On This Day — 15 July

2018

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

France national football team

2016

Factions of the Turkish Armed Forces attempt a coup.

Turkish Armed Forces

2014

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

2014 Moscow Metro derailment

2012

South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style.

Psy

2009

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

Caspian Airlines Flight 7908

2009

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

Space Shuttle program

2006

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

X (social network)

2003

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

WarnerMedia

2002

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

Taliban

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.

Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan

1998

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

Sri Lankan civil war

1996

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

Belgian Air Force

1983

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

1983 Orly Airport attack

1983

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

Nintendo

1979

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

President of the United States

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.

Space Race

1975

Aeroflot Flight E-15 crashes on approach to Batumi International Airport, killing 40.

Aeroflot Flight E-15

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.

Nicosia

1971

The United Red Army is founded in Japan.

United Red Army

1966

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

Vietnam War

1955

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

Nobel Prize

1954

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

Boeing 367-80

1946

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

North Borneo

1942

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

The Holocaust

1927

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

July Revolt of 1927

1922

The Japanese Communist Party is established in Japan.

Japanese Communist Party

1920

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

Aftermath of World War I

1918

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

World War I

1916

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

Seattle

1910

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

Emil Kraepelin

1888

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

Stratovolcano

1870

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

Reconstruction era

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.

Canadian Confederation

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.

American Civil War

1849

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

Airstrike

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.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

1834

The Spanish Inquisition is officially disbanded after nearly 356 years.

Spanish Inquisition

1823

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

Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls

1815

Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon.

Napoleonic Wars

1806

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

Pike Expedition

1799

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

Rosetta Stone

1789

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

French Revolution

1741

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

Aleksei Chirikov

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.

Baruch Leibov

1640

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

Royal Academy of Turku

1482

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

Muhammad XI 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.

Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War

1381

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

John Ball (priest)

1240

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

Swedish–Novgorodian Wars

1207

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

John, King of England

1149

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

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

1099

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

First Crusade

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.

An Lushan rebellion

70

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

AD 70

-484

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

Temple of Castor and Pollux