Events in History
- 708 Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708).
- 1178 Anti-Pope Callistus III gives pope title to Alexander III
- 1261 Jacques Pantaleon elected as Pope Urban IV
Victory in Battle
1350 Battle of Winchelsea (or Les Espagnols sur Mer): The English naval fleet under King Edward III defeats a Castilian fleet of 40 ships
Edward III
- 1484 Giovanni Battista Cibo elected as Pope Innocent VIII
Victory in Battle
1526 Battle of Mohács: In a decisive battle the Hungarian Empire is conquered by the Ottoman Empire led by Suleiman the Magnificent
Suleiman the Magnificent
How 200 Conquistadors Conquered an Empire of 10 Million
1533 Atahualpa, last Sapa Inca Emperor is suspected to have been buried in Northern Peru or in Ecuador
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- 1708 British troops occupy Menorca & Sardinia
- 1708 Haverhill, Massachusetts destroyed by French & Indians
- 1742 Edmond Hoyle published his "Short Treatise" on the card game whist
- 1756 England & France meet in war
- 1756 Prussian Libya occupies Saxson: beginning 7 years War
- 1758 New Jersey Legislature forms 1st Indian reservation
- 1776 Americans withdraw from Manhattan to Westchester
- 1786 Shay's Rebellion in Springfield, Massachusetts
- 1792 British man o'war HMS Royal George capsizes at Spithead; more than 800 killed
- 1793 Slaves in French colony of St Domingue (Haiti) freed
- 1825 Portugal recognizes the Independence of Brazil
Event of Interest
1831 Michael Faraday demonstrates 1st electric transformer
Michael Faraday
Fighting The Scourge of Child Labour
1833 Britain’s 1st Factory Act becomes law "to regulate the Labour of Children and young Persons in the Mills and Factories of the United Kingdom"
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Historic Publication
1838 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm announce their intention to publish a German Dictionary, eventually completed in 1961, after 123 years
Jacob Grimm
Wilhelm Grimm
Second Battle of Bull Run
1862 Second Battle of Bull Run, fought in Manassas, Virginia begins, Confederate victory (US Civil War)
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- 1862 Battle of Aspromonte; Italian royal forces defeat rebels
- 1862 US Bureau of Engraving & Printing begins operation
- 1864 William Huggins discovers chemical composition of nebulae
- 1871 Emperor Meiji orders the Abolition of the han system and the establishment of prefectures as local centers of administration. (Traditional Japanese date: July 14, 1871).
Krakatoa: The World’s Mightiest Explosion
1883 Seismic sea waves created by Krakatoa eruption create a rise in English Channel 32 hrs after explosion
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Historic Invention
1885 Gottlieb Daimler receives German patent for a motorcycle
Gottlieb Daimler
- 1896 Chop suey invented in NYC by chef of visiting Chinese Ambassador
- 1898 The Goodyear tire company founded
- 1900 Gaetano Bresci, the assassin of King Umberto I of Italy, is tried and sentenced to life imprisonment; he will commit suicide in jail on 22 May 1901
- 1903 The Finance Minister, Count Witte, is dismissed in what is seen as a victory for those in Russia who want their country to expand into Manchuria and Korea in defiance of the Japanese
- 1905 Pierre de Brazza leaves Brazzaville
- 1907 The Quebec Bridge over St Lawrence River collapses during construction, killing 75 workers
- 1908 NY gives a ticker tape parade to returning US Olympians from London
- 1909 AH Latham of France sets world airplane altitude record of 155 m
- 1909 World's 1st air race held in Rheims France. Glenn Curtiss (USA) wins
- 1910 Japan changes Korea's name to Chōsen and appoints a governor-general to rule its new colony.
- 1911 Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.
- 1913 Pieter Cort Van de Linden forms Dutch government
Battle of Interest
1914 4th day of Battle of Tannenberg (WWI): Russian Narev-army panics, General Martos caught
Erich Ludendorff
- 1914 Arizonian is 1st vessel to arrive in San Francisco via Panama Canal
- 1914 Battle of St Quentin: French counter attack under General Lanrezac
- 1914 New Zealand forces capture German Samoa
- 1916 Congress creates US Naval Reserve
- 1916 Transport ship Hsin-Yu & cruiser Hai-Yung collide; 1,000 die
- 1916 US Congress accepts Jones Act: Philippines independence
Event of Interest
1916 General Paul von Hindenburg replaces Von Falkenhayn as German chief of staff
Paul von Hindenburg
Event of Interest
1929 Aviator Anne Morrow Lindbergh makes her first solo flight
Anne Morrow Lindbergh
- 1930 The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.
