Historical Events on Tuesday, 29th July
59 significant events took place on Tuesday, 29th July — stretching from -587 to 2024. Explore the moments that shaped history on this day.
29/07/2024
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.
On 29 July 2024, a mass stabbing targeting young girls occurred at the Hart Space, a dance studio in the Meols Cop area of Southport, Merseyside, United Kingdom. Seventeen-year-old Axel Rudakubana killed three children and injured ten others at a Taylor Swift–themed yoga and dance workshop attended by 26 children. Two girls died at the scene, six injured children and two adults were taken to hospital in a critical condition, and a third girl died the following day.
29/07/2021
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.
The International Space Station (ISS) is a space station in low Earth orbit (LEO). It is the product of the International Space Station program and is operated by five partner space agencies: NASA, Roscosmos (Russia), ESA (Europe), JAXA (Japan), and CSA (Canada). It is the first space station built, maintained and crewed through international cooperation and the largest human spacecraft ever constructed. It is an orbital research station, where scientific experiments in microgravity are conducted and the space environment is studied. Since 2 November 2000, it has hosted the longest continuous presence of humans in space. Alongside Tiangong, it is one of the only two currently operational space stations.
29/07/2019
The 2019 Altamira prison riot between rival Brazilian drug gangs leaves 62 dead.
The Altamira prison riot occurred on 29 July 2019, when a riot broke out at the Centro de Recuperação Regional de Altamira prison in Altamira, Pará, Brazil due to drug turf disputes between rival gangs within the prison.
29/07/2015
The first piece of suspected debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is discovered on Réunion Island.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was an international passenger flight operated by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared from radar on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia to its planned destination, Beijing Capital International Airport in China. The cause of its disappearance has not been determined. It is widely regarded as the greatest mystery in aviation history and remains the single deadliest case of aircraft disappearance.
29/07/2013
Two passenger trains collide in the Swiss municipality of Granges-près-Marnand near Lausanne injuring 25 people.
On 29 July 2013, two passenger trains were involved in a head-on collision at Granges-près-Marnand, Switzerland, killing one person and injuring 25 others.
29/07/2010
An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths.
The 2010 Kasai River ferry capsizing took place on July 29, 2010, when an overloaded passenger ferry capsized on the Kasai River in the Bandundu Province, east of Kinshasa, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. At least 80 people were confirmed to have died, with other accounts putting this figure closer to 140.
29/07/2005
Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.
Eris is the most massive and second-largest known dwarf planet in the Solar System. It is a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) in the scattered disk and has a high-eccentricity orbit. Eris was discovered in January 2005 by a Palomar Observatory–based team led by Mike Brown and verified later that year. It was named in September 2006 after the Greco–Roman goddess of strife and discord. Eris is the ninth-most massive known object orbiting the Sun and the sixteenth-most massive in the Solar System. It is also the largest known object in the Solar System that has not been visited by a spacecraft. Eris has been measured at 2,326 ± 12 kilometres (1,445 ± 7 mi) in diameter; its mass is 0.28% that of the Earth and 27% greater than that of Pluto, although Pluto is slightly larger by volume. Both Eris and Pluto have a surface area that is comparable to that of Russia or South America.
29/07/1996
The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad.
The Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA) was the United States Congress's first legislative attempt to regulate obscene and indecent material on the Internet. In the 1997 landmark case Reno v. ACLU, the United States Supreme Court unanimously overturned most of the statute due to its restrictions on freedom of speech under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. One non-speech provision of the statute, which exempted the operators of Internet services from liability for their users' actions, survived the Supreme Court's action and was severed from the statute. That provision is now known as Section 230 and remains in effect.
29/07/1993
The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.
The Supreme Court of Israel is the highest court in Israel. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all other courts, and in some cases original jurisdiction.
29/07/1987
British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Channel Tunnel).
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British prime minister of the 20th century and the first woman to hold the office. As prime minister, she implemented policies that came to be known as Thatcherism. A Soviet journalist dubbed her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style.
Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.
Rajiv Ratna Gandhi was an Indian politician and pilot who served as the prime minister of India from 1984 to 1989 for two terms. He took office after the assassination of his mother, then–prime minister Indira Gandhi, to become the youngest Indian prime minister at the age of 40. He served until his defeat at the 1989 election, and then became Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, resigning in December 1990, six months before his own assassination.
29/07/1985
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.
Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-099) was a Space Shuttle orbiter manufactured by Rockwell International and operated by NASA. Named after the commanding ship of a nineteenth-century scientific expedition that traveled the world, Challenger was the second Space Shuttle orbiter to fly into space after Columbia, and launched on its maiden flight in April 1983. It was destroyed in January 1986 soon after launch in a disaster that killed all seven crewmembers aboard.
29/07/1981
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.
The wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer took place on Wednesday, 29 July 1981, at St Paul's Cathedral in London, England. The groom was the heir apparent to the British throne, and the bride was a member of the Spencer family.
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.
Abolhassan Banisadr was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident who served as the first president of Iran from 1980 until his impeachment in 1981. Prior to his presidency, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Interim Government of Iran. He was the first president after the Iranian Revolution abolished the monarchy in 1979.
29/07/1980
Iran adopts a new "holy" flag after the Islamic Revolution.
The national flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran is a tricolour of equal horizontal bands of green, white, and red, featuring the Islamic emblem in red centred on the white band, and the Arabic Takbir written 11 times each in white Kufic script along the edges of the green and red bands.
29/07/1976
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.
David Richard Berkowitz, also known as the Son of Sam and the .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer and former U.S. Army soldier who committed a stabbing and a series of shootings between 1975 and 1977 in New York City, killing six people and wounding eleven others. Armed with a .44 Special caliber Bulldog revolver during most of his crimes, he terrorized New Yorkers with many letters mocking the police and promising further crimes, leading to possibly the biggest manhunt in the city's history.
29/07/1973
Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
A constitutional referendum was held in Greece on 29 July 1973. The amendments would confirm the abolition of the monarchy by the military junta and establish a republic. The proposal was approved by 78.6% of voters with a turnout of 75%.
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.
Roger Williamson was a British racing driver and a two time British Formula 3 champion, who died during his second Formula One race, the 1973 Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort Circuit in the Netherlands.
29/07/1972
Two Avianca Douglas DC-3 airliners collide over Colombia, killing 38.
Avianca S.A., stylized as avianca since October 2023, is the largest airline in Colombia. It has been the flag carrier of Colombia since December 5, 1919, when it was initially registered under the name SCADTA. It is headquartered in Colombia, with its registered office in Barranquilla and its global headquarters in Bogotá and main hub at El Dorado International Airport. Avianca is the flagship of a group of airlines of the Americas, which operates as one airline using a codesharing system. Avianca is the largest airline in Colombia and second largest in South America, after LATAM of Chile. Avianca and its subsidiaries have the most extensive network of destinations in the Americas. Before the merger with TACA in 2010, it was wholly owned by Synergy Group, a South American holding company established by Germán Efromovich and specializing in air transport. It is listed on the Colombia Stock Exchange.
29/07/1967
Vietnam War: Off the coast of North Vietnam the USS Forrestal catches on fire in the worst U.S. naval disaster since World War II, killing 134.
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was a country in Southeast Asia from 1945 to 1976, with sovereignty recognized in July 1954, after which it became commonly known as North Vietnam. A member of the communist Eastern Bloc, it opposed the anti-communist, French-supported State of Vietnam and later the Western-allied Republic of Vietnam. North Vietnam launched a successful military offensive against South Vietnam in 1975 and ceased to exist the following year when it merged with the South to become the contemporary Socialist Republic of Vietnam.
During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.
Caracas, officially Santiago de León de Caracas (CCS), is the capital and largest city of Venezuela, and the center of the Metropolitan Region of Caracas. Caracas is located along the Guaire River in the northern part of Venezuela, within the Caracas Valley of the Venezuelan coastal mountain range. The valley is close to the Caribbean Sea, separated from the shore by a steep 2,200-meter-high (7,200-foot) mountain range, Cerro El Ávila. To the south there are more hills and mountains that form the valley. The Metropolitan Region of Caracas has an estimated population of over 5 million inhabitants.
29/07/1965
Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.
29/07/1959
First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both meet in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C.
29/07/1958
U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs into law the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. A General of the Army, Eisenhower was the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force. His successful leadership in Operation Torch (1942–1943) and Operation Overlord was pivotal to the Allied victory in World War II.
29/07/1957
The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 as an autonomous organization within the United Nations system; though governed by its own founding treaty, the organization reports to both the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations, and is headquartered at the UN Office at Vienna, Austria.
Tonight Starring Jack Paar premieres on NBC with Jack Paar beginning the modern day talk show.
