- 982 King Otto II and his Frankish army defeated in pitched battle with Muslim army of al-Qasim at Cape Colonna, Southern Italy
- 1077 Bayeux Tapestry likely first goes on display to decorate the nave during the consecration of Notre-Dame of Bayeux Cathedral in Bayeux, Normandy [1]
- 1223 Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II
- 1420 Battle at Vitkov Zizka's hill (Prague): Taboriets beat Bohemia
Roman Missal
1570 Pope Pius V introduces a standardized Roman Missal, the text of the Latin Mass, as a reform of the Council of Trent. It remains largely unchanged for 400 years.
- 1581 English Jesuit priest Edmund Campion arrested for sedition in Anglican England (later hung, drawn and quartered)
- 1682 British composer Henry Purcell appointed organist of Chapel Royal, London
- 1698 The Darien scheme begins with five ships, bearing about 1,200 people, departing Leith for the Isthmus of Panama
- 1714 Battle of Aland, Russian fleet overpowers larger Swedish naval force
- 1769 The de Portolá Expedition establishes a base in California and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California)
- 1771 Mission San Antonio de Padua founded in California
1789 The French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille prison in Paris, now celebrated as Bastille Day, France's national day
Fête de la Fédération
1790 The Fête de la Fédération, attended by Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, is held across France on the first anniversary of the French Revolution
The Priestley Riots
1791 The Priestley Riots drive Joseph Priestley, a supporter of the French Revolution, out of Birmingham, England
- 1795 French National Convention decrees "La Marseillaise" by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle as France's national anthem
- 1798 First direct US federal tax on states enacted to finance military buildup; dwellings, land, and slaves are subject to tariff
- 1798 US Sedition Act prohibits "any false, scandalous, and malicious writing" about the government
- 1822 Date planned for the slave revolt in Charleston, South Carolina, by Denmark Vesey and Peter Poyas; plot already uncovered in June
- 1823 Switzerland signs boundaries for fugitives
- 1845 First postmasters' provisional stamps issued in New York City
- 1850 First public demonstration of ice made via refrigeration by Florida physician John Gorrie
- 1853 Commodore Perry requests trade relations with Japan
- 1853 New Zealand holds its first general election
World's Fair Opens in NYC
1853 US President Franklin Pierce opens the "Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations" (a World's Fair) at the Crystal Palace in New York City (now site of Bryant Park)
- 1861 General McDowell advances toward Fairfax Courthouse, Virginia with 40,000 troops
- 1861 Naval Engagement at Wilmington North Carolina - USS Daylight establishes blockade
- 1863 Battle of Falling Waters, Maryland (Beaver Creek)
- 1863 Jews of Holstein Germany granted equality
- 1864 Gold is discovered in Helena, Montana
- 1865 English mountaineer Edward Whymper leads the first expedition to climb the Matterhorn; four die on the descent
- 1865 The Chickasaw Nation is the last of the Five Tribes to surrender to the Union following the Confederate defeat
- 1868 Alvin J. Fellows of New Haven, Connecticut, patents the tape measure
Mary Todd Lincoln Granted Pension
1870 The United States Congress grants Mary Todd Lincoln a life pension in the amount of $3,000 a year
- 1876 British battleship HMS Thunderer boiler explodes during full-power sea trial near Portsmouth, England; 45 sailors killed and 40 injured
- 1877 General strike brings US railroad to a standstill
- 1886 The Temple Street Cable Railway begins cable car service in Los Angeles, California
- 1891 American John T. Smith patents corkboard
- 1902 The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta (reconstructed 1912)
- 1911 46 inches of rain begins to fall in Baguio, Philippines
- 1912 Kenneth McArthur runs an Olympic record marathon in 2:36:54.8
Liquid-Fueled Rocket
1914 American engineer Robert Goddard is granted the first patent for liquid-fueled rocket design
- 1914 Rolex receives the first wristwatch Class 'A' certificate from Kew Observatory
- 1916 13.2 inches (33.6 cm) of rainfall at Effingham, South Carolina (state record until 1999)
- 1916 St Louis Brown Ernie Koob pitches all 17 innings for 14 hits in a 0-0 tie vs. Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park
- 1921 Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti convicted of killing their shoe company's paymaster and sentenced to death, in Dedham Massachusetts
- 1927 First commercial airplane flight in Hawaii
