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is ratified, granting freed slaves full citizenship and equal protection under the laws, however it did not spell out the extent of integration with white America
• July 23, 1920
  British East Africa Protectorate is turned into a colony and renamed Kenya, for its highest mountain
• July 23, 1952
  A military junta in Egypt under command of Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrows King Farouk and proclaims republic
• July 23, 1967
  Massive riot erupts in Detroit after confrontation between police officers and African American bar patrons leaving in 5 days, 43 people dead, 467 injured, and thousands of buildings destroyed
• July 23, 1972
  First Earth Resources Technology Satellite is launched for obtaining information on agricultural and forestry resources, geology and mineral resources
• July 23, 1985
  Commodore International introduces the Amiga 1000 computer, which features custom color graphics and stereo sound processors, a multitasking, windowing operating system

July 22

• July 22, 1298
  King Edward I combines bowmen and cavalry to defeat William Wallace's Scots at Falkirk
• July 22, 1306
  Philip IV of France seizes all Jewish property and expels about 100,000 men from France
• July 22, 1456
  At the Battle of Belgrade, the Hungarian army under prince Janos Hunyadi beat sultan Mehmed II ending the siege of Belgrade with fail
• July 22, 1587
  A second English colony of 114-150 people under John White, financed by Sir Walter Raleigh, is established on Roanoke Island off North Carolina
• July 22, 1620
  The Pilgrims, early English settlers of the Plymouth Colony in present-day Plymouth, United States, set out from Holland destined for the New World via Southampton in England
• July 22, 1652
  Prince Conde's rebels narrowly defeat Chief Minister Mazarin's loyalist forces at St. Martin, near Paris
• July 22, 1745
  Second Jacobite Rebellion begins by Charles Edward Stuart in Scotland
• July 22, 1795
  Spain sign the Peace of Basel, a treaty with France ending the War of the Pyrenees and ceding Santo Domingo to France
• July 22, 1796
  Cleveland, Ohio, is founded by General Moses Cleaveland while surveying the land
• July 22, 1802
  A British exploring party led by Matthew Flinders set sail from Sydney to make the first circumnavigation of the Australia and identify it as a continent
• July 22, 1812
  English troops under the Duke of Wellington defeats the French at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain
• July 22, 1864
  The Battle of Atlanta reachs its peak when Confederate General John Bell Hood launches an all-out attack on Union General William T. Sherman's Army
• July 22, 1894
  The first major automobile race with prizes and a promoter is organized as a reliability trial by Le Petit Journal of Paris on the 78-kilometer route between Paris and Rouen, France
• July 22, 1972
  Venera 8 lands on Venus
• July 22, 1994
  Shoemaker-Levy Comet strikes Jupiter
• July 22, 2011
  Anders Behring Breivik kills 77 people in twin terrorist attacks in Norway after a bombing in the Regjeringskvartalet government center in Oslo and a shooting at a political youth camp on the island of Utøya

July 21

• July 21, 365
  An earthquake with epicenter in Crete levels the Egyptian Port of Alexandria as well as the Roman outpost of Leptis Magna in Libya, while thousands people dies
• July 21, 1403
  Henry IV defeats the rebel forces of English nobleman Henry Percy in the Battle of Shrewsbury during Glyndŵr Rising
• July 21, 1669
  John Locke's Constitution of English colony Carolina is approved
• July 21, 1711
  Russia and Turkey sign the Treaty of Pruth, which ends the year-long Russo-Turkish War and stipulates the return of Azov to the Ottomans and destruction of Taganrog and several Russian fortresses
• July 21, 1718
  The Turkish threat to Europe is eliminated with the signing of the Treaty of Passarowitz between Austria, Venice and the Ottoman Empire, starting Tulip period of the Ottoman Empire, a relatively peaceful period, during which the Ottoman Empire orients towards Europe
• July 21, 1773
  Pope Clement XIV promulgates Dominus ac Redemptor, a papal brief by which the Society of Jesus is suppressed
• July 21, 1798
  Napoleon Bonaparte defeats Murad Bey and his Mameluke warriors on the outskirts of Cairo at the Battle of the Pyramids ending 700 years of Mamluk rule in Egypt
• July 21, 1822
  Agustín de Iturbide, a Mexican army general and politician, is crowned Agustín I and becomes the first Emperor of Mexico
• July 21, 1831
  The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands leads to the creation of Belgium as independent country with Leopold I, who takes the oath as King of the Belgians
• July 21, 1832
  Treaty of Constantinople grants Greek independence
• July 21, 1861
  In the first major battle of the Civil War, known as First Battle of Bull Run, Confederate forces repel an attempt by the Union Army to turn their flank in Virginia
• July 21, 1873
  At Adair, Iowa, more than seven years after the Liberty holdup, the James-Younger gang makes their first train robbery
• July 21, 1917
  Alexander Kerensky, a moderate socialist party member, becomes Russian Prime Minister
• July 21, 1925
  John Scopes, a Tennessee high school teacher, is indicted for teaching the theory of evolution to students of his science classes in violation of a Tennessee state law, and fined US$100
• July 21, 1954
  At Geneva, Switzerland, France agrees to independence of North and South Vietnam ending the First Indochina War
• July 21, 1969
  American astronaut Neil Armstrong steps off the lunar landing module Eagle during the spaceflight Apollo 11, becoming the first human to walk on the surface of the moon
• July 21, 1973
  USSR launches Mars 4 for fly-by of the red planet

