- 1912: Emperor Meiji of Japan passed away, and during his reign, Japan transformed into one of the great powers in the modern world.
- 1916: The Black Tom explosion occurred in New Jersey.
- 1938: Henry Ford celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday.
- 1945: A Japanese submarine sank the American cruiser USS Indianapolis, resulting in the deaths of over 800 people.
- 1949: The British warship Amethyst successfully escaped from the Yangtze River after Chinese communists refused safe passage following a three-month standoff.
- 1966: England defeated Germany 4-2 at Wembley to win the FIFA World Cup.
- 1971: The crew of Apollo 15, David Scott and James Irwin, landed on the surface of the moon.
- 1997: Two Arab suicide bombers killed 18 people at a crowded market in Jerusalem, injuring at least 170 others.
- 1999: The U.S. military officially closed its operations in Panama, leaving its headquarters on the banks of the Panama Canal after nearly a century.
- 2002: The Presidents of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo signed a peace agreement aimed at ending the largest war in Africa and years of atrocities in the troubled Great Lakes region.
- 2004: Mike Tyson was defeated by Danny Williams from Great Britain during a heavyweight bout in Louisville.
- 2007: Swedish director Ingmar Bergman passed away at the age of 89.
