July 15

Historic Events

2018

France win their second World Cup title, defeating Croatia 4–2. ›

2016

Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup. ›

2014

A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 24 and injuring more than 160 others. ›

2012

South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style. ›

2009

Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Jannatabad, Qazvin, Iran, killing 168. ›

2009

Space Shuttle program: Endeavour is launched on STS-127 to complete assembly of the International Space Station's Kibō module. ›

2006

Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched. ›

2003

AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day. ›

2002

"American Taliban" John Walker Lindh pleads guilty to supplying aid to the enemy and possession of explosives during the commission of a felony. ›

2002

The Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan sentences British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to death, and three others suspected of murdering The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl to life. ›

1998

Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil MP S. Shanmuganathan is killed by a claymore mine. ›

1996

A Belgian Air Force C-130 Hercules carrying the Royal Netherlands Army marching band crashes on landing at Eindhoven Airport. ›

1983

An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured. ›

1983

Nintendo and Sega enter the console market with the respective releases of the Famicom and SG-1000 in Japan. ›

1979

U.S. president Jimmy Carter gives his "malaise speech". ›

1975

Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was the last launch of both an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets. ›

1974

In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing Makarios III and installing Nikos Sampson as the president of Cyprus. ›

1971

The United Red Army is founded in Japan. ›

1966

Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam begin Operation Hastings to push the North Vietnamese out of the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone. ›

1955

Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others. ›

1954

The Boeing 367-80, the prototype for both the Boeing 707 and C-135 series, takes its first flight. ›

1946

The State of North Borneo, now Sabah, Malaysia, is annexed by the United Kingdom. ›

1942

The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins the deportation of 100,000 Jews from the occupied Netherlands to extermination camps. ›

1927

Massacre of July 15, 1927: Eighty-nine protesters are killed by Austrian police in Vienna. ›

1922

The Japanese Communist Party is established in Japan. ›

1920

Aftermath of World War I: The Parliament of Poland establishes Silesian Voivodeship before the Polish-German plebiscite. ›

1918

World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack. ›

1916

In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing). ›

1910

In his book Clinical Psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin gives a name to Alzheimer's disease, naming it after his colleague Alois Alzheimer. ›

1888

The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts, killing approximately 500 people in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. ›

1870

Reconstruction Era of the United States: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union. ›

1870

Canadian Confederation: Rupert's Land and the North-Western Territory are transferred to Canada from the Hudson's Bay Company, and the province of Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are established from these vast territories. ›

1862

American Civil War: The CSS Arkansas, the most effective ironclad on the Mississippi River, battles with Union Navy ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut, severely damaging three ships and sustaining heavy damage herself. ›

1849

The first air raid in history occurs; Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice. ›

1840

The Great Powers of Europe conclude the convention of London in order to stabilise the Near East. ›

1838

Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School, discounting Biblical miracles and declaring Jesus a great man, but not God. The Protestant community reacts with outrage. ›

1834

The Spanish Inquisition is officially disbanded after nearly 356 years. ›

1823

A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy. ›

1815

Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon. ›

1806

Pike Expedition: United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike begins an expedition from Fort Bellefontaine near St. Louis, Missouri, to explore the west. ›

1799

The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign. ›

1789

French Revolution: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is named by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard of Paris. ›

1741

Aleksei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska. ›

1738

Baruch Laibov and Alexander Voznitsyn are burned alive in St. Petersburg, Russia. Vonitzin had converted to Judaism with Laibov's help, with the consent of Empress Anna Ivanovna. ›

1640

The first university of Finland, the Royal Academy of Turku, is inaugurated in Turku. ›

1482

Muhammad XI is crowned the twenty-second and last Nasrid king of Granada. ›

1410

Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War: Battle of Grunwald: The allied forces of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeat the army of the Teutonic Order. ›

1381

John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of King Richard II of England. ›

1240

Swedish–Novgorodian Wars: A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva. ›

1207

King John of England expels Canterbury monks for supporting Archbishop Stephen Langton. ›

1149

The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem. ›

1099

First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege. ›

756

An Lushan Rebellion: Emperor Xuanzong of Tang is ordered by his Imperial Guards to execute chancellor Yang Guozhong by forcing him to commit suicide or face a mutiny. General An Lushan has other members of the emperor's family killed. ›

70

First Jewish–Roman War: Titus and his armies breach the walls of Jerusalem. (17th of Tammuz in the Hebrew calendar). ›

484 BC

Dedication of the Temple of Castor and Pollux in ancient Rome. ›