July 3: Start of the Dog Days - Independence Day in Belarus

July 3 is the 184th day of the year (185th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 181 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

324 - Battle of Adrianople Constantine I defeats Licinius, who flees to Byzantium.
987 - Hugh Capet is crowned King of France, the first of the Capetian dynasty which ruled France till the French Revolution in 1792.
1250 - Louis IX of France is captured by Baibars' Mamluk army at the Battle of Fariskur while he is in Egypt conducting the Seventh Crusade; he later has to ransom himself.
1608 - Québec City founded by Samuel de Champlain.
1754 - French and Indian War: George Washington surrenders Fort Necessity to French forces.
1767 - Pitcairn Island is discovered by Midshipman Robert Pitcairn on an expeditionary voyage commanded by Philip Carteret.
1767 - Norway's oldest newspaper still in print, Adresseavisen, is founded (first edition published this date).
1775 - American Revolutionary War: George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1778 - American Revolutionary War: British forces massacre 360 men, women and children in the Wyoming Valley massacre.
1778 - Prussia declares war on Austria.
1819 - The first savings bank in the United States (The Bank of Savings in New York City) opens.
1839 - The first state normal school in the United States, the forerunner to today's Framingham State College, opens in Lexington, Massachusetts with 3 students.
1844 - The last pair of Great Auks is killed.
1848 - Slaves are freed in the Danish West Indies (now U.S. Virgin Islands) by Peter von Scholten.
1849 - The French entered Rome in order to restore Pope Pius IX to power. This would prove a major obstacle to Italian unification.
1852 - Congress establishes the United States's 2nd mint in San Francisco, California.
1863 - U.S. Civil War: The final day of the Battle of Gettysburg culminates with Pickett's Charge.
1866 - Austro-Prussian War is decided at the Battle of Königgratz, resulting in Prussia taking over as the prominent German nation from Austria.
1884 - Dow Jones published its 1st stock average.
1886 - Karl Benz officially unveils the Benz Patent Motorwagen - the first purpose-built automobile.
1886 - The New York Tribune becomes the first newspaper to use a linotype machine, eliminating typesetting by hand.
1890 - Idaho is admitted as the 43rd U.S. state.
1898 - Spanish fleet, led by Pascual Cervera y Topete, destroyed by the U.S. Navy in Santiago, Cuba during the Spanish-American War.
1938 - World speed record for a steam railway locomotive is set in England, by the Mallard, which reaches a speed of 126 mph.(203 km/h)
1944 - World War II: Minsk was liberated from Nazi control by Soviet troops during Operation Bagration.
1952 - Puerto Rico's Constitution is approved by the Congress of the United States.
1962 - The Algerian War of Independence against the French ends.
1969 - The biggest explosion in the history of rocketry occurs when the Soviet N1 rocket explodes and subsequently destroys its launchpad.
1970 - A British Dan-Air De Havilland Comet chartered jetliner crashes into mountains north of Barcelona, Spain killing 113 people.
1976 - Israeli commandos rescue 105 hostages at Entebbe Airport, Uganda during Operation Yonatan.
1977 - The Senegalese Republican Movement (MRS) is founded.
1979 - US President Jimmy Carter signs the first directive for secret aid to the opponents of the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul.
1986 - US President Ronald Reagan presides over the relighting of the renovated Statue of Liberty.
1988 - United States Navy warship USS Vincennes shoots down Iran Air Flight 655 over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people aboard.
1988 - The Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge in Istanbul, Turkey is completed, providing the second connection between the continents of Europe and Asia over the Bosporus.
1989 - Fitzgerald Inquiry released in Queensland.
1994 - The deadliest day in Texas traffic history, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. Forty six people were killed in crashes.
1996 - Stone of Destiny returned to Scotland.
2001 - A Vladivostok Avia Tupolev TU-154 jetliner crashes on approach to landing at Irkutsk, Russia killing 145 people.
2004 - Official opening of Bangkok's subway system.
2005 - The national law legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect in Spain.
2006 - Asteroid labeled as 2004 XP14 flies 432,308 km (268,624 miles) by Earth.

