Historical Events on July 31, Special Events on This Day

Important Events From This day in History July 31st. Find Out What happened 31st July This Day in History on your birthday. Also you can find some answers for the following questions;
Which major historical events happened on July 31?
What happened on July 31st in history?
What special day is July 31?
What happened in history on July 31st?

What Happened on July 31st This Day in History

Year Name
2014 Gas explosions in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung kill at least 20 people and injure more than 270.
2012 Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.
2008 East Coast Jets Flight 81 crashes near Owatonna Degner Regional Airport in Owatonna, Minnesota, killing all eight people on board.
2007 Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.
2006 Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.
1999 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.
1997 FedEx Express Flight 14 crashes at Newark International Airport, injuring five.
1992 The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.
1992 Thai Airways International Flight 311 crashes into a mountain north of Kathmandu, Nepal killing all 113 people on board.
1992 China General Aviation Flight 7552 crashes during takeoff from Nanjing Dajiaochang Airport, killing 108.
1991 The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.
1988 Thirty-two people are killed and 1,674 injured when a bridge at the Sultan Abdul Halim ferry terminal collapses in Butterworth, Penang, Malaysia.
1987 A tornado occurs in Edmonton, Alberta, killing 27 people.
1975 The Troubles: Three members of a popular cabaret band and two gunmen are killed during a botched paramilitary attack in Northern Ireland.
1973 A Delta Air Lines jetliner, flight DL 723 crashes while landing in fog at Logan International Airport, Boston, Massachusetts killing 89.
1972 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.
1971 Apollo program: the Apollo 15 astronauts become the first to ride in a lunar rover.
1970 Black Tot Day: The last day of the officially sanctioned rum ration in the Royal Navy.
1966 The pleasure cruiser MV Darlwyne disappeared off the Cornwall coast with the loss of all 31 aboard.
1964 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.
1948 At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.
1948 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.
1945 Pierre Laval, the fugitive former leader of Vichy France, surrenders to Allied soldiers in Austria.
1941 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."
1941 World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.
1938 Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).
1938 Archaeologists discover engraved gold and silver plates from King Darius the Great in Persepolis.
1932 The NSDAP (Nazi Party) wins more than 38% of the vote in German elections.
1917 World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.
1904 Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Hsimucheng: Units of the Imperial Japanese Army defeat units of the Imperial Russian Army in a strategic confrontation.
1874 Dr. Patrick Francis Healy became the first African-American inaugurated as president of a predominantly white university, Georgetown University.
1865 The first narrow-gauge mainline railway in the world opens at Grandchester, Queensland, Australia.
1856 Christchurch, New Zealand is chartered as a city.
1790 The first U.S. patent is issued, to inventor Samuel Hopkins for a potash process.
1777 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."
1763 Odawa Chief Pontiac's forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac's War.
1741 Charles Albert of Bavaria invades Upper Austria and Bohemia.
1715 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.
1712 Action of 31 July 1712 (Great Northern War): Danish and Swedish ships clash in the Baltic Sea; the result is inconclusive.
1703 Daniel Defoe is placed in a pillory for the crime of seditious libel after publishing a politically satirical pamphlet, but is pelted with flowers.
1658 Aurangzeb is proclaimed Mughal emperor of India.
1655 Russo-Polish War (1654–67): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.
1618 Maurice, Prince of Orange disbands the waardgelders militia in Utrecht, a pivotal event in the Remonstrant/Counter-Remonstrant tensions.
1498 On his third voyage to the Western Hemisphere, Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to discover the island of Trinidad.
1492 All remaining Jews are expelled from Spain when the Alhambra Decree takes effect.
1451 Jacques Cœur is arrested by order of Charles VII of France.
1423 Hundred Years' War: Battle of Cravant: A Franco-Scottish army is defeated by the Anglo-Burgundians at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.
1201 Attempted usurpation by John Komnenos the Fat for the throne of Alexios III Angelos.
1009 Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.
781 The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: Sixth day of the seventh month of the first year of the Ten'o (天応) era).
30 Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.
Famous People Born on July 31

Here is a random list who born on July 31. For full list please click on the link above.

Year Name
1967 Tim Wright, Welsh composer
1944 David Norris, Irish scholar and politician
1931 Kenny Burrell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1970 Ben Chaplin, English actor
1968 Saeed-Al-Saffar, Emirati cricketer
1981 Paul Whatuira, New Zealand rugby league player
1950 Richard Berry, French actor, director, and screenwriter
1886 Salvatore Maranzano, Italian-American mob boss (d. 1931)
1952 Chris Ahrens, American ice hockey player
1985 Daniel Ciofani, Italian footballer
Famous People Deaths On July 31

Here is a list of some famous peope who died on July 31. For full list please click on the link above.

Date Name
1964 Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (b. 1923)
1653 Thomas Dudley, English soldier and politician, 3rd Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1576)
1805 Dheeran Chinnamalai, Indian soldier (b. 1756)
1942 Francis Younghusband, British Army Officer, explorer and spiritual writer (b.1863)
1358 Étienne Marcel, French rebel leader (b. 1302)
1943 Hedley Verity, English cricketer and soldier (b. 1905)
2016 Chiyonofuji Mitsugu, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 58th Yokozuna (b. 1955)[20]
2001 Francisco da Costa Gomes, Portuguese general and politician, 15th President of Portugal (b. 1914)
1985 Eugene Carson Blake, American religious leader (b. 1906)
2004 Virginia Grey, American actress (b. 1917)