Events

• 356 BC – The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.
• 905 – King Berengar I of Italy and a hired Hungarian army defeats the Frankish forces at Verona. King Louis III is captured and blinded for breaking his oath (see 902).
• 1242 – Battle of Taillebourg: Louis IX of France puts an end to the revolt of his vassals Henry III of England and Hugh X of Lusignan.
• 1403 – Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England.
• 1545 – The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight.
• 1568 – Eighty Years’ War: Battle of Jemmingen: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau.
• 1656 – The Raid on Málaga takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.
• 1718 – The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.
• 1774 – Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war.
• 1798 – French campaign in Egypt and Syria: Napoleon’s forces defeat an Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids (refer to French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars).
• 1861 – American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run: At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins and ends in a victory for the Confederate army.
• 1877 – After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.
• 1904 – Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié in Ostend, Belgium.
• 1936 – Spanish Civil War: The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia is constituted, establishing an anarcho-syndicalist economy in Catalonia.
• 1944 – World War II: Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam, starting a battle that will end on August 10.
• 1944 – World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and four fellow conspirators are executed for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
• 1949 – The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty (Refer to NATO).
• 1954 – First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.
• 1972 – The Troubles: Bloody Friday: The Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing nine and injuring 130.
• 1977 – The start of the four-day-long Libyan-Egyptian War.
• 1990 – Taiwan’s military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation.
• 1995 – Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People’s Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.
• 2012 – Syrian civil war: The People’s Protection Units (YPG) capture the city of Dêrik.
• Liberation Day in 1944 (Guam).
• Belgian National Day (Belgium).

People (Births)

• 1648 – John Graham, 1st Viscount Dundee, Scottish general (d. 1689).
• 1783 – Charles Tristan, marquis de Montholon, French general (d. 1853).
• 1880 – Milan Rastislav Štefánik, Slovak astronomer, general, and politician (d. 1919).
• 1891 – Julius Saaristo, Finnish javelin thrower and soldier (d. 1969).
• 1924 – Rahimuddin Khan, Pakistani general and politician, 7th Governor of Balochistan.
• 1938 – Les Aspin, American captain and politician, 18th United States Secretary of Defence (d. 1995).
• 1972 – Catherine Ndereba, Kenyan marathon runner.
• 1981 – Stefan Schumacher, German cyclist.
• 1982 – Jason Cram, Australian swimmer.
• 1990 – Franck Elemba, Congolese athlete.

People (Deaths)

• 1403 – Henry Percy, English soldier (b. 1364).
• 1403 – Sir Walter Blount, English soldier, standard-bearer of Henry IV.
• 1403 – Edmund Stafford, 5th Earl of Stafford, English soldier.
• 1688 – James Butler, 1st Duke of Ormonde, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (b. 1610).
• 1793 – Antoine Bruni d’Entrecasteaux, French admiral, explorer, and politician (b. 1739).
• 1798 – François Sébastien Charles Joseph de Croix, Count of Clerfayt, Austrian field marshal (b. 1733).
• 1798 – Anthony Perry, Irish rebel leader (b. ca. 1760).
• 1880 – Hiram Walden, American general and politician (b. 1800).
• 1899 – Robert G. Ingersoll, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (b. 1833).
• 1934 – Hubert Lyautey, French general and politician, French Minister of Defence (b. 1854).
• 1943 – Charley Paddock, American runner and actor (b. 1900).
• 1944 – Claus von Stauffenberg, German soldier (b. 1907).
• 1946 – Gualberto Villarroel, Bolivian soldier and politician, 45th President of Bolivia (b. 1908).
• 1970 – Bob Kalsu, American football player and lieutenant (b. 1945).
• 1972 – Ralph Craig, American sprinter and sailor (b. 1889).
• 1998 – Alan Shepard, American admiral, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1923).
• 2003 – John Davies, English-New Zealand runner and coach (b. 1938).
• 2006 – Ta Mok, Cambodian soldier and monk (b. 1926).
• 2012 – James D. Ramage, American admiral and pilot (b. 1916).
• 2018 – Alene Duerk, First female US Navy admiral (b. 1920).