On This Day — 29 July

2024

Three children are stabbed to death and 10 other people injured at a dance studio in Southport, England. This incident, coupled with widespread online misinformation, leads to various racially motivated riots across the UK.

2024 Southport stabbings

2021

The International Space Station temporarily spins out of control, moving the ISS 45 degrees out of attitude, following an engine malfunction of Russian module Nauka.

International Space Station

2019

The 2019 Altamira prison riot between rival Brazilian drug gangs leaves 62 dead.

2019 Altamira prison riot

2015

The first piece of suspected debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is discovered on Réunion Island.

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370

2013

Two passenger trains collide in the Swiss municipality of Granges-près-Marnand near Lausanne injuring 25 people.

Granges-près-Marnand train crash

2010

An overloaded passenger ferry capsizes on the Kasai River in Bandundu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, resulting in at least 80 deaths.

2010 Kasai River ferry capsizing

2005

Astronomers announce their discovery of the dwarf planet Eris.

Eris (dwarf planet)

1996

The child protection portion of the Communications Decency Act is struck down by a U.S. federal court as too broad.

Communications Decency Act

1993

The Supreme Court of Israel acquits alleged Nazi death camp guard John Demjanjuk of all charges and he is set free.

Supreme Court of Israel

1987

British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President of France François Mitterrand sign the agreement to build a tunnel under the English Channel (Channel Tunnel).

Margaret Thatcher

1987

Prime Minister of India Rajiv Gandhi and President of Sri Lanka J. R. Jayewardene sign the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord on ethnic issues.

Rajiv Gandhi

1985

Space Shuttle Challenger launches on STS-51-F. The shuttle ends up in a lower orbit than planned due to an engine failure during ascent.

Space Shuttle Challenger

1981

A worldwide television audience of around 750 million people watch the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer

1981

After impeachment on June 21, Abolhassan Banisadr flees with Massoud Rajavi to Paris, in an Iranian Air Force Boeing 707, piloted by Colonel Behzad Moezzi, to form the National Council of Resistance of Iran.

Abolhassan Banisadr

1980

Iran adopts a new "holy" flag after the Islamic Revolution.

Flag of Iran

1976

In New York City, David Berkowitz (a.k.a. the "Son of Sam") kills one person and seriously wounds another in the first of a series of attacks.

David Berkowitz

1973

Greeks vote to abolish the monarchy, beginning the first period of the Metapolitefsi.

1973 Greek republic referendum

1973

Driver Roger Williamson is killed during the Dutch Grand Prix, after a suspected tire failure causes his car to pitch into the barriers at high speed.

Roger Williamson

1972

Two Avianca Douglas DC-3 airliners collide over Colombia, killing 38.

Avianca

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.

North Vietnam

1967

During the fourth day of celebrating its 400th anniversary, the city of Caracas, Venezuela is shaken by an earthquake, leaving approximately 500 dead.

Caracas

1965

Vietnam War: The first 4,000 101st Airborne Division paratroopers arrive in Vietnam, landing at Cam Ranh Bay.

Vietnam War

1959

First United States Congress elections in Hawaii as a state of the Union.

United States Congress

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).

Dwight D. Eisenhower

1957

The International Atomic Energy Agency is established.

International Atomic Energy Agency

1957

Tonight Starring Jack Paar premieres on NBC with Jack Paar beginning the modern day talk show.

Tonight Starring Jack Paar

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, open in London.

Olympic Games

1945

The BBC Light Programme radio station is launched for mainstream light entertainment and music.

BBC Light Programme

1937

Tongzhou mutiny: In Tongzhou, China, the East Hebei Army attacks Japanese troops and civilians.

Tongzhou mutiny

1932

Great Depression: In Washington, D.C., troops disperse the last of the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans using arson, bayonets, sabers, tanks, tear gas, and vomit gas.

Great Depression

1921

Adolf Hitler becomes leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

Adolf Hitler

1920

Construction of the Link River Dam begins as part of the Klamath Reclamation Project.

Link River Dam

1914

The Cape Cod Canal opened.

Cape Cod Canal

1910

The two-day Slocum massacre commences in Texas, a race riot in which more than 100 African Americans are murdered.

Slocum massacre

1907

Sir Robert Baden-Powell sets up the Brownsea Island Scout camp in Poole Harbour on the south coast of England. The camp runs from August 1 to August 9 and is regarded as the foundation of the Scouting movement.

Robert Baden-Powell, 1st Baron Baden-Powell

1901

Land lottery begins in Oklahoma.

Oklahoma

1900

In Italy, King Umberto I of Italy is assassinated by the anarchist Gaetano Bresci. His son, Victor Emmanuel III, 31 years old, succeeds to the throne.

Umberto I of Italy

1899

The First Hague Convention is signed.

Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907

1871

The Connecticut Valley Railroad opens between Old Saybrook, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut in the United States.

Valley Railroad (Connecticut)

1862

American Civil War: Confederate spy Belle Boyd is arrested by Union troops and detained at the Old Capitol Prison in Washington, D.C.

American Civil War

1858

United States and Japan sign the Harris Treaty.

Treaty of Amity and Commerce (United States–Japan)

1851

Annibale de Gasparis discovers asteroid 15 Eunomia.

Annibale de Gasparis

1848

Great Famine of Ireland: Tipperary Revolt: In County Tipperary, Ireland, then in the United Kingdom, an unsuccessful nationalist revolt against British rule is put down by police.

Great Famine (Ireland)

1836

Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.

Arc de Triomphe

1818

French physicist Augustin Fresnel submits his prizewinning "Memoir on the Diffraction of Light", precisely accounting for the limited extent to which light spreads into shadows, and thereby demolishing the oldest objection to the wave theory of light.

Augustin-Jean Fresnel

1775

Founding of the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps: General George Washington appoints William Tudor as Judge Advocate of the Continental Army.

United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps

1693

War of the Grand Alliance: Battle of Landen: France wins a victory over Allied forces in the Netherlands.

Nine Years' War

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.

Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604)

1567

The infant James VI is crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.

James VI and I

1565

The widowed Mary, Queen of Scots marries Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Duke of Albany, at Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh, Scotland, in a Catholic ceremony.

Mary, Queen of Scots

1148

The Siege of Damascus ends in a decisive crusader defeat and leads to the disintegration of the Second Crusade.

Siege of Damascus (1148)

1030

Ladejarl-Fairhair succession wars: Battle of Stiklestad: King Olaf II fights and dies trying to regain his Norwegian throne from the Danes.

Earls of Lade

1018

Count Dirk III defeats an army sent by Emperor Henry II in the Battle of Vlaardingen.

Dirk III, Count of Holland

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.

Byzantine–Bulgarian wars

923

Battle of Firenzuola: Lombard forces under King Rudolph II and Adalbert I, margrave of Ivrea, defeat the dethroned Emperor Berengar I of Italy at Firenzuola (Tuscany).

Battle of Fiorenzuola

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.

Sack of Thessalonica (904)

615

Pakal ascends the throne of Palenque at the age of 12.

Kʼinich Janaabʼ Pakal

-587

The Neo-Babylonian Empire sacks Jerusalem and destroys the First Temple.

Neo-Babylonian Empire