History Events on July 21

Sirimavo Bandaranaike is elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, becoming the world's first female head of government

#Sirimavo_Bandaranaike

The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.

#United_States_Senate

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

#Scopes_Trial

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

#NASA

The 365 Crete earthquake affects 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 were killed.

#365_Crete_earthquake

Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler.

#Diocletian

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

#Isle_of_Wight

Ram Baran Yadav is declared the first president of Nepal.

#Ram_Baran_Yadav

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.

#American_Civil_War

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).

#Malcolm_Campbell

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

#Third_Taiwan_Strait_Crisis

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

#1952_Kern_County_earthquake

World War II: Claus von Stauffenberg and fellow conspirators are tortured and executed in Berlin, Germany, for the July 20 plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.

#Claus_von_Stauffenberg

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

#First_Indochina_War

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.

#Pumpsie_Green

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

#Eighty_Years'_War

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

#Battle_of_Shrewsbury

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

#Airship

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.

#Qing_dynasty

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

#Lowest_temperature_recorded_on_Earth

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

#French_campaign_in_Egypt_and_Syria

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

#Springfield,_Missouri

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.

#Baltimore_and_Ohio_Railroad

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

#Leopold_I_of_Belgium

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.

#Battle_of_Taillebourg

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.

#The_Troubles

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

#Treaty_of_Passarowitz

At 02:56 UTC, astronaut Neil Armstrong becomes the first person to walk on the Moon.

#Neil_Armstrong

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

#SS_Columbia_(1880)

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).

#Berengar_I_of_Italy

At the conclusion of a fireworks display on Okura Beach in Akashi, Hy?go, 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.

#Akashi,_Hy?go

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

#Aswan_Dam

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

#Project_Mercury

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

#Jay_Silverheels

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.

#Republic_of_China_Military_Police

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

#Libyan-Egyptian_War

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

#World_War_II

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

#NS_Savannah

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

#Temple_of_Artemis

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

#Adair,_Iowa

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.

#Louis_Rigolly

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

July 2005 London bombings occur.

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

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

Russo-Turkish War (1768-74): Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ending the war.

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

Pope Pontian succeeds Urban I as the eighteenth pope.