July 31st History

1556 - Death of Ignatius Loyola, Spanish cleric who founded the Jesuit order to propagate the Roman Catholic faith

1667 - The Anglo Dutch War ends with the Peace of Breda

1861 - 9,300 mm monthly rainfall in Cherrapunji, India, becomes a world record.

1875 - Death of Andrew Johnson, Democratic president after the assassination of President Lincoln.

1914 - Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany rejects a British offer of mediation in the Austro Serbian crisis as insolence.

1919 - The Weimar Republic is established in Germany, named after the town in which the new german constitution was formulated.

1932 - The Nazi party doubles its representation in the Reichstag.

1965 - Cigarette commercials are banned on British television

1975 - Irish pop group the Miami Showband is ambushed and murdered by protestant gunmen near Newry, Northern Ireland.

1979 - Nigeria seizes British oil installations in a bid to persuade Margaret Thatcher to take a tough line on apartheid.

1990 - In Trinidad, Muslim rebels release prime minister A.R Robinson but continue to hold teir other hostages in port of Spain's television station.