982King Otto II and his Frankish army are defeated by the Muslim army of al-Qasim at Cape Colonna, Southern Italy.
1223Louis VIII becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II.
1420Battle of Vítkov Hill, decisive victory of Czech Hussite forces commanded by Jan Žižka against Crusade army led by Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor.
1430Joan of Arc, taken by the Burgundians in May, is handed over to Pierre Cauchon, the bishop of Beauvais.
1456John Hunyadi and his forces defeat the Ottoman fleet on the Danube, allowing them to reinforce and supply the besieged city of Belgrade.
1596Anglo-Spanish War: English and Dutch troops sack the Spanish city of Cádiz before leaving the next day.
1769An expedition led by Gaspar de Portolá leaves its base in San Diego and sets out to find the Port of Monterey (now Monterey, California).
1771Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua in modern California by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra.
1789Storming of the Bastille in Paris. This event escalates the widespread discontent into the French Revolution. Bastille Day is still celebrated annually in France.
1790Inaugural Fête de la Fédération is held to celebrate the unity of the French people and the national reconciliation.
1791Beginning of Priestley Riots (to 17 July) in Birmingham targeting Joseph Priestley as a supporter of the French Revolution.
1798The Sedition Act of 1798 becomes law in the United States making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government.
1808The Finnish War: the Battle of Lapua is fought.
1853Opening of the first major US world's fair, the Exhibition of the Industry of All Nations in New York City.
1865The first ascent of the Matterhorn is completed by Edward Whymper and his party, four of whom die on the descent.
1874The Chicago Fire of 1874 burns down 47 acres of the city, destroying 812 buildings, killing 20, and resulting in the fire insurance industry demanding municipal reforms from Chicago's city council.
1881American outlaw Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett in the Maxwell House at Fort Sumner, New Mexico.
1902Peruvian explorer and farmer Agustín Lizárraga discovers Machu Picchu, the "Lost City of the Incas".
1902The Campanile in St Mark's Square, Venice collapses, also demolishing the loggetta.
1911Harry Atwood, an exhibition pilot for the Wright brothers, is greeted by president William Howard Taft after he lands his aeroplane on the South Lawn of the White House, having flown from Boston.
1915Beginning of the McMahon–Hussein Correspondence between Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca and the British official Henry McMahon concerning the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire.
1916World War I: Battle of Delville Wood begins as an action within the Battle of the Somme, lasting until 3 September 1916.
1933Nazi eugenics programme begins with the proclamation of the Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring requiring the compulsory sterilization of any citizen who suffers from alleged genetic disorders.
1942In the Wardha session of Congress, the "Quit India" resolution is approved, authorising Mahatma Gandhi to campaign for India's independence from Britain.
1943In Diamond, Missouri, the George Washington Carver National Monument becomes the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.
1948Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, is shot and wounded near the Italian Parliament.
1950Korean War: beginning of the Battle of Taejon.
1951Ferrari take their first Formula One grand prix victory at the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
1957Rawya Ateya takes her seat in the National Assembly of Egypt, thereby becoming the first female parliamentarian in the Arab world.
1958In the 14 July Revolution in Iraq, the monarchy is overthrown by popular forces led by Abd al-Karim Qasim, who becomes the nation's new leader.
1960Jane Goodall arrives at the Gombe Stream Reserve in present-day Tanzania to begin her study of chimpanzees in the wild.
1960Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 1-11 ditches off Polillo Island in the Philippines, killing one person and injuring 44.
1965Mariner 4 flyby of Mars takes the first close-up photos of another planet. The photographs take approximately six hours to be transmitted back to Earth.
1983Mario Bros. is released in Japan, beginning the popular Super Mario Bros franchise.
2001Australian criminal Bradley John Murdoch murders British tourist Peter Falconio and abducts his girlfriend in the Northern Territory.
2001Rus Flight 9633 crashes during takeoff from Chkalovsky Airport, killing all 10 people on board.
2002French president Jacques Chirac escapes an assassination attempt from Maxime Brunerie during a Bastille Day parade at Champs-Élysées.
2013Dedication of the statue of Rachel Carson, a sculpture of the environmentalist, in Woods Hole, Massachusetts.
2015NASA's New Horizons probe performs the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System.
2016A man ploughs a truck into a Bastille Day celebration in Nice, France, killing 86 people and injuring another 434 before being shot by police.
2019A GippsAero GA8 Airvan crashes in Umeå, Sweden, killing all nine aboard.
Nacimientos (128)
926Murakami, emperor of Japan (died 967)
1410Arnold, Duke of Guelders, (died 1473)
1454Poliziano, Italian poet and scholar (died 1494)
1515Philip I, Duke of Pomerania (died 1560)
1602Cardinal Jules Mazarin, Italian-French cardinal and politician, chief minister of France from 5 December 1642 to 9 March 1661 (died 1661)
1608George Goring, Lord Goring, English general (died 1657)
1610Ferdinando II de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany (died 1670)
1634Pasquier Quesnel, French priest and theologian (died 1719)
1671Jacques d'Allonville, French astronomer and mathematician (died 1732)
1675Claude Alexandre de Bonneval, French general (died 1747)
1696William Oldys, English historian and author (died 1761)
1721John Douglas, Scottish bishop and scholar (died 1807)
1743Gavrila Derzhavin, Russian poet and politician (died 1816)
1755Michel de Beaupuy, French general (died 1796)
1785Mordecai Manuel Noah, American journalist, playwright, and diplomat (died 1851)
1801Johannes Peter Müller, German physiologist and anatomist (died 1858)
1816Arthur de Gobineau, French writer who founded Gobinism to promote development of racism (died 1882)
1825Georgiana Hill, English cookery book writer (died 1903)
1829Edward Benson, English archbishop (died 1896)
1859Willy Hess, German violinist and educator (died 1928)
1861Kate M. Gordon, American activist (died 1931)
1862Florence Bascom, American geologist and educator (died 1945)
1862Gustav Klimt, Austrian painter and illustrator (died 1918)
1865Arthur Capper, American journalist and politician, 20th Governor of Kansas (died 1951)
1866Juliette Wytsman, Belgian painter (died 1925)
1868Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist and political officer (died 1926)
1872Albert Marque, French sculptor and doll maker (died 1939)