July 22

The 22 July attacks were a pair of domestic terrorist incidents executed by Norwegian Anders Behring Breivik on 22 July 2011, beginning with a car bomb detonated in Oslo's executive government quarter that killed eight civilians and injured 209 others, followed hours later by a shooting rampage at the Workers' Youth League summer camp on Utøya island that killed 69 people—mostly teenagers—and wounded over 100 more, for a total of 77 fatalities and 319 injuries.^[1][2] Breivik, acting as a lone perpetrator without known accomplices, targeted symbols of the Norwegian Labour Party, which he accused in a 1,518-page manifesto titled 2083: A European Declaration of Independence of enabling demographic changes through unchecked Muslim immigration and multicultural policies that he deemed existential threats to European civilization.^[3][4] The assaults exposed vulnerabilities in Norway's security apparatus, as detailed in the official Gjørv Commission inquiry, which faulted inadequate capacity, coordination failures among police and emergency services, and over-reliance on low-threat assumptions despite prior intelligence on Breivik's fertilizer purchases and online radicalization indicators.^[5] Breivik surrendered to authorities after the Utøya phase, underwent psychiatric evaluation deemed controversial for initially suggesting insanity before affirming his sanity, and was convicted in 2012 of mass murder and terrorism, receiving Norway's maximum sentence of 21 years' preventive detention with potential extensions.^[6][1] The events prompted national introspection on ideological extremism, immigration debates, and societal resilience, with Breivik's writings drawing from counter-jihadist critiques of Islamization and "cultural Marxism" rather than traditional neo-Nazism—though he explicitly rejected associations with Hitler and emphasized anti-Leftist "traitor" purges—while sparking disputes over media portrayals that often framed the ideology through a narrow far-right lens amid broader European concerns over integration failures.^[3][7] Annual commemorations underscore victim remembrance and counter-radicalization efforts, yet critiques persist regarding the Labour government's pre-attack policies and post-event emphasis on tolerance that some argue downplayed causal links to policy-driven demographic shifts.^[8][9]

Events

Pre-1600

In 838, Byzantine Emperor Theophilos led an army against Abbasid forces in Anatolia, but suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Anzen (also known as Dazimon) on July 22, where Arab cavalry routed the Byzantine center despite initial successes, forcing Theophilos to flee amid heavy losses estimated in the thousands.^[10][11] On July 22, 1099, following the Crusaders' capture of Jerusalem on July 15 during the First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected as the first Latin ruler of the city, accepting the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Defender of the Holy Sepulchre) rather than king to avoid crowning in the Holy City.^[12] During the Albigensian Crusade on July 22, 1209, Crusader forces under Raymond VI of Toulouse and others stormed and sacked Béziers in southern France after a brief siege, resulting in the massacre of most of the city's 20,000–30,000 inhabitants—Catholics and Cathars alike—in a rampage that included burning churches, prompted by papal calls against heresy but executed with minimal distinction between targets.^[13][14] The Battle of Falkirk took place on July 22, 1298, in the First War of Scottish Independence, where English forces numbering around 15,000 under King Edward I used longbowmen and cavalry to shatter the schiltrons of William Wallace's approximately 6,000–10,000 Scottish troops on marshy ground near Falkirk, inflicting heavy casualties (up to 10,000 Scottish dead) while English losses remained low at about 1,000.^[15][16] The Siege of Belgrade concluded on July 22, 1456, when Hungarian forces led by John Hunyadi, aided by irregulars under John of Capistrano, repelled a massive Ottoman assault by Sultan Mehmed II's army of 50,000–100,000 after three weeks of bombardment and attacks, with a desperate Christian counterattack on July 21–22 breaking the siege and forcing Ottoman withdrawal despite superior Turkish artillery and numbers.^[17][18]

