On This Day: 22 July

During the First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon is elected as the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem		1099
In the first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade (called by Pope Innocent III against the religious sect known as the Cathars), the French city of BÃƒÂ©ziers is burned down and 20,000 residents killed after a papal legate, the Abbot of Cîteaux, declared, "Slaughter them all!"		1209
Battle of Taillebourg (Saintes): English forces led by King Henry III, his brother Richard of Cornwall and their stepfather Hugh X of Lusignan, are "disgracefully" beaten by a French Capetian army under King Louis IX and his younger brother Alphonse of Poitiers – putting down the Poitevin revolt and ending Henry's hopes of restoring the Angevin Empire, which had collapsed during the reign of his father, King John		1242
(According to legend) the Pied Piper arrives in Hamelin		1284
Edward I of England and his longbowmen defeat William Wallace and his Scottish schiltrons (pike formations) at the Battle of Falkirk		1298
John Hunyadi, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, defeats Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire, ending the Siege of Belgrade		1456
A 500–man raiding party led by Alexander Stewart, Duke of Albany and James Douglas, 9th Earl of Douglas, is defeated by forces loyal to Albany's brother James III of Scotland, at the Battle of Lochmaben Fair; Douglas is captured		1484
A second group of English settlers arrives on Roanoke Island, off North Carolina, to re–establish the deserted Roanoke Colony		1579
King Henry III of France is assassinated		1589
Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice is entered on the Stationers' Register (established by decree of Queen Elizabeth to license printed works, giving the Crown tight control over all published material)		1598
Commissioners from the Kingdoms of England and Scotland agree upon the Acts of Union 1707 – which, when passed by each country's Parliament, would lead to the creation of the Kingdom of Great Britain		1706
The Bailiff of Paris is murdered by the mob		1789
French clergy removed from power in Rome, property nationalised		1790
Scottish explorer Alexander MacKenzie reaches the mouth of the Dean River in British Columbia, becoming the first person in recorded history to "complete a transcontinental crossing of North America" (crossing the Rocky Mountains, from Fort Chipeywan in Alberta)		1793
Rear–Admiral Horatio Nelson launches an unsuccessful assault on the Spanish port city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands. Nelson himself would be wounded in the arm (see 25 July), which would subsequently be partially amputated – a stigma that he would carry to his grave as a constant reminder of his failure		1797
Battle of Cape Finisterre: an English fleet under Admiral Robert Calder fails to drive off a combined French and Spanish fleet under Admiral Pierre–Charles Villeneuve, which was returning from the West Indies; Villeneuve elects not to exploit his advantage by pressing on to mount an invasion of Britain, but Calder would be court–martialled and severely reprimanded for his failure		1805
Battle of Salamanca: Arthur Wellesley (later the Duke of Wellington) defeats the French under Marmont		1812
Percy Bysshe Shelley begins writing Mont Blanc: lines written in the Vale of Chamouni		1816
Mormons, moving westwards, reach the Salt Lake Valley (the site of Salt Lake City)		1847
Battle of Atlanta: Confederate General John Bell Hood leads an unsuccessful attack on Union troops under General William T. Sherman on Bald Hill		1864
Katharine Lee Bates writes America the Beautiful after admiring the view from the top of Pikes Peak (an "ultra–prominent" summit in the southern Front Range of the Rocky Mountains, near Colorado Springs, Colorado)		1864
The first ever motor race is held in France – from Paris to Rouen. The fastest finisher is the Comte Jules–Albert de Dion, but the 'official' victory is awarded to Albert LemaÃƒÂ®tre driving his 3–hp petrol–engined Peugeot.		1894
Captain Kendall telegrams from SS Montrose saying he believes Dr. Crippen and his accomplice to be on board		1910
Ten lives are lost and 40 others are injured, when a bomb is detonated during a parade organised by local supporters of the Preparedness Movement, advocating American entry into World War I. Two labor leaders would be convicted, and sentenced to death – later commuted to life imprisonment; but they would be released in 1939 and eventually pardoned, after their trials were found to have been marred by false testimony. The actual bombers have never been identified		1916