Tonight Starring Jack Paar is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the second installment of The Tonight Show. Hosted by Jack Paar, it aired from July 29, 1957, to March 30, 1962, replacing Tonight Starring Steve Allen and was replaced by The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.
29/07/1950
Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.
The Korean War was an armed conflict the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea and South Korea and their allies. North Korea was supported by China and the Soviet Union, while South Korea was supported by the United Nations led by the United States under the auspices of the United Nations Command (UNC). The conflict was one of the first major proxy wars of the Cold War and one of its deadliest conflicts on noncombatants, especially civilians. It is estimated that 1.5 to 3 million Korean civilians were killed during the war. The Korean War was the first time the United Nations Security Council authorized the use of force under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter.
29/07/1948
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.
The modern Olympic Games are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports events in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of athletic competitions. The Olympic Games, open to both amateur and professional athletes, involve more than 200 teams, each team representing a sovereign state or territory. The Games often, but not always, substitute for any world championships during the year in which they take place. The Olympics are staged every four years. Since 1994, they have alternated between the Summer and Winter Olympics every two years during the four-year Olympiad.
29/07/1945
The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.
The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 1 and BBC Radio 2. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the long wave frequency which had earlier been used – prior to the outbreak of the Second World War on 1 September 1939 – by the BBC National Programme.
29/07/1937
Tongzhou mutiny: In Tongzhou, China, the East Hebei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.
The Tongzhou mutiny, sometimes referred to as the Tongzhou Massacre, was an assault on Japanese civilians and troops by the security forces of East Hebei Autonomous Government in Tongzhou, China, on 29 July 1937, shortly after the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, which triggered the outbreak of Second Sino-Japanese War. Approximately 260 Japanese and Korean residents were brutally killed in the assault. This event escalated tensions between China and Japan, contributing to the further deterioration of relations following the Marco Polo Bridge Incident.
29/07/1932
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.
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and business failures around the world. The economic contagion began in 1929 in the United States, the largest economy in the world, with the devastating Wall Street crash of 1929 often considered the beginning of the Depression. Among the countries with the most unemployed were the U.S., the United Kingdom, and Germany.
29/07/1921
Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany during the Nazi era from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor of Germany in 1933 and then taking the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934. Germany's invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 under his leadership marked the outbreak of the Second World War. Throughout the ensuing conflict, Hitler was closely involved in the direction of German military operations and was central to the perpetration of the Holocaust, the genocide of about six million Jews and millions of other victims.
29/07/1920
Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.
The Link River Dam is a concrete gravity dam on the Link River in the city of Klamath Falls, Oregon, United States. It was built in 1921 by the California Oregon Power Company (COPCO), the predecessor of PacifiCorp, which continues to operate the dam. The dam is owned by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
29/07/1914
The Cape Cod Canal opened.
The Cape Cod Canal is an artificial waterway in Massachusetts connecting Cape Cod Bay in the north to Buzzards Bay in the south, and is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The approximately 7.4-mile-long (11.9 km) canal traverses the neck of land joining Cape Cod to the state's mainland. It mostly follows tidal rivers widened to 480 feet (150 m) and deepened to 32 feet (9.8 m) at mean low water, shaving up to 135 miles (217 km) off the journey around the cape for its approximately 14,000 annual users.
29/07/1910
The two-day Slocum massacre commences in Texas, a race riot in which more than 100 African Americans are murdered.
The Slocum massacre was the killing of Black residents by whites on July 29–30, 1910, in Slocum, an unincorporated community in Anderson County near Palestine in East Texas. Only seven deaths were officially confirmed, but some 22 were reported by major newspapers. This is the official count, but it is estimated that as many as three hundred African Americans were killed.
29/07/1907
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.
Lieutenant-General Robert Stephenson Smyth Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell,, was a British Army officer, writer, founder of The Boy Scouts Association and its first Chief Scout, and founder, with his sister Agnes, of The Girl Guides Association. Baden-Powell wrote Scouting for Boys, which with his previous books – such as his 1884 Reconnaissance and Scouting and his 1899 Aids to Scouting for N.-C.Os and Men, which was intended for the military, and The Scout magazine – helped the rapid growth of the Scout Movement.
29/07/1901
Land lottery begins in Oklahoma.
