On this day: July 15

Events on July 15

• 1099 First Crusade: Christian soldiers take the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem after the final assault of a difficult siege. Wikipedia
• 1149 The reconstructed Church of the Holy Sepulchre is consecrated in Jerusalem. Wikipedia
• 1240 Swedish–Novgorodian Wars: A Novgorodian army led by Alexander Nevsky defeats the Swedes in the Battle of the Neva. Wikipedia
• 1738 Baruch Laibov and Alexander Voznitsyn are burned alive in St. Petersburg, Russia. Vonitzin had converted to Judaism with Laibov's help, with the consent of Empress Anna Ivanovna. Wikipedia
• 1741 Aleksei Chirikov sights land in Southeast Alaska. He sends men ashore in a longboat, making them the first Europeans to visit Alaska. Wikipedia
• 1789 French Revolution: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is named by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard of Paris. Wikipedia
• 1799 The Rosetta Stone is found in the Egyptian village of Rosetta by French Captain Pierre-François Bouchard during Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign. Wikipedia
• 1815 Aboard HMS Bellerophon, French emperor Napoleon surrendered to Royal Navy captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, concluding the Napoleonic Wars. Wikipedia
• 1815 Napoleonic Wars: Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders aboard HMS Bellerophon. Wikipedia
• 1838 Ralph Waldo Emerson delivers the Divinity School Address at Harvard Divinity School, discounting Biblical miracles and declaring Jesus a great man, but not God. The Protestant community reacts with outrage. Wikipedia
• 1849 The first air raid in history occurs; Austria launches pilotless balloons against the city of Venice. Wikipedia
• 1862 American Civil War: The CSS Arkansas, the most effective ironclad on the Mississippi River, battles with Union Navy ships commanded by Admiral David Farragut, severely damaging three ships and sustaining heavy damage herself. Wikipedia
• 1870 Reconstruction Era of the United States: Georgia becomes the last of the former Confederate states to be readmitted to the Union. Wikipedia
• 1916 In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing). Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack. Wikipedia
• 1927 Massacre of July 15, 1927: Eighty-nine protesters are killed by Austrian police in Vienna. Wikipedia
• 1942 The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins the deportation of 100,000 Jews from the occupied Netherlands to extermination camps. Wikipedia
• 1946 The State of North Borneo, now Sabah, Malaysia, is annexed by the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1955 Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others. Wikipedia
• 1974 In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing Makarios III and installing Nikos Sampson as the president of Cyprus. Wikipedia
• 1979 U.S. president Jimmy Carter gives his "malaise speech". Wikipedia
• 1983 An attack at Orly Airport in Paris is launched by Armenian militant organisation ASALA, leaving eight people dead and 55 injured. Wikipedia
• 2002 The Anti-Terrorism Court of Pakistan sentences British-born Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to death, and three others suspected of murdering The Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl to life. Wikipedia
• 2006 Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched. Wikipedia
• 2016 The Peace at Home Council, a faction of the Turkish Armed Forces, staged a coup d'état attempt against the government and President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Wikipedia
• 2018 France win their second World Cup title, defeating Croatia 4–2. Wikipedia

Born on July 15

• 1606 Rembrandt, Dutch painter and etcher (died 1669) Wikipedia
• 1848 Vilfredo Pareto, Italian economist and sociologist (died 1923) Wikipedia
• 1858 Emmeline Pankhurst, English political activist and suffragist (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1892 Walter Benjamin, German philosopher and critic (died 1940) Wikipedia
• 1899 Seán Lemass, Irish soldier and politician, 4th Taoiseach of Ireland (died 1971) Wikipedia
• 1917 Nur Muhammad Taraki, Afghan journalist and politician (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1918 Bertram Brockhouse, Canadian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2003) Wikipedia
• 1919 Iris Murdoch, Anglo-Irish British novelist and philosopher (died 1999) Wikipedia
• 1921 Robert Bruce Merrifield, American biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2006) Wikipedia
• 1922 Leon M. Lederman, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1930 Jacques Derrida, Algerian-French philosopher and academic (died 2004) Wikipedia
• 1933 John Hopfield, American physicist and neuroscientist, 2024 Nobel laureate Wikipedia
• 1939 Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Portuguese economist and politician, 19th President of the Portuguese Republic Wikipedia
• 1943 Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Northern Irish astrophysicist, astronomer, and academic Wikipedia
• 1946 Hassanal Bolkiah, Sultan of Brunei Wikipedia
• 1946 Linda Ronstadt, American singer-songwriter, producer, and actress Wikipedia
• 1949 Carl Bildt, Swedish politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Sweden Wikipedia
• 1954 Mario Kempes, Argentinian footballer and manager Wikipedia
• 1956 Joe Satriani, American singer-songwriter and guitarist Wikipedia
• 1961 Forest Whitaker, American actor Wikipedia
• 1976 Diane Kruger, German actress and model Wikipedia
• 1991 Danilo, Brazilian footballer Wikipedia

Died on July 15

• 1015 Vladimir the Great, Grand prince of Kievan Rus' (born c. 958) Wikipedia
• 1274 Bonaventure, Italian bishop and saint (born 1221) Wikipedia
• 1291 Rudolf I of Germany (born 1218) Wikipedia
• 1542 Lisa del Giocondo, subject of Leonardo da Vinci's painting Mona Lisa (born 1479) Wikipedia
• 1789 Jacques Duphly, French harpsichord player and composer (born 1715) Wikipedia
• 1890 Gottfried Keller, Swiss author, poet and playwright (born 1819) Wikipedia
• 1904 Anton Chekhov, Russian playwright and short story writer (born 1860) Wikipedia
• 1919 Emil Fischer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1852) Wikipedia
• 1929 Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Austrian author, poet, and playwright (born 1874) Wikipedia
• 1957 James M. Cox, American publisher and politician, 46th Governor of Ohio (born 1870) Wikipedia
• 1959 Vance Palmer, Australian author and critic (born 1885) Wikipedia
• 1974 Christine Chubbuck, American journalist (born 1944) Wikipedia
• 1997 Gianni Versace, Italian fashion designer, founded Versace (born 1946) Wikipedia
• 2017 Martin Landau, American film and television actor (born 1928) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anne-Marie Javouhey Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bernhard II, Margrave of Baden-Baden Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Bonaventure Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Ceslaus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Dispersion of the Apostles (formerly by the Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Donald of Ogilvy Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Edith of Polesworth Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Inácio de Azevedo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Plechelm Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Quriaqos and Julietta (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Swithun Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Vladimir the Great (Eastern Orthodox; Catholic Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• EU Day for the Victims of the Global Climate Crisis (European Union, worldwide) Wikipedia
• Feast of Saint Rosalia (Palermo, Sicily) Wikipedia
• Meänmaa Flag Day (Meänmaa) Wikipedia
• Statehood Day (Ukraine) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “July 15” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.