July 31 in History

Historical Events on July 31

1917 World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.

1938 Bulgaria signs a non-aggression pact with Greece and other states of Balkan Antanti (Turkey, Romania, Yugoslavia).

1941 The Holocaust: Under instructions from Adolf Hitler, Nazi official Hermann Göring, orders SS General Reinhard Heydrich to "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired Final Solution of the Jewish question."

1948 At Idlewild Field in New York, New York International Airport (later renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport) is dedicated.

1972 The Troubles: In Operation Motorman, the British Army re-takes the urban no-go areas of Northern Ireland. It is the biggest British military operation since the Suez Crisis of 1956, and the biggest in Ireland since the Irish War of Independence. Later that day, nine civilians are killed by car bombs in the village of Claudy.

1991 The United States and Soviet Union both sign the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first to reduce (with verification) both countries' stockpiles.

1992 The nation of Georgia joins the United Nations.

2006 Fidel Castro hands over power to his brother, Raúl.

2012 Michael Phelps breaks the record set in 1964 by Larisa Latynina for the most medals won at the Olympics.

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Famous Birthdays on July 31

1965 J. K. Rowling

1978 Justin Wilson (racing driver)

1989 Victoria Azarenka

1992 Kyle Larson

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Famous Deaths on July 31

1875 Andrew Johnson

1944 Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

2009 Bobby Robson

2015 Roddy Piper

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