Wiley Post, a one–eyed Texan, completes the first round–the–world flight – returning to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City after 7 days, 18 hours and 49 minutes		1933
US 'Public Enemy No. 1', John Dillinger, is shot dead by FBI agents as he leaves the Biograph Theater (cinema) in Chicago. His death would later be ruled as justifiable homicide		1934
The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw ghetto begins		1942
Gasoline (petrol) rationing begins in the USA		1942
During their invasion of Sicily, Allied forces capture Palermo		1943
22 lives are lost as occupying Axis forces violently disperse a massive protest in Athens, against German plans to expand the Bulgarian occupation zone in Greek Macedonia		1943
The Bretton Woods Conference (formally the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference – called to regulate the international monetary and financial order after the conclusion of World War II) ends after three weeks		1944
91 are killed and 45 injured when the Irgun – a Zionist paramilitary organisation – detonates a bomb in the King David Hotel, Jerusalem		1946
Bread is placed under rationing in Britain as drought and a poor harvest exacerbate post–war shortages		1946
King Leopold III returns to Belgium after six years in exile		1950
BP and Shell, under pressure from Arab oil producers, decide to quit Israel		1957
NASA's Mariner 1 spacecraft is "destructively aborted" 294.5, seconds after take–off, after it "responds improperly" to commands from ground–based guidance systems. A software error would be blamed; Mariner 2 would fulfil its mission five weeks later		1962
Former UK Prime Minister Alec Douglas–Home surprises his colleagues by announcing his resignation as Leader of the Conservative Party, and the Opposition, nine months after the party's General Election defeat by Labour		1963
The British Crown Colony of Sarawak gains independence; it would become part of the Federation of Malaysia, formed less than 2 months later (16 September)		1963
Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon		1969
General Franco names Juan Carlos, grandson of King Alfonso XIII, as his successor		1969
The unmanned Soviet spacecraft Venera 8 makes a soft touchdown on Venus		1972
Greece and Turkey agree to a ceasefire in Cyprus		1974
Japan completes its last reparation to the Philippines, for war crimes committed during its conquest of the country during World War II.		1976
Deng Xiaoping – blamed by the Gang of Four for the popular uprising in Tiananmen Square in April the previous year – is restored to power in China, following the purge of the Gang of Four in the following October (one month after the death of Mao Zedong)		1977
Martial law in Poland is officially revoked		1983
The House of Commons votes to abolish corporal punishment in state schools		1986
Palestinian cartoonist Naji Salim al–Ali – described by the BBC as the most famous cartoonist in the Middle East, and an outspoken critic of Iran leader Ayatollah Khomeini – is shot in the face and critically wounded, outside his office in Chelsea, London. He would die 38 days later, having not regained consciousness; Middle Eastern commentators implicate the PLO		1987
Greg LeMond – considered by many to be the greatest American cyclist of all time – wins the Tour de France for the second consecutive time, and the third time overall (four years after his first win)		1990
UK Prime Minister John Major launches a White Paper setting out his "citizens' charter" – his first attempt to redefine Conservatism after Margaret Thatcher stepped down eight months previously		1991
Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison near MedellÃƒÂn, fearing extradition to the USA		1992
The House of Lords votes by 290 votes to 122 against a bill lowering the age of consent for homosexuals to 16		1998
Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay (on the run since the collapse of Saddam's regime three months earlier), Qusay's 14–year–old son, and a bodyguard, are shot dead in a four–hour gun battle involving 200 US soldiers, backed by helicopters (and acting on a tip–off), at a compound in the Iraqi city of Mosul		2003
Jean Charles de Menezes, a Brazilian living and working in London, is shot dead at Stockwell tube station by police hunting for those responsible for the London bombings of 7 and 21 July		2005
77 people lose their lives in two terrorist attacks in Norway, perpetrated by 21–year–old Anders Behring Breivik: first a car bomb in Oslo's Government Quarter (8 fatalities), then a mass shooting at a summer camp on the island of Utøya, in a lake approximately 25 miles from Oslo – an annual event organized by the youth division of the ruling Norwegian Labour Party (69 fatalities)		2011

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On This Day: 22 July