Births

1423 - King Louis XI of France (d. 1483)
1442 - Emperor Go-Tsuchimikado of Japan (d. 1500)
1530 - Claude Fauchet, French historian (d. 1601)
1676 - Leopold I, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, Prussian field marshal (d. 1747)
1683 - Edward Young, English poet (d. 1765)
1685 - Sir Robert Rich, 4th Baronet, British cavalry officer (d. 1768)
1728 - Robert Adam, Scottish architect (d. 1792)
1738 - John Singleton Copley, American painter (d. 1815)
1743 - Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, queen consort of Sweden (d. 1813)
1851 - Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (d. 1930)
1854 - Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (d. 1928)
1870 - Richard Bedford Bennett, 11th Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1947)
1875 - Ferdinand Sauerbruch, German surgeon (d. 1951)
1878 - George M. Cohan, American actor, director, singer and dancer (d. 1942)
1879 - Alfred Korzybski, Polish linguist (d. 1950)
1880 - Carl Schuricht, Polish-born German conductor (d. 1967)
1883 - Franz Kafka, Czech writer (d. 1924)
1900 - Alessandro Blasetti, Italian film director (d. 1987)
1903 - Ace Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1992)
1906 - George Sanders, British actor (d. 1972)
1908 - M. F. K. Fisher, American writer (d. 1992)
1908 - Robert B. Meyner, American politician (d. 1990)
1913 - Dorothy Kilgallen, American columnist (d. 1965)
1917 - João Saldanha, Brazilian journalist and football manager (d. 1990)
1918 - S. V. Ranga Rao, South Indian actor (d. 1974)
1920 - Paul O'Dea, baseball player (d. 1978)
1921 - Susan Peters, American actress (d. 1952)
1924 - S. R. Nathan, 6th president of Singapore
1927 - Ken Russell, British director
1930 - Carlos Kleiber, Austrian conductor (d. 2004)
1930 - Tommy Tedesco, American musician (d. 1997)
1930 - Pete Fountain, American clarinetist
1933 - Edward Brandt, American doctor and public health official (d. 2007)
1935 - Harrison Schmitt, American astronaut and politician
1937 - Tom Stoppard, Czech-born, British playwright
1938 - Bolo Yeung, Hong Kong actor
1939 - László Kovács, Hungarian politician and diplomat
1939 - Brigitte Fassbaender, German mezzo-soprano
1940 - César Tovar, Venezuelan Major League Baseball player (d. 1994)
1940 - Lamar Alexander, American politician
1940 - Jerzy Buzek, Prime Minister of Poland
1940 - Fontella Bass, American soul singer
1942 - Eddy Mitchell, French singer and actor
1942 - Paco Stanley, Mexican TV personality (d. 1999)
1943 - Kurtwood Smith, American actor
1944 - Michel Polnareff, French singer and songwriter
1945 - Michael Cole, American TV actor
1946 - Leszek Miller, Prime Minister of Poland
1947 - Dave Barry, American humorist and author
1947 - Betty Buckley, American actress
1948 - Tarmo Koivisto, Finnish comics artist
1949 - Jan Smithers, American actress
1949 - Johnnie Wilder, Jr., American singer (Heatwave) (d. 2006)
1950 - James Hahn, American politician
1950 - Ewen Chatfield, New Zealand cricketer
1951 - Richard Hadlee, New Zealand cricketer
1951 - Jean-Claude Duvalier, Haitian politician
1955 - Sanma Akashiya, Japanese television performer
1956 - Montel Williams, American celebrity and former talk show host
1956 - Don Vito, American Viva La Bam castmember
1957 - Laura Branigan, American singer (d. 2004)
1958 - Matthew Fraser, Canadian-British journalist
1958 - Siân Lloyd, Welsh weather presenter
1958 - Aaron Tippin, American singer
1959 - Julie Burchill, British journalist and author
1959 - Stephen Pearcy, American singer (Ratt)
1960 - Vince Clarke, British songwriter (Depeche Mode, Yazoo, and Erasure)
1961 - Pedro Romeiras, Portuguese dancer
1961 - Tim Smith, English musician (Cardiacs)
1962 - Tom Cruise, American actor
1962 - Hunter Tylo, American actress
1962 - Thomas Gibson, American actor
1964 - Joanne Harris, British author
1964 - Yeardley Smith, French-born American actress
1965 - Shinya Hashimoto, Japanese wrestler (d. 2005)
1965 - Connie Nielsen, Danish actress
1966 - Moisés Alou, Dominican baseball player
1966 - Sandra Lee, American television host and cookbook author
1967 - Brian Cashman, American major league baseball executive
1969 - Kevin Hearn, Canadian musician (Barenaked Ladies)
1970 - Teemu Selanne, Finnish ice hockey player
1970 - Shawnee Smith, American actress
1970 - Serhiy Honchar, Ukrainian cyclist
1973 - Johnny Terris, Canadian-born actor and director
1973 - Patrick Wilson, American actor
1973 - Emma Cunniffe, British actress
1976 - Andrea Barber, American actress
1976 - Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player
1976 - Henry Olonga, Zimbabwean cricketer
1976 - Wanderlei Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist
1979 - Ludivine Sagnier, French actress
1979 - Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Greek footballer
1979 - David Bacani, American baseball player
1980 - Roland Mark Schoeman, South African swimmer
1980 - Kevin Boyle, American basketballer
1982 - Kanika, Indian actress
1983 - Steph Jones, American singer and model
1984 - Syed Rasel, Bangladeshi cricketer
1984 - Corey Sevier, Canadian actor
1984 - Manny Lawson, American Football player
1987 - Sebastian Vettel, German racing driver

