Events Pre-1600 587 BC – The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple. 238 AD – The Praetorian guard revolts against emperors Balbinus and Pupienus and arrests them. 615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12. 904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessaloniki, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, after a short siege, and plunder it for a week. 923 – Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany). 1014 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of Kleidion: Byzantine emperor Basil II inflicts a decisive defeat on the Bulgarian army, and his subsequent treatment of 15,000 prisoners reportedly causes Tsar Samuil of Bulgaria to die of a heart attack less than three months later, on October 6. 1018 – Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen. 1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes. 1148 – The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade. 1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland, in a Catholic ceremony.Jenny Wormald, Mary, Queen of Scots: Politics, Passion and a Kingdom Lost (Tauris Parke, 2001), p. 153. 1567 – The infant James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.Alan Stewart, The Cradle King: A Life of James VI & I (London, 2003), p. 31. 1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: English naval forces under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake defeat the Spanish Armada off the coast of Gravelines, France.
1601–1900 1602 – Elizabeth I visits Harefield Place at Hillingdon and the Harefield Entertainment is performed.Gabriel Heaton, Writing and Reading Royal Entertainments: From George Gascoigne to Ben Jonson (Oxford, 2010), pp. 102-116. 1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands. 1775 – Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army. 1818 – French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light. 1832 – An Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pascha defeats a larger Ottoman army in the battle of Belen Pass. 1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. 1848 – Great Famine of Ireland: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police. 1851 – Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia. 1858 – United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty. 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C. 1871 – The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States. 1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed. 1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. His son, Victor Emmanuel III, 31 years old, succeeds to the throne.
1901–present 1901 – Land lottery begins in Oklahoma. 1907 – Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9 and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement. 1910 – The two-day Slocum massacre commences in Texas, a race riot in which more than 100 African Americans are murdered.; 1914 – The Cape Cod Canal opened. 1920 – Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project. 1921 – Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party. 1932 – Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans using arson, bayonets, sabers, tanks, tear gas, and vomit gas.; 1937 – Tongzhou mutiny: In Tongzhou, China, the East Hebei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians. 1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music. 1947—A gas explosion in Harrisonburg, Virginia kills 11 and injures 30. 1948 – Olympic Games: The Games of the XIV Olympiad: After a hiatus of 12 years caused by World War II, the first Summer Olympics to be held since the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, open in London. 1950 – Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn. 1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency is established. 1957 – Tonight Starring Jack Paar premieres on NBC with Jack Paar beginning the modern day talk show. 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). 1965 – Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay. 1967 – Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134. 1967 – During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead. 1972 – Two Avianca Douglas DC-3 airliners collide over Colombia, killing 38. 1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi. 1973 – Driver Roger Williamson is killed during the Dutch Grand Prix, after a suspected tire failure causes his car to pitch into the barriers at high speed. 1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the "Son of Sam") kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks. 1980 – Iran adopts a new "holy" flag after the Islamic Revolution. 1981 – A worldwide television audience of around 750 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London. 1981 – After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.Bani-Sadr escapes to Paris 1985 – Space Shuttle Challenger launches on STS-51-F. The shuttle ends up in a lower orbit than planned due to an engine failure during ascent. 1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Channel Tunnel). 1987 – Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues. 1993 – The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free. 1996 – The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad. 2005 – Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris. 2010 – An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths. 2013 – Two passenger trains collide in the Swiss municipality of Granges-près-Marnand near Lausanne injuring 25 people. 2015 – The first piece of suspected debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is discovered on Réunion Island. 2019 – The 2019 Altamira prison riot between rival Brazilian drug gangs leaves 62 dead. 2021 – The International Space Station temporarily spins out of control, moving the ISS 45 degrees out of attitude, following an engine malfunction of Russian module Nauka. 2024 – Three children are stabbed to death and 10 other people injured at a dance studio in Southport, England. This incident, coupled with widespread online misinformation, leads to various racially motivated riots across the UK.
