On July 31 in 30 BCE, Mark Antony achieved a minor victory over Octavian, later Caesar Augustus, at the Battle of Alexandria. However, most of his army subsequently deserts, leading to Antony’s suicide.
The oldest recorded eruption of Mount Fuji took place on this day in 781.
The first ascent of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain, was achieved on this day in 1954 by an Italian expedition led by Ardito Desio.
On this day in 1991, the United States and Soviet Union both signed the START I Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, the first treaty to reduce both countries' stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
On this day in 2014, gas explosions in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan killed at least 20 people and injured more than 270.