July 4th in History

414 - Emperor Theodosius II, age 13, yields power to his older sister Aelia Pulcheria who reigns as regent and proclaimed herself Empress of the Eastern Roman Empire.

965 - Pope Benedict V dies

1187 - The Crusades: Battle of Hattin – Saladin defeats Guy of Lusignan, King of Jerusalem.

1534 - Christian III is elected King of Denmark and Norway in the town of Rye.

1569 - The King of Poland and the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Sigismund II Augustus finally sign the document of union between Poland and Lithuania, creating new country known as Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.

1774 - Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts

1776 - American Revolution: The United States Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress.

1803 - The Louisiana Purchase is announced to the American people.

1810 - The French occupy Amsterdam.

1826 - Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States, dies the same day as John Adams, 2nd President of the United States, on the fiftieth anniversary of the adoption of the United States Declaration of Independence.

1827 - Slavery is abolished in New York State.

1863 - American Civil War: The Army of Northern Virginia withdraws from the battlefield after its loss at the Battle of Gettysburg, signalling an end to the Southern invasion of the North.

1865 - Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published.

1879 - Anglo-Zulu War: the Zululand capital of Ulundi is captured by British troops and burnt to the ground, thus, ending the war and forcing King Cetshwayo to flee.

1894 - The short-lived Republic of Hawaii is proclaimed by Sanford B. Dole.

1903 - Philippine–American War officially ends.

1914 - The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie takes place in Vienna, six days after their assassinations in Sarajevo.

1918 - Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI ascends to the throne.

1918 - Bolsheviks kill Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family (Julian calendar date).

1943 - World War II: Beginning of the Battle of Kursk, the largest full-scale battle in history and the world's largest tank battle at Prokhorovka village.

1946 - After 381 years of near-continuous colonial rule by various powers, the Philippines attains full independence from the United States.

1966 - President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Freedom of Information Act into United States law. The act goes into effect the next year.

1987 - In France, former Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie (aka the "Butcher of Lyon") is convicted of crimes against humanity and is sentenced to life imprisonment.

2009 - The Statue of Liberty's crown reopens to the public after eight years of closure due to security concerns following the September 11 attacks.

2009 - The first of four days of bombings takes place on the southern Philippine island group of Mindanao.

2012 - The discovery of particles consistent with the Higgs boson at the Large Hadron Collider is announced at CERN.

Famous Birthdays

1546 - Murad III, Ottoman sultan

1799 - Oscar I of Sweden

1872 - Calvin Coolidge, 30th President of the United States

1910 - Gloria Stuart, actress

1924 - Eva Marie Saint, actress

1931 - Lawrie Dring, founded World Federation of Independent Scouts

1937 - Her Majesty Queen Sonja of Norway

1942 - HRH Prince Michael of Kent

1944 - Ray Meagher, actor

1957 - HRH Princess Chulabhorn Walailak of Thailand

1963 - Henri Leconte, tennis player

1978 - Andrea Gabriel, actress

1990 - Alyssa Miller, model

July 3rd in History

987 - Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty that would rule France till the French Revolution in 1792.

1035 - William the Conqueror becomes the Duke of Normandy, reigns until 1087.

1608 - Québec City is founded by Samuel de Champlain.

1767 - Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded and the first edition is published.

1819 - The Bank of Savings in New York City, the first savings bank in the United States, opens.

1844 - The last pair of Great Auks is killed.

1849 - The French enter Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.

1863 - American Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.

1866 - Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.

1884 - Dow Jones and Company publishes its first stock average.

1890 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd US state.

1944 - World War II: Minsk is liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.

1952 - The Constitution of Puerto Rico is approved by the Congress of the United States.

1962 - The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends.

1996 - Stone of Scone is returned to Scotland.

2005 - Same-sex marriage in Spain becomes legal.

Famous Birthdays

1423 - Louis XI of France

1442 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan

1870 - Richard Bedford Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada

1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, writer

1924 - S. R. Nathan, 6th President of Singapore

1943 - Judith Durham, singer-songwriter and musician

1952 - Andy Fraser, singer-songwriter and musician

1962 - Tom Cruise, actor, writer, director, and producer

1964 - Yeardley Smith, actress

1971 - Julian Assange, journalist, publisher, and activist, founder of WikiLeaks

1976 - Shane Lynch, singer-songwriter and actor

1983 - Steph Jones, singer-songwriter and actor

1987 - Chris Hunter, actor

1990 - Lucas Mendes, footballer

July 2nd in History

This day is the midpoint of a common year because there are 182 days before and 182 days after it in common years.  The exact time of the middle of the year is at noon. In countries that use summer time the actual exact time of the midpoint in a common year is at 1:00 p.m.

862 - St. Swithun dies

1494 - The Treaty of Tordesillas is ratified by Spain.

1644 - English Civil War: Battle of Marston Moor.

1776 - The Continental Congress adopts a resolution severing ties with the Kingdom of Great Britain although the wording of the formal Declaration of Independence is not approved until July 4th.

1777 - Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery.

