| Pope Clement V recognizes Henry VII, King of Germany, as King of the Romans |
 |
1309 |
| Rebel forces under Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, defeat those of Edward IV at the Battle of Edgecote (Banbury) |
|
1469 |
| Charles V of Spain appoints Francisco Pizarro González as Governor of Peru, and sanctions his next expedition
south from Panama |
|
1529 |
| The northern Low Countries declare their independence from King Philip II of Spain |
|
1581 |
| During the War of the Spanish Succession, a victory for the rural population at the Pontlatzer Bridge drives the Bavarian
Prince–Elector Maximilian II Emanuel out of North Tyrol, preventing the Bavarian Army (which was allied with France) from marching on Vienna |
|
1703 |
| The first recorded women's cricket match takes place near Guildford, Surrey |
|
1745 |
| The French fortress of Louisburg, Nova Scotia, surrenders – allowing the British to take control of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence |
|
1758 |
| The office that would later become the US Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress.
Benjamin Franklin, of Pennsylvania, takes office as Postmaster General |
|
1775 |
| New York ratifies the United States Constitution, becoming the 11th state of the United States |
|
1788 |
| The Surrey Iron Railway – arguably the world's first public railway – opens, linking Wandsworth and
Croydon, via Mitcham (all then in Surrey, but now suburbs of south London) |
|
1803 |
| Over 6,000 lives are lost when Naples is struck by an earthquake |
|
1805 |
| A swift Swedish naval attack against Norwegian gunboats at Hvaler (a group of islands off south–eastern Norway)
begins the Swedish–Norwegian War – a.k.a. the Norwegian War of Independence – which would end 19 days later (14 August)
in a Swedish victory |
|
1814 |
| Charles X of France issues ordinances limiting political and civil rights |
|
1830 |
| The screw–driven steamship Great Britain leaves Liverpool for New York on her maiden voyage |
|
1845 |
| Liberia – established 25 years previously as a settlement of the American Colonization Society – is proclaimed
an independent republic |
|
1847 |
| Lionel de Rothschild (elected in 1847) becomes the first Jew to sit in the UK Parliament, following the passing of the
Oaths Bill which allowed an altered oath of obedience |
|
1858 |
| During the American Civil War, George B. McClellan assumes command of the Army of the Potomac following a disastrous
Union defeat at the First Battle of Bull Run |
|
1861 |
| A bill to disestablish the Irish church receives Royal assent |
|
1869 |
| Three days of rioting in Pittsburgh, over a national rail strike, leave 26 dead |
|
1877 |
| The London Evening News is published for the first time |
|
1881 |
| Wagner's opera Parsifal receives its premiere in Bayreuth |
|
1882 |
| The publication in Warsaw of Dr. Esperanto's International Language, by Ludwik L. Zamenhof – commonly
referred to as Unua Libro (First Book) – marks the formal beginning of the Esperanto movement |
|
1887 |
| France annexes Tahiti |
|
1891 |
| Dadabhai Naoroji – a founder–member of the Indian National Congress in 1885 – is elected as the first
Indian Member of the UK Parliament |
|
1892 |
| Pierre Curie and Marie Sklodowska marry in Sceaux, France |
|
1895 |
| During the Anglo–Afghan War, the Pashtun fakir Saidullah leads an army of more than 10,000 to begin a siege of the
British garrison in the Malakand Agency of the North West Frontier Province of India |
|
1897 |
| US Attorney General Charles J. Bonaparte – nephew of Napoleon – orders the immediate staffing of the
Office of the Chief Examiner (later renamed the Federal Bureau of Investigation) |
|
1908 |
| British troops, called in to intervene in the delivery of 1,500 Mauser rifles to the Irish Volunteers at Howth harbour
(Dublin), attack "hostile but unarmed" protesters with rifle fire and bayonets – resulting in the deaths of four civilians and
injuries to more than 30 others |
|
1914 |
| At Göttingen, German mathematician Emmy Noether presents what would become known as Noether's theorem, from
which conservation laws are deduced for symmetries of angular momentum, linear momentum, and energy |
|
1918 |
| The Treaty of Trianon comes into force, formally ending World War I between most of the Allies and the Kingdom of Hungary |
|
1921 |
| King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before his abdication, officially unveils the Canadian National Vimy
Memorial |
|
1936 |
| The United States, Britain and the Netherlands freeze all Japanese assets and cut off oil shipments, in response to the
Japanese occupation of French Indochina |