- 1932 Belgian Chamber rules Dutch language for education in Flanders
- 1933 All non-Nazi political parties are banned in Germany
- 1933 Germany begins mandatory sterilization of people with hereditary illnesses
- 1933 Hedley Verity bowls out Essex twice in a day: 8-47 and 9-44 for Yorkshire at Leyton
- 1934 116°F (47°C) is recorded in Orogrande, New Mexico, setting a state record, which is later broken on June 27, 1994
- 1934 Philadelphia Phillies score 11 runs in an inning, beating Cincinnati 18-0
- 1934 The New York Times erroneously declares Babe Ruth's 700 home run record to stand for all time
- 1936 116°F (47°C) recorded in Collegeville, Indiana (state record)
- 1936 One million people demonstrate to support French People's Front government
Mussolini's Manifesto
1938 Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime publishes the antisemitic Manifesto of Race
- 1940 Due to beanball wars, Spalding advertises batting helmets with earflaps
- 1940 Lithuania becomes Lithuanian SSR
- 1941 6,000 Lithuanian Jews are exterminated at Viszalsyan Camp by German Einsatzgruppen SS with the assistance of local collaborators
- 1941 Ceasefire of Joan of Arc, which ends combat in Lebanon and Syria
- 1941 Jam rationed in Holland
- 1942 First transport of Amsterdam Jews to Westerbork
- 1942 Riots against Jews in Amsterdam
- 1944 Attempt to liberate prisoners in Amsterdam fails; John Post arrested
- 1944 US assault on Coutances Cotentin
- 1945 Battleship USS South Dakota is first US ship to bombard Japan
- 1946 Cleveland's Lou Boudreau hits four doubles and a home run, but the Red Sox win 11-10 on Ted Williams' three home runs with eight RBIs
Common Sense Book of Baby & Child Care
1946 Dr. Benjamin Spock's "Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care" is published
- 1946 Kielce pogrom: A mob of civilians, police, and soldiers investigating a false kidnapping allegation attacks Jewish Holocaust survivors in Kielce, Poland; 42 are killed, and more than 40 are injured [1]
Attempt to Assassinate Italian Communist
1948 Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, is shot near to the Italian Parliament in an assassination attempt
Spring Symphony
1949 Benjamin Britten's choral symphony "Spring Symphony" premieres at the Concertgebouw, Amsterdam
Czech Tennis Stars Defect
1949 Czech tennis stars Jaroslav Drobný and Vladimir Černík defect while playing in a tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland; Drobny accepts Egyptian citizenship
- 1950 R.E. Wayne is awarded the first Distinguished Flying Cross in Korea
- 1951 First color telecast of a sporting event (CBS - horse race)
- 1951 In his last race, 1948 Triple Crown champion Citation wins the Hollywood Gold Cup by four lengths to become American racing's first millionaire horse
- 1952 American ocean liner SS United States crosses Atlantic Ocean, returning to New York in a westward record time of 84 hours and 12 minutes [1]
US National Monument
1953 First US national monument dedicated to a black American to preserve the boyhood home of agricultural scientist and inventor George Washington Carver in Newton County, Missouri [1]
- 1954 117°F (47°C) recorded in East St. Louis, Illinois (state record)
- 1954 118°F (48°C) recorded in Warsaw and Union, Missouri (state record)
- 1955 Two killed and many dazed by lightning strikes at Ascot racecourse in England
- 1956 Boston Red Sox pitcher Mel Parnell no-hits Chicago White Sox, 4-0 at Fenway Park, Boston
- 1957 Soviet steamer "Eshghbad" sinks in Caspian Sea, drowning 270
- 1958 Iraqi Army brigadier Abd al-Karim Qasim forms a military government after overthrowing the Iraqi monarchy in the 14 July Revolution
It is Helpful to Recall
1958 Pope Pius XII publishes his 39th and last encyclical Meminisse iuvat (It is helpful to recall)
- 1959 USS Long Beach, first nuclear powered cruiser launched at Quincy, Massachusetts
- 1960 Fire rages through a Guatemala City insane asylum killing 225 and severely injuring 300
- 1961 Finland's Miettunen government forms
- 1962 Borehole for Mont Blanc tunnel finished
- 1962 US performs nuclear Test at Nevada Test Site
1964 51st Tour de France: Jacques Anquetil of France wins 4th consecutive Tour and is first to claim 5 titles
- 1964 MLB Baltimore Oriole Bob Johnson's 6th straight hit as a pinch hitter
- 1965 Australian Ron Clarke runs world record in the 10,000 meters (27:39.4)
- 1965 Israeli Jordanian border fights
- 1965 US Mariner IV, the first Mars probe, passes at 6,100 miles (9,800 km)
- 1966 Richard Speck rapes and kills eight nurses in a Chicago dormitory
- 1967 MLB Houston Astros Eddie Mathews hits his 500th home run off San Francisco Giants Juan Marichal
