An earthquake with its epicentre in Afghanistan results in the greatest number of fatalities in a mountaineering accident in High Asian mountains when an avalanche kills 43 climbers in Camp I on Pik Lenina (Lenin Peak).

The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow.

United States Vice President George H.W. Bush becomes the Acting President for the day when President Ronald Reagan undergoes surgery to remove polyps from his colon.

New York City, amidst a period of financial and social turmoil experiences a blackout lasting nearly 24 hours that leads to wide-spread fires and looting.

Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.

World War II: Montenegrins start a popular uprising against the Axis Powers (''Trinaestojulski ustanak'').

The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles. It originally reads "Hollywood''land'' " but the four last letters are dropped after renovation in 1949.

The British airship R34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.

Treaty of Berlin: the European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman empire.

New York Draft Riots: in New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.

In the Battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General Jose Maria Yanez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset-Boulbon.

The General Assembly's Institution, now the Scottish Church College, one of the pioneering institutions that ushered the Bengal Renaissance, is founded by Alexander Duff and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, in Calcutta, India.

The Battle of the Vosges is fought between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria.

The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.

English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down

Eighty Years' War: the Siege of Haarlem ends after seven months.

Battle of Gravelines: in France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul de Thermes at Gravelines.

the Livonian Order suffered its greatest defeat in the 13th century in the battle of Durbe against the Grand Duchy of Lithuania

William I of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173–1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.