July 21

Historic Events

2025

A Bangladesh Air Force Chengdu FT-7BGI crashes shortly after takeoff into Milestone School campus in Dhaka, Bangladesh, killing 35 people and injuring 173. ›

2024

U.S. President Joe Biden announces he will no longer seek a second term and withdraws from the 2024 election, endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris as she launches her own presidential campaign. ›

2023

The Barbenheimer phenomenon begins as two major motion pictures, Greta Gerwig's fantasy comedy Barbie and Christopher Nolan's epic biographical thriller Oppenheimer, are released in theaters on the same day and audiences, instead of creating a rivalry between the extremely dissimilar films, instead attend and praise both as an informal, surreal double feature. ›

2019

Yuen Long attack or "721 incident" in Hong Kong. Triad members indiscriminately beat civilians returning from protests while police failed to take action. ›

2012

Erden Eruç completes the first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the world. ›

2011

NASA's Space Shuttle program ends with the landing of Space Shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-135 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. ›

2010

U.S. President Barack Obama signs the Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. ›

2008

Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first President of Nepal. ›

2005

Four attempted bomb attacks by Islamist extremists disrupt part of London's public transport system. ›

2001

At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hyōgo, Japan, 11 people are killed and more than 120 are injured when a pedestrian footbridge connecting the beach to JR Asagiri Station becomes overcrowded and people leaving the event fall down in a domino effect. ›

1995

Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan. ›

1990

Taiwan's military police forces mainland Chinese illegal immigrants into sealed holds of a fishing boat Min Ping Yu No. 5540 for repatriation to Fujian, causing 25 people to die from suffocation. ›

1983

The world's lowest temperature in an inhabited location is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2 °C (−128.6 °F). ›

1979

Jay Silverheels, a Mohawk actor, becomes the first Native American to have a star commemorated in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. ›

1977

The start of the four-day-long Libyan–Egyptian War. ›

1976

Christopher Ewart-Biggs, the British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland, is assassinated by the Provisional IRA. ›

1973

In Lillehammer, Norway, Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in the 1972 Munich Olympics Massacre. ›

1972

The Troubles: Bloody Friday: The Provisional IRA detonate 22 bombs in central Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom in the space of 80 minutes, killing nine and injuring 130. ›

1970

After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed. ›

1969

Apollo program: At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon, followed 19 minutes later by Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin. ›

1964

A series of racial riots break out in Singapore. In the next six weeks, 23 die with 454 others injured. ›

1961

Mercury program: Mercury-Redstone 4 Mission: Gus Grissom piloting Liberty Bell 7 becomes the second American to go into space (in a suborbital mission). ›

1961

Alaska Airlines Flight 779 crashes near Shemya Air Force Base in Shemya, Alaska killing six. ›

1960

Sirimavo Bandaranaike is sworn in as prime minister of Ceylon, becoming the world's first democratically elected female head of government. ›

1959

NS Savannah, the first nuclear-powered cargo-passenger ship, is launched as a showcase for Dwight D. Eisenhower's "Atoms for Peace" initiative. ›

1959

Elijah Jerry "Pumpsie" Green becomes the first African-American to play for the Boston Red Sox, the last team to integrate. He came in as a pinch runner for Vic Wertz and stayed in as shortstop in a 2–1 loss to the Chicago White Sox. ›

1954

First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. ›

1952

The 7.3 Mw Kern County earthquake strikes Southern California with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing 12 and injuring hundreds. ›

1951

Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 3505 disappears while flying from Vancouver to Tokyo. The aircraft and its 37 occupants are never found. ›

1949

The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty. ›

1944

World War II: Battle of Guam: American troops land on Guam, starting a battle that will end on August 10. ›

1944

World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and four fellow conspirators are executed for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. ›

1936

Spanish Civil War: The Central Committee of Antifascist Militias of Catalonia is constituted, establishing an anarcho-syndicalist economy in Catalonia. ›

1925

Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching human evolution in class and fined $100. ›

1925

Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to exceed 150 mph (241 km/h) on land. At Pendine Sands in Wales, he drives Sunbeam 350HP built by Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of 150.33 mph (242 km/h). ›

1920

The "Belfast Pogrom" begins two years of violence with the expulsion of thousands of Catholic shipyard, factory and linen mill workers from their jobs. ›

1919

The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashes into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people. ›

1907

The passenger steamer SS Columbia sinks after colliding with the steam schooner San Pedro off Shelter Cove, California, killing 88 people. ›

1904

Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the 100 mph (161 km/h) barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brillié in Ostend, Belgium. ›

1877

After rioting by Baltimore and Ohio Railroad workers and the deaths of nine rail workers at the hands of the Maryland militia, workers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia. ›

1873

At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James–Younger Gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American Old West. ›

1865

In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots and kills Davis Tutt in what is regarded as the first western showdown. ›

1861

American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run: At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins and ends in a victory for the Confederate army. ›

1832

Signature of the treaty of Constantinople between the Britain, France, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, which outlines the borders of the new kingdom of Greece. ›

1831

Inauguration of Leopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians. ›

1798

French campaign in Egypt and Syria: Napoleon's forces defeat an Ottoman-Mamluk army near Cairo in the Battle of the Pyramids. ›

1774

Russo-Turkish War (1768–74): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war. It is the first time, that an Ottoman ruler surrendered territory largely populated by Muslims and the first time that a separation of secular and spiritual authority in the Ottoman Empire was established. ›

1718

The Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed. ›

1674

A Dutch assault on the French island of Martinique is repulsed against all odds. ›

1656

The Raid on Málaga takes place during the Anglo-Spanish War. ›

1645

Qing dynasty regent Dorgon issues an edict ordering all Han Chinese men to shave their forehead and braid the rest of their hair into a queue identical to those of the Manchus. ›

1568

Eighty Years' War: Battle of Jemmingen: Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau. ›

1545

The first landing of French troops on the coast of the Isle of Wight during the French invasion of the Isle of Wight. ›

1403

Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England. ›

1242

Battle of Taillebourg: Louis IX of France puts an end to the revolt of his vassals Henry III of England and Hugh X of Lusignan. ›

905

King Berengar I of Italy and a hired Hungarian army defeats the Frankish forces at Verona. King Louis III is captured and blinded for breaking his oath (see 902). ›

365

The 365 Crete earthquake affected the Greek island of Crete with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), causing a destructive tsunami that affects the coasts of Libya and Egypt, especially Alexandria. Many thousands are killed. ›

285

Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler. ›

230

Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope. After being exiled to Sardinia, he became the first pope to resign his office. ›

356 BC

The Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is destroyed by arson. ›