636 Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
984 Pope John XIV (died)
1153 Bernard of Clairvaux (died), French theologian and saint (born 1090)
1308 Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
1384 Geert Groote (died), Dutch preacher, founded the Brethren of the Common Life (born 1340)
1561 Jacopo Peri (born), Italian composer (died 1633)
1580 Jerónimo Osório (died), Portuguese historian (born 1506)
1611 Tomás Luis de Victoria (died), Spanish composer (born 1548)
1613 Duchess Elisabeth Sophie of Mecklenburg (born) (died 1676)
1639 Martin Opitz (died), German poet (born 1597)
1707 The first Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
1710 Thomas Simpson (born), English mathematician (died 1761)
1719 Christian Mayer (born), Czech astronomer and educator (died 1783)
1775 The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
1779 Jöns Jacob Berzelius (born), Swedish chemist (died 1848)
1794 Battle of Fallen Timbers American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.
1799 James Prinsep (born), English orientalist and scholar (died 1840)
1823 Pope Pius VII (died) (born 1740)
1833 Benjamin Harrison (born), American general, lawyer, and politician, 23rd President of the United States (died 1901)
1849 Charles Hubbard (born), American archer (died 1923)
1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace’s same theory.
1866 President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
1881 Edgar Guest (born), English-American poet (died 1959)
1882 Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.
1886 Paul Tillich (born), German-American philosopher and theologian (died 1965)
1890 H. P. Lovecraft (born), American author and poet (died 1937)
1905 Jack Teagarden (born), American singer-songwriter and trombonist (died 1964)
1910 Eero Saarinen (born), Finnish-American architect, designed the Gateway Arch (died 1961)
1912 William Booth (died), English preacher, co-founded The Salvation Army (born 1829)
1913 Roger Wolcott Sperry (born), American neuropsychologist and neurobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1994)
1914 Pope Pius X (died) (born 1835)
1914 World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
1915 Paul Ehrlich (died), German physician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1854)
1917 Adolf von Baeyer (died), German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1835)
1918 Jacqueline Susann (born), American author (died 1974)
1920 The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
1926 Japan’s public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
1931 Don King (born), American boxing promoter
1935 Ron Paul (born), American physician, captain, and politician
1936 Hideki Shirakawa (born), Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
1940 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”.
1940 In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.
1941 Slobodan Milošević (born), Serbian politician, 1st President of Serbia (died 2006)
1942 Isaac Hayes (born), American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (died 2008)
1946 Connie Chung (born), American journalist
1947 James Pankow (born), American trombonist and songwriter (Chicago)
1948 Robert Plant (born), English singer-songwriter (Led Zeppelin, Band of Joy, The Honeydrippers, and Page and Plant)
1949 Alan Hardwick (born), English journalist, actor, and producer
1949 Phil Lynott (born), English-Irish singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (Thin Lizzy, Skid Row, and Grand Slam) (died 1986)
1950 Korean War: United Nations repel an offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to cross the Naktong River and assault the city of Taegu.
1951 Mohamed Morsi (born), Egyptian politician, 5th President of Egypt
1954 Al Roker (born), American journalist, actor, and author
1955 In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
1960 Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
1962 The NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.
1968 Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring.
1970 Fred Durst (born), American singer-songwriter, actor, and director (Limp Bizkit)
1975 Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
1977 Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
1980 Langhorne Slim (born), American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1986 In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
1988 Iran–Iraq War: a ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union’s parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
1991 Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of its pre-World War II statehood.
1998 U.S. embassy bombings: the United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
2002 A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
2007 Leona Helmsley (died), American businesswoman (born 1920)
2009 Larry Knechtel (died), American keyboard player and bassist (Bread) (born 1940)
2012 Phyllis Diller (died), American actress (born 1917)
2012 Virginia Dwyer (died), American actress (born 1919)
EO Smith
Latest posts by EO Smith (see all)
- Patriotism - 4 July, 2017
- The Super Sucker Bowl - 10 February, 2017
- Alternative Facts and Science - 24 January, 2017