July 13th is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining.

Events

1500-1799

• 1558 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines.
• 1643 - English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down - In England, Lord Henry Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, commanding the Royalist forces, wins a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Sir William Waller.
• 1787 - The U.S. Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.
• 1793 - Jean Paul Marat, one of the leaders of the French revolution, is murdered by Charlotte Corday.
• 1794 - Battle of the Vosges between French forces and those of Austria

1800-1899

• 1822 - Greeks defeat Ottoman forces at Thermopylae.
• 1837 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom moves into the first Buckingham Palace in London and is the first British monarch to live there.
• 1863 - New York Draft Riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.
• 1854 - In the battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General Jose Maria Yanez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset Boulbon.
• 1878 - Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia and Montenegro become completely independent of the Ottoman empire.

1900-1999

• 1900 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers.
• 1908 - Women compete in modern Olympics for the first time.
• 1909 - Gold discovered near Cochrane, Ontario.
• 1919 - The British airship R-34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.
• 1930 - The Uruguay.
• 1936 - A heat wave strikes the Midwestern United States. The all-time highest temperatures for the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana are all recorded on this date.
• 1942 - World War II: German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence.
• 1972 - The United States Democratic Party nominates George McGovern for president at its convention in Miami Beach, Florida but, because of an impassioned platform dispute, McGovern does not give his acceptance speech until the early morning hours of the 14th.
• 1973 - Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.
• 1977 - The New York City Blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours and results in looting and other disorder.
• 1978 - Ford Motor Company President Lee Iacocca is fired by chairman Henry Ford II, ending a long dispute between the men.
• 1982 - Montreal hosts the first baseball All-Star Game outside the United States.
• 1985 - The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow.
• 1996 - A Garuda Indonesia Airways DC-10 crashes on take-off from Japan, killing 3 passengers.

2000-2099

• 2002 - A lighting strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which had burned 499,570 acres (2,020 km²) when finally contained on September 5.

Births

100 BC-AD 100

• 100 BC - Julius Caesar (or July 12), statesman and military leader (d. 44 BC)
• AD 40 - Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Roman governor of Britain

1500-1599

• 1527 - John Dee, scientific advisor to Elizabeth I
• 1590 - Pope Clement X (d. 1676)

1600-1799

• 1608 - Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

1800-1899

• 1816 - Gustav Freitag, writer (d. 1895)
• 1821 - Nathan Bedford Forrest, Confederate general and postwar leader of the Ku Klux Klan.
• 1841 - Otto Wagner, architect (d. 1918)
• 1864 - John Jacob Astor IV, entrepreneur (d. 1912)
• 1894 - Isaac Babel, writer (d. 1940)

1900-1999

• 1900 - George Lewis, jazz musician (d. 1969)
• 1913 - Dave Garroway, television host (d. 1982)
• 1918 - Alberto Ascari, motor racing driver (d. 1955)
• 1924 - Carlo Bergonzi, Italian tenor
• 1927 - Simone Veil, politician
• 1928 - Bob Crane, actor, (d. 1978)
• 1928 - Mace Neufeld, film producer
• 1929 - Alan Civil, English French horn player (d. 1989)
• 1933 - David Malcolm Storey, writer
• 1934 - Wole Soyinka, writer
• 1934 - Aleksei Yeliseyev, cosmonaut
• 1935 - Jack Kemp, former U.S. Vice Presidential candidate, American football quarterback
• 1940 - Patrick Stewart, actor
• 1941 - Robert Forster, actor
• 1942 - Harrison Ford, American actor
• 1942 - Roger McGuinn, musician
• 1944 - Ernő Rubik, inventor of Rubik's Cube
• 1946 - Cheech Marin, actor, comedian
• 1953 - Johnny Clegg, composer, musician
• 1954 - Sezen Aksu, Turkish singer, songwriter, Eurovision Song Contest winner
• 1957 - Cameron Crowe, film director, writer
• 1962 - Rhonda Vincent, bluegrass singer
• 1963 - Neal Foulds, English snooker player
• 1970 - Barry Pinches, English snooker player

Deaths

900-1899

• 939 - Pope Leo VII
• 1621 - Archduke Albert of Austria, governor of the Low Countries
• 1705 - Titus Oates, Protestant plotter
• 1793 - Jean Paul Marat, French revolutionary (murdered by Charlotte Corday) (b. 1743)
• 1896 - Friedrich August Kekulé von Stradonitz, organic chemist

1900-1999

• 1946 - Alfred Stieglitz, American photographer
• 1951 - Arnold Schoenberg, composer
• 1954 - Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter
• 1967 - Tom Simpson, professional cyclist
• 1983 - Gabrielle Roy, author
• 1993 - Davey Allison, NASCAR driver

2000-2099

• 2002 - Yousuf Karsh, celebrity portrait photographer
• 2003 - Compay Segundo, Cuban folk musicician
• 2004 - Arthur Kane, New York Dolls bassist

Holidays and observances

• Kiribati - Mongolia - Naadam Holiday, 3rd day
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Kálimát (Words) - First day of the seventh month of the Bahá'í Calendar
• Bon_Festival - Buddhist festival to honor the dead (East Japan)

July 12 - July 14 - June 13 - August 13 - more listing of all days