1823 - Bahia Independence Day: the end of Portuguese rule in Brazil, with the final defeat of the Portuguese crown loyalists in the province of Bahia.

1881 - Charles J. Guiteau shoots and fatally wounds US President James Garfield, who eventually dies from an infection on September 19th.

1934 - The Night of the Long Knives ends with the death of Ernst Röhm.

1937 - Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan are last heard from over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first equatorial round-the-world flight.

1962 - The first Wal-Mart store opens for business in Rogers, Arkansas.

1964 - US President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the Civil Rights Act of 1964 meant to prohibit segregation in public places.

1976 - Fall of the Republic of Vietnam; Communist North Vietnam declares their union to form the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

2002 - Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly solo around the world non-stop in a balloon.

Famous Birthdays

419 - Valentinian III, Roman Emperor

1489 - Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury

1492 - Princess Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England

1849 - Maria Theresa of Austria-Este, the last Queen consort of Bavaria

1903 - Alec Douglas-Home, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

1915 - His Grace Brigadier Arthur Valerian Wellesley, Duke of Wellington

1925 - Medgar Evers, civil rights activist

1925 - Patrice Lumumba, 1st Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo

1930 - Carlos Menem, 50th President of Argentina

1932 - Dave Thomas, businessman, founded Wendy's

1942 - Vicente Fox, 35th President of Mexico

1954 - Pete Briquette, bassist, songwriter, and producer

1983 - Sammy J, comedian and writer

1990 - Margot Robbie, actress

July 1st in History

1523 - Johann Esch and Heinrich Voes become the first Lutheran martyrs, burned at the stake by Roman Catholic authorities in Brussels.

1569 - Union of Lublin: the Kingdom of Poland and the Great Duchy of Lithuania confirm a real union; the united country is called the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Republic of Both Nations.

1690 - Glorious Revolution: Battle of the Boyne  "old style date" 

1862 - Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, second daughter of Queen Victoria, marries Prince Louis of Hesse, the future Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse.

1862 - American Civil War: the Battle of Malvern Hill takes place. It is the final battle in the Seven Days Campaign, part of George B. McClellan's Peninsula Campaign.

1863 - Keti Koti (Emancipation Day) in Suriname, marking the abolition of slavery by the Netherlands.

1881 - The world's first international telephone call is made between St. Stephen, New Brunswick, Canada, and Calais, Maine, United States.

1903 - Start of first Tour de France bicycle race.

1916 - World War I: First day on the Somme – On the first day of the Battle of the Somme 19,000 soldiers of the British Army are killed and 40,000 wounded.

1921 - The Communist Party of China is founded.

1942 - World War II: first Battle of El Alamein.

1960 - Independence of Somalia.

1960 - Ghana becomes a Republic and Kwame Nkrumah becomes its first President as Queen Elizabeth II ceases to be its Head of state.

1962 - Independence of Rwanda.

1962 - Independence of Burundi.

1967 - The European Community is formally created out of a merger with the Common Market, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Commission.

1967 - Canada celebrates the 100th anniversary of the British North America Act, 1867, which officially made Canada its own federal dominion.

1979 - Sony introduces the Walkman.

1991 - The Warsaw Pact is officially dissolved at a meeting in Prague.

1999 - The Scottish Parliament is officially opened by Elizabeth II on the day that legislative powers are officially transferred from the old Scottish Office in London to the new devolved Scottish Executive in Edinburgh.

2008 - Rioting erupted in Mongolia in response to allegations of fraud surrounding the 2008 legislative elections.

2013 - Croatia becomes the 28th member state of the European Union

Famous Birthdays

1481 - Christian II of Denmark

1875 - Andrass Samuelsen, 1st Prime Minister of the Faroe Islands

1906 - Estée Lauder, businesswoman, co-founded the Estée Lauder Companies

1921 - Seretse Khama, 1st President of Botswana

1939 - Delaney Bramlett, singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

1945 - Debbie Harry, singer-songwriter and actress

1956 - Alan Ruck, actor

1961 - Diana, Princess of Wales

1970 - Henry Simmons, actor

1982 - Hilarie Burton, actress

1988 - Evan Ellingson, actor

1994 - Montserrat González, tennis player

June 30th in History

1559 - King Henry II of France is mortally wounded in a jousting match against Gabriel de Montgomery.

1688 - The Immortal Seven issue the Invitation to William (continuing the English rebellion from Rome), which would culminate in the Glorious Revolution.

1882 - Charles J. Guiteau is hanged in Washington, D.C. for the assassination of US President James Garfield.

1905 - Albert Einstein publishes the article On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies, in which he introduces special relativity.

1917 - World War I: Greece declares war on the Central Powers.

1934 - The Night of the Long Knives, Adolf Hitler's violent purge of his political rivals in Germany, takes place.

1937 - The world's first emergency telephone number, 999, is introduced in London

1960 - Congo gains independence from Belgium.

1966 - The National Organization for Women, the United States' largest feminist organization, is founded

1977 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization disbands.

1990 - East Germany and West Germany merge their economies.

1997 - The United Kingdom transfers sovereignty over Hong Kong to the People's Republic of China.

