Events
43
BC – Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels
the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
1504 – In Ireland, the Hiberno-Norman de Burghs
(Burkes) and Anglo-Norman Fitzgeralds fight
in the Battle of Knockdoe.
1561 – An 18-year-old Mary, Queen of Scots,
returns to Scotland after spending 13 years
in France.
1612 – The "Samlesbury witches", three
women from the Lancashire village of Samlesbury,
England, are put on trial, accused for practicing
witchcraft, one of the most famous witch trials
in English history.
1666 – Second Anglo-Dutch War: Rear Admiral
Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island
of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships,
an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire".
1692 – Salem witch trials: in Salem, Massachusetts,
Province of Massachusetts Bay five people, one
woman and four men, including a clergyman, are
executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1745 – Prince Charles Edward Stuart raises his
standard in Glenfinnan – the start of the Second
Jacobite Rebellion, known as "the 45".
1759 – Battle of Lagos Naval battle during the
Seven Year's War between Britain and France.
1768 – Saint Isaac's Cathedral is founded in
Saint Petersburg, Russia.
1772 – Gustavus III of Sweden stages a Coup
d'état, in which he assumes power and enacts
a new constitution that divides power between
the Riksdag and the King.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of
Blue Licks – the last major engagement of the
war, almost ten months after the surrender of
the British commander Lord Cornwallis following
the Siege of Yorktown.
1812 – War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution
defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off
the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning her
nickname "Old Ironsides".
1813 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's
Second Triumvirate.
1821 – Greek rebels massacre all the population
of Navarino.
1839 – The French government announces that
Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift
"free to the world".
1848 – California Gold Rush: the New York Herald
breaks the news to the East Coast of the United
States of the gold rush in California (although
the rush started in January).
1861 – First ascent of Weisshorn, fifth highest
summit in the Alps.
1862 – Indian Wars: during an uprising in Minnesota,
Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily-defended
Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement
of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the
way.
1895 – American frontier murderer and outlaw,
John Wesley Hardin, is killed by an off-duty
policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
1909 – First automobile race at the Indianapolis
Motor Speedway takes place.
1919 – Afghanistan gains full independence from
the United Kingdom.
1927 – Metropolitan Sergius proclaims the declaration
of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to
the Soviet Union.
1934 – The first All-American Soap Box Derby
is held in Dayton, Ohio.
1934 – The creation of the position Führer is
approved by the German electorate with 89.9%
of the popular vote.
1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium
bomber.
1942 – World War II: Operation Jubilee – the
2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious
assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and
fails, many Canadians are killed or captured.
The operation was doomed to fail, and was intended
to develop and try new amphibious landing tactics
for the coming full invasion in Normandy.
1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris – Paris
rises against German occupation with the help
of Allied troops.
1945 – Vietnam War: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi
Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
1953 – Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow
the government of Mohammed Mossadegh in Iran
and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
1955 – In the Northeast United States, severe
flooding caused by Hurricane Diane, claims 200
lives.
1960 – Cold War: in Moscow, downed American
U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to
ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for
espionage.
1960 – Sputnik program: Sputnik 5 – the Soviet
Union launches the satellite with the dogs Belka
and Strelka, 40 mice, 2 rats and a variety of
plants.
1965 – Japanese prime minister Eisaku Sato becomes
the first post-World War II sitting prime minister
to visit Okinawa.
1980 – Saudia Flight 163, a Lockheed L-1011
TriStar burns after making an emergency landing
at King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia, killing 301 people.
1981 – Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States
fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan
Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
1987 – Hungerford Massacre: in the United Kingdom,
Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with an assault
rifle and then commits suicide.
1989 – Polish president Wojciech Jaruzelski
nominates Solidarity activist Tadeusz Mazowiecki
to be the first non-communist Prime Minister
in 42 years.
1989 – Raid on offshore pirate station, Radio
Caroline in North Sea by British and Dutch governments.
1989 – Several hundred East Germans cross the
frontier between Hungary and Austria during
the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events
which began the process of the Fall of the Berlin
Wall.
1991 – dissolution of the Soviet Union, August
Coup: Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is
placed under house arrest while on holiday in
the town of Foros, Crimea.
1991 – Crown Heights Riot: Black groups target
Hasidic Jews on the streets of Crown Heights
during 3 days, after 2 black kids were struck
by a car driven by a Hasidic man.
1999 – In Belgrade, tens of thousands of Serbians
rally to demand the resignation of Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milošević.
2002 – A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops
is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny,
killing 118 soldiers.
2003 – A car-bomb attack on United Nations headquarters
in Iraq kills the agency's top envoy Sergio
Vieira de Mello and 21 other employees.
2003 – A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus
in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children
in the Jerusalem bus 2 massacre.
2005 – The first-ever joint military exercise
between Russia and China, called Peace Mission
2005 begins.
2005 – A series of strong storms lashes Southern
Ontario spawning several tornadoes as well as
creating extreme flash flooding within the city
of Toronto and its surrounding communities.
In Toronto, it is also dubbed as the Toronto
Supercell.
2009 – A series of bombings in Baghdad, Iraq,
kills 101 and injures 565 others.
2010 – Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the
last of the United States brigade combat teams
crossing the border to Kuwait.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Feast of the Transfiguration (Julian Calendar),
and its related observances:
Buhe (Ethiopian Orthodox Church)
Saviour's Transfiguration, popularly known as
the "Apples Feast". (Russian Orthodox
Church and Georgian Orthodox Church)
Jean-Eudes de Mézeray
Louis of Toulouse
Magnus of Anagni
Magnus of Avignon
Sebaldus
August 19 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Independence Day, commemorates the Treaty of
Rawalpindi in 1919, granting independence from
Britain. (Afghanistan)
Manuel Luis Quezón Day (Quezon City and other
places in The Philippines named after Manuel
L. Quezon)
National Aviation Day (United States)
Vinalia Rustica (Roman Empire)
World Humanitarian Day (International)
For details, contact Datacentre
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