Events

• 811 – Byzantine emperor Nikephoros I plunders the Bulgarian capital of Pliska and captures Khan Krum’s treasury.
• 1319 – A Knights Hospitaller fleet scores a crushing victory over an Aydinid fleet off Chios.
• 1632 – Three hundred colonists bound for New France depart from Dieppe, France.
• 1677 – Scanian War: Denmark-Norway captures the harbor town of Marstrand from Sweden.
• 1793 – Kingdom of Prussia re-conquers Mainz from France.
• 1813 – Sir Thomas Maitland is appointed as the first Governor of Malta, transforming the island from a British protectorate to a de facto colony.
• 1821 – While the Mora Rebellion continues, Greeks capture Monemvasia Castle. Turkish troops and citizens are transferred to Asia Minor’s coasts.
• 1829 – In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the typographer, a precursor to the typewriter.
• 1840 – The Province of Canada is created by the Act of Union.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Henry Halleck takes command of the Union Army.
• 1881 – The Boundary Treaty of 1881 between Chile and Argentina is signed in Buenos Aires.
• 1903 – The Ford Motor Company sells its first car.
• 1914 – Austria-Hungary issues a series of demands in an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia demanding Serbia to allow the Austrians to determine who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
  • Serbia accepts all but one of those demands and Austria declares war on 28 July (refer to World War I).
• 1921 – The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is established at the founding National Congress.
• 1940 – World War II: The United States’ Under Secretary of State Sumner Welles issues a declaration on the US non-recognition policy of the Soviet annexation and incorporation of three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
• 1942 – World War II: The German offensives Operation Edelweiss and Operation Braunschweig begin.
• 1943 – World War II: The British destroyers HMS Eclipse and HMS Laforey sink the Italian submarine Ascianghi in the Mediterranean after she torpedoes the cruiser HMS Newfoundland.
• 1945 – The post-war legal processes against Philippe Pétain begin.
• 1952 – General Muhammad Naguib leads the Free Officers Movement (formed by Gamal Abdel Nasser, the real power behind the coup) in overthrowing King Farouk of Egypt.
• 1961 – The Sandinista National Liberation Front is founded in Nicaragua.
• 1962 – The International Agreement on the Neutrality of Laos is signed.
• 1968 – The only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft takes place when a Boeing 707 carrying ten crew and 38 passengers is taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine.
  • The aircraft was en route from Rome, to Lod, Israel.
• 1970 – Qaboos bin Said al Said becomes Sultan of Oman after overthrowing his father, Said bin Taimur initiating massive reforms, modernisation programmes and end to a decade long civil war.
• 1974 – The Greek military junta collapses, and former Prime Minister Konstantinos Karamanlis is invited to lead the new government, beginning Greece’s metapolitefsi era.
• 1983 – Thirteen Sri Lanka Army soldiers are killed after a deadly ambush by the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
• 1988 – General Ne Win, effective ruler of Burma since 1962, resigns after pro-democracy protests.
• 1992 – Abkhazia declares independence from Georgia.
• Revolution Day (Egypt).

People (Births)

• 1635 – Adam Dollard des Ormeaux, New France garrison commander (d. 1660).
• 1773 – Thomas Brisbane, Scottish general and politician, 6th Governor of New South Wales (d. 1860).
• 1802 – Manuel María Lombardini, Mexican general and president (d. 1853).
• 1882 – Kâzım Karabekir, Turkish general and politician, 5th Speaker of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (b. 1948).
• 1883 – Alan Brooke, 1st Viscount Alanbrooke, French-English field marshal and politician, Lord Lieutenant of the County of London (d. 1963).
• 1900 – John Babcock, Canadian-American sergeant (d. 2010).
• 1922 – Jenny Pike, Canadian WWII servicewoman and photographer (d. 2004).
• 1948 – Stanisław Targosz, Polish general (d. 2013).
• 1961 – Michael Durant, US military pilot and author.
• 1974 – Maurice Greene, American sprinter.
• 1974 – Rik Verbrugghe, Belgian cyclist.
• 1979 – Cathleen Tschirch, German sprinter.
• 1981 – Dmitriy Karpov, Kazakhstani decathlete.
• 1983 – Aaron Peirsol, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1403 – Thomas Percy, 1st Earl of Worcester, English rebel (b. 1343).
• 1562 – Götz von Berlichingen, German knight and poet (b. 1480).
• 1853 – Andries Pretorius, South African general (b. 1798).
• 1885 – Ulysses S. Grant, American general and politician, 18th President of the United States (b. 1822).
• 1927 – Reginald Dyer, British brigadier general (b. 1864).
• 1941 – José Quiñones Gonzales, Peruvian soldier and pilot (b. 1914).
• 1951 – Philippe Pétain, French general and politician, 119th Prime Minister of France (b. 1856).
• 1954 – Herman Groman, American runner (b. 1882).
• 2012 – Lakshmi Sahgal, Indian soldier and politician (b. 1914).