Oklahoma is a landlocked state in the South Central and Southwestern region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northeast, Arkansas to the southeast, New Mexico to the west, and Colorado to the northwest. Partially in the western extreme of the Upland South, it is the 20th-most extensive and the 28th-most populous of the 50 United States. Its residents are known as Oklahomans and its capital and largest city is Oklahoma City.
29/07/1900
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.
Umberto I was King of Italy from 9 January 1878 until his assassination in 1900. His reign saw the creation of the Italian Empire, as well as the creation of the Triple Alliance among Italy, Germany, and Austria-Hungary.
29/07/1899
The First Hague Convention is signed.
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. Along with the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were among the first formal statements of the laws of war and war crimes in the body of secular international law. A third conference was planned for 1914 and later rescheduled for 1915, but it did not take place because of the start of World War I. Article 22 states that, "the right of belligerents to adopt means of injuring the enemy is not unlimited.”
29/07/1871
The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States.
The Valley Railroad, operating under the name Essex Steam Train and Riverboat, is a heritage railroad based in Essex, Connecticut on tracks of the Connecticut Valley Railroad, which was founded in 1868. The company began operations in 1971 between Deep River and Essex, and has since reopened additional parts of the former Connecticut Valley Railroad line. It operates the Essex Steam Train and the Essex Clipper Dinner Train.
29/07/1862
American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.
29/07/1858
United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce between Japan and the United States , also called the Harris Treaty was a treaty signed between the United States and Tokugawa Shogunate, which opened the ports of Kanagawa and four other Japanese cities to trade and granted extraterritoriality to foreigners, among a number of trading stipulations. It was signed on the deck of the USS Powhatan in Edo Bay on July 29, 1858.
29/07/1851
Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.
Annibale de Gasparis was an Italian astronomer, known for discovering asteroids and his contributions to theoretical astronomy.
29/07/1848
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.
The Great Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, the Famine and the Irish Potato Famine, was a period of mass starvation and disease in Ireland from 1845 to 1852. It constituted a historical social crisis and had a major impact on Irish society and history as a whole. The most severely affected areas were in the western and southern parts of Ireland—where the Irish language was dominant—hence, in Irish, the period was contemporaneously known as an Drochshaol, which translates to "the bad life" and loosely translates to "the hard times". Debate exists regarding nomenclature for the event, whether to use the term "Famine", "Potato Famine" or "Great Hunger".
29/07/1836
Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile, often simply called the Arc de Triomphe, is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France. It is located at the western end of the Champs-Élysées, at the centre of the Place Charles de Gaulle—formerly known as the Place de l'Étoile—named for the star-shaped configuration formed by the convergence of twelve radiating avenues. The monument is situated at the intersection of three arrondissements: the 16th, the 17th, and the 8th. Commissioned to honor those who fought and died for France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the Arc bears the names of French victories and generals engraved on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I, marked by an eternal flame commemorating unidentified fallen soldiers.
29/07/1818
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.
Augustin-Jean Fresnel was a French civil engineer and physicist whose research in optics led to the almost unanimous acceptance of the wave theory of light, fully supplanting Newton's corpuscular theory, from the late 1830s until the end of the 19th century. He is perhaps better known for inventing the catadioptric (reflective/refractive) Fresnel lens and for pioneering the use of "stepped" lenses to extend the visibility of lighthouses, saving countless lives at sea. The simpler dioptric stepped lens, first proposed by Count Buffon and independently reinvented by Fresnel, is used in screen magnifiers and in condenser lenses for overhead projectors.
29/07/1775
Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.
The Judge Advocate General's Corps of the United States Army, also known as the U.S. Army JAG Corps, is the legal arm of the United States Army. It is composed of Army officers who are also lawyers, who provide legal services to the Army at all levels of command, and also includes legal administrator warrant officers, paralegal noncommissioned officers and junior enlisted personnel, and civilian employees.
29/07/1693
War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
The Nine Years' War was a European great power conflict from 1688 to 1697 between France and the Grand Alliance. Fought primarily in Europe, related conflicts include the Williamite war in Ireland, and King William's War in North America.
29/07/1588
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.
The Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) was an intermittent conflict between Habsburg Spain and the Kingdom of England that was never formally declared. It began with England's military expedition in 1585 to what was then the Spanish Netherlands under the command of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, in support of the Dutch rebellion against Spanish Habsburg rule.
29/07/1567
The infant James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.
James VI and I was King of Scotland as James VI from 24 July 1567, and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the Scottish and English crowns on 24 March 1603, until his death in 1625. Though he long attempted to get both countries to adopt a closer political union, the kingdoms of Scotland and England remained sovereign states, with their own parliaments, judiciaries and laws; they were ruled by James in personal union.
