July 8

Events Pre-1600 1167 – The Byzantines defeat the Hungarian army decisively at Sirmium, forcing the Hungarians to sue for peace. 1283 – Roger of Lauria, commanding the Aragonese fleet, defeats an Angevin fleet sent to put down a rebellion on Malta. 1497 – Vasco da Gama sets sail on the first direct European voyage to India. 1579 – Our Lady of Kazan, a holy icon of the Russian Orthodox Church, is discovered underground in the city of Kazan, Tatarstan.

1601–1900 1651 – The Venetian fleet under Alvise Mocenigo engages with an Ottoman fleet under Hosambegzade Ali Pasha south of Naxos, defeating it after three days. 1658 – Abaza Hasan Pasha and his allies declare a revolt against grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha, demanding his execution and marching on Istanbul. 1663 – Charles II of England grants John Clarke a Royal charter to Rhode Island. 1709 – Peter I of Russia defeats Charles XII of Sweden at the Battle of Poltava, thus effectively ending Sweden's status as a major power in Europe. 1716 – The Battle of Dynekilen forces Sweden to abandon its invasion of Norway. 1730 – An estimated magnitude 8.7 earthquake causes a tsunami that damages more than of Chile's coastline. 1741 – Reverend Jonathan Edwards preaches to his congregation in Enfield, Connecticut his most famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"; an influence for the First Great Awakening. 1758 – French forces hold Fort Carillon against the British at Ticonderoga, New York. 1760 – British forces defeat French forces in the last naval battle in New France. 1775 – The Olive Branch Petition is signed by the Continental Congress of the Thirteen Colonies of North America. 1776 – John Nixon delivers the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence of the United States. 1822 – Chippewas turn over a huge tract of land in Ontario to the United Kingdom. 1832 – An Egyptian army under Ibrahim Pascha defeats an Ottoman army under Mehmed Pascha in the battle of Hims. 1853 – The Perry Expedition arrives in Edo Bay with a treaty requesting trade. 1859 – King Charles XV & IV accedes to the throne of Sweden–Norway. 1864 – Ikedaya Incident: The Choshu Han shishis planned Shinsengumi sabotage on Kyoto, Japan at Ikedaya. 1874 – The Mounties begin their March West. 1876 – The Hamburg massacre prior to the 1876 United States presidential election results in the deaths of six African-Americans of the Republican Party, along with one white assailant. 1879 – Sailing ship departs San Francisco carrying an ill-fated expedition to the North Pole. 1889 – The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published. 1892 – St. John's, Newfoundland is devastated in the Great Fire of 1892.

1901–present 1912 – Henrique Mitchell de Paiva Couceiro leads an unsuccessful royalist attack against the First Portuguese Republic in Chaves. 1932 – The Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level of the Great Depression, closing at 41.22. 1937 – Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan sign the Treaty of Saadabad. 1947 – Reports are broadcast that a UFO crash-landed in Roswell, New Mexico in what became known as the Roswell UFO incident. 1948 – The United States Air Force accepts its first female recruits into a program called the Women's Air Force (WAF). 1960 – Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage resulting from his flight over the Soviet Union. 1962 – Ne Win besieges and blows up the Rangoon University Student Union building to crush the Student Movement. 1965 – Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 21 is destroyed by a bomb near 100 Mile House, Canada, killing 52. 1966 – King Mwambutsa IV Bangiriceng of Burundi is deposed by his son Prince Charles Ndizi. 1970 – Richard Nixon delivers a special congressional message enunciating Native American self-determination as official US Indian policy, leading to the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975. 1972 – Israeli Mossad assassinate Palestinian writer Ghassan Kanafani. 1980 – The inaugural 1980 State of Origin game is won by Queensland who defeat New South Wales 20–10 at Lang Park. 1980 – Aeroflot Flight 4225 crashes near Almaty International Airport in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic (present day Kazakhstan), killing all 166 people on board. 1982 – A failed assassination attempt against Iraqi president Saddam Hussein results in the Dujail Massacre over the next several months. 1988 – The Island Express train travelling from Bangalore to Kanyakumari derails on the Peruman bridge and falls into Ashtamudi Lake, Kerala in India killing 105 passengers and injuring over 200 more. 1990 – West Germany win the FIFA World Cup final against defending champions Argentina, with Andreas Brehme scoring the game's only goal. 1994 – Kim Jong Il begins to assume supreme leadership of North Korea upon the death of his father, Kim Il Sung. 1994 – Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on an international science mission. 2003 – Sudan Airways Flight 139 crashes near Port Sudan Airport during an emergency landing attempt, killing 116 of the 117 people on board. 2011 – Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched in the final mission of the U.S. Space Shuttle program. 2014 – Israel launches an offensive on Gaza amid rising tensions following the kidnapping and murder of three Israeli teenagers. 2014 – The Brazil national football team suffers its joint-worst defeat, losing 7–1 to Germany in the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup, in a match dubbed the Mineiraço. 2022 – Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe is shot and killed with an improvised firearm due to resentment against the Unification Church. 2025 – Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane, causing 44 deaths, over 2.7 residents without power, and $28 billion to $32 billion dollars worth of damage.