1601–1900

• 1632: The foundation stone for the Buen Retiro Palace was laid in Madrid for King Philip IV of Spain, serving as a royal residence and later a cultural center until its partial destruction in the 19th century.^[19]
• 1648: During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, approximately 10,000 Jews were killed in the Chmielnik massacre by Cossack forces, part of widespread pogroms amid the rebellion against Polish rule.^[19]
• 1686: The city of Albany, New York, received its charter from colonial governor Thomas Dongan, formalizing its status as a trading hub in the fur trade era.^[19]
• 1691: In the Battle of Aughrim, an English and Dutch army under William III defeated French-supported Jacobite forces in Ireland, a decisive engagement in the Williamite War that secured Protestant dominance.^[19]
• 1793: Explorer Alexander Mackenzie completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of Canada by a European, reaching the Pacific Ocean via the Mackenzie River and overland routes, advancing British claims in North America.^[19]
• 1796: General Moses Cleaveland led surveyors to establish a settlement on the Cuyahoga River, founding what became Cleveland, Ohio, named after him as a key point in westward expansion.^[19]
• 1812: British forces under the Duke of Wellington defeated a French army led by Marmont at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain, a tactical victory during the Peninsular War that shifted momentum against Napoleon.^[19][20]
• 1862: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln presented a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet, outlining plans to free enslaved people in Confederate states as a war measure, though not publicly issued until January 1863.
• 1864: Union forces under General Sherman engaged Confederate troops led by General Hood in the Battle of Atlanta, resulting in heavy casualties (8,449 Union vs. 3,641 Confederate) and contributing to Sherman's eventual capture of the city, a turning point in the Atlanta Campaign.^[19]
• 1894: The world's first automobile race commenced from Paris to Rouen, organized by Le Petit Journal, covering 126 km with 21 entrants, won by steam-powered vehicles from the Panhard et Levassor company, marking an early milestone in motorsport.^[21]

1901–present

On July 22, 1916, a suitcase bomb exploded during the Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, California, killing ten people and injuring about forty others in the city's worst terrorist attack up to that time.^[22] American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo nonstop flight around the world on July 22, 1933, departing and returning to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City after 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes in his Lockheed Vega aircraft.^[23] U.S. forces captured the Sicilian city of Palermo on July 22, 1943, during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War II, marking a key advance against Axis defenses on the island.^[23] Soviet Red Army troops reached and began liberating the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp near Lublin, Poland, on July 22, 1944, the first major Nazi camp uncovered by advancing Allied forces, revealing gas chambers and evidence of mass killings.^[24] The Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary organization, detonated a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on July 22, 1946, targeting the British Mandate's administrative headquarters and killing 91 people, including British officials, Arabs, and Jews, in an attack aimed at disrupting British rule in Palestine.^[25] The final fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 struck Jupiter on July 22, 1994, concluding a series of impacts from July 16 to 22 that produced massive fireballs and dark scars in the planet's atmosphere, the first comet collision with a planet observed by astronomers.^[26] Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian far-right extremist, executed coordinated terrorist attacks on July 22, 2011, detonating a car bomb in Oslo's government quarter that killed eight people before traveling to Utøya island to carry out a mass shooting at a Labour Party youth camp, murdering 69 others—mostly teenagers—for a total of 77 deaths motivated by opposition to multiculturalism and Islam.^[1]

Births

Pre-1600

In 838, Byzantine Emperor Theophilos led an army against Abbasid forces in Anatolia, but suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Anzen (also known as Dazimon) on July 22, where Arab cavalry routed the Byzantine center despite initial successes, forcing Theophilos to flee amid heavy losses estimated in the thousands.^[10][11] On July 22, 1099, following the Crusaders' capture of Jerusalem on July 15 during the First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected as the first Latin ruler of the city, accepting the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Defender of the Holy Sepulchre) rather than king to avoid crowning in the Holy City.^[12] During the Albigensian Crusade on July 22, 1209, Crusader forces under Raymond VI of Toulouse and others stormed and sacked Béziers in southern France after a brief siege, resulting in the massacre of most of the city's 20,000–30,000 inhabitants—Catholics and Cathars alike—in a rampage that included burning churches, prompted by papal calls against heresy but executed with minimal distinction between targets.^[13][14] The Battle of Falkirk took place on July 22, 1298, in the First War of Scottish Independence, where English forces numbering around 15,000 under King Edward I used longbowmen and cavalry to shatter the schiltrons of William Wallace's approximately 6,000–10,000 Scottish troops on marshy ground near Falkirk, inflicting heavy casualties (up to 10,000 Scottish dead) while English losses remained low at about 1,000.^[15][16] The Siege of Belgrade concluded on July 22, 1456, when Hungarian forces led by John Hunyadi, aided by irregulars under John of Capistrano, repelled a massive Ottoman assault by Sultan Mehmed II's army of 50,000–100,000 after three weeks of bombardment and attacks, with a desperate Christian counterattack on July 21–22 breaking the siege and forcing Ottoman withdrawal despite superior Turkish artillery and numbers.^[17][18]

