Today in Military History July 31th

 31 July 30BC   Battle of Alexandria: Mark Antony achieves a minor victory over Octavian's forces, but most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to his suicide.

31 July 781    The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji (Traditional Japanese date: Sixth day of the seventh month of the first year of the Ten'o (天応) era).

31 July 1009   Pope Sergius IV becomes the 142nd pope, succeeding Pope John XVIII.

31 July 1201   Attempted usurpation by John Komnenos the Fat for the throne of Alexios III Angelos.   

31 July 1423  Hundred Years' War: Battle of Cravant: The French army is defeated by the English at Cravant on the banks of the river Yonne.

   
31 July 1588  The Spanish Armada is spotted off the coast of England.

31 July 1618  Maurice, Prince of Orange disbands the waardgelders militia in Utrecht, a pivotal event in the Remonstrant/Counter-Remonstrant tensions.
   
31 July 1655  Russo-Polish War (165467): The Russian army enters the capital of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vilnius, which it holds for six years.
   
31 July 1712  Action of 31 July 1712 (Great Northern War): Danish and Swedish ships clash in the Baltic Sea; the result is inconclusive.
     
31 July 1763  Odawa Chief Pontiac's forces defeat British troops at the Battle of Bloody Run during Pontiac's War.
      
31 July 1904  Russo-Japanese War: Battle of Hsimucheng: Units of the Imperial Japanese Army defeat units of the Imperial Russian Army in a strategic confrontation.
   
31 July 1913  The Balkan States sign an armistice in Bucharest.
   
31 July 1917  World War I: The Battle of Passchendaele begins near Ypres in West Flanders, Belgium.
   
31 July 1941  World War II: The Battle of Smolensk concludes with Germany capturing about 300,000 Soviet Red Army prisoners.[1]
   

 

31 July 1948  USS Nevada is sunk by an aerial torpedo after surviving hits from two atomic bombs (as part of post-war tests) and being used for target practice by three other ships.

31 July 1972  The British Army re takes the urban no go areas of Northern Ireland. 

31 July 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.

   
31 July 2007  Operation Banner, the presence of the British Army in Northern Ireland, and the longest-running British Army operation ever, comes to an end.