Deaths

1570 - Aonio Paleario, Italian humanist
1642 - Maria de' Medici, wife of Henry IV of France (b. 1573)
1672 - Francis Willughby, English biologist (b. 1635)
1704 - Sophia Alekseyevna, regent of Russia (b. 1657)
1749 - William Jones, Welsh mathematician (b. 1675)
1778 - Anna Maria Walburga Mozart née Pertl, mother of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (b. 1720)
1790 - Jean-Baptiste L. Romé de l'Isle, French chemist (b. 1736)
1795 - Louis-Georges de Bréquigny, French historian (b. 1714)
1795 - Antonio de Ulloa, Spanish general and governor of Louisiana (b. 1716)
1809 - Joseph Quesnel, French Canadian composer, poet and playwright (b. 1746)
1858 - Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, Russian painter (b. 1806)
1863 - George Hull Ward, American general (b. 1826)
1904 - Theodor Herzl, Austrian Zionist (b. 1860)
1904 - Edouard Beaupré, Canadian giant and strongman (b. 1881)
1914 - Joseph Chamberlain, British politician (b. 1836)
1916 - Hetty Green, American businesswoman (b. 1834)
1918 - Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1844)
1933 - Hipólito Yrigoyen, President of Argentina (b. 1852)
1935 - André Citroën, French automobile pioneer (b. 1878)
1942 - Louis Franchet d'Espèrey, French general (b. 1856)
1954 - Siegfried Handloser, German physician (b. 1895)
1957 - Dolf Luque, baseball player (b. 1890)
1969 - Brian Jones, English musician (The Rolling Stones) (drowned) (b. 1942)
1971 - Jim Morrison, American poet, singer (The Doors) (b. 1943)
1977 - Alexander M. Volkov, Russian novelist and mathematician (b. 1891)
1978 - James Daly, American actor (b. 1918)
1979 - Louis Durey, French composer (b. 1888)
1981 - Ross Martin, Polish-American actor (b. 1920)
1985 - Frank Selke, Canadian ice hockey manager (b. 1893)
1986 - Rudy Vallee, American singer (b. 1901)
1989 - Jim Backus, American actor (b. 1913)
1993 - Joe DeRita, American actor and comedian (b. 1909)
1993 - Don Drysdale, baseball player (b. 1936)
1994 - Lew Hoad, Australian tennis player (b. 1934)
1995 - Pancho Gonzales, American tennis player (b. 1928)
1995 - Eddie Mazur, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1929)
1998 - Danielle Bunten Berry, American software developer (b. 1949)
1999 - Mark Sandman, American musician (b. 1952)
2000 - Kemal Sunal, Turkish actor (b. 1944)
2001 - Mordecai Richler, Canadian author (b. 1931)
2001 - Johnny Russell, American country singer and songwriter (b. 1940)
2003 - Gaetano Alibrandi, Papal diplomat (b. 1914)
2004 - Andrian Nikolayev, cosmonaut (b. 1929)
2005 - Alberto Lattuada, Italian film director (b. 1914)
2005 - Gaylord Nelson, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin (b. 1916)
2006 - Joseph Goguen, American computer scientist (b. 1941)
2006 - Benjamin Hendrickson, American actor (b. 1950)
2007 - Alice Timander, Swedish dentist (b. 1915)
2007 - Boots Randolph, American saxophonist (b. 1927)

Holidays and Observances

Start of the Dog Days
Independence Day in Belarus (when German forces lost Belarus to the Red Army in 1944)
Aaron and Julius
Saint Leo II (d. 683)
Saint Heliodorus
Saint Marinus, bishop, martyr
Saint Mucian
Saint Phocas, martyr
Saint Raymond, confessor at Toulouse
Translation of Saint Thomas
Saint Tryphon