July 31st in History

1009 - Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.

1492 - The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.


1588 - The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.

1655 - Russo-Polish War (1654–1667): the Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.

1856 - Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.

1932 - The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.

1991 - The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.

2006 - Fidel Castro hands over power to brother Raúl Castro.

Famous Birthdays:

1835 - Paul du Chaillu, explorer

1892 - Joseph Charbonneau, Roman Catholic Archbishop

1912 - Milton Friedman, economist

1918 - Paul D. Boyer, chemist

1929 - Don Murray, actor

1935 - Geoffrey Lewis, actor

1957 - Dirk Blocker, actor

1970 - Andrzej Kobylański, footballer

1985 - Daniel Ciofani, footballer

July 30th in History

762 - Baghdad is founded by caliph Al-Mansur.

1629 - An earthquake in Naples, Italy, kills about 10,000 people.

1656 - Swedish forces under the command of King Charles X Gustav defeat the forces of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth at the Battle of Warsaw.

1825 - Malden Island (Independence Island) was discovered by captain George Byron, 7th Baron Byron.

 1930 - In Montevideo, Uruguay wins the first FIFA World Cup.

1980 - Vanuatu gains independence.

2006 - The world's longest running music show Top of the Pops is broadcast for the last time on BBC Two. The show had aired for 42 years.

Famous Birthdays:

1818 - Jan Heemskerk, Prime Minister of the Netherlands

1872 - Princess Clémentine of Belgium

1909 - Magda Schneider, actress

1933 - Edd Byrnes, actor

1947 - Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor, bodybuilder and Governor of California

1958 - Kate Bush, singer-songwriter

1971 - Tom Green, comedian and actor

1984 - Gabrielle Christian, actress

2002 - HRH Prince Hridayendra of Nepal

July 29th in History

1565 - The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots, marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh, Scotland.

1567 - James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.

1836 - Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.

1848 - Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt – in Tipperary, Ireland, United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.

1900 - In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci.

1921 - Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist Workers Party.


1957 - The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

1958 - U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

1973 - Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.

1981 - A worldwide television audience of over 700 million people watch the wedding of HRH Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

2005 - Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.

Famous Birthdays:

1874 - J. S. Woodsworth, politician

1883 - Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator

1905 - Dag Hammarskjöld, 2nd UN Secretary-General, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate

1916 - Budd Boetticher, film director

1925 - Ted Lindsay, hockey player

1941 - David Warner, actor

1958 - Cynthia Rowley, fashion designer

1975 - Corrado Grabbi, footballer


1983 - Elise Testone, singer-songwriter

July 28th in History

1540 - Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.

1794 - Maximilien Robespierre and Louis Antoine de Saint-Just are executed by guillotine in Paris, France during the French Revolution.

1821 - José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.

1868 - The 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution is certified, establishing African American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.

1914 - World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

1993 - Andorra joins the United Nations.

2005 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.

2008 - The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.

Famous Birthdays:

1347 - Queen Margaret of Durazzo

1860 - Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia

1901 - Freddie Fitzsimmons, baseball player

1936 - Garfield Sobers, cricketer

1946 - Fahmida Riaz, writer and feminist

1958 - Michael Hitchcock, actor

1970 - Isabelle Brasseur, figure skater

1988 - Ayla Brown, singer

July 27th in History

1202 - Battle of Basian.

1694 - A Royal charter is granted to the Bank of England.

1794 - French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution".

1900 - Kaiser Wilhelm II makes a speech comparing Germans to Huns; for years afterwards, "Hun" would be a disparaging name for Germans.

1929 - The Geneva Convention of 1929, dealing with treatment of prisoners-of-war, is signed by 53 nations.

1942 - World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt.

1953 - Fighting in the Korean War ends when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice.

1955 - The Allied occupation of Austria stemming from World War II, ends.

1997 - About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.

2012 - The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympic Games in London. The third time London hosts the Olympic Games.

Famous Birthdays:

1741 - François-Hippolyte Barthélémon, violinist and composer

1777 - Henry Trevor, 21st Baron Dacre, soldier


1848 - Thomas Herbst painter

1906 - Jerzy Giedroyc, writer and activist

1929 - Jack Higgins, novelist

1948 - Peggy Fleming, figure skater

1959 - Joe DeSa, baseball player

1968 - Cliff Curtis, actor

1977 - Jonathan Rhys Meyers, actor

1987 - Jordan Hill, basketball player

July 26th in History

1469 - Wars of the Roses: the Battle of Edgecote Moor pitting the forces of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick against those of Edward IV of England takes place.

1533 - Atahualpa, the 13th and last emperor of the Incas, dies by strangulation at the hands of Francisco Pizarro's Spanish conquistadors. His death marks the end of 300 years of Inca civilization.

1758 - French and Indian War: the Siege of Louisbourg ends with British forces defeating the French and taking control of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence.

1788 - New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.

1847 - Liberia declares independence.

1897 - 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.

1936 - King Edward VIII, in one of his few official duties before he abdicates the throne, officially unveils the Canadian National Vimy Memorial.


1944 - The first German V-2 rocket hits the United Kingdom.

1945 - The Labour Party wins the United Kingdom general election of July 5 by a landslide, removing Winston Churchill from pow

1953 - Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on the Moncada Barracks, thus beginning the Cuban Revolution. The movement took the name of the date: 26th of July Movement

1965 - Full independence is granted to the Maldives.

Famous Birthdays:

1678 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor

1782 - John Field, composer

1856 - George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate

1875 - Antonio Machado, poet

1914 - Ellis Kinder, baseball player

1936 - Mary Millar, actress

1945 - Helen Mirren, actress

1961 - Dimitris Saravakos, footballer

1980 - Dave Baksh, guitarist

July 25th in History

306 - Constantine I is proclaimed Roman Emperor by his troops.

1261 - The city of Constantinople is recaptured by Nicaean forces under the command of Alexios Strategopoulos, re-establishing the Byzantine Empire.


1547 - Henry II of France is crowned.

1554 - Mary I marries Philip II of Spain at Winchester Cathedral.

1603 - James VI of Scotland is crowned as King of England (James I of England), bringing the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into personal union. Political union would occur in 1707.

1758 - Seven Years' War: the island battery at Fortress Louisbourg in Nova Scotia is silenced and all French warships are destroyed or taken.

1797 - Horatio Nelson loses more than 300 men and his right arm during the failed conquest attempt of Tenerife.

1868 - Wyoming becomes a United States territory.

1920 - France captures Damascus.


1943 - World War II: Benito Mussolini is forced out of office by his own Italian Grand Council and is replaced by Pietro Badoglio.

1944 - World War II: Operation Spring – one of the bloodiest days for the First Canadian Army during the war: 1,500 casualties, including 500 killed.

1957 - The Republic of Tunisia is proclaimed.

1978 - Louise Brown, the world's first "test tube baby" is born.

1994 - Israel and Jordan sign the Washington Declaration, which formally ends the state of war that had existed between the nations since 1948.

2007 - Pratibha Patil was sworn in as India's first female president.

2012 - Pranab Mukherjee is sworn in as the 13th President of India.

Famous Birthdays:

1016 - Casimir I, Duke of Poland

1421 - Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland, politician

1839 - Francis Garnier, explorer

1867 - Alexander Rummler, painter

1894 - Gavrilo Princip, assassin of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.


1915 - Joseph Kennedy Jr., Elder brother of President John F. Kennedy

1929 - Somnath Chatterjee, Indian communist leader

1935 - Barbara Harris, actress


1951 - Verdine White, musician

1971 - Chloë Annett, actress

1985 - Kitty Brucknell, singer