Election of Interest
43 BC Octavian, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul
Augustus Caesar
- 440 St Sixtus III ends his reign as Catholic Pope
- 1099 Crusaders beat Saracens in Battle of Ascalon
- 1263 King James I of Aragon censors Hebrew writing
- 1399 King Richard II of England surrenders to his cousin Henry
- 1458 Aenea Silvio Piccolomini chosen Pope Pius II
- 1493 Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I becomes Archduke of Austria
- 1504 Battle of Knockdoe in Galway Ireland.
- 1561 Mary Queen of Scots arrives in Leith, Scotland to assume throne after spending 13 years in France
Event of Interest
1587 Sigismund III becomes King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania
Victory in Battle
1627 Prince Frederick Henry conquers fort Groenlo
Frederick Henry
- 1691 Battle at Szalankemen: Austrians beat Turks
- 1692 Five more people hanged for witchcraft (20 in all) in Salem, Massachusetts
- 1702 -24] Battle at Santa Marta Venz: English fleet beat French
- 1745 Jacobite Rising 1745 : Bonnie Prince Charlie, raises his standard at Glenfinnan, Scotland, igniting the second Jacobite rebellion.
- 1757 Battle at Gross Jagerndorf: Russian army beats Prussia [NS=Aug 30]
- 1768 Saint Isaac's Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
- 1772 Gustav III seizes effective control of Swedish government & restores full power of monarchy, which had been subordinate to parliament since 1720
United States Declaration of Independence
1791 Benjamin Banneker sends a copy of his Almanac and writes a letter to Thomas Jefferson criticizing his pro-slavery stance and requesting justice for African Americans using language from the Declaration of Independence
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Coup d'état
1821 Failed liberal coup against French King Louis XVIII
Louis XVIII
Event of Interest
1839 Details of Louis Daguerre's 1st practical photographic process are released in Paris
Louis-Jacques Daguerre
Event of Interest
1887 Dmitri Mendeleev makes a solo ascent by balloon to an altitude of 11,500 feet (3.5 km) above Klin, Russia to observe an eclipse
Dmitri Mendeleev
- 1891 William Huggins describes astronomical application of spectrum
- 1895 American frontier murderer and outlaw, John Wesley Hardin, is killed by an off-duty policeman in a saloon in El Paso, Texas.
- 1897 1st electric taxis drive in London
- 1900 Start of the one and only Olympic cricket match, in Paris
- 1903 Philadelphia Phillies suffer record 9th straight postponed game
Event of Interest
1905 Russian Tsar Nicholas II installs "Imperial Duma", without legislative powers
Nicholas II
- 1909 Indianapolis 500 race track opens
- 1911 NY Giant Christy Mathewson loses after beating Reds 22 straight times
- 1912 Percy Aldridge Grainger's "Shepherd's Key" premieres
- 1913 Frenchman Adolphe Célestin Pégoud makes 1st parachute jump in Europe
- 1914 Elmer Rice' "On Trial" premieres in NYC
- 1914 German army executed 150 Belgians by firing squad
- 1914 German fleet bombs English coast
- 1914 Harris Theater (Candler, Coan & Harris) opens at 226 W 42nd St NYC
Historic Communication
1914 In a message to the Senate, US President Woodrow Wilson urges the American people to be 'neutral in fact as well as name'
Woodrow Wilson
- 1915 Rationing laws go into effect in Netherlands
- 1915 World War I: the Battle of Van begins
- 1915 British liner "SS Arabic" sunk by German submarine without warning leaving Liverpool for New York; killing 44. Creates diplomatic incident
- 1917 Sunday benefit baseball game at Polo Grounds results in John McGraw & Christy Mathewson's arrest for violating Blue laws
Music Premiere
1918 Irving Berlin's musical "Yip Yip Yaphank" premieres in NYC
Irving Berlin
- 1919 Afghanistan declares independence from UK
Tennis Open
1922 36th U.S. Women's National Championship: Molla Bjurstedt Mallory beats Helen Wills Moody (6-3, 6-1)
Helen Wills Moody
- 1927 Metropolitan Sergius proclaims the declaration of loyalty of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Soviet state.