July 20

• July 20, 1054
  Patriarch of Constantinople excommunicates the Bishop of Rome after legates of Pope Leo IX deposited a bull of excommunication on the altar during liturgy in the Hagia Sophia, which becomes the final step in the Great Schism between the Catholic and Orthodox churches
• July 20, 1402
  In the Battle of Ankara the Turko-Mongol forces, led by Timur, the founder of Timurid Empire, defeat the Ottoman Turks and capture Sultan Bayezid I, which causes a period of crisis for the Ottoman Empire
• July 20, 1715
  The Riot Act, which authorizes local authorities to declare any group of twelve or more people to be unlawfully assembled, goes into effect in England
• July 20, 1740
  British attempt to capture St. Augustine, Florida fails after loss to the Spanish during the Siege of St. Augustine
• July 20, 1810
  Colombia declares independence from Spain
• July 20, 1877
  Russian forces begins siege of Plevna during the Russo-Turkish War
• July 20, 1881
  Sioux Indian leader Sitting Bull, a fugitive since the Battle of the Little Big Horn, surrenders to federal troops
• July 20, 1903
  Giuseppe Sarto is elected Pope Pius X
• July 20, 1949
  Egypt, Lebanon, Transjordan, and Syria sign armistice agreement with Israel ending 19-month war of independence
• July 20, 1951
  King Abdullah I bin al-Hussein of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian in Jerusalem
• July 20, 1956
  France recognizes Tunisia's independence
• July 20, 1974
  Turkey invades Cyprus starting occupation of northern Cyprus to prevent Greek takeover of island
• July 20, 2001
  During the 27th G8 summit in Genoa, Italy, massive demonstrations are held against the meeting by anti-globalisation groups, and pne demonstrator, Carlo Giuliani, is shot dead by a carabiniere

July 19

• July 19, 64
  The Great Fire begins in Rome and destroys ten of the fourteen districts of city during next six days, which lets Roman Emperor Nero to blame Christians and begins persecutions of them
• July 19, 1553
  15-year-old Lady Jane Grey, daughter of John Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland, is deposed as Queen of England after claiming the crown for nine days; Mary, the daughter of King Henry VIII, is s proclaimed Queen
• July 19, 1610
  Polish King Wladyslaw IV Vasa is crowned Tsar of Russia
• July 19, 1821
  The coronation of George IV of England is held
• July 19, 1834
  Edgar Degas, French impressionist painter, is born
• July 19, 1870
  Emperor Napoleon III of France declares war on Germany under Otto von Bismarck beginning Franco-Prussian War, which results in the unifications of Germany and Italy and the emergence of a New Imperialism
• July 19, 1943
  Allied air forces raid Rome, Italy
• July 19, 1970
  Edward Heath becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
• July 19, 1975
  Apollo, an Apollo spacecraft, and Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 19, linked in orbit for two days, separate
• July 19, 1993
  President Bill Clinton announces "don't ask, don't tell" policy concerning gays serving in the U.S. military
• July 19, 2009
  Amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley discovers impact on Jupiter that causes a black spot in the planet's atmosphere

