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 are captured and later convicted and imprisoned for long terms.

The fully restored {{USS|Constitution}} (aka ''Old Ironsides'') celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.

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

Tony Blair is declared the winner of the leadership election of the British Labour Party, paving the way for him to become Prime Minister after the 1997 general election.

The world's lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at {{convert|-89.2|°C|°F}}.

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

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

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

Bloody Friday (1972)|Bloody Friday bombings by the Provisional Irish Republican Army|Provisional IRA around Belfast, Northern Ireland

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

The lunar module lifts of from the surface of the moon.

Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon, during the Apollo 11 mission.

The lunar module docks with the command service module in the moon's orbit.

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

Sirimavo Bandaranaike is elected Prime Minister of Sri Lanka and becomes the world's first woman prime minister.

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.

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

The United States Senate ratifies the North Atlantic Treaty.

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

World War II: Battle of Guam (1944)|Battle of Guam

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

Sir Malcolm Campbell becomes the first man to break the {{convert|150|mph|0|abbr=on}} land barrier at Pendine Sands in Wales. He drove a Sunbeam at a two-way average speed of {{convert|150.33|mph|0|abbr=on}}.

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

{{SMU|U-156||2}} shells Nauset Beach, in Orleans, Massachusetts.

Louis Rigolly, a Frenchman, becomes the first man to break the {{convert|100|mph|0|abbr=on}} barrier on land. He drove a 15-liter Gobron-Brille in Ostend, Belgium.

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.

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

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

American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run

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

Russo-Turkish War, 1768-1774: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign the Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war.

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

Eighty Years' War: Battle of Jemmingen

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

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

A tsunami devastates the city of Alexandria, Egypt. The tsunami is caused by an earthquake estimated to be 8.0 on the Richter Scale. 5,000 people perished in Alexandria, and 45,000 more died outside the city.

Diocletian appoints Maximian as Caesar and co-ruler.