📜 This Day in History

July 29

• 904Arab–Byzantine wars: Thessalonica, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, was sacked by Saracen raiders.
• 1693Nine Years' War: French troops defeated the forces of the Grand Alliance led by William III of England at the Battle of Landen in present-day Neerwinden, Belgium.
• 1900Italian anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in Monza.
• 1914The first shots of World War I were fired by the Austro-Hungarian river monitor Bodrog on Serbian defences near Belgrade.
• 1938The Essential Commodities Reserves Act, which allowed the British government to build up reserves of essential commodities in anticipation of war, received royal assent.
• 1981An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Born on this day

• 1805Alexis de Tocqueville, French historian and philosopher (died 1859)
• 1883Benito Mussolini, Italian fascist revolutionary and politician, 27th Prime Minister of Italy (died 1945)
• 1905Dag Hammarskjöld, Swedish economist and diplomat, 2nd Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nobel Prize Laureate (died 1961)
• 1981Fernando Alonso, Spanish race car driver