July 21Birthdays & History

On this day: July 21 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 356 BCThe Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson.Europe
2. 230Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope. After being exiled to Sardinia, he became the first pope to resign his office.Europe
3. 285Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler.Middle East
4. 365The Crete earthquake occurs with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing a destructive tsunami that affects the coasts of Libya and Egypt, especially Alexandria. Many thousands are killed.AfricaMiddle East
5. 905King Berengar I of Italy and a hired Hungarian army defeat the Frankish forces at Verona. King Louis III is captured and blinded for breaking the oath he gave in 902 to not return to Italy.Europe
6. 1242Battle of Taillebourg: Louis IX of France puts an end to the revolt of his vassals Henry III of England and Hugh X of Lusignan.Europe
7. 1403Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England.Europe
8. 1545The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight.Europe
9. 1568Eighty Years' War: in the Battle of Jemmingen, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau.Europe
10. 1645Qing dynasty regent Dorgon issues an edict ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus.Asia
11. 1656The Raid on Málaga takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War.Europe
12. 1674A Dutch assault on the French island of Martinique is repulsed against all odds.Europe
13. 1718The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed.Middle EastEurope
14. 1774Russo-Turkish War (1768–74): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war. It is the first time that an Ottoman ruler surrendered territory largely populated by Muslims and the first time that a separation of secular and spiritual authority in the Ottoman Empire was established.Middle EastEurope
15. 1798French campaign in Egypt and Syria: Napoleon's forces defeat an Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids.EuropeMiddle East
16. 1831Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians.Europe
17. 1832Signing of the treaty of Constantinople between Britain, France, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which outlines the borders of the new kingdom of Greece.Middle EastEurope
18. 1861American 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.North America
19. 1865In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown.North America
20. 1873At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West.North America
21. 1877After 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.North America
22. 1904Louis 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.Europe
23. 1907The passenger steamer SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, killing 88 people.North America
24. 1919The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.North America
25. 1920The "Belfast Pogrom" begins two years of violence with the expulsion of thousands of Catholic shipyard, factory and linen mill workers from their jobs.Europe
26. 1925Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching human evolution in class and fined $100.North America
27. 1925Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 km/h) on land. At Pendine Sands in Wales, he drives Sunbeam 350HP built by Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h).Europe
28. 1936Spanish Civil War: The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia is constituted, establishing an anarcho-syndicalist economy in Catalonia.Europe
29. 1944World War II: Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam, starting a battle that will end on August 10.OceaniaNorth America
30. 1944World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and four fellow conspirators are executed for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.Europe
31. 1949The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.North America
32. 1951Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505 disappears while flying from Vancouver to Tokyo. The aircraft and its 37 occupants are never found.North AmericaAsia
33. 1952The 7.3 Mw Kern County earthquake strikes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds.North America
34. 1954First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam.EuropeAsia
35. 1959Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox.AfricaNorth America
36. 1959NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative.Europe
37. 1960Sirimavo Bandaranaike is sworn in as prime minister of Ceylon, becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of government.Asia
38. 1961Alaska Airlines Flight 779 crashes near Shemya Air Force Base in Shemya, Alaska, killing six.North America
39. 1961Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission).North America
40. 1964A series of racial riots break out in Singapore. In the next six weeks, 23 die with 454 others injured.Asia
41. 1969Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.World
42. 1970After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed.Middle East
43. 1972The 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.Europe
44. 1973In Lillehammer, Norway, Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre.Europe
45. 1976Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.Europe
46. 1977The start of the four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War.AfricaMiddle East
47. 1979Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk actor, becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.North America
48. 1983The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F).World
49. 1990Taiwan'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.Asia
50. 1995Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.Asia
51. 2001At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people are killed and more than 120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri Station becomes overcrowded and people leaving the event fall down in a domino effect.Asia
52. 2005Four attempted bomb attacks by Islamist extremists disrupt part of London's public transport system.Europe
53. 2008Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first President of Nepal.Asia
54. 2010U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.North America
55. 2011NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center.North America
56. 2012Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world.World
57. 2019Yuen Long attack or "721 incident" in Hong Kong. Triad members indiscriminately beat civilians returning from protests while police failed to take action.Asia
58. 2023The Barbenheimer phenomenon begins as two major motion pictures, Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan's epic biographical thriller Oppenheimer, are released in theaters on the same day and audiences, instead of creating a rivalry between the extremely dissimilar films, instead attend and praise both as an informal, surreal double feature.North America
59. 2024U.S. President Joe Biden announces he will no longer seek a second term and withdraws from the 2024 election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as she launches her own presidential campaign.North America
60. 2025A Bangladesh Air Force Chengdu FT-7BGI crashes shortly after takeoff into Milestone School campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 35 people and injuring 173.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "July 21" / CC BY-SA 4.0