- 1932 International Anti-War Committee forms in Amsterdam
- 1932 United Cigar Stores shuts 800 shops
- 1939 Chaim Weizmann informs England that Palestine Jews will fight in WW II
- 1941 German Einsatzkommando in Russia kills 1,469 Jewish children
- 1943 Danish Navy scuttles its warships so as not to be taken by Germany
- 1944 15,000 American troops liberating Paris march down Champs Elysees
- 1944 Anti-German rebellion in Slovakia
- 1945 British liberate Hong Kong from Japan
Douglas MacArthur
- 1947 Constantine Tsaldaris succeeds Maximos as Greek premier
Appointment of Interest
1947 B.R. Ambedkar is appointed chairman of the drafting committee for the Indian constitution
B.R. Ambedkar
- 1949 USSR performs its first nuclear test at Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR
- 1953 USSR explodes its first hydrogen bomb
- 1954 San Francisco International Airport (SFO) opens
- 1956 French government routes troops to Cyprus near Suez crisis
- 1957 Strom Thurmond (Sen-D-SC) ends 24 hr filibuster against civil rights
- 1958 US Air Force Academy's permanent site opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado
- 1960 Jordan premier Hazza-el-Madjali deadly injured at bomb attack
- 1962 Some provisions of Kuwaiti constitution are suspended
- 1962 US U-2 flight sees SAM launch pads in Cuba
- 1965 Astronauts Cooper & Conrad complete 120 Earth orbits in Gemini 5
- 1966 Dutch Internal minister Smallenbroek resigns after driving drunk
- 1968 Democrats nominate Hubert H Humphrey for US President (Chicago)
- 1970 Black Panthers confront cops in Philadelphia (1 cop killed)
- 1974 USSR performs underground nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya USSR
- 1975 Star in Cygnus goes nova becoming 4th brightest in sky
- 1978 USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR
- 1979 Great Britain performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1979 Sheridan Broadcasting Corp purchases Mutual Black Network
- 1982 38°F lowest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in August
- 1982 The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.
- 1985 Atlantis moves to launch pad for 51-J mission
- 1986 Heike Drechsler of East Germany ties world women's 200 m mark (21.71s)
- 1986 Moroccan King Hassan II signs unity treaty with Libya
- 1988 Macy's Tap-o-Mania sets a Guinness record for tap dancing
- 1988 USSR launches 3 cosmonauts (Valery Polyakav, 1 Afghan) to station Mir
Birthdays in History
- 1434 Janus Pannonius, Hungarian poet and translator, born in Čazma, Croatia (d. 1472)
- 1476 Kanō Motonobu, Japanese painter (Kanō school of painting), born in Kyoto, Japan
- 1609 Sassoferrato [Giovanni B Salvi], Italian painter (Madonna), born in Sassoferrato, Marche, Italy (d. 1685)
- 1619 Jean-Baptiste Colbert, French minister of Navy, born in Reims, France (d. 1683)
- 1628 John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, English royalist statesman (d. 1701)
John Locke
1632 John Locke, English empiricist philosopher; influential Enlightenment thinker and "Father of Liberalism" (Two Treatises of Government), born in Wrington, England (d. 1704)
John Locke
- 1725 Charles Townshend, English politician, 3rd Viscount of Townshend, born in Raynham Hall, Norfolk (d. 1767)
- 1728 Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, Electress of Bavaria, born in Dresden Castle, Dresden, Germany (d. 1797)
- 1756 Heinrich Graf von Bellegarde, Austrian field marshal and statesman, born in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony (d. 1845)
- 1756 Jan Śniadecki, Polish mathematician and astronomer, born in Żnin, Poland (d. 1830)
- 1777 Hyacinth [Nikita Yakovlevich Bichurin], Founder of Sinology (d. 1853)
- 1780 Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, French painter (Valpincon Bather), born in Montauban, France (d. 1867)
- 1805 Frederick Denison Maurice, English Anglican theologian (Christian Socialism), born in Normanston, England (d. 1872)
- 1805 Frederick Maurice, English theologian of the Church of England, born in Normanston, Suffolk, England (d. 1872)
- 1808 Hermann Schulze-Delitzsch, German politician and reformer, born in Delitzsch, Saxony (d. 1883)
- 1809 Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., American physician and author (Old Ironsides), born in Cambridge, Massachusetts (d. 1894)
