What happened on 21 July?

16 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1613 Romanov dynasty founded Michael Romanov, elected tsar in March, is crowned on 21 July 1613 (Gregorian; 11 July Old Style); the dynasty rules Russia until 1917.
2. 1954 Geneva Accords partition Vietnam Vietnam divided at the 17th parallel pending nationwide elections that never happen.
3. 1798 Battle of the Pyramids French victory near Cairo against the Mamluks during the Egyptian Campaign.
4. 1861 First Battle of Bull Run Washington society drives out with picnic baskets to watch the rebellion crushed in an afternoon — and flees back down the turnpike with the routed Union army. The first great batt
5. 1960 Sirimavo Bandaranaike becomes world's first female PM The Sri Lankan leader becomes the first woman ever elected head of government.
6. 1969 'One small step': the Moonwalk broadcast Six hundred million people — a sixth of humanity then alive — watch a ghostly figure descend a ladder and hear the words 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind'. The l
7. 1774 Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca A humiliating peace with Russia after war: the Ottomans cede Black Sea territory and Russia gains a claim to protect Orthodox subjects, a marker of Ottoman decline.
8. 1542 Roman Inquisition established Pope Paul III sets up a Holy Office of the Inquisition based in Rome to combat heresy; central institution of Counter-Reformation.
9. 1899 Born: Ernest Hemingway American novelist of A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.
10. 1858 The pact of Plombières At a spa town in the Vosges, Cavour and Napoleon III secretly agree the script for a war: Piedmont will provoke Austria, France will help drive it from Italy, and France will take
11. 1972 Bloody Friday The Provisional IRA detonates some twenty bombs across Belfast in eighty minutes, killing nine and maiming many more as crowds flee one blast into another. The carnage hardens opin
12. 2011 International Space Station assembly completed Conventional end of International Space Station assembled.
13. 1936 Siege of the Alcazar Nationalist defenders hold the Alcazar of Toledo until relieved, an early propaganda victory.
14. 1403 Battle of Shrewsbury Henry IV defeats the Percy rebellion; Henry, Prince of Wales (future Henry V) takes an arrow to the face and survives.
15. 2007 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows The final Potter book sells eleven million copies in its first 24 hours — the fastest-selling book in history.
16. 2024 Biden withdraws from the 2024 race Weeks after a faltering debate performance against Trump, the 81-year-old president abandons his re-election bid and endorses Vice-President Kamala Harris.