29/07/1565
The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland, in a Catholic ceremony.
Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication on 24 July 1567.
29/07/1148
The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.
The siege of Damascus took place between 24 and 28 July 1148, during the Second Crusade. It ended in a crusader defeat and led to the disintegration of the crusade. The two main Christian forces that marched to the Holy Land in response to Pope Eugene III and Bernard of Clairvaux's call for the Second Crusade were led by Kings Louis VII of France and Conrad III of Germany. Both faced disastrous marches across Anatolia in the months that followed, with most of their armies being destroyed. The original focus of the crusade was Edessa (Urfa), but in Jerusalem, the preferred target of King Baldwin III and the Knights Templar was Damascus. At the Council of Acre, magnates from France, Germany, and the Kingdom of Jerusalem decided to divert the crusade to Damascus.
29/07/1030
Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.
The Earls of Lade were a dynasty of Norse jarls who ruled what is now Trøndelag and Hålogaland from the 9th century to the 11th century.
29/07/1018
Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen.
Dirk III was the count with jurisdiction over what would become the county of Holland, often referred to in this period as "West Frisia", from 993 to 27 May 1039. Until 1005, this was under regency of his mother. It is thought that Dirk III went on pilgrimage to the Holy Land around 1030, hence his nickname of Hierosolymita.
29/07/1014
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.
The Byzantine–Bulgarian wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire which began after the Bulgars conquered parts of the Balkan peninsula after 680 AD. The Byzantine and First Bulgarian Empire continued to clash over the next century with varying success, until the Bulgarians, led by Krum, inflicted a series of crushing defeats on the Byzantines. After Krum died in 814, his son Omurtag negotiated a thirty-year peace treaty. Simeon I had multiple successful campaigns against the Byzantines during his rule from 893 to 927. His son Peter I negotiated another long-lasting peace treaty. His rule was followed by a period of decline of the Bulgarian state.
29/07/0923
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).
The Battle of Fiorenzuola was fought on 29 July 923 between the forces of Rudolph II of Burgundy and Adalbert I of Ivrea on one side and Berengar I of Italy on the other. The battle was a defeat for Berengar, who was thus de facto dethroned and replaced by Rudolf as King of Italy. His own grandson and namesake, Berengar II, who would later be king of Italy as well, fought on the winning side against him.
29/07/0904
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.
The sack of Thessalonica was the capture and subsequent sack of the Byzantine city of Thessalonica by the Abbasid Caliphate and Tulunids in the year 904, led by Leo of Tripoli, a privateer and Muslim convert.
29/07/0615
Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12.
Kʼinich Janaab Pakal I, also known as Pacal or Pacal the Great, was ajaw of the Maya city-state of Palenque in the Late Classic period of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican chronology. He acceded to the throne in July 615 and ruled until his death. Pakal reigned 68 years—the fifth-longest verified regnal period of any sovereign monarch in history, the longest in world history for more than a millennium, and the second-longest reign of any monarch in the history of the Americas. He took the throne at age 12. During his long rule, Pakal was responsible for the construction or extension of some of Palenque's most notable surviving inscriptions and monumental architecture. He is perhaps best known in popular culture for his depiction on the carved lid of his sarcophagus, which has become the subject of pseudoarchaeological speculations.
31/07/2007
The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple.
The Neo-Babylonian Empire or Second Babylonian Empire, historically known as the Chaldean Empire, was the last polity ruled by monarchs native to ancient Mesopotamia. Beginning with the coronation of Nabopolassar as the King of Babylon in 626 BC and being firmly established through the fall of the Assyrian Empire in 612 - 609 BC, the Neo-Babylonian Empire was conquered by the Achaemenid Persian Empire in 539 BC, less than a century after the founding of the Chaldean dynasty. The defeat of the Assyrian Empire and subsequent return of power to Babylon marked the first time that the city, and southern Mesopotamia in general, had risen to dominate the ancient Near East since the collapse of the Old Babylonian Empire nearly a thousand years earlier. The period of Neo-Babylonian rule thus saw unprecedented economic and population growth throughout Babylonia, as well as a renaissance of culture and artwork as Neo-Babylonian kings conducted massive building projects, especially in Babylon itself, bringing back many elements from the previous 2,000 years of Sumero-Akkadian culture.