- 1810 Juan Bautista Alberdi, Argentina political theorist and writer (Crime of War), born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Río de la Plata (d. 1884)
- 1811 Henry Bergh, Founder of American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA), born in NYC, New York (d. 1888)
- 1815 Anna Ella Carroll, American politician and civil war writer (Reconstruction), born in Pocomoke City, Maryland (d. 1894)
- 1821 Louis Laurent Gabriel de Mortillet, French anthropologist who was the first to organize and classify Stone Age cultures into a chronological sequence of epochs, born in Meylan, France (d. 1898)
- 1843 David B. Hill, American politician and Governor of New York (1885-91), born in Montour Falls, New York (d. 1910)
- 1844 Edward Carpenter, English poet and philosopher (Civilisation, Its Cause and Cure), born in Hove, Sussex, England (d. 1929)
- 1849 Titus van Asch van Wijck, Dutch governor Suriname (1891-97), born in Utrecht, Netherlands (d. 1902)
Maurice Maeterlinck
1862 Maurice Maeterlinck, Belgian poet (Blue Bird, Nobel 1911), born in Ghent, Belgium (d. 1949)
Maurice Maeterlinck
- 1862 Andrew Fisher, 5th Prime Minister of Australia (1908-09, 1910-13, 1914-15), born in Crosshouse, Ayrshire, Scotland (d. 1928)
- 1871 Albert Lebrun, President of France (1932-40), born in Mercy-le-Haut, France (d. 1950)
- 1876 Charles F. Kettering, American inventor (auto self-starter), born in Loudenville, Ohio (d. 1958)
- 1876 Kim Gu, President of the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea (1939-48), born in Haeju, Hwanghae, Korea (d. 1949)
- 1877 Dudley Pound, British admiral of the fleet and 1st Sea Lord (Jutland, WW II), born in Ventnor, Isle of Wight, England (d. 1943)
- 1880 Marie-Louise Meilleur, French-Canadian supercentenarian lived past 117, born in Kamouraska, Quebec, Canada (d. 1998)
- 1881 Valery-Nicolas Larbaud, French novelist and translator (Enfantines), born in Vichy, France (d. 1957)
- 1884 Ehm Welk [Thomas Trimm], German writer, born in Biesenbrow, Brandenburg (d. 1966)
- 1894 E. Franklin Frazier, American sociologist and author (The Negro Family in the United States), born in Baltimore (d. 1962)
- 1899 Lyman Lemnitzer, United States Army Marine Corps general (WWII), born in Honesdale, Pennsylvania (d. 1988)
- 1900 Oscar Nitzchke, German architect (Alcoa building, Centre Pompidou), born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany (d. 1991)
- 1903 Ernst Kreuder, German writer (The Attic Pretenders), born in Zeitz, Germany (d. 1972)
- 1904 Werner Forssmann, German urologist (Nobel 1956), born in Berlin (d. 1979)
- 1905 Martinus A. Jansen, Bishop of Rotterdam (1956-70), born in Amsterdam (d. 1983)
- 1907 Joseph Wechsberg, Jewish-Czech writer (Looking For a Bluebird), born in Ostrava, Moravia, Czechoslovakia (d. 1983)
- 1909 Roy Reuther, American labor leader, born in Wheeling, West Virginia (d. 1968)
- 1910 Georges Loinger, French resistance fighter (WWII), born in Strasbourg, France (d. 2018)
- 1912 Emil Schumacher, German painter (Tangible Objects), born in Hagen, Germany (d. 1999)
- 1915 Denys Hay, British historian, born in Newcastle upon Tyne (d. 1994)
- 1915 Nathan Pritikin, American nutritionist and inventor, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 1985)
- 1917 John King, Baron King of Wartnaby, British businessman and CEO of British Airways after its privatization, born in Brentford, Middlesex, England (d. 2005)
- 1918 Jelle Zijlstra, Dutch economist and President of Netherlands Bank (1967-82), born in Oosterbierum, Netherlands (d. 2001)
- 1920 Joseph Lesniewski, American Easy Company, soldier in 101st Airborne, born in Erie, Pennsylvania (d. 2012)
- 1922 Emile Habibi, Palestinian Israeli writer (The Secret Life of Saeed the Pessoptimist), born in Haifa (d. 1996)
- 1922 Mr. Blackwell, American fashion critic, born in Brooklyn Heights, New York (d. 2008)
- 1923 Reinier Braams, Dutch biophysicist and politician, born in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands (d. 2001)
- 1924 James W. Wood, American astronaut (Dynasoar), born in Paragould, Arkansas (d. 1990)
- 1929 Thom Gunn, British poet (The Wound), born in Kent, England (d. 2004)
- 1930 Marius van Amelsvoort, Dutch politician (CDA), born in Kaatsheuvel, the Netherlands (d. 2006)
- 1930 Jacques Bouchard, Canadian advertising executive, born in Montreal, Québec, Canada (d. 2006)
- 1931 Lