July 29 - Events

Events

• 238 – The Praetorian Guard storm 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 Thessaloniki, 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, France.
• 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, Ireland, United Kingdom, 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.
• 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, United Kingdom. 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, Germany, open in London, England, United Kingdom.
• 1950 – Korean War: After four days, the No Gun Ri Massacre ends when the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment is withdrawn.
• 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, New York, 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 Supreme Court of Israel 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.
• 2010 – An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths.