Events
479
BC – Greco-Persian Wars: Persian forces led
by Mardonius are routed by Pausanias, the Spartan
commander of the Greek army in the Battle of
Plataea.
410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends
after three days.
1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of
France are crowned as junior king and queen
of England.
1232 – The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated
by Regent Hōjō Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese
date: August 10, 1232)
1593 – Pierre Barrière fails in his attempt
to assassinate King Henry IV of France.
1689 – The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by
Russia and the Qing empire.
1776 – The Battle of Long Island: in what is
now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under
General William Howe defeat Americans under
General George Washington.
1793 – French counter-revolution: the port of
Toulon revolts and admits the British fleet,
which lands troops and seizes the port leading
to Siege of Toulon.
1798 – Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French
forces clash with the British Army in the Battle
of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of
1798, resulting in the creation of the French
puppet Republic of Connaught.
1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats
the British Royal Navy, preventing them from
taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France.
1813 – French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte defeats
a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians
at the Battle of Dresden.
1828 – Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent
at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great
Britain between Brazil and Argentina during
the Cisplatine War.
1832 – Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe
of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities,
ending the Black Hawk War.
1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville,
Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially
successful oil well.
1861 – Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North
Carolina.
1883 – The eruption of Krakatoa
1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war
in world history (09:00 to 09:45) between the
United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1916 – Romania declares war against Austria-Hungary,
entering World War I as one of the Allied nations.
1921 – The British install the son of Sharif
Hussein bin Ali (leader of the Arab Revolt of
1916 against the Ottoman Empire) as King Faisal
I of Iraq.
1922 – The Turkish army takes the Aegean city
of Afyonkarahisar from the Greeks.
1927 – Five Canadian women file a petition to
the Supreme Court of Canada, asking, "Does
the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British
North America Act, 1867, include female persons?"
1928 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war
is signed by the first 15 nations to do so.
Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered
Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.
1943 – Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia
Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations
during World War II.
1957 – The Constitution of Malaysia comes into
force.
1962 – The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission
is launched to Venus by NASA.
1969 – Israeli commando force penetrates deep
into Egyptian territory to stage a mortar attack
on regional Egyptian Army headquarters in the
Nile Valley of Upper Egypt.
1971 – An attempted coup fails in the African
nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses
Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks
off diplomatic relations.
1975 – The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons
its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island,
leaving control to a rebel group.
1979 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb
kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten
and three others while they are boating on holiday
in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Shortly after,
18 British Army soldiers are killed in an ambush
near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland (see Warrenpoint
ambush).
1982 – Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla
Altıkat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario,
Canada's capital. Justice Commandos Against
Armenian Genocide claim responsibility, saying
they are avenging the massacre of 1.5 million
Armenians in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
1985 – The Nigerian government is peacefully
overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General
Ibrahim Babangida.
1991 – The European Community recognizes the
independence of the Baltic states of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania.
1991 – Moldova declares independence from the
USSR.
1993 – The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's
Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.
2000 – 540-metre (1,772 ft)-tall Ostankino Tower
in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.
2003 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth
in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles
(55,758,005 km) distant.
2003 – The first six-party talks, involving
South and North Korea, the United States, China,
Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful
resolution to the security concerns as a result
of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff
from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky
bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport
in Atlanta, Georgia. Of the passengers and crew,
49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following
the crash.
2009 – The Burmese military junta and ethnic
armies begin three days of violent clashes in
the Kokang Special Region.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Baculus of Sorrento
Caesarius of Arles
Margaret the Barefooted
Monica of Hippo, mother of Augustine of Hippo
Phanourios of Rhodes
Rufus and Carpophorus
Independence Day, celebrates the independence
of Moldova from the USSR in 1991.
Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (Texas)
Volturnalia, held in honor of Volturnus. (Roman
Empire)
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