Events
July 29
238
– The Praetorian Guard stormed the palace
and capture Pupienus and Balbinus. They
are dragged through the streets of Rome
and executed. On the same day Gordian III,
age 13, is proclaimed emperor.
615 – Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque
at age 12.
904 – Sack of Thessalonica: Saracen raiders
under Leo of Tripoli sack Thessalonica,
the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city,
after a short siege, and plunder it for
a week.
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.
1030 – Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars:
Battle of Stiklestad – King Olaf II fights
and dies trying to regain his Norwegian
throne from the Danes.
1565 – The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots,
marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke
of Albany, at Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh,
Scotland.
1567 – James VI is crowned King of Scotland
at Stirling.
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.
1693 – War of the Grand Alliance: Battle
of Landen – France wins a Pyrrhic victory
over Allied forces in the Netherlands.
1793 – John Graves Simcoe decides to build
a fort and settlement at Toronto, having
sailed into the bay there.
1836 – Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe
in Paris.
1847 – Cumberland School of Law is founded
in Lebanon, Tennessee, United States, one
of only 15 law schools to exist in the United
States at the end of 1847.
1848 – Irish Potato Famine: Tipperary Revolt
– in Tipperary, 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.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederate spy
Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and
detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington,
D.C..
1883 – Benito Mussolini is born.
1899 – The First Hague Convention is signed.
1900 – In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy
is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano
Bresci.
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, 1907, and
is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting
movement.
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.
1937 – Tōngzhōu Incident: in Tōngzhōu (China),
the East Hopei Army attacks Japanese troops
and civilians.
1945 – The BBC Light Programme radio station
is launched for mainstream light entertainment
and music.
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.
1957 – The International Atomic Energy Agency
is established.
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).
1959 – First United States Congress elections
in Hawaii as a state of the Union.
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 USS Forrestal 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.
1973 – Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy,
beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.
1976 – In New York City, David Berkowitz
(aka the "Son of Sam") kills one
person and seriously wounds another in the
first of a series of attacks.
1981 – A worldwide television audience of
over 700 million people watch the wedding
of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana
Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
1987 – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher
and President of France François Mitterrand
sign the agreement to build a tunnel under
the English Channel (Eurotunnel).
1987 – Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi
and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayawardene
sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic
issues.
1993 – The Israeli Supreme Court 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.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Lupus of Troyes
Martha of Bethany (Catholic, Anglican, and
Lutheran Church)
Olaf II of Norway
Simplicius, Faustinus and Beatrix
July 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Tiger Day
National Anthem Day (Romania)
National Thai Language Day (Thailand)
Ólavsøka, opening of the Løgting session.
(Faroe Islands)
For details, contact Datacentre
|