1223 Louis VIII became King of France upon the death of his father, Philip II of France.
1698 The Darien scheme began with five ships, bearing about 1,200 people, departing Leith for the Isthmus of Panama.
1769 The de Portolá Expedition established a base in California, and set out to find the Port of Monterey.
1771 Foundation of the Mission San Antonio de Padua by the Franciscan friar Junípero Serra.
1789 French Revolution: Citizens of Paris stormed the Bastille and freed seven prisoners.
1790 French Revolution: Citizens of Paris celebrated the constitutional monarchy and national reconciliation in the Fête de la Fédération.
1791 The Priestley Riots drove Joseph Priestley, a supporter of the French Revolution, out of Birmingham, England.
1798 The Sedition Act became law in the United States making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the government.
1834 James Abbott McNeill Whistler, American painter (d. 1903).
1858 Emmeline Pankhurst, English suffragette (d. 1928)
1865 First ascent of the Matterhorn by Edward Whymper and party, four of whom died on the descent.
1868 Gertrude Bell, English archaeologist, writer, spy, and administrator, was born (d. 1926).
1872 Albert Marque, French sculptor and doll maker, was born (d. 1939).
1881 Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Pat Garrett outside Fort Sumner.
1853 New Zealand’s first general election began.
1900 Armies of the Eight-Nation Alliance captured Tientsin during theBoxer Rebellion.
1902 The Campanile in St Mark’s Square, Venice collapsed, also demolishing the loggetta.
1903 Irving Stone, American writer, was born (d. 1989).
1910 William Hanna, American animator, was born (d. 2001).
1911 Terry-Thomas, British actor, was born (d. 1990).
1912 Woody Guthrie, American folk musician, was born (d. 1967).
1913 Gerald Ford, 38th President of the United States, was born (d. 2006).
1916 Start of the Battle of Delville Wood as an action in the Battle of the Somme.
1918 Ingmar Bergman, Swedish film and theatre director, was born (d. 2007).
1921 – Leon Garfield, English children’s author, was born (d. 1996).
1928 Nancy Olson, American actress, was born.
1930 Polly Bergen, American actress, was born.
1933 Gleichschaltung: In Germany, all political parties were outlawed except the Nazi Party.
1940 Susan Howatch, English author, was born.
1943 The George Washington Carver National Monument became the first United States National Monument in honor of an African American.
1948 Palmiro Togliatti, leader of the Italian Communist Party, was shot near the Italian Parliament.
1950 Sir Apirana Ngata died.
1958 Iraqi Revolution: the monarchy was overthrown by popular forces lead by Abdul Karim Kassem, who becomes the nation’s new leader.
1965 The Mariner 4 flyby of Mars took the first close-up photos of another planet.
1969 Football War: after Honduras lost a soccer match against El Salvador rioting broke out in Honduras against Salvadoran migrant workers.
1969 The United States $500, $1,000, $5,000 and $10,000 bills were officially withdrawn from circulation.
1984 – David Lange led Labour to election victory.
1992 386BSD was released by Lynne Jolitz and William Jolitz beginning the Open Source Operating System Revolution.
2000 A powerful solar flare, later named the Bastille Day event, caused a geomagnetic storm.
2002 French President Jacques Chirac escaped an assassination attempt unscathed during Bastille Day celebrations.
2003 The United States Government admitted the existence of “Area 51“.
2007 Russia withdrew from the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe.
2013 – Israeli Tent Protests movement launched.
2015 – NASA’s New Horizons probe performed the first flyby of Pluto, and thus completes the initial survey of the Solar System.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia
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