July13
Early Modern
1605
Politics
Warrant Issued Against Fawkes Conspirators

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1793
Politics
Marat Assassinated in His Bath

Corday, a Girondin sympathizer, gained entry to Marat's home claiming to have a list of traitors, then killed him with a kitchen knife as he soaked in a bath meant to soothe his skin disease. Jacques-Louis David immortalized the scene in his painting 'The Death of Marat,' cementing the killing as revolutionary iconography and fueling the Reign of Terror that followed.

19th Century
1863
World War II
New York Draft Riots Erupt

Anger over the Union's new draft lottery, which allowed wealthy men to buy exemptions for $300, exploded into the deadliest civil disturbance in American history to that point. Mobs burned draft offices, attacked Black New Yorkers and institutions including an orphanage, and fought pitched battles with police and eventually federal troops recalled from Gettysburg.

1863
World War II
New York Draft Riots Erupt

Anger over a new draft lottery, compounded by economic resentment and racism, exploded into violence across Manhattan. Rioters, many of them Irish immigrant laborers, burned draft offices, lynched Black residents, and destroyed the Colored Orphan Asylum. Union troops fresh from Gettysburg were rushed in to restore order, and estimates of the dead range from 120 to over 1,000.

Cold War & Space Age
1969
Space
Soviet Luna 15 Launches Toward Moon

Launched three days before Apollo 11, Luna 15 aimed to beat the Americans to a lunar sample return, a final Soviet bid to salvage prestige in the Moon race. The probe entered lunar orbit but ultimately crashed on the surface on July 21, hours after Armstrong and Aldrin had already walked and returned safely to their module.

1985
Culture
Live Aid Spans the Globe
12:00 PM

Organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, Live Aid united Queen, U2, David Bowie, Elton John, and dozens of other acts across two continents in a single day. Broadcast via satellite to nearly 150 countries, it raised over £150 million for famine relief and redefined the scale of what a benefit concert could achieve.