1601–1900

• 1632: The foundation stone for the Buen Retiro Palace was laid in Madrid for King Philip IV of Spain, serving as a royal residence and later a cultural center until its partial destruction in the 19th century.^[19]
• 1648: During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, approximately 10,000 Jews were killed in the Chmielnik massacre by Cossack forces, part of widespread pogroms amid the rebellion against Polish rule.^[19]
• 1686: The city of Albany, New York, received its charter from colonial governor Thomas Dongan, formalizing its status as a trading hub in the fur trade era.^[19]
• 1691: In the Battle of Aughrim, an English and Dutch army under William III defeated French-supported Jacobite forces in Ireland, a decisive engagement in the Williamite War that secured Protestant dominance.^[19]
• 1793: Explorer Alexander Mackenzie completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of Canada by a European, reaching the Pacific Ocean via the Mackenzie River and overland routes, advancing British claims in North America.^[19]
• 1796: General Moses Cleaveland led surveyors to establish a settlement on the Cuyahoga River, founding what became Cleveland, Ohio, named after him as a key point in westward expansion.^[19]
• 1812: British forces under the Duke of Wellington defeated a French army led by Marmont at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain, a tactical victory during the Peninsular War that shifted momentum against Napoleon.^[19][20]
• 1862: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln presented a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet, outlining plans to free enslaved people in Confederate states as a war measure, though not publicly issued until January 1863.
• 1864: Union forces under General Sherman engaged Confederate troops led by General Hood in the Battle of Atlanta, resulting in heavy casualties (8,449 Union vs. 3,641 Confederate) and contributing to Sherman's eventual capture of the city, a turning point in the Atlanta Campaign.^[19]
• 1894: The world's first automobile race commenced from Paris to Rouen, organized by Le Petit Journal, covering 126 km with 21 entrants, won by steam-powered vehicles from the Panhard et Levassor company, marking an early milestone in motorsport.^[21]

1901–present

On July 22, 1916, a suitcase bomb exploded during the Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, California, killing ten people and injuring about forty others in the city's worst terrorist attack up to that time.^[22] American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo nonstop flight around the world on July 22, 1933, departing and returning to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City after 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes in his Lockheed Vega aircraft.^[23] U.S. forces captured the Sicilian city of Palermo on July 22, 1943, during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War II, marking a key advance against Axis defenses on the island.^[23] Soviet Red Army troops reached and began liberating the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp near Lublin, Poland, on July 22, 1944, the first major Nazi camp uncovered by advancing Allied forces, revealing gas chambers and evidence of mass killings.^[24] The Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary organization, detonated a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on July 22, 1946, targeting the British Mandate's administrative headquarters and killing 91 people, including British officials, Arabs, and Jews, in an attack aimed at disrupting British rule in Palestine.^[25] The final fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 struck Jupiter on July 22, 1994, concluding a series of impacts from July 16 to 22 that produced massive fireballs and dark scars in the planet's atmosphere, the first comet collision with a planet observed by astronomers.^[26] Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian far-right extremist, executed coordinated terrorist attacks on July 22, 2011, detonating a car bomb in Oslo's government quarter that killed eight people before traveling to Utøya island to carry out a mass shooting at a Labour Party youth camp, murdering 69 others—mostly teenagers—for a total of 77 deaths motivated by opposition to multiculturalism and Islam.^[1]

Deaths

Pre-1600

In 838, Byzantine Emperor Theophilos led an army against Abbasid forces in Anatolia, but suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Anzen (also known as Dazimon) on July 22, where Arab cavalry routed the Byzantine center despite initial successes, forcing Theophilos to flee amid heavy losses estimated in the thousands.^[10][11] On July 22, 1099, following the Crusaders' capture of Jerusalem on July 15 during the First Crusade, Godfrey of Bouillon was elected as the first Latin ruler of the city, accepting the title Advocatus Sancti Sepulchri (Defender of the Holy Sepulchre) rather than king to avoid crowning in the Holy City.^[12] During the Albigensian Crusade on July 22, 1209, Crusader forces under Raymond VI of Toulouse and others stormed and sacked Béziers in southern France after a brief siege, resulting in the massacre of most of the city's 20,000–30,000 inhabitants—Catholics and Cathars alike—in a rampage that included burning churches, prompted by papal calls against heresy but executed with minimal distinction between targets.^[13][14] The Battle of Falkirk took place on July 22, 1298, in the First War of Scottish Independence, where English forces numbering around 15,000 under King Edward I used longbowmen and cavalry to shatter the schiltrons of William Wallace's approximately 6,000–10,000 Scottish troops on marshy ground near Falkirk, inflicting heavy casualties (up to 10,000 Scottish dead) while English losses remained low at about 1,000.^[15][16] The Siege of Belgrade concluded on July 22, 1456, when Hungarian forces led by John Hunyadi, aided by irregulars under John of Capistrano, repelled a massive Ottoman assault by Sultan Mehmed II's army of 50,000–100,000 after three weeks of bombardment and attacks, with a desperate Christian counterattack on July 21–22 breaking the siege and forcing Ottoman withdrawal despite superior Turkish artillery and numbers.^[17][18]

