On this day: July 22

Events on July 22

• 838 Arab–Byzantine wars: The forces of the Abbasid Caliphate defeated Byzantine troops led by Emperor Theophilos at the Battle of Anzen, near present-day Dazman, Turkey. Wikipedia
• 1099 First Crusade: Godfrey of Bouillon is elected the first Defender of the Holy Sepulchre of The Kingdom of Jerusalem. Wikipedia
• 1209 A crusading army captured Béziers, France, and massacred the city's inhabitants in the first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade. Wikipedia
• 1298 First War of Scottish Independence: English forces led by Edward I defeated William Wallace's Scottish troops at the Battle of Falkirk. Wikipedia
• 1456 Ottoman wars in Europe: Siege of Belgrade: John Hunyadi, Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary, defeats Mehmet II of the Ottoman Empire. Wikipedia
• 1691 Williamite forces defeated the Jacobites at the Battle of Aughrim, the decisive battle of the Williamite War in Ireland. Wikipedia
• 1802 Gia Long conquered Hanoi and unified modern-day Vietnam, which had experienced centuries of feudal warfare. Wikipedia
• 1817 Windham William Sadler made the first successful aerial crossing of the Irish Sea, which he accomplished by balloon. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Confederate forces unsuccessfully attacked Union troops at the Battle of Atlanta. Wikipedia
• 1894 Jules-Albert de Dion finished first in the world's first motor race, but did not win as his steam-powered car was against the rules. Wikipedia
• 1943 World War II: Allied forces capture Palermo during the Allied invasion of Sicily. Wikipedia
• 1944 World War II: In opposition to the government-in-exile based in London, the Soviet-backed Polish Committee of National Liberation was proclaimed to govern territory recaptured from Germany. Wikipedia
• 1946 King David Hotel bombing: A Zionist underground organisation, the Irgun, bombs the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, site of the civil administration and military headquarters for Mandatory Palestine, resulting in 91 deaths. Wikipedia
• 1951 Soviet space dogs: Dezik and Tsygan were launched into a sub-orbital spaceflight from Kapustin Yar and became the first dogs to fly in space and the first to safely return. Wikipedia
• 1954 A limited state of martial law was declared in Russell County, Alabama, due to organized crime. Wikipedia
• 1962 Mariner program: Mariner 1 spacecraft flies erratically several minutes after launch and has to be destroyed. Wikipedia
• 1963 The United Kingdom granted self-government to Sarawak; the day would be celebrated as Sarawak Day. Wikipedia
• 1975 Stanley Forman took the Pulitzer Prize–winning photo Fire Escape Collapse, which spurred action to improve the safety of fire escapes across the United States. Wikipedia
• 1976 Japan completed its last reparation to the Philippines for war crimes committed during imperial Japan's conquest of the country in the Second World War. Wikipedia
• 1977 Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping is restored to power. Wikipedia
• 1991 American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after police discovered human remains in his apartment. Wikipedia
• 1992 Near Medellín, Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar escapes from his luxury prison fearing extradition to the United States. Wikipedia
• 1997 Written and illustrated by Eiichiro Oda, One Piece, the best-selling manga series in history, debuted in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Wikipedia
• 2002 The Israel Defense Forces bombed the home of Salah Shehade, the leader of the military arm of Hamas, killing him, his family and neighboring civilians. Wikipedia
• 2011 Norway attacks: A bomb explodes, targeted at government buildings in central Oslo, followed by a massacre at a youth camp on the island of Utøya. Wikipedia
• 2019 Chandrayaan-2, the second lunar exploration mission developed by Indian Space Research Organisation after Chandrayaan-1 is launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in a GSLV Mark III M1. It consists of a lunar orbiter, and also included the Vikram lander, and the Pragyan lunar rover. Wikipedia

Born on July 22

• 1478 Philip I of Castile (died 1506) Wikipedia
• 1784 Friedrich Bessel, German mathematician and astronomer (died 1846) Wikipedia
• 1878 Janusz Korczak, Polish pediatrician and author (died 1942) Wikipedia
• 1882 Edward Hopper, American painter and etcher (died 1967) Wikipedia
• 1887 Gustav Ludwig Hertz, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1975) Wikipedia
• 1888 Selman Waksman, Jewish-American biochemist and microbiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1898 Alexander Calder, American sculptor, known for his kinetic sculptures (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1923 Bob Dole, American soldier, lawyer, and politician (died 2021) Wikipedia
• 1934 Louise Fletcher, American actress (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1946 Danny Glover, American actor, director, and producer Wikipedia
• 1955 Willem Dafoe, American actor Wikipedia
• 1960 John Leguizamo, Colombian-American actor, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1964 David Spade, American actor, producer, and screenwriter Wikipedia
• 1967 Rhys Ifans, Welsh actor Wikipedia
• 1973 Rufus Wainwright, American-Canadian singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1974 Franka Potente, German actress Wikipedia
• 1980 Dirk Kuyt, Dutch footballer Wikipedia
• 1980 Kate Ryan, Belgian singer-songwriter Wikipedia
• 1992 Selena Gomez, American singer and actress Wikipedia
• 1998 Federico Valverde, Uruguayan footballer Wikipedia
• 1998 Marc Cucurella, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 2013 Prince George of Wales Wikipedia

Died on July 22

• 1461 Charles VII of France (born 1403) Wikipedia
• 1540 John Zápolya, Hungarian king (born 1487) Wikipedia
• 1676 Pope Clement X (born 1590) Wikipedia
• 1802 Marie François Xavier Bichat, French anatomist and physiologist (born 1771) Wikipedia
• 1826 Giuseppe Piazzi, Italian mathematician and astronomer (born 1746) Wikipedia
• 1832 Napoleon II, French emperor (born 1811) Wikipedia
• 1908 Randal Cremer, English politician, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1828) Wikipedia
• 1932 Errico Malatesta, Italian activist and author (born 1853) Wikipedia
• 1950 William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canadian economist and politician, 10th Prime Minister of Canada (born 1874) Wikipedia
• 1958 Mikhail Zoshchenko, Ukrainian-Russian soldier and author (born 1895) Wikipedia
• 1967 Carl Sandburg, American poet and historian (born 1878) Wikipedia
• 1968 Giovannino Guareschi, Italian journalist and cartoonist (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1979 Sándor Kocsis, Hungarian footballer and manager (born 1929) Wikipedia
• 2025 Ozzy Osbourne, English musician and media personality (born 1948) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Abd-al-Masih Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anna Wang Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Mary Magdalene Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Markella Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nohra (Maronite Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Philip Evans and John Lloyd Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 22 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Sarawak Independence Day (Sarawak, Malaysia) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “July 22” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/July 22” — 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 22” 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 22 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.