July 18

• July 18, 390 BC
  Gauls decisively defeat Roman forces and inflict heavy casualties on Romans at the battle of Allia
• July 18, 1858
  The summer Great Stink takes place when the smell of untreated sewage almost overwhelmed people in central London, England
• July 18, 1872
  Britain introduced the Ballot Act for voting by secret ballot
• July 18, 1925
  Mein Kampf, an autobiographical manifesto outlining future plans for Germany, is published by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler
• July 18, 1936
  General Francisco Franco leads uprising in Spanish Morocco starting Spanish Civil War between Republican, loyal to the democratic Spanish Republic, and Nationalist forces backed by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy
• July 18, 1995
  Eruption of Soufrière Hills volcano in the southern part of Montserrat, a British overseas territory in the Caribbean, destroys Montserrat's capital city of Plymouth and leads to emigration of two-thirds of the island's population
• July 18, 2003
  Second Congo War ends with more than 5 million dead

July 17

• July 17, 1453
  Actively used artillery France defeat England at the Battle at Castillon in France, marking end of the Hundred Years War
• July 17, 1695
  The Bank of Scotland is founded, and is granted a 21-year banking monopoly with note-issuing privileges
• July 17, 1762
  Peter III, Emperor of Russia, is murdered by conspiracy led by his wife, German Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, who becomes Empress of Russia Catherine II
• July 17, 1789
  The Great Fear caused by peasant rebellions swept through France as the Revolution continued
• July 17, 1830
  French tailor Barthélemy Thimonnier patents the first practical and widely used sewing machine
• July 17, 1850
  Astronomer William Cranch Bond and photographer John Adams Whipple focus on Vega and produce the first photograph of a star
• July 17, 1876
  At Warbonnet Creek, Nebraska, Buffalo Bill Cody, an American soldier, takes the scalp of Cheyenne Chief Yellow Hair following a duel
• July 17, 1898
  United States troops under General William Rufus Shafter take Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War
• July 17, 1902
  Willis Carrier, an American engineer, publishes drawings for the world's first modern air conditioning system to depress relative humidity due to quality problems in the Sackett-Wilhelms Lithographing
• July 17, 1945
  American President Harry Truman, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet at Schloss Cecilienhof in Potsdam near Berlin, Germany and divide Europe into Western and Soviet blocs
• July 17, 1955
  Disneyland theme park opens in Anaheim, California, with eighteen attractions which attract 28,000-33,000 guests for the day
• July 17, 1979
  Nicaraguan dictator General Anastasio Somoza Debayle resigns due to Nicaraguan revolution and flees to Miami, Florida
• July 17, 1981
  Israeli aircraft bomb Beirut, destroying multi-storey apartment blocks containing the offices of PLO associated groups, killing approximately 300 civilians and resulting in worldwide condemnation and a U.S. embargo on the export of aircraft to Israel
• July 17, 2014
  Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, a Boeing 777 with 298 people on board, crashes in eastern Ukraine after being shot down by a missile

July 16

• July 16, 276
  Marcus Annius Florianus, emperor of Rome, is murdered
• July 16, 1099
  Crusaders herded the Jews of Jerusalem into a synagogue and set it afire during massacre
• July 16, 1212
  Spanish Christians under Alfonso VIII of Castile and Sancho VII of Navarre succeed in defeating the Moors at the Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa, which becomes an turning point in the Reconquista and marks the end of Muslim power in Spain
• July 16, 1548
  La Paz, the seat of government of Bolivia, is founded by Spanish conquistadors
• July 16, 1647
  Masaniello, an Italian fisherman, is murdered in Naples after leading a doomed revolt against Habsburg rule
• July 16, 1769
  Father Junípero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan friar, founds Mission San Diego de Alcalá, the first mission in California
• July 16, 1774
  Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, ending their six-year war and bringing Russia for the first time to the Mediterranean as the acknowledged protector of Orthodox Christians
• July 16, 1801
  Pope Pius VII and First consul Napoleon sign Concordat of 1801, which solidifies the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France, but maintains religious freedom
• July 16, 1809
  The city of La Paz, modern Bolivia, proclaims independence, which becomes the earliest step of the Spanish American wars of independence
• July 16, 1867
  Joseph Monier, a French gardener, patents reinforced concrete, initially developed to strengthen flowerpots
• July 16, 1918
  Russian tzar Nicholas II, his tsarina and their five children are executed by Bolsheviks by the order of Vladimir Lenin to prevent the rescue of the Imperial Family by approaching White forces during the Russian Civil War
• July 16, 1927
  Augusto Cesar Sandino, a Nicaraguan revolutionary, begins 5.5-year war against United States occupation of Nicaragua
• July 16, 1941
  A large pocket of 16th, 19th, and 20th Armies of Soviet Union are encircled in Smolensk by the two German Panzer Groups
• July 16, 1945
  The United States successfully tests the first plutonium atomic bomb, at the Alamogordo airbase in New Mexico
• July 16, 1979
  Iraqi President Hasan al-Bakr resigns and Vice President Saddam Hussein replaces him
• July 16, 1980
  1980 Summer Olympics, boycotted by 65 countries because of the Soviet war in Afghanistan, is opened