1601–1900

• 1632: The foundation stone for the Buen Retiro Palace was laid in Madrid for King Philip IV of Spain, serving as a royal residence and later a cultural center until its partial destruction in the 19th century.^[19]
• 1648: During the Khmelnytsky Uprising, approximately 10,000 Jews were killed in the Chmielnik massacre by Cossack forces, part of widespread pogroms amid the rebellion against Polish rule.^[19]
• 1686: The city of Albany, New York, received its charter from colonial governor Thomas Dongan, formalizing its status as a trading hub in the fur trade era.^[19]
• 1691: In the Battle of Aughrim, an English and Dutch army under William III defeated French-supported Jacobite forces in Ireland, a decisive engagement in the Williamite War that secured Protestant dominance.^[19]
• 1793: Explorer Alexander Mackenzie completed the first recorded transcontinental crossing of Canada by a European, reaching the Pacific Ocean via the Mackenzie River and overland routes, advancing British claims in North America.^[19]
• 1796: General Moses Cleaveland led surveyors to establish a settlement on the Cuyahoga River, founding what became Cleveland, Ohio, named after him as a key point in westward expansion.^[19]
• 1812: British forces under the Duke of Wellington defeated a French army led by Marmont at the Battle of Salamanca in Spain, a tactical victory during the Peninsular War that shifted momentum against Napoleon.^[19][20]
• 1862: U.S. President Abraham Lincoln presented a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet, outlining plans to free enslaved people in Confederate states as a war measure, though not publicly issued until January 1863.
• 1864: Union forces under General Sherman engaged Confederate troops led by General Hood in the Battle of Atlanta, resulting in heavy casualties (8,449 Union vs. 3,641 Confederate) and contributing to Sherman's eventual capture of the city, a turning point in the Atlanta Campaign.^[19]
• 1894: The world's first automobile race commenced from Paris to Rouen, organized by Le Petit Journal, covering 126 km with 21 entrants, won by steam-powered vehicles from the Panhard et Levassor company, marking an early milestone in motorsport.^[21]

1901–present

On July 22, 1916, a suitcase bomb exploded during the Preparedness Day parade in San Francisco, California, killing ten people and injuring about forty others in the city's worst terrorist attack up to that time.^[22] American aviator Wiley Post completed the first solo nonstop flight around the world on July 22, 1933, departing and returning to Floyd Bennett Field in New York City after 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes in his Lockheed Vega aircraft.^[23] U.S. forces captured the Sicilian city of Palermo on July 22, 1943, during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily in World War II, marking a key advance against Axis defenses on the island.^[23] Soviet Red Army troops reached and began liberating the Majdanek concentration and extermination camp near Lublin, Poland, on July 22, 1944, the first major Nazi camp uncovered by advancing Allied forces, revealing gas chambers and evidence of mass killings.^[24] The Irgun, a Zionist paramilitary organization, detonated a bomb at the King David Hotel in Jerusalem on July 22, 1946, targeting the British Mandate's administrative headquarters and killing 91 people, including British officials, Arabs, and Jews, in an attack aimed at disrupting British rule in Palestine.^[25] The final fragments of Comet Shoemaker–Levy 9 struck Jupiter on July 22, 1994, concluding a series of impacts from July 16 to 22 that produced massive fireballs and dark scars in the planet's atmosphere, the first comet collision with a planet observed by astronomers.^[26] Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian far-right extremist, executed coordinated terrorist attacks on July 22, 2011, detonating a car bomb in Oslo's government quarter that killed eight people before traveling to Utøya island to carry out a mass shooting at a Labour Party youth camp, murdering 69 others—mostly teenagers—for a total of 77 deaths motivated by opposition to multiculturalism and Islam.^[1]

