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
• 1381 John Ball, a leader in the Peasants' Revolt, is hanged, drawn and quartered in the presence of King Richard II of England. Wikipedia
• 1410 The Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania defeated the Teutonic Knights at the Battle of Grunwald, the decisive engagement of the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. Wikipedia
• 1799 French soldiers at Fort Julien, near the Egyptian port city of Rashid, uncovered the Rosetta Stone, which was essential in the decipherment of ancient Egyptian scripts. Wikipedia
• 1815 Aboard HMS Bellerophon, French emperor Napoleon surrendered to Royal Navy captain Frederick Lewis Maitland, concluding the Napoleonic Wars. Wikipedia
• 1823 A fire destroys the ancient Basilica of Saint Paul Outside the Walls in Rome, Italy. Wikipedia
• 1834 The Spanish Inquisition is officially disbanded after nearly 356 years. Wikipedia
• 1870 Following the transfer of Rupert's Land from the Hudson's Bay Company, Manitoba was established as a province of Canada. Wikipedia
• 1888 The stratovolcano Mount Bandai erupts, killing approximately 500 people in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. Wikipedia
• 1910 In his book Clinical Psychiatry, Emil Kraepelin gives a name to Alzheimer's disease, naming it after his colleague Alois Alzheimer. 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
• 1943 The all-female Emilia Plater Independent Women's Battalion was formed in the Soviet Union's First Polish Army. 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
• 1983 Sega's first home video game console, the SG-1000, was released in Japan. Wikipedia
• 2003 AOL Time Warner disbands Netscape. The Mozilla Foundation is established on the same day. Wikipedia
• 2006 Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched. Wikipedia
• 2009 Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashed in northwestern Iran, killing all 168 people aboard. Wikipedia
• 2009 A Mw 7.8 earthquake struck a remote region of Fiordland, New Zealand, the country's largest earthquake magnitude since the 1931 Hawke's Bay earthquake. Wikipedia
• 2009 Space Shuttle program: Endeavour is launched on STS-127 to complete assembly of the International Space Station's Kibō module. Wikipedia
• 2012 South Korean rapper Psy released his hit single "Gangnam Style". Wikipedia
• 2014 A train derails on the Moscow Metro, killing at least 24 and injuring more than 160 others. 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 Croatian Mario Mandžukić scored the first own goal in a FIFA World Cup final in their defeat to France. Wikipedia

Born on July 15

• 1573 Inigo Jones, English architect, designed the Queen's House (died 1652) Wikipedia
• 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
• 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
• 1922 Leon M. Lederman, American physicist and mathematician, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1926 Leopoldo Galtieri, Argentinian general and politician, 44th President of Argentina (died 2003) 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

• 998 Abū al-Wafā' Būzjānī, Persian mathematician and astronomer (born 940) Wikipedia
• 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
• 1885 Rosalía de Castro, Spanish author and poet (born 1837) 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
• 1940 Robert Wadlow, American giant, 8"11' 271 cm (born 1918) Wikipedia
• 1948 John J. Pershing, American general (born 1860) 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

Sources

• Wikipedia — “July 15” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/July 15” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

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 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for July 15 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.