- 1931 Lefty Grove wins AL record tying 16th consecutive game
- 1932 46th U.S. Women's National Championship: Helen Jacobs beats Carolin Babcock Stark (6-2, 6-2)
- 1934 Paul Runyan wins PGA golf tournament
- 1934 The first All-American Soap Box Derby is held in Dayton, Ohio.
- 1936 Trial against Ljev Kamenev & Grigori Zinovjev because of "Trotskyism" opens in Moscow
- 1939 37.6 cm rainfall at Tuckerton, NJ (state record)
- 1941 Ump Jocko Conlan ejects Pirate manager Frankie Frisch for coming out on field holding an umbrella to get a rainout
- 1942 -20] Churchill visits Montgomery's headquarter in Burg-al-Arab
- 1942 World War II: Over 4,000 Canadian and British soldiers killed, wounded or captured raiding Dieppe, France
- 1942 World War II: General Friedrich Paulus orders the German 6th Army to conquer Stalingrad
- 1943 Belgian church excommunicates nazi Leon Degrelle
- 1943 US air raid on German bases at Gilze-Rijen/Vlissingen
- 1944 Allied air raid on Maastricht, 80+ killed
- 1944 Gen Bradley visits Montgomery
- 1944 Last Japanese troops driven out of India
- 1944 Nazis give parts of Paris to Resistance
- 1944 Paris police strike against nazi occupiers
- 1944 Polish 1st Division occupies Hill 262 (Mont Ormel), Normandy
- 1944 US 15th Army Corps occupies Mantes-Gassicourt at Paris
- 1944 US 90th/Polish 1st Division occupy Chambois, Normandy
- 1945 Phillies Jimmie Foxx, 37, pitches 1st 7 innings vs Reds & wins
- 1947 J Arens & D van Dorpen synthetise vitamin A
- 1948 9th Venice Film Festival opens
- 1950 ABC begins Saturday morning kid shows (Animal Clinic & Acrobat Ranch)
- 1951 Bill Veeck (Cleveland Indians) sends Eddie Gaedel, a 3'7" little person, to pinch-hit
- 1953 England regained cricket Ashes after winning series 1-0
Coup d'état
1953 The democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran Mohammad Mosaddegh is overthrown in a coup orchestrated by the United Kingdom (under the name 'Operation Boot') and the United States (under the name TPAJAX Project)
Mohammad Mosaddegh
Event of Interest
1954 American Ralph Bunche named undersecretary of the UN
Ralph Bunche
Event of Interest
1955 WINS radio, announces it will not play "copy" white cover versions of R&B (DJs must play Fats Domino's "Ain't It A Shame," not Pat Boone's)
Fats Domino
- 1956 Fay Crocker wins LPGA St Louis Golf Open
- 1957 NY Giants vote 8-1 to move their franchise to SF in 1958
- 1957 US Major David Simons reaches 30,933m in a balloon
- 1958 NAACP Youth Council begin sit-ins at Oklahoma City Lunch counters
- 1959 Doctor X beats Wilber Snyder in Omaha, to become NWA wrestling champ
- 1959 Honolulu seeks a franchise in Continental League
- 1959 Satellite Discoverer 6 launched into polar orbit
- 1960 Francis Gary Powers convicted of spying by USSR (U-2 incident)
- 1960 Soviet Sputnik 5 carries 2 dogs, 2 rats, 40 mice, 1 rabbit and fruit flies into orbit, - 1st animals to return alive from obit
- 1960 The first commercial atomic energy reactor, owned by the Yankee Atomic Electric Company, achieves a self-sustaining nuclear reaction in Rowe, Deerfield River, Massachusetts
Event of Interest
1961 US vice-president Lyndon B. Johnson visits West Berlin
Lyndon B. Johnson
- 1962 Homer Blancos plays finest round in golf, shooting a 55
- 1962 Mickey Wright wins LPGA Albuquerque Swing Parade Golf Tournament
- 1963 NAACP Youth Council begins sit-ins at lunch counters, Oklahoma City
- 1964 Communication satellite Syncom 3 launched
- 1965 Auschwitz trials end with 6 life sentences
- 1965 Cincinnati Red Jim Maloney 2nd no-hitter of year beats Chicago Cubs, 1-0
- 1965 The Yardbirds launch their first US tour
- 1966 Earthquake strikes Varko Turkey: 2,400 killed
- 1967 Beatles' "All You Need is Love" single goes #1
- 1969 Chicago Cub Ken Holtzman no-hits Atlanta Braves, 3-0
- 1970 The Chinese Community in South Africa is granted 'White' status
- 1970 31st Venice Film Festival opens
- 1973 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa atoll
- 1973 Pirate World Music Radio (Holland) closes down after 10 years
- 1973 Sandra Palmer wins LPGA St Paul Golf Open
- 1975 Astros hire Bill Virdon to replace Preston Gomez as manager
Presidential Convention
1976 President Gerald Ford wins Republican presidential nomination at KC convention
Gerald Ford
