July 21

Events 356 BC - A young man called Herostratus set fire to the Temple of Artemis in Ephesus, one of the Seven Wonders of the World.1403 - Battle of Shrewsbury: King Henry IV of England defeats rebels to the north of the county town of Shropshire, England1568 - Eighty Years' War: Battle of Jemmingen - Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva defeats Louis of Nassau 1718 - Treaty of Passarowitz between the Ottoman Empire, Austria and the Republic of Venice is signed. 1774 - Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war. 1831 - Inauguration of Léopold I of Belgium, first king of the Belgians. 1861 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory). 1865 - In the market square of Springfield, Missouri, Wild Bill Hickok shoots Dave Tutt dead in what is regarded as the first true western showdown. 1873 - At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West. 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 stage a sympathy strike that is met with an assault by the state militia.1919 The dirigible Wingfoot Air Express crashed into the Illinois Trust and Savings Building in Chicago, killing 12 people.1925 - Scopes Trial: In Dayton, Tennessee, high school biology teacher John T. Scopes is found guilty of teaching evolution in class and fined $100. 1931 - CBS's New York City station begins broadcasting the first regular seven days a week television schedule in the U.S. 1944 - World War II: Battle of Guam - American troops land on Guam starting the battle (ends on August 10). 1954 - First Indochina War: The Geneva Conference partitions Vietnam into North Vietnam and South Vietnam. 1960 - Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes the first woman prime minister in the world, making her the first elected female national leader in the world (Sri Lanka).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). 1969 - Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission. 1970 - After 11 years of construction, the Aswan High Dam in Egypt is completed. 1972 - Bloody Friday bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) around Belfast, Northern Ireland - 22 bomb explosions, 9 people killed and 130 people seriously injured.1973 - In the Lillehammer affair in Norway, Israeli Mossad agents kill a waiter whom they mistakenly thought was involved in 1972's Munich Olympics Massacre.1976 - Christopher Ewart-Biggs British ambassador to the Republic of Ireland is assassinated by the Provisional IRA.1977 - Start of a four day long Libyan-Egyptian War.1983 - The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2°C (−129°F). 1984 - In Jackson, Michigan, a factory robot crushes a worker against a safety bar in apparently the first robot-related death in the United States.1994 - Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way to him becoming Prime Minister in 1997.1995 - Third Taiwan Strait Crisis: The People's Liberation Army begins firing missiles into the waters north of Taiwan.1997 - The fully restored USS Constitution (aka "Old Ironsides") celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.2002 - Telecom giant WorldCom files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the largest such filing in United States history.2004 - The United Kingdom government publishes Delivering Security in a Changing World, a paper detailing wide-ranging reform of the country's armed forces.2005 - Four terrorist bombings, occurring exactly two weeks after the similar July 7 bombings, target London's public transportation system. All four bombs fail to detonate and all four suspected suicide bombers escaped.2007 - Release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J K Rowling-the final book in the Harry Potter series.
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