On this day: July 27

Events on July 27

• 678 Unable to penetrate the city's defences, the Sclaveni gave up their siege of the Byzantine city of Thessalonica. Wikipedia
• 1214 Battle of Bouvines: Philip II of France decisively defeats Imperial, English and Flemish armies, effectively ending John of England's Angevin Empire. Wikipedia
• 1302 Byzantine–Ottoman wars: The Ottoman sultanate gained its first major victory against the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of Bapheus in Bithynia. Wikipedia
• 1302 Battle of Bapheus: Decisive Ottoman victory over the Byzantines opening up Bithynia for Turkish conquest. Wikipedia
• 1794 French Revolution: Maximilien Robespierre is arrested after encouraging the execution of more than 17,000 "enemies of the Revolution". Wikipedia
• 1865 Welsh settlers arrive at Chubut in Argentina. Wikipedia
• 1880 Second Anglo-Afghan War: Battle of Maiwand: Afghan forces led by Mohammad Ayub Khan defeat the British Army in battle near Maiwand, Afghanistan. Wikipedia
• 1890 Vincent van Gogh shoots himself and dies two days later. Wikipedia
• 1916 First World War: British mariner Charles Fryatt was executed in Bruges, Belgium, after a German court-martial found him guilty of being a franc-tireur. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: The Allies reach the Yser Canal at the Battle of Passchendaele. Wikipedia
• 1921 Researchers at the University of Toronto, led by biochemist Frederick Banting, prove that the hormone insulin regulates blood sugar. Wikipedia
• 1942 Second World War: Allied forces halted the Axis invasion of Egypt at the First Battle of El Alamein. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: Allied forces successfully halt the final Axis advance into Egypt. Wikipedia
• 1953 An armistice was signed to end hostilities in the Korean War, officially making the division of Korea indefinite by creating a 4 km wide (2.5 mi) demilitarized zone across the Korean Peninsula. Wikipedia
• 1953 Korean War: Cessation of hostilities is achieved when the United States, China, and North Korea sign an armistice agreement. Syngman Rhee, President of South Korea, refuses to sign but pledges to observe the armistice. Wikipedia
• 1964 Vietnam War: Five thousand more American military advisers are sent to South Vietnam bringing the total number of United States forces in Vietnam to 21,000. Wikipedia
• 1965 Mattachine Midwest, a gay rights organization in Chicago, held its first meeting. Wikipedia
• 1974 Watergate scandal: The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee votes 27 to 11 to recommend the first article of impeachment (for obstruction of justice) against President Richard Nixon. Wikipedia
• 1983 American musician Madonna released her self-titled debut album, which set the standard for the genre of dance-pop for decades. Wikipedia
• 1983 Black July: Eighteen Tamil political prisoners at the Welikada high security prison in Colombo are massacred by Sinhalese prisoners, the second such massacre in two days. Wikipedia
• 1990 The Jamaat al Muslimeen attempt a coup d'état in Trinidad and Tobago. Wikipedia
• 1995 The Korean War Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. Wikipedia
• 1996 In Atlanta, United States, a pipe bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Summer Olympics. Wikipedia
• 1997 About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria. Wikipedia
• 2002 Ukraine airshow disaster: A Sukhoi Su-27 fighter crashes during an air show at Lviv, Ukraine killing 77 and injuring more than 500 others, making it the deadliest air show disaster in history. Wikipedia
• 2007 While covering a police pursuit in Phoenix, Arizona, two news helicopters collided in mid-air, killing both crews. Wikipedia

Born on July 27

• 1452 Ludovico Sforza, Italian son of Francesco I Sforza (died 1508) Wikipedia
• 1612 Murad IV, Ottoman Sultan (died 1640) Wikipedia
• 1768 Charlotte Corday, French assassin of Jean-Paul Marat (died 1793) Wikipedia
• 1801 George Biddell Airy, English mathematician and 7th Astronomer Royal (died 1892) Wikipedia
• 1824 Alexandre Dumas, fils, French novelist and playwright (died 1895) Wikipedia
• 1835 Giosuè Carducci, Italian poet and educator, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1907) Wikipedia
• 1853 Vladimir Korolenko, Ukrainian journalist, author, and activist (died 1921) Wikipedia
• 1854 Takahashi Korekiyo, Japanese accountant and politician, 20th Prime Minister of Japan (died 1936) Wikipedia
• 1870 Hilaire Belloc, French-born British writer and historian (died 1953) Wikipedia
• 1881 Hans Fischer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1912 Vernon Elliott, English bassoon player, composer, and conductor (died 1996) Wikipedia
• 1913 George L. Street III, American Navy captain, Medal of Honor recipient (died 2000) Wikipedia
• 1929 Jean Baudrillard, French sociologist and philosopher (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1938 Gary Gygax, American game designer, co-created Dungeons & Dragons (died 2008) Wikipedia
• 1963 Donnie Yen, Chinese-Hong Kong actor, director, producer, and martial artist Wikipedia
• 1965 José Luis Chilavert, Paraguayan footballer Wikipedia
• 1969 Triple H, American wrestler and actor Wikipedia
• 1970 Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Danish actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1976 Demis Hassabis, English computer scientist and academic Wikipedia
• 1977 Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Irish actor Wikipedia
• 1987 Marek Hamšík, Slovak footballer Wikipedia
• 1990 Kriti Sanon, Indian actress Wikipedia

Died on July 27

• 1061 Nicholas II, pope of the Catholic Church Wikipedia
• 1759 Pierre Louis Maupertuis, French mathematician and philosopher (born 1698) Wikipedia
• 1841 Mikhail Lermontov, Russian poet and painter (born 1814) Wikipedia
• 1844 John Dalton, English physicist, meteorologist, and chemist (born 1776) Wikipedia
• 1917 Emil Theodor Kocher, Swiss physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1841) Wikipedia
• 1946 Gertrude Stein, American novelist, poet, and playwright (born 1874) Wikipedia
• 1970 António de Oliveira Salazar, Portuguese economist and politician, 100th Prime Minister of Portugal (born 1889) Wikipedia
• 1980 Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iranian Shah (born 1919) Wikipedia
• 1981 William Wyler, American director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1902) Wikipedia
• 1984 James Mason, English actor (born 1909) Wikipedia
• 2003 Bob Hope, English-American actor, comedian, television personality, and businessman (born 1903) Wikipedia
• 2013 Ilya Segalovich, Russian businessman, co-founded Yandex (born 1964) Wikipedia
• 2015 A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Indian engineer, academic, and politician, 11th President of India (born 1931) Wikipedia
• 2017 Sam Shepard, American playwright, actor, author, screenwriter, and director (born 1943) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Anthusa of Mantinea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aurelius and Natalia and companions of the Martyrs of Córdoba. Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed Maria Maddalena Martinengo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Maurus, Pantalemon, and Sergius Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pantaleon Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Seven Sleepers of Ephesus (Roman Martyrology) National Sleepy Head Day (Finland) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: July 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Victory in the Great Fatherland Liberation War (North Korea) Wikipedia
• Iglesia ni Cristo Day (the Philippines) Wikipedia
• José Celso Barbosa Day (Puerto Rico) Wikipedia
• Medical Workers Day (Ukraine) Wikipedia
• Martyrs and Wounded Soldiers Day (Vietnam) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “July 27” 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.