Births Pre-1600 1478 – Gian Giorgio Trissino, Italian linguist, poet, and playwright (died 1550) 1528 – Emmanuel Philibert, Duke of Savoy (died 1580) 1538 – Alberto Bolognetti, Roman Catholic cardinal (died 1585) 1545 – Carlos, Prince of Asturias (died 1568) 1593 – Artemisia Gentileschi, Italian painter (died 1653)

1601–1900 1621 – Jean de La Fontaine, French author and poet (died 1695) 1766 – Dominique Jean Larrey, French surgeon (died 1842) 1779 – Giorgio Pullicino, Maltese painter and architect (died 1851) 1819 – Francis Leopold McClintock, Irish admiral and explorer (died 1907) 1830 – Frederick W. Seward, American lawyer and politician, 6th United States Assistant Secretary of State (died 1915) 1831 – John Pemberton, American chemist and pharmacist, invented Coca-Cola (died 1888) 1836 – Joseph Chamberlain, English businessman and politician, Secretary of State for the Colonies (died 1914) 1838 – Eli Lilly, American soldier, chemist, and businessman, founded Eli Lilly and Company (died 1898) 1838 – Ferdinand von Zeppelin, German general and businessman, founded the Zeppelin Airship Company (died 1917) 1839 – John D. Rockefeller, American businessman and philanthropist, founded the Standard Oil Company (died 1937) 1851 – Arthur Evans, English archaeologist and academic (died 1941) 1851 – John Murray, Australian politician, 23rd Premier of Victoria (died 1916) 1857 – Alfred Binet, French psychologist and graphologist (died 1911) 1867 – Käthe Kollwitz, German painter and sculptor (died 1945) 1876 – Alexandros Papanastasiou, Greek sociologist and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (died 1936) 1882 – Percy Grainger, Australian-American pianist and composer (died 1961) 1885 – Ernst Bloch, German philosopher, author, and academic (died 1977) 1885 – Hugo Boss, German fashion designer, founded Hugo Boss (died 1948) 1892 – Richard Aldington, English author and poet (died 1962) 1892 – Pavel Korin, Russian painter (died 1967) 1894 – Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1984) 1895 – Igor Tamm, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1971) 1900 – George Antheil, American pianist, composer, and author (died 1959)

1901–present 1904 – Henri Cartan, French mathematician and academic (died 2008) 1905 – Leonid Amalrik, Russian animator and director (died 1997) 1906 – Philip Johnson, American architect, designed the IDS Center and PPG Place (died 2005) 1907 – George W. Romney, American businessman and politician, 43rd Governor of Michigan (died 1995) 1908 – Louis Jordan, American singer-songwriter, saxophonist, and actor (died 1975) 1908 – Nelson Rockefeller, American businessman and politician, 41st Vice President of the United States (died 1979) 1908 – V. K. R. Varadaraja Rao, Indian economist, politician, professor and educator (died 1991) 1910 – Carlos Betances Ramírez, Puerto Rican general (died 2001) 1913 – Alejandra Soler, Spanish politician (died 2017) 1914 – Jyoti Basu, Indian politician, 6th Chief Minister of West Bengal (died 2010) 1914 – Billy Eckstine, American singer and trumpet player (died 1993) 1915 – Neil D. Van Sickle, American Air Force major general (died 2019) 1915 – Lowell English, United States Marine Corps general (died 2005) 1916 – Jean Rouverol, American author, actress and screenwriter (died 2017) 1917 – Pamela Brown, English actress (died 1975) 1917 – Faye Emerson, American actress (died 1983) 1918 – Paul B. Fay, American businessman, soldier, and diplomat, 12th United States Secretary of the Navy (died 2009) 1918 – Oluf Reed-Olsen, Norwegian resistance member and pilot (died 2002) 1918 – Craig Stevens, American actor (died 2000) 1919 – Walter Scheel, German soldier and politician, 4th President of West Germany (died 2016) 1920 – Godtfred Kirk Christiansen, Danish businessman (died 1995) 1921 – John Money, New Zealand psychologist and sexologist, known for his research on gender identity, and responsible for controversial involuntary sex reassignment of David Reimer (died 2006) 1923 – Harrison Dillard, American sprinter and hurdler (died 2019) 1923 – Val Bettin, American actor (died 2021)Valentine John Bettin, 1923–2021 1924 – Johnnie Johnson, American pianist and songwriter (died 2005) 1925 – Marco Cé, Italian cardinal (died 2014) 1925 – Arthur Imperatore Sr., Italian-American businessman (died 2020) 1925 – Dominique Nohain, French actor, screenwriter and director (died 2017) 1926 – David Malet Armstrong, Australian philosopher and author (died 2014) 1926 – John Dingell, American lieutenant and politician (died 2019) 1926 – Martin Riesen, Swiss professional ice hockey goaltender (died 2003) 1926 – Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, Swiss-American psychiatrist and author (died 2004) 1928 – Balakh Sher Mazari, former prime minister of Pakistan (died 2022) 1929 – Shirley Ann Grau, American author, wrote Pulitzer Prize winning novel Keepers of the House (died 2020) 1930 – Jerry Vale, American singer (died 2014) 1931 – Roone Arledge, American sports and news broadcasting executive (died 2002) 1933 – Antonio Lamer, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Chief Justice of Canada (died 2007) 1934 – Raquel Correa, Chilean journalist (died 2012) 1934 – Edward D. DiPrete, American politician, 70th Governor of Rhode Island (died 2025) 1934 – Marty Feldman, English actor and screenwriter (died 1982) 1935 – John David Crow, American football player and coach (died 2015) 1935 – Steve Lawrence, American actor and singer (died 2024) 1935 – Vitaly Sevastyanov, Russian engineer and cosmonaut (died 2010) 1939 – Ed Lumley, Canadian businessman and politician, 8th Canadian Minister of Communications (died 2025) 1941 – Dario Gradi, Italian-English footballer, coach, and manager 1942 – Phil Gramm, American economist and politician 1944 – Margaret W. Rossiter, American historian and author (died 2025) 1944 – Jeffrey Tambor, American actor and singer 1945 – Micheline Calmy-Rey, Swiss politician, 91st President of the Swiss Confederation 1947 – Kim Darby, American actress 1947 – Luis Fernando Figari, Peruvian religious leader, founded the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae 1948 – Raffi, Egyptian-Canadian singer-songwriter