- 1977 USSR performs nuclear test at Sary Shagan USSR
- 1978 422 die in an arson fire at a movie theater in Iran
- 1979 "My Sharonna" by the Knack hits #1 (stays for 42 days)
- 1979 Sally wins LPGA Barth Golf Classic Little
- 1979 Soviet Cosmonauts Vladimir Lyakov and Valery Ryumin return to Earth aboard Soyuz 34 after a record 175 days in space
Baseball Record
1980 George Brett ends hitting streak at 30
George Brett
- 1980 Saudi Arabian Lockhead Tristar crashes on landing at Riyadh, 301 die
- 1980 Willy Russell's play "Educating Rita" premieres in London starring Julie Walters
- 1981 2 US Navy F-14 jet fighters shoot down 2 Soviet-built Libyan SU-22
- 1982 Renaldo Nehemiah of US sets record for 110 m hurdles, 12.93 sec
- 1982 Soyuz T-7 launched, Svetlana Savtiskaya 2nd woman in space
- 1983 LSU footballer Billy Cannon sentenced to 5 yrs for counterfeiting
- 1983 Dodgers trade Dave Stewart & Ricky Wright to Texas for Rick Honeycut
- 1984 PGA Championship, Shoal Creek: Lee Trevino wins his 2nd PGA C'ship by 4 shots from Gary Player and Lanny Wadkins
- 1984 Nancy Lopez wins LPGA Chevrolet World Championship of Women's Golf
Presidential Convention
1984 Republican convention in Houston nominates Ronald Reagan for President
Ronald Reagan
Event of Interest
1985 Following the Rubicon speech four days earlier, Archbishop Desmond Tutu snubs P. W. Botha's invitation to attend a meeting to discuss the role and actions of the police and security forces in South Africa
Desmond Tutu
P. W. Botha
- 1986 Car bomb kills 20 in Tehran, Iran
- 1987 Hungerford Massacre: in England, Michael Ryan kills sixteen people with an assault rifle and then commits suicide
- 1988 Iran-Iraq begin a cease-fire in their 8-year-old war (11 PM EDT)
- 1988 Maung Maung succeeds General Sein Lwin as the 7th President of Burma
- 1988 NY Rangers sign ex-Canadien great Guy LaFluer
- 1989 Tadeusz Mazowiecki, elected 1st non-communist president of Poland
- 1990 Betsy King wins LPGA JAL Big Apple Golf Classic
- 1990 Dodger Jose Offerman hits HR in his 1st at bat
- 1991 -20] Hurricane Bob hits US
Coup d'état
1991 Conservative members of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union attempt to depose Mikhail Gorbachev in a coup d'état
Mikhail Gorbachev
- 1991 Janel Bishop, 17, of New Hampshire, crowned 9th Miss Teen USA
- 1992 Romesh Kaluwitharana scores 132 on Test Cricket debut (SL v Australia)
- 1992 Sri Lanka make their highest cricket score ever 8-547 v Australia
- 1993 34th Walker Cup: US, 19-5
- 1993 Dow Jones hits record high of 3612.13
- 1993 George Tiller, abortion doctor, shot in his arms by Rachelle Shannon
- 1993 Mattel & Fisher Price toy companies merge
- 1993 Sally Gunnell runs women's world record 400m hurdles (52.74")
- 1993 26th San Diego Comic-Con International opens at Doubletree Hotel
- 1995 After 5 days Shannon Faulkner quits as 1st woman at the Citadel
- 1995 Bruce Seldon TKOs Joe Hipp in 10 for heavyweight boxing title
Event of Interest
1995 Mike Tyson returns to the ring & DQs Peter McNeeley in 38 seconds
Mike Tyson
- 1996 The major South African political parties begin their submission to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)
- 1997 NY Yank 3rd baseman Wade Boggs pitches a scoreless inning vs Anaheim
- 1997 STS 85 (Discovery 23) lands
- 1998 South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission chairperson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, releases documents revealing an alleged plot by Western countries to assassinate UN Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden
Event of Interest
1999 In Belgrade tens of thousands of Serbians rally to demand the resignation of Slobodan Milošević as president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Slobodan Milosevic
- 2001 PGA Championship, Atlanta Athletic Club: David Toms wins his first major title by 1 stroke from Phil Mickelson
Event of Interest
2001 Canadian Open Women's Golf, Angus Glen GC: Annika Sörenstam wins by 2 from Kelly Robbins
Kelly Robbins
- 2002 A Russian Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside of Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
- 2003 A Hamas planned suicide attack on a bus in Jerusalem kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children
- 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.