Holidays and Observances

Religious Observances

In Christianity, July 22 is primarily observed as the feast day of Saint Mary Magdalene across Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and other traditions using the Gregorian calendar.^[27][28] Mary Magdalene, a devoted follower of Jesus from whom he cast out seven demons (Mark 16:9), stood at the foot of the cross during the Crucifixion (John 19:25) and was among the first to discover the empty tomb, encountering the risen Christ who commissioned her to announce the Resurrection to the apostles—earning her the title "Apostle to the Apostles."^[29][28] The Roman Catholic Church elevated the commemoration from an obligatory memorial to a full feast in 2016 under Pope Francis, emphasizing her role in the Gospel narrative and her patronage of converts, penitents, and women.^[27] Liturgical readings for the day typically include passages from the Song of Songs, Psalms, and the Gospel of John recounting her meeting with the risen Jesus (John 20:1-2, 11-18).^[27] In the [Eastern Orthodox Church](/page/Eastern_Orthodox Church), she is venerated as an Equal to the Apostles and Myrrh-bearer, with traditions highlighting her missionary travels to Rome and her presentation of a red egg to Emperor Tiberius as a symbol of the Resurrection, symbolizing the transition from death to life.^[28][30] Additional saints commemorated on this date include Saint Markella of Chios, a 14th-century martyr in the Orthodox tradition who fled persecution and was killed for her faith, and the Maronite Saint Nohra, though these receive lesser emphasis compared to Mary Magdalene.^[30] No major fixed observances occur in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, or Buddhism on July 22 in the Gregorian calendar, as those faiths primarily follow lunar or lunisolar systems for holidays.^[31]

National and Political Holidays

In The Gambia, July 22 is observed as Revolution Day, a public holiday commemorating the 1994 military coup d'état in which Lieutenant Yahya Jammeh and a group of officers overthrew the democratically elected government of President Dawda Jawara.^[32] The coup, justified by the plotters as a response to corruption and economic mismanagement, led to Jammeh's 23-year authoritarian rule, characterized by suppression of dissent, human rights abuses, and electoral manipulations until his ouster in 2017 following an election loss he initially refused to accept.^[33] Although the holiday's celebrations have been subdued since the transition to President Adama Barrow's administration, it remains a national public holiday, with schools and businesses closed, reflecting the event's enduring political significance despite its controversial origins in undemocratic power seizure.^[34] In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, July 22 is designated as Sarawak Day, a regional public holiday marking the establishment of self-government on that date in 1963 under Stephen Kalong Ningkan, shortly before the state's incorporation into the Federation of Malaysia the following year.^[35] The observance highlights Sarawak's distinct historical trajectory, including its prior status as a British protectorate under the Brooke Rajahs from 1841 until 1946, and emphasizes themes of autonomy, cultural diversity, and state identity within Malaysia's federal structure.^[36] Celebrations typically include parades, cultural performances, and official addresses underscoring unity and progress, with the day serving as a platform for political discourse on Sarawak's rights and resources under the Malaysia Agreement 1963.^[37]

Secular and Awareness Days

World Brain Day, established by the World Federation of Neurology, occurs annually on July 22 to increase public awareness of neurological disorders and advocate for brain health across all life stages.^[38] The initiative, which began gaining prominence in the 2010s, emphasizes prevention, early detection, and treatment of conditions affecting the brain, with the 2025 theme focusing on "Brain Health for All Ages" to address lifelong neurological risks from infancy to old age.^[39] Global events, including educational campaigns and research highlights, underscore the brain's vulnerability to factors like aging, trauma, and lifestyle, promoting evidence-based strategies such as physical activity and cognitive engagement to mitigate decline.^[40] Pi Approximation Day, alternatively called Casual Pi Day, marks July 22 in recognition of the fraction 22/7 (approximately 3.142857) as a simple yet reasonably accurate approximation of the irrational constant π (approximately 3.141593), which relates a circle's circumference to its diameter.^[41] This observance, less formal than March 14 (Pi Day), encourages mathematical enthusiasts to explore approximations, recite digits of π, or engage in related computations, highlighting historical uses of 22/7 in ancient calculations before more precise methods like Archimedes' polygons.^[42] In the United States, National Fragile X Awareness Day on July 22 promotes understanding of Fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited cause of intellectual disability and autism spectrum disorder, affecting about 1 in 4,000 males and 1 in 8,000 females through a mutation in the FMR1 gene on the X chromosome.^[43] Advocacy efforts, led by organizations like the National Fragile X Foundation, focus on research into targeted therapies and support for affected families, emphasizing genetic testing and early intervention to manage symptoms such as learning challenges and behavioral issues.^[44] Other informal observances include National Mango Day in the U.S., celebrating the tropical fruit's nutritional value—providing vitamins A and C, fiber, and antioxidants—originated in regions like India but promoted commercially for its versatility in cuisine.^[45] National Ratcatcher's Day draws from European folklore, particularly the Pied Piper of Hamelin legend, recalling historical pest control efforts against plagues, though its observance remains niche and tied to cultural storytelling rather than organized events.^[46]