July 15

• July 15, 1099
  Jerusalem falls to the crusaders after a seven weeks of siege ending First Crusade and following a massacre of the city's Muslim and Jewish population with the dead numbered about 3,000
• July 15, 1410
  Lithuanian-Polish forces defeat the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald in Prussia, thereby halting the Knights' eastward expansion along the Baltic and hastening their decline
• July 15, 1606
  The painter Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, is born in Leiden, Netherlands
• July 15, 1662
  A Royal Charter, which created the Royal Society of London with Lord Brouncker serving as the first President, is signed
• July 15, 1685
  James Scott, the Duke of Monmouth and illegitimate son of Charles II, is executed on Tower Hill in England, after his army was defeated at Sedgemoor
• July 15, 1741
  Georg Wilhelm Steller, a German botanist in Russian exploratory mission under Vitus Bering, claims to see the Alaska, American mainland and becomes a pioneer of Alaskan natural history
• July 15, 1788
  Louis XVI jails 12 deputies who protest new judicial reforms
• July 15, 1834
  Spanish Inquisition is officially abolished by a Royal Decree signed by regent Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies
• July 15, 1857
  British women and children are murdered by Indian mutineers in the second Cawnpore Massacre
• July 15, 1895
  Stefan Stambolov, ex-prime minister of Bulgaria, is murdered by Macedonian rebels
• July 15, 1918
  Second Battle of the Marne, the last major German Spring Offensive on the Western Front, begins
• July 15, 1974
  TV news anchor Chris Chubbuck shoots herself in the head with a revolver on live TV, dying 14 hours later, at age 30
• July 15, 2007
  In Tacoma, Washington, USA, the second span of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge opens to traffic, making it the longest twin suspension bridge in the world

July 14

• July 14, 1420
  Hussite forces under command of Jan Žižka defeat the forces of Emperor Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor at the Battle of Vítkov Hill, a part of the first anti-Hussite crusade, on the edge of the city of Prague
• July 14, 1520
  Hernando Cortes beats the Aztecs at the Battle of Otumba in Mexico
• July 14, 1683
  Turks lay siege to Vienna
• July 14, 1771
  Junípero Serra, a Spanish Franciscan friar, founds the Mission San Antonio de Padua in California
• July 14, 1789
  Citizens of Paris, France, storm the Bastille fortress used as a prison to hold political prisoners, beginning the French Revolution and building foundation to modern political structure
• July 14, 1795
  The Marseillaise, a song written by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle to mobilize all the citizens to fight against the foreign invasion, is officially adopted as the French national anthem
• April 30, 1803
  The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million and doubles the size of the country by Louisiana Purchase Treaty
• July 14, 1853
  Commodore Matthew Perry meets with the chief senior councillor in the Japanese government at ceremony at Kurihama, Japan, and presents a letter from former President Fillmore to Emperor Osahito requesting trade relations
• July 14, 1868
  Tape measure enclosed in a circular case is patented, by AJ Fellows, in Connecticut, United States
• July 14, 1877
  The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, the world's first nationwide labor strike, begins in Martinsburg, West Virginia due to wage cuts and poor working conditions
• July 14, 1889
  A Congress of world Socialist parties selected May 1 as International Workers Day to support the United States labor struggle
• July 14, 1897
  Swede Saloman Andrée's and 2 accomplices, Knute Fraenkle and Nils Strindberg, in the Ornen balloon are forced down after 64 hours in the first expedition to fly by balloon across the North Pole
• July 14, 1914
  First patent for liquid-fueled rocket design is granted to American physicist Robert H. Goddard
• July 14, 1946
  American pediatrician Benjamin Spock publishes his book The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, the best-selling book on infant and child care
• July 14, 1958
  King Faisal II, the last King of Iraq, is assassinated during the 14 July Revolution at Baghdad
• July 14, 1960
  Jane Goodall, an English primatologist and anthropologist, begins studying the Kasakela chimpanzee community in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania
• July 14, 2007
  Following a presidential decree, Russia withdraws from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe
• July 14, 2008
  The Dark Knight, one of the best superhero films based on the DC Comics character Batman, is released in New York