Independence
day
Gabon
Indonesia
Events
of the day
986 – A Byzantine army is
destroyed in the pass of Trajan's Gate by the
Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron.
The Byzantine emperor Basil II narrowly escaped.
1807 – Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat
leaves New York City for Albany, New York on
the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial
steamboat service in the world.
1862 – Indian Wars: The Dakota War of 1862 begins
in Minnesota as Lakota warriors attack white
settlements along the Minnesota River.
1862 – American Civil War: Major General J.E.B.
Stuart is assigned command of all the cavalry
of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia.
1863 – American Civil War: In Charleston, South
Carolina, Union batteries and ships bombard
Confederate-held Fort Sumter.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Gainesville
– Confederate forces defeat Union troops near
Gainesville, Florida.
1883 – The first public performance of the Dominican
Republic's national anthem, Himno Nacional.
1907 – Pike Place Market, a popular tourist
destination and registered historic district
in Seattle, opened.
1908 – Fantasmagorie, the first animated cartoon,
created by Émile Cohl, is shown in Paris.
1914 – World War I: Battle of Stalluponen –
The German army of General Hermann von François
defeats the Russian force commanded by Pavel
Rennenkampf near modern-day Nesterov, Russia.
1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is lynched
for the alleged murder of a 13-year-old girl
in Marietta, Georgia, United States.
1915 – A Category 4 hurricane hits Galveston,
Texas with winds at 135 miles per hour (217
km/h).
1918 – Bolshevik revolutionary leader Moisei
Uritsky is assassinated.
1942 – World War II: U.S. Marines raid the Japanese-held
Pacific island of Makin (Butaritari).
1943 – World War II: The U.S. Eighth Air Force
suffers the loss of 60 bombers on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg
mission.
1943 – World War II: The U.S. Seventh Army under
General George S. Patton arrives in Messina,
Italy, followed several hours later by the British
8th Army under Field Marshal Bernard L. Montgomery,
thus completing the Allied conquest of Sicily.
1943 – World War II: First Québec Conference
of Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt,
and William Lyon Mackenzie King begins.
1943 – World War II: The Royal Air Force begins
Operation Hydra, the first air raid of the Operation
Crossbow strategic bombing campaign against
Germany's V-weapon programme.
1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the
independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian
National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
1947 – The Radcliffe Line, the border between
Union of India and Dominion of Pakistan is revealed.
1950 – Hill 303 massacre: American POWs were
massacred by North Korean Army.
1953 – Addiction: First meeting of Narcotics
Anonymous in Southern California.
1959 – Quake Lake is formed by the magnitude
7.5 1959 Yellowstone earthquake near Hebgen
Lake in Montana.
1959 – Kind of Blue by Miles Davis, the much
acclaimed and highly influential best selling
jazz recording of all time, is released.
1960 – Decolonization: Gabon gains independence
from France.
1962 – East German border guards kill 18-year-old
Peter Fechter as he attempts to cross the Berlin
Wall into West Berlin becoming one of the first
victims of the wall.
1969 – Category 5 Hurricane Camille hits the
Mississippi coast, killing 248 people and causing
$1.5 billion in damage.
1970 – Venera Program: Venera 7 launched. It
will later become the first spacecraft to successfully
transmit data from the surface of another planet
(Venus).
1978 – Double Eagle II becomes first balloon
to cross the Atlantic Ocean when it lands in
Miserey near Paris, 137 hours after leaving
Presque Isle, Maine.
1979 – Two Soviet Aeroflot jetliners collide
in mid-air over Ukraine, killing 156.
1980 – Azaria Chamberlain disappears, probably
taken by a dingo, leading to what was then the
most publicised trial in Australian history.
1982 – The first Compact Discs (CDs) are released
to the public in Germany.
1988 – Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq
and U.S. Ambassador Arnold Raphel are killed
in a plane crash.
1998 – Monica Lewinsky scandal: US President
Bill Clinton admits in taped testimony that
he had an "improper physical relationship"
with White House intern Monica Lewinsky. On
the same day he admits before the nation that
he "misled people" about the relationship.
1999 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake strikes İzmit,
Turkey, killing more than 17,000 and injuring
44,000.
2004 – The National Assembly of Serbia unanimously
adopts new state symbols for Serbia: Boze Pravde
becomes the new anthem and the coat of arms
is adopted for the whole country.
2005 – The first forced evacuation of settlers,
as part of the Israel unilateral disengagement
plan, starts.
2005 – Over 500 bombs are set off by terrorists
at 300 locations in 63 out of the 64 districts
of Bangladesh
2008 – American swimmer Michael Phelps becomes
the first person to win eight gold medals in
one Olympic Games.
2009 – An accident at the Sayano–Shushenskaya
Dam in Khakassia, Russia, kills 75 and shuts
down the hydroelectric power station, leading
to widespread power failure in the local area.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Clare of the Cross
Hyacinth of Poland
Mammes of Caesarea (Roman Catholic Church)
August 17 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day, celebrates the proclamation
of Indonesia's independence from Japan in 1945.
Portunalia (Roman Empire)
Prekmurje Union Day (Slovenia)
San Martin Day (Argentina)
Smile and Wave to Tourists International Day
For details, contact Datacentre