- 1967 Surveyor 4 launched to Moon and explodes just before landing
- 1968 Hank Aaron hits his 500th home run off San Francisco Giant Mike McCormick
- 1968 Houston Astro Don Wilson strikes out 18, beats Reds 6-1 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati
- 1968 WSWO TV channel 26 in Springfield, OH (ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1969 "Futbol War" between El Salvador and Honduras begins
- 1969 A 67-year-old Catholic civilian dies after being attacked by RUC officers in Dungiven; many consider this the first death of "The Troubles"
- 1969 The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 bills are officially withdrawn from circulation
- 1969 WMUL (now WPBY) TV channel 33 in Huntington, WV (PBS) broadcasts for first time
- 1972 Jean Westwood is first woman to head Democratic National Committee
- 1972 Plate umpire and catcher in a game are brothers; Bill Haller is umpire and Tom Haller is Detroit Tigers catcher; Kansas City Royals win, 1-0
- 1972 USSR performs underground nuclear test
End of The Everly Brothers
1973 Phil Everly storms off stage at Knott's Berry Farm in Buena Park, California and declares an end to "The Everly Brothers"; the show was planned as their last, his exit improvised
- 1974 Billy Martin, MLB Texas Rangers manager, is ejected by an umpire from two games in one day during a doubleheader in Milwaukee
- 1974 Ted Bundy victims Janice Ott and Denise Naslund disappear from Lake Sammamish State Park, Washington
- 1975 Plans are announced for EPCOT Center at Disney World in Orlando, Florida
Jimmy Carter Nominated
1976 Democratic Convention in NYC nominates former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter for president and US Senator Walter Mondale, from Minnesota, for vice president
- 1976 USSR banishes dissident Andrei Amalrik to Netherlands
- 1977 North Korea shoots down US helicopter, killing three
- 1977 US House establishes permanent Select Committee on Intelligence
Plutonian Ode
1978 Allen Ginsberg completes "Plutonian Ode" and blocks a trainload of fissile material headed for Rockwell's nuclear bomb trigger factory in Colorado
- 1978 Anatoly Scharansky convicted of anti-Soviet agitation
- 1978 Umpire Doug Harvey ejects Don Sutton after discovering three scuffed balls
- 1979 USSR performs nuclear test
- 1981 Kevin Wade's "Key Exchange" premieres in London
Pink Floyd - The Wall
1982 Musical film adaptation of "Pink Floyd - The Wall," directed by Alan Parker, starring Bob Geldof, and written by Roger Waters, premieres at the Empire, Leicester Square in London
- 1983 Mario Bros. is first released by Nintendo in Japan as an arcade game featuring an Italian-American plumber
- 1983 US politicians Dan Crane (Rep-R-Il) and Gerry Studds (Rep-D-Mas) admit to sex with pages
- 1984 STS 41-D vehicle moves to Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center (Florida) for remanifest of payloads
- 1984 USSR performs nuclear test at the Semipalatinsk Test Site in northeast Kazakhstan
- 1985 Columbia returns to Kennedy Space Center via Offutt AFB, Neb
- 1985 Last USFL game-Baltimore Stars defeats Oakland Invaders, 28-24
- 1986 An ETA bomb attack in Madrid kills 10 and injures 60
- 1986 Motley Crue's Vince Neil begins 30-day sentence for vehicular homicide
- 1986 NASA's plan to implement recommendations of Rogers Commission
- 1986 Richard Miller becomes the first FBI agent convicted of espionage
- 1986 Second Lubbers government formed in the Netherlands
- 1986 Shalamar's Howard Hewett acquitted of drug charges in Miami
- 1987 American rocker Steve Miller's star is unveiled on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
- 1987 Greyhound Bus buys Trailways Bus for $80 million
North's Testimony
1987 Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North concludes 6 days of Congressional testimony
- 1987 Taiwan ends 37 years of martial law
- 1988 200,000 demonstrate in Soviet Armenia for incorporation of Nagorno-Karabak
- 1988 Mike Schmidt passes Mickey Mantle with his 537th home run into seventh place
Radio Station Tries to Find Elvis
1988 WYHY radio offers $1 million to anyone who can prove Elvis is still alive
200th Anniversary of the French Revolution
1989 Jessye Norman sings French national anthem, La Marseillaise at the Place de la Concorde, Paris, to celebrate 200th anniversary of the French Revolution
- 1990 "Howard Stern's Summer Show" premieres on WWOR-TV (NYC)
- 1990 Sara Martin of Illinois is crowned America's Junior Miss
- 1991 Failed military coup in Mali
Open Source Software
1992 386BSD is released by Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz, starting the open source operating system revolution. Linus Torvalds releases Linux soon afterwards.