- 2004 US gymnast Carly Patterson becomes the 2nd American woman to win the all-around gold medal, and 1st to win at a non-boycotted Olympic games, when she takes gold in Athens
- 2004 American swimmer Michael Phelps wraps up the 200/400m individual medley double at the Athens Olympics when he wins the 200m (1:57.14 OR) ahead of team mate Ryan Lochte
- 2004 American swimmer Aaron Peirsol wins the men's 200m backstroke in Olympic record 1:54.95, giving him the 100/200m backstroke double at the Athens Olympics
- 2004 Australian swimmer Jodie Henry records 53.84 to win the blue ribband 100m freestyle gold medal ahead of Dutch star Inge de Bruijn at the Athens Olympics
- 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.
- 2007 Canadian Open Women's Golf, Royal Mayfair GC: Mexican Lorena Ochoa wins by 3 from Paula Creamer
- 2008 Chris Hoy encapsulates British dominance of track cycling at the Beijing Olympics beating team mate Jason Kenny to win the sprint, adding to his keirin and team sprint gold medals
- 2008 Britain's Victoria Pendleton beats Anna Mears in the women's cycling sprint final at the Beijing Olympics; GB dominates the track winning 7 of 10 gold medals
- 2008 Reigning world champion, Christine Ohuruogu wins the women's 400m at the Beijing Olympics; GB's 50th gold medal in Olympic track & field competition
- 2008 The men's gymnastics program at the Beijing Olympics concludes with the home team from China dominating the medals tally takes 7 of 8 gold medals; Zou Kai wins 3
- 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
- 2012 32 people are killed after a plane crash in Talodi, Sudan
- 2013 24 Egyptian policemen are killed in an attack in Rafah
- 2013 37 pilgrims are killed in a train accident in India
- 2013 91 people are killed by floods across China
- 2014 The 24 hour ceasefire extension renewal between Israel and Palestine is violated as Hamas fire rockets; Israeli Air Force respond, killing 9 Gazans
Death of the Aral Sea
2014 NASA satellites take photos showing that the eastern basin of the Aral Sea had for the first time completely dried up
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- 2015 US Food and Drug administration approves Female Viagra libido pill Addyi
- 2016 Tajikistan's Dilshod Nazarov throws 78.68m to win the men's hammer throw gold medal the the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; first gold medal for Tajikistan in Olympic history
- 2016 Vivian Cheruiyot of Kenya goes one better than her London silver medal when she wins women's 5,000m at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; runs Olympic record time of 14:26.17
- 2016 Colombian BMX rider Mariana Pajón successfully defends her Olympic title when she beats American Alise Post in the final in Rio de Janeiro
- 2016 A 6-way tie for first place in the final of the equestrian individual jumping competition at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; Nick Skelton of Great Britain wins gold medal jump-off
- 2016 Great Britain upsets the heavily favoured Netherlands to win the women's field hockey gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics after drawing 3-3 in regulation time; win dramatic penalty shootout, 2-0
- 2016 Germany beats Sweden 2-1 in the women's football gold medal match at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; 52,432 at the Maracanã Stadium
- 2016 Chloe Esposito of Australia sets Olympic record overall score of 1,372 points to win the women's modern pentathlon in Rio de Janeiro. Élodie Clouvel of France second (1,356 points), Oktawia Nowacka of Poland third (1,349)
- 2016 Kiley Neushul scores 3 goals as the US women's water polo team routs Italy 12-5 to win the gold medal in Rio de Janeiro and retain their Olympic title