History Events on July 31

A tornado occurs in Edmonton, Canada.

#Edmonton_tornado

Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Hsimucheng: Units of the Imperial Japanese Army defeat units of the Imperial Russian Army in a strategic confrontation.

#Russo-Japanese_War

Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.

#Christchurch

Gas explosions in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung kill at least 20 people and injure more than 270.

#2014_Kaohsiung_gas_explosions

Dr. Patrick Francis Healy became the first African-American inaugurated as president of a predominantly white university, Georgetown University.

#Patrick_Francis_Healy

The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.

#Soviet_Union

Discovery Program: Lunar Prospector: NASA intentionally crashes the spacecraft into the Moon, thus ending its mission to detect frozen water on the Moon's surface.

#Discovery_Program

The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.

#The_Troubles

Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.

#Gold

USS Nevada is sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.

#USS_Nevada_(BB-36)

Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.

#Michael_Phelps

The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question."

#The_Holocaust

Aurangzeb is proclaimed Mughal emperor of India.

#Aurangzeb

The first narrow-gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.

#Narrow-gauge_railway

On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.

#Christopher_Columbus

At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

#John_F._Kennedy_International_Airport

Hundred Years' War: Battle of Cravant: The French army is defeated by the English at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.

#Hundred_Years'_War

Maurice, Prince of Orange disbands the waardgelders militia in Utrecht, a pivotal event in the Remonstrant/Counter-Remonstrant tensions.

#Maurice,_Prince_of_Orange

Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.

#Charles_VII,_Holy_Roman_Emperor

Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).

#Bulgaria

Seven days after a Spanish treasure fleet of 12 ships left Havana, Cuba for Spain, 11 of them sink in a storm off the coast of Florida. A few centuries later, treasure is salvaged from these wrecks.

#1715_Treasure_Fleet

The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.

#Patent

The Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.

#Alhambra_Decree

World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.

#World_War_I

Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.

#Daniel_Defoe

The Troubles: three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland.

#Miami_Showband_killings

The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: 6th day of the 7th month of the 1st year of the Ten'o (??) era).

#Mount_Fuji

Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 people on board.

#Thai_Airways_International_Flight_311

Odawa Chief Pontiac's forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac's War.

#Odawa

The U.S. Second Continental Congress passes a resolution that the services of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette "be accepted, and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious family and connexions, he have the rank and commission of major-general of the United States."

#Second_Continental_Congress

Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.

#Fidel_Castro

The Balkan States sign an armistice in Bucharest.

#Balkans

World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.

#World_War_II

The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.

#Georgia_(country)

Ranger program: Ranger 7 sends back the first close-up photographs of the moon, with images 1,000 times clearer than anything ever seen from earth-bound telescopes.

#Ranger_program

The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.

#Spanish_Armada

The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.

#Nazi_Party

Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.

#Pierre_Laval

German national assembly adopts the Weimar Constitution, which comes into force on August 14.

#Weimar_National_Assembly

Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.

#Black_Tot_Day

Apollo program: Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.

#Apollo_program

Jacques Cœur is arrested by order of Charles VII of France.

#Jacques_Cœur

Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.

Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.

A Delta Air Lines jetliner, flight DL 723 crashes while landing in fog at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89.

Action of 31 July 1712 (Great Northern War): Danish and Swedish ships clash in the Baltic Sea; the result is inconclusive.

Russo-Polish War (1654-67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.

Attempted usurpation by John Komnenos the Fat for the throne of Alexios III Angelos.

Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.

Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.