- 1992 Actress Nell Carter undergoes brain surgery
- 1993 Aeroflot starts non-stop flights between Moscow and NY
- 1994 Gas explosion at an old age home in Milan kills 27
- 1995 LA Dodger Ramón Martinez no-hits the Florida Marlins 7-0
- 1996 New York Yankees closer John Wetteland sets MLB record 24 consecutive saves
- 1996 NY Yankees sweep complete season series in Baltimore for first time
- 1997 Bomb in Algiers kills 21 and wounds 40
- 1998 Violence erupts in Richmond, South Africa, reflecting underlying political tensions between supporters of the ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party
Chirac Escapes an Assassination Attempt
2002 French President Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations
Putin Withdraws from Arms Treaty
2007 Vladimir Putin announces that Russia will withdraw from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe in 150 days
Ocean Eyes
2009 Owl City (Adam Young) debuts major-label album Ocean Eyes, now a two-time certified Platinum album with "Fireflies" being certified Diamond (2023)
- 2009 Singapore experiences a seasonally adjusted and annualised growth of 20.4% in the second quarter as a result of increased pharmaceuticals production and construction, bringing the country out of the recession
- 2010 18th ESPY Awards: Drew Brees, Lindsey Vonn win
- 2012 Floods on the Japanese island of Kyushu kill 20 and displace 250,000
- 2012 Suicide bomber attacks a wedding reception and kills 22 people and injures 22 in northern Afghanistan
- 2014 After 7 days, Israel has struck Gaza 1320 times, while Gaza has fired 940 rockets at Israel
- 2014 The Church of England votes in favor of allowing women to become bishops
- 2014 The death toll from the West African Ebola outbreak passes 500
- 2014 The Egyptian government propose a cease fire in the Israel–Gaza conflict
- 2015 Arms deal agreed between 6 world powers and Iran limiting Iranian nuclear arms but ending sanctions
Go Set a Watchman
2015 Harper Lee's second published novel, "Go Set a Watchman," an early draft of "To Kill a Mockingbird," goes on sale in 70 countries
- 2015 Scientists from the Large Hadron Collider announce the discovery of a new particle called the pentaquark
- 2018 Civilians killed in Afghan war reach record high with 1,692 killed in the first six months of 2018, says UN
- 2018 Haitian Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant resigns after violent protests against fuel price rises
- 2018 Huge iceberg looming over Innaarsuit village, western Greenland prompts evacations in case it calves
Nicaragua Protests Kill 300+
2018 More than 300 people now reported killed in protests against government of President Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua
- 2018 Russian covert agent Maria Butina arrested by the FBI in Washington, D.C. and charged with being an unregistered foreign agent
Hamilton’s Record 6th Win
2019 English Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton wins a record sixth British Formula 1 Grand Prix at Silverstone, moving him one win clear of Jim Clark and Alain Prost (5)
- 2019 First Ebola case on Goma, Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, city of one million, as toll of outbreak reaches 1600 victims
2019 ICC Men's Cricket ODI World Cup, Lord's, London: After the first super over in an ODI, which is also tied, New Zealand and England are separated by a boundary countback, awarding England their first title; Player of the Match: Ben Stokes (ENG) 84 not out (98)
Trump Ignites Racial Controversy
2019 US President Donald Trump ignites racial controversy by tweeting four Democrat women of color "go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came"
- 2020 New study shows Andean condor, world's heaviest bird, can fly for 5 hours without flapping its wings (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences)
- 2021 Drug overdose deaths in the US rose by 30% to a record 93,000 in 2020, according to the CDC [1]
After Hours 'Til Dawn
2022 Canadian singer-songwriter The Weeknd kicks off "After Hours 'Til Dawn," his first stadium tour, at Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 2023 India launches its Chandrayaan-3 spacecraft from the Sriharikota Space Centre on the country's third moon mission [1]
Actors Strike
2023 US actor's union SAG-AFTRA leadership goes on strike with picket lines in LA and New York [1]
- 2023 US architect Rex Heuermann charged with 3 out of 11 possible murders in the Gilgo Beach murders dating back to 2007 on Long Island, New York [1]
- 2024 Evian Championship Women's Golf, Evian Resort GC: Japan's Ayaka Furue eagles the final hole to defeat Stephanie Kyriacou of Australia by 1 stroke for her first major title
- 2025 American billionaire Alice Walton opens the Alice L. Walton School of Medicine in Arkansas, United States, and covers tuition for the first five graduating classes [1]
- 2025 French woman Gisèle Pelicot receives the Legion of Honour award for her courage in testifying about her decades-long sexual abuse by her husband [1]
World Chimpanzee Day
2025 World Chimpanzee Day: Jane Goodall releases "Dr. Jane's Dream, The Goodall Centre of Hope" in Tanzania, an immersive experience of pivotal moments from Dr. Goodall's life and the evolution of her work [1]
