On July 29

An estimated worldwide television audience of 750 million watched the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer (combined coat of arms pictured) at St Paul's Cathedral in London.

The Fellowship of the Ring, the first part of J. R. R. Tolkien's novel The Lord of the Rings, was published by Allen & Unwin.

Korean War: Over fears that North Korean soldiers were infiltrating refugee columns, U.S. forces concluded a four-day massacre of hundreds of civilians through shootings and air attacks near the village of Nogeun-ri.

The Essential Commodities Reserves Act, which allowed the British government to build up reserves of essential commodities in anticipation of war, received royal assent.

Adolf Hitler became leader of the National Socialist German Workers' Party.

The first shots of World War I were fired by the Austro-Hungarian river monitor Bodrog on Serbian defences near Belgrade.

The Cape Cod Canal (pictured), connecting Cape Cod Bay and Buzzards Bay in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, opened on a limited basis.

In a case later termed a "legal lynching", Will P. Brady obtained a guilty verdict and death sentence against 15-year-old León Martínez Jr., five days after his arrest for killing a white woman.

Italian-American anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in Monza.

French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel submitted a memoir on the diffraction of light to the Royal Academy of Sciences, providing strong support for the wave theory of light.

Nine 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.

The infant James VI was crowned King of Scotland at Stirling.

Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Byzantine forces defeated troops of the Bulgarian Empire at the Battle of Kleidion in the mountains of Belasica near present-day Klyuch.

Arab–Byzantine wars: Thessalonica, the Byzantine Empire's second-largest city, was sacked by Saracen raiders.