Births
Pre-1600 869 – Muhammad al-Mahdi, The 12th Imam of Muslims (Shiites) (died 941) 996 – Fujiwara no Norimichi, Japanese nobleman (died 1075) 1166 – Henry II, French nobleman and king of Jerusalem (died 1197) 1356 – Martin the Elder, king of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca (died 1410) 1537 – Pedro Téllez-Girón, Spanish nobleman (died 1590) 1573 – Philip II, duke of Pomerania-Stettin (died 1618) 1580 – Francesco Mochi, Italian sculptor (died 1654)
1601–1900 1605 – Simon Dach, German poet and hymn-writer (died 1659) 1646 – Johann Theile, German organist and composer (died 1724) 1744 – Giulio Maria della Somaglia, Italian cardinal (died 1830) 1763 – Philip Charles Durham, Scottish admiral and politician (died 1845) 1796 – Walter Hunt, inventor of the safety pin and other things (died 1859) 1797 – Daniel Drew, American businessman and financier (died 1879) 1801 – George Bradshaw, English cartographer and publisher (died 1853) 1805 – Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher (died 1859) 1806 – Horace Abbott, American businessman and banker (died 1887) 1817 – Ivan Aivazovsky, Armenian-Russian painter and illustrator (died 1900) 1817 – Martin Körber, German pastor, composer, and conductor (died 1893) 1841 – Gerhard Armauer Hansen, Norwegian physician (died 1912) 1843 – Johannes Schmidt, German linguist and academic (died 1901) 1846 – Sophie Menter, German pianist and composer (died 1918) 1846 – Isabel, Brazilian princess (died 1921) 1849 – Max Nordau, Hungarian physician, author, and critic, co-founded the World Zionist Organization (died 1923) 1859 – Francisco Rodrigues da Cruz, Portuguese priest (died 1948)Livro de Registo de Baptismos 1860/1865 (fl. 7–7v.), Paróquia de São João Baptista, Alcochete - Arquivo Distrital de Setúbal 1860 – Charles Cochrane-Baillie, 2nd Baron Lamington, English politician, 8th Governor of Queensland (died 1940) 1867 – Berthold Oppenheim, Moravian rabbi (died 1942) 1869 – Booth Tarkington, American novelist and dramatist (died 1946) 1870 – George Dixon, Canadian boxer (World Bantamweight title) (died 1930) 1871 – Jakob Mändmets, Estonian writer and journalist (died 1930) 1872 – Eric Alfred Knudsen, American author, lawyer, and politician (died 1957) 1874 – J. S. Woodsworth, Canadian minister and politician (died 1942) 1876 – Maria Ouspenskaya, Russian-American actress and acting teacher (died 1949) 1878 – Don Marquis, American author, poet, and playwright (died 1937) 1883 – Porfirio Barba-Jacob, Colombian poet and author (died 1942) 1883 – Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist revolutionary and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1945) 1884 – Ralph Austin Bard, American financier and politician, 2nd Under Secretary of the Navy (died 1975) 1885 – Theda Bara, American actress (died 1955) 1887 – Sigmund Romberg, Hungarian-American pianist and composer (died 1951) 1888 – Vladimir K. Zworykin, Russian-American inventor, engineer, invented the cathode ray tube system (died 1982) 1891 – Bernhard Zondek, German-Israeli gynecologist and academic (died 1966) 1892 – William Powell, American actor and singer (died 1984) 1896 – Maria L. de Hernández, Mexican-American rights activist (died 1986) 1897 – Neil Ritchie, Guyanese-English general (died 1983) 1898 – Isidor Isaac Rabi, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize Laureate (died 1988) 1899 – Walter Beall, American baseball player (died 1959) 1900 – Mary V. Austin, Australian community worker and political activist (died 1986) 1900 – Eyvind Johnson, Swedish novelist and short story writer, Nobel Prize Laureate (died 1976) 1900 – Teresa Noce, Italian labor leader, activist, and journalist (died 1980)