Date·Lore

On This Day · The 196th day of the year

July 15

July 15 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1789 and 2012. French Revolution: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is named by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard of Paris.

♋ZodiacCancer ◈BirthstoneRuby ❀Birth flowerLarkspur

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on July 15?

July 15 is the 196th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1789 and 2012. Famous people born on July 15 include Alou Diarra, Rembrandt and Vilfredo Pareto.

The shape of the day

July 15's recorded history is unusually compressed, gathered within recent centuries rather than reaching into antiquity. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and politics and nation-building recur.

Cancer is the sign for July 15 — read more on the Cancer page, or see July's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on July 15

Movies, games, albums & shows

2026

  • Movie The Odyssey

2025

  • Game Eriksholm: The Stolen Dream
  • Game Edens Zero

2021

  • Game Ragnarock

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1789

    French Revolution

    French Revolution: Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette, is named by acclamation Colonel General of the new National Guard of Paris.

  2. 1916

    Seattle

    In Seattle, Washington, William Boeing and George Conrad Westervelt incorporate Pacific Aero Products (later renamed Boeing).

  3. 1918

    World War I

    World War I: The Second Battle of the Marne begins near the River Marne with a German attack.

  4. 1942

    The Holocaust

    The Holocaust: Nazi Germany begins the deportation of 100,000 Jews from the occupied Netherlands to extermination camps.

  5. 1955

    Nobel Prize

    Eighteen Nobel laureates sign the Mainau Declaration against nuclear weapons, later co-signed by thirty-four others.

  6. 1974

    Nicosia

    In Nicosia, Cyprus, Greek junta-sponsored nationalists launch a coup d'état, deposing Makarios III and installing Nikos Sampson as the president of Cyprus.

  7. 1975

    Space Race

    Space Race: Apollo–Soyuz Test Project features the dual launch of an Apollo spacecraft and a Soyuz spacecraft on the first Soviet-United States human-crewed flight. It was the last launch of both an Apollo spacecraft, and the Saturn family of rockets.

  8. 2006

    X (social network)

    Twitter, later one of the largest social media platforms in the world, is launched.

  9. 2009

    Caspian Airlines Flight 7908

    Caspian Airlines Flight 7908 crashes near Jannatabad, Qazvin, Iran, killing 168.

  10. 2012

    Psy

    South Korean rapper Psy releases his hit single Gangnam Style.

Famous birthday twins

Born on July 15

Alou Diarra

b. 1981

French footballer

Rembrandt

b. 1606

Dutch painter and etcher

Vilfredo Pareto

b. 1848

Italian economist and sociologist

Carl Bildt

b. 1949

Swedish politician and diplomat, Prime Minister of Sweden

Diane Kruger

b. 1976

German actress and model

Hassanal Bolkiah

b. 1946

Sultan of Brunei

Aníbal Cavaco Silva

b. 1939

Portuguese economist and politician, 19th President of the Portuguese Republic

Walter Benjamin

b. 1892

German philosopher and critic

Deaths

  • 1961Nina Bari
  • 1929Hugo von Hofmannsthal
  • 1904Anton Chekhov
  • 1609Annibale Carracci
  • 1274Bonaventure
  • 1015Vladimir the Great

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian feast day: Abhai (Syriac Orthodox Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Anne-Marie Javouhey
  • —Christian feast day: Bernhard II, Margrave of Baden-Baden
  • —Christian feast day: Bonaventure
  • —Christian feast day: Dispersion of the Apostles (formerly by the Catholic Church)
  • —Christian feast day: Donald of Ogilvy
  • —Christian feast day: Edith of Polesworth
  • —Christian feast day: Edith of Wilton

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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