Events
of the day
955
– Battle of Lechfeld: Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor
defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar
invasion of the West.
991 – Battle of Maldon: the English, led by Byrhtnoth,
Ealdorman of Essex, are defeated by a band of
inland-raiding Vikings near Maldon in Essex.
1270 – Yekuno Amlak takes the imperial throne
of Ethiopia, restoring the Solomonic dynasty to
power after a 100-year Zagwe interregnum.
1316 – The Second Battle of Athenry takes place
near Athenry during the Bruce campaign in Ireland.
1512 – The naval Battle of Saint-Mathieu, during
the War of the League of Cambrai, saw the simultaneous
destruction of the breton ship La Cordelière and
the English ship The Regent.
1519 – Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail
from Seville to circumnavigate the globe. The
Basque second in command Sebastian Elcano will
complete the expedition after Magellan's death
in the Philippines.
1557 – Battle of St. Quentin: Spanish victory
over the French in the Habsburg-Valois Wars.
1628 – The Swedish warship Vasa sinks in the Stockholm
harbour after only about 20 minutes of her maiden
voyage.
1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich
Observatory in London is laid.
1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
1755 – Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the
British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians
from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the
United States Declaration of Independence reaches
London.
1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries
Palace – Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken
into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred
by the Parisian mob.
1793 – The Musée du Louvre is officially opened
in Paris, France.
1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares
independence from Spain. This rebellion will be
crushed on August 2, 1810.
1813 – Instituto Nacional, is founded by the Chilean
patriot José Miguel Carrera. It is Chile's oldest
and most prestigious school. Its motto is Labor
Omnia Vincit, which means "Work conquers
all things".
1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is chartered
by the United States Congress after James Smithson
donates $500,000.
1861 – American Civil War: Battle of Wilson's
Creek – the war enters Missouri when a band of
raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in
the southwestern part of the state.
1901 – The U.S. Steel Recognition Strike by the
Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers
begins.
1904 – Russo-Japanese War: the Battle of the Yellow
Sea between the Russian and Japanese battleship
fleets takes place.
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: peace negotiations
begin in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
1913 – Second Balkan War: delegates from Bulgaria,
Romania, Serbia, Montenegro, and Greece sign the
Treaty of Bucharest, ending the war.
1920 – World War I: Ottoman sultan Mehmed VI's
representatives sign the Treaty of Sèvres that
divides up the Ottoman Empire between the Allies.
1932 – A 5.1 kilograms (11 lb) chondrite-type
meteorite breaks into at least seven pieces and
lands near the town of Archie in Cass County,
Missouri.
1944 – World War II: American forces defeat the
last Japanese troops on Guam.
1948 – Candid Camera makes its television debut
after being on radio for a year as Candid Microphone.
1949 – U.S. President Harry S. Truman signs the
National Security Act Amendment, streamlining
the defense agencies of the United States government,
and replacing the Department of War with the United
States Department of Defense.
1954 – At Massena, New York, the groundbreaking
ceremony for the Saint Lawrence Seaway is held.
1961 – First use in Vietnam War of the Agent Orange
by the U.S. Army.
1969 – A day after murdering Sharon Tate and four
others, members of Charles Manson's cult kill
Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
1971 – The Society for American Baseball Research
is founded in Cooperstown, New York.
1977 – In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal
employee David Berkowitz ("Son of Sam")
is arrested for a series of killings in the New
York City area over the period of one year.
1978 – Three members of the Ulrich family are
killed in an accident. This leads to the Ford
Pinto litigation.
1981 – Murder of Adam Walsh: the head of John
Walsh's son is found. This inspires the creation
of the television series America's Most Wanted.
1988 – Japanese American internment: U.S. President
Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of
1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans
who were either interned in or relocated by the
United States during World War II.
1990 – The Magellan space probe reaches Venus.
1990 – More than 127 Muslims are killed in North
East Sri Lanka by paramilitary troops.
1993 – An earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter
Scale hits the South Island of New Zealand.
1995 – Oklahoma City bombing: Timothy McVeigh
and Terry Nichols are indicted for the bombing.
Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain
for his testimony.
1998 – HRH Prince Al-Muhtadee Billah is proclaimed
the crown prince of Brunei with a Royal Proclamation.
2003 – The highest temperature ever recorded in
the United Kingdom – 38.5 °C (101.3 °F) in Kent.
It is the first time the United Kingdom has recorded
a temperature over 100 °F (38 °C).
2003 – Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person
to marry in space.
2006 – Scotland Yard disrupts a major terrorist
plot to destroy aircraft traveling from the United
Kingdom to the United States.
2009 – Twenty people are killed in Handlová, Trenčín
Region, in the deadliest mining disaster in Slovakia's
history.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Bessus
Blane (Roman Catholic Church)
Geraint of Dumnonia
Lawrence of Rome
Our Lady of Good Success of Parañaque, Patroness
of Parañaque, Philippines
August 10 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Declaration of Independence of Quito, proclaimed
independence from Spain on August 10, 1809, but
failed with the execution of all the conspirators
of the movement on August 2, 1810. Independence
finally occurred on May 24, 1822 at the Battle
of Pichincha. (Ecuador)
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