Events
of the day
1220
– Sweden is defeated by Estonian
tribes in the Battle of Lihula.
1503 – King James IV of Scotland
marries Margaret Tudor, daughter
of King Henry VII of England at
Holyrood Abbey, Edinburgh, Scotland.
1576 – The cornerstone for Tycho
Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is
laid on Hven.
1585 – John Davis enters Cumberland
Sound in search of the Northwest
Passage.
1588 – Anglo-Spanish War: Battle
of Gravelines – The naval engagement
ends, ending the Spanish Armada's
attempt to invade England.
1605 – The city of Oulu, Finland,
is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
1647 – The Irish Confederate Wars
and Wars of the Three Kingdoms:
Battle of Dungans Hill – English
Parliamentary forces defeat Irish
forces.
1709 – Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates
the lifting power of hot air in
an audience before the King of Portugal
in Lisbon
1786 – Mont Blanc on the French
– Italian border is climbed for
the first time by Jacques Balmat
and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
1793 – The insurrection of Lyon
occurs during the French Revolution.
1794 – Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition
to search for the Northwest Passage
near Juneau, Alaska.
1844 – The Quorum of the Twelve
Apostles, headed by Brigham Young,
is reaffirmed as the leading body
of The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
1863 – American Civil War: following
his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg,
General Robert E. Lee sends a letter
of resignation to Confederate President
Jefferson Davis (which is refused
upon receipt).
1870 – The Republic of Ploieşti,
a failed Radical-Liberal rising
against Domnitor Carol of Romania.
1876 – Thomas Edison receives a
patent for his mimeograph.
1908 – Wilbur Wright makes his first
flight at a racecourse at Le Mans,
France. It is the Wright Brothers'
first public flight.
1918 – World War I: the Battle of
Amiens begins a string of almost
continuous victories with a push
through the German front lines (Hundred
Days Offensive).
1929 – The German airship Graf Zeppelin
begins a round-the-world flight.
1940 – The "Aufbau Ost"
directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel.
1942 – Quit India Movement is launched
in India against the British rule
in response to Mahatma Gandhi's
call for swaraj or complete independence.
1945 – World War II: The Soviet
Union declares war on Japan and
begins the Manchurian Strategic
Offensive Operation.
1946 – First flight of the Convair
B-36, the world's first mass-produce
nuclear weapon delivery vehicle.
1960 – South Kasai secedes from
the Congo.
1963 – Great Train Robbery: in England,
a gang of 15 train robbers steal
2.6 million pounds in bank notes.
1967 – The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded
by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore and Thailand.
1973 – Kim Dae-Jung, a South Korean
politician and later president of
South Korea, is kidnapped.
1974 President Richard M. Nixon
formally resigns from the office
of the President of the United States,
in a televised address
1980 – The Central Hotel Fire occurs
in Bundoran, Ireland.
1988 – The "8888 Uprising"
occurs in Burma.
1989 – Space Shuttle program: STS-28
Mission – Space Shuttle Columbia
takes off on a secret five-day military
mission.
1990 – Iraq occupies Kuwait and
the state is annexed to Iraq. This
would lead to the Gulf War shortly
afterward.
1991 – The Warsaw radio mast, at
one time the tallest construction
ever built, collapses.
2000 – Confederate submarine H.L.
Hunley is raised to the surface
after 136 years on the ocean floor
and 30 years after its discovery
by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence
and 5 years after being filmed by
a dive team funded by novelist Clive
Cussler.
2007 – An EF2 tornado touches down
in Kings County and Richmond County,
New York State, the most powerful
tornado in New York to date and
the first in Brooklyn since 1889.
2008 – 2008 South Ossetia war broke
out. Between Georgia on one side,
Russia, South Ossetia and Abkhazia
on the other.
2010 – 2010 China floods: A mudslide
in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China,
kills more than 1,400 people.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Cyriacus
Dominic de Guzman, founder of the
Dominican Order.
Hormisdas
Largus
Mary MacKillop
Smaragdus (and companions)
August 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Earliest day on which Melon Day
can fall, while August 14 is the
latest; celebrated on the second
Sunday in August. (Turkmenistan)
Farmer’s Day or Nane Nane, Swahili
for "8-8". (Tanzania)
Father's Day or Bā bā Day (爸爸節),
Bā Bā is Mandarin for "father"
and "8-8", or August 8.
(Taiwan)
Flag Day, namesday of Queen Silvia.
(Sweden)
For details, contact Datacentre
