The historic Grand Pier in Weston-super-Mare burns down for the second time in 80 years.

The Provisional Irish Republican Army calls an end to its thirty year long armed campaign in Northern Ireland.

Tornadoes touch down in a residential areas in south Birmingham and Coventry England, causing £4,000,000 worth of damages and injuring 39 people.

Nine coal miners trapped in the flooded Quecreek Mine in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, are rescued after 77 hours underground.

Australian Ian Thorpe becomes the first swimmer to win six gold medals at a single World Championships.

The remains of a prehistoric man are discovered near Kennewick, Washington. Such remains will be known as the Kennewick Man.

Andorra joins the United Nations.

Pitcher Dennis Martinez of the Montreal Expos throws the 15th perfect game in Major League Baseball history, a 2-0 win against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

The Tangshan earthquake measuring between 7.8 and 8.2 moment magnitude flattens Tangshan in the People's Republic of China, killing 242,769 and injuring 164,851.

Summer Jam at Watkins Glen: 600,000 people attend a rock festival at the Watkins Glen International Raceway.

Vietnam War: U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson announces his order to increase the number of United States troops in South Vietnam from 75,000 to 125,000.

Heavy rain and a mudslide in Isahaya, western Kyūshū, Japan, kill 992.

The Union Mundial pro Interlingua is founded at the first Interlingua congress in Tours, France.

The Metropolitan Police Flying Squad foils a bullion robbery in the "Battle of London Airport".

A U.S. Army B-25 bomber crashes into the 79th floor of the Empire State Building killing 14 and injuring 26.

World War II: Bombing of Hamburg in World War II|Operation Gomorrah

World War II: Soviet leader Joseph Stalin issues Order No. 227 in response to alarming German advances into the Soviet Union. Under the order all those who retreat or otherwise leave their positions without orders to do so were to be immediately executed.

First flight of the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress.

Diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Spain are established.

U.S. President Herbert Hoover orders the United States Army to forcibly evict the "Bonus Army" of World War I veterans gathered in Washington, D.C.

World War I: Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia after Serbia rejects the conditions of an ultimatum sent by Austria on July 23 following the assassination of Archduke Francis Ferdinand.

The city of Miami, Florida is incorporated.

The 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States is passed, establishing African-American citizenship and guaranteeing due process of law.

Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina.

American Civil War: Battle of Ezra Church

José de San Martín declares the independence of Peru from Spain.

Peninsular War: Battle of Talavera

Maximilien Robespierre is executed by guillotine in Paris during the French Revolution.

Bermuda is first settled by survivors of the English ship Sea Venture ''en route'' to Virginia.

Thomas Cromwell is executed at the order of Henry VIII of England on charges of treason. Henry marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard, on the same day.

Troops of the Republic of Pisa and of the Republic of Florence clash in the Battle of Cascina.