|
1941 |
| The Soviet Red Army enters Lviv, a major city in western Ukraine, capturing it from the Nazis. Of 160,000 Jews living in
the city prior to occupation, only around 300 survive |
|
1944 |
| A general election landslide brings Labour to power in Britain, under Clement Atlee – removing Winston Churchill
from office |
|
1945 |
| The Proclamation Defining Terms for Japanese Surrender – a.k.a. the Potsdam Declaration – is signed by Harry
S Truman, Winston Churchill and Chiang Kai–shek (the Soviet Union at this point is not at war with Japan) |
|
1945 |
| The minesweeper HMS Vestal – critically damaged by Japanese kamikaze aircraft, and scuttled in waters
close to Thailand – is the last ship of the Royal Navy to be sunk in the war |
|
1945 |
| US President Harry S Truman signs the National Security Act into US law, creating the Central Intelligence Agency, US
Department of Defense, US Air Force (as separate from the Army), Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the US National Security Council |
|
1947 |
| Truman signs Executive Order 9981, desegregating the US military |
|
1948 |
| Britain's Freddie Mills defeats Gus Lesvenich of the USA to take the world light heavyweight title |
|
1948 |
| Alice in Wonderland – Walt Disney's 13th animated film – receives its première in London |
|
1951 |
| King Farouk of Egypt abdicates in favour of his son Fuad |
|
1952 |
| Eva Duarte de Peron, wife of the president of the Argentine Republic, dies from cancer, aged 33 |
|
1952 |
| Fidel Castro begins the Cuban Revolution, by leading an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks in Santiago de Cuba.
The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement. Following the failure of the attack, Castro is imprisoned by the military dictator
Fulgenico Batista |
|
1953 |
| Australian troops repel a number of Chinese assaults against a key position known as The Hook during the Battle of the
Samichon River – just hours before the Armistice Agreement is signed, ending the Korean War |
|
1953 |
| Following the World Bank's refusal to fund the construction of the Aswan Dam, Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser
nationalizes the Suez Canal – sparking international condemnation |
|
1956 |
| Postmaster General Dr Charles Hill, in an interview with ITN's Lynne Reid Banks, announces the Government scheme to
raise money in return for monthly prizes (Premium Bonds) |
|
1956 |
| The Italian liner Andrea Doria sinks after colliding with the Swedish liner Stockholm |
|
1956 |
| Prince Charles is created Prince of Wales |
|
1958 |
| Over 1,100 lives are lost in earthquakes in Skopje, Yugoslavia (now in North Macedonia) |
|
1963 |
| The Organisation for Economic Co–operation and Development (OECD) votes to admit Japan |
|
1963 |
| The GPO announces a switch to numbers–only dialling |
|
1965 |
| Greek Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis forms a civilian government, ending seven years of military rule |
|
1974 |
| Menachim Begin orders more settlements to be built on the occupied West Bank, defying a plea from US president Jimmy Carter |
|
1977 |
| The National Assembly of Quebec imposes the use of French as the official language of the provincial government |
|
1977 |
| Mother of ten Victoria Gillick bursts into tears as Mr Justice Woolf rules against her High Court application for a
declaration that none of her five daughters – aged 1 to 13 – could be prescribed birth control, or advised on its use, until they
are 16 |
|
1983 |
| Pro–Iran extremists are blamed for a car bomb that explodes outside the Israeli embassy in London, causing
widespread damage. Fourteen people are injured, but there are no fatalities |
|
1994 |
| Pierre Buyoyu is reinstated as president of Burundi after a Tutsi–led military coup |
|
1996 |
| Lord Melchett, an hereditary peer and head of Greenpeace in Britain, is questioned by police over his part in a dawn raid
on a field of genetically modified maize |
|
1999 |
| The launch of Discovery begins the first scheduled Space Shuttle flight since the loss of Columbia in 2003 |
|
2005 |
| In India, over 5,000 lives are lost in floods after Mumbai receives 99.5cm (39 inches) of rain within 24 hours |
|
2005 |
| The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia selects Hillary Clinton as the first female nominee of a major party
for the US Presidency |
|
2016 |
| Solar Impulse 2 (part of a Swiss project, led by Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg and psychiatrist
and balloonist Bertrand Piccard) completes the first circumnavigation of the Earth by a piloted fixed–wing aircraft using only solar power |
|
2016 |