Famous Birthdays

1470 - Charles VIII of France

1503 - John Frederick I, Elector of Saxony

1890 - Paul Boffa, 5th Prime Minister of Malta

1919 - Ed Yost, inventor, invented the hot air balloon

1943 - Florence Ballard, singer

1954 - Serzh Sargsyan, 3rd President of Armenia

1966 - Mike Tyson, boxer and actor

1979 - Rick Gonzalez, actor

1983 - Cheryl Cole, singer-songwriter, dancer, and model

1985 - Michael Phelps, swimmer

1989 - David Myers, footballer

June 29th in History

1509 - Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond and Derby dies

1613 - The Globe Theatre in London, England burns to the ground.

1644 - Charles I of England defeats a Parliamentarian detachment at the Battle of Cropredy Bridge, the last battle won by an English King on English soil.

1807 - Russo-Turkish War: Admiral Dmitry Senyavin destroys the Ottoman fleet in the Battle of Athos.

1850 - Autocephaly officially granted by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople to the Church of Greece.

1880 - France annexes Tahiti.

1881 - In Sudan, Muhammad Ahmad declares himself to be the Mahdi, the messianic redeemer of Islam.

1914 - Jina Guseva attempts to assassinate Grigori Rasputin at his home town in Siberia.

1916 - The Irish Nationalist and British diplomat Sir Roger Casement is sentenced to death for his part in the Easter Rising.

1974 - Isabel Perón is sworn in as the first female President of Argentina. Her husband, President Juan Peron, had delegated responsibility due to weak health and died two days later.

1976 - The Seychelles become independent from the United Kingdom.

2007 - Apple Inc. releases their first mobile phone, the iPhone.

Famous Birthdays

1398 - John II of Aragon

1482 - Maria of Aragon, Queen consort of Portugal

1793 - Josef Ressel, inventor, invented the propeller

1849 - Pedro Montt, 15th President of Chile

1868 - George Ellery Hale, astronomer

1892 - Henry Gerber, gay rights pioneer

1911 - Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld

1920 - Nicole Russell, Duchess of Bedford

1925 - Giorgio Napolitano, 11th President of Italy, The longest serving President in the history of the Italian Republic.

1931 - Ed Gilbert, actor

1957 - Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow, 2nd President of Turkmenistan

1961 - Kimberlin Brown, actress

1969 - Ilan Mitchell-Smith, actor

1978 - Nicole Scherzinger, singer, dancer, and actress

1980 - Katherine Jenkins, soprano

1986 - José Manuel Jurado, footballer

1993 - George Sampson, actor and dancer

June 28th in History

1461 - Edward IV is crowned King of England.

1519 - Charles V is elected Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.

1635 - Guadeloupe becomes a French colony.

1745 - War of the Austrian Succession: A New England colonial army captures Louisbourg, New France, after a forty-seven-day siege (New Style).

1776 - The Battle of Sullivan's Island ends with the first decisive American victory in the American Revolutionary War leading to the commemoration of Carolina Day.

1838 - Coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

1881 - Secret treaty between Austria and Serbia.

1894 - Labor Day becomes an official US holiday.

1895 - El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua form the Greater Republic of Central America.

1914 - Franz Ferdinand, Archduke of Austria and his wife  Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg are assassinated in Sarajevo by Gavrilo Princip, the casus belli of World War I.

1919 - The Treaty of Versailles is signed in Paris, bringing fighting to an end in between Germany and the Allies of World War I.

1922 - The Irish Civil War begins with the shelling of the Four Courts in Dublin by Free State forces.

1940 - Romania cedes Bessarabia (current-day Moldova) to the Soviet Union.

1950 - Korean War: Seoul is captured by North Korean troops.

1964 - Malcolm X forms the Organization of Afro-American Unity.

1967 - Israel annexes East Jerusalem.

1973 - Elections are held for the Northern Ireland Assembly, which will lead to power-sharing between unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland for the first time.

1989 - On the 600th anniversary of the Battle of Kosovo, Slobodan Milošević delivers the Gazimestan speech at the site of the historic battle.

1992 - The Constitution of Estonia is signed into law.

1996 - The Constitution of Ukraine is signed into law.

2009 - Honduran president Manuel Zelaya is ousted by a local military coup following a failed request to hold a referendum to rewrite the Honduran Constitution. This was the start of the 2009 Honduran political crisis.

Famous Birthdays

1476 - Pope Paul IV

1491 - Henry VIII of England

1703 - John Wesley,founder of Methodism

1883 - Pierre Laval, 101st Prime Minister of France

1922 - Michael Vale, actor

1930 - Itamar Franco, 33rd President of Brazil

1957 - Georgi Parvanov, 4th President of Bulgaria

1966 - Mary Stuart Masterson, actress

1971 - Aileen Quinn, actress

1977 - Mark Stoermer, singer-songwriter, musician, and producer

1989 - Nicole Rottmann, tennis player

1990 - Nick Purcell, actor

1994 - HRH Crown Prince Hussein bin Abdullah of Jordan