* On July 21, 365, a powerful earthquake off the coast of Greece caused a tsunami that devastated the city of Alexandria, Egypt. While no measuring tools for it existed at the time, modern scientists estimate that it consisted of two successive tremors, the largest of which is thought to have had a magnitude of 8.0.
* On July 22, 2003, Qusay and Uday Hussein, sons of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, were killed in Mosul, northern Iraq, after a three-hour firefight with U.S. forces. Both men were believed by many to be even more ruthless than their father, and news of their deaths was met with widespread celebration.
* On July 23, 2021, the Cleveland Indians baseball team announced its name change to the Cleveland Guardians, as a gesture of respect to Native Americans. The team had retired its 'Chief Wahoo' logo three years earlier, banning it from future National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum plaques and merchandise sold outside of Ohio.
* On July 24, 1901, William Sydney Porter, better known to literature fans as O. Henry, was released from prison after serving a threeyear jail term for embezzling from an Austin, Texas bank. He had previously hidden from authorities in Honduras but returned to America when his wife was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and supported his young daughter from prison by writing stories.
* On July 25, 1953, New York City issued its first subway tokens, which were used for 50 years before being replaced by the MetroCard.
* On July 26, 1972, singer Johnny Cash met with President Richard Nixon to lobby for prison reform. Cash was never an inmate himself, though he did spend a few nights in jail for minor offenses, but often performed at prisons.
* On July 27, 1794, Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown and arrested. As the leading member of the Committee of Public Safety from 1793, he had encouraged the execution, primarily by guillotine, of more than 17,000 enemies of the French Revolution. The day after his arrest, Robespierre and 21 of his followers met their own fate at the guillotine in front of a cheering mob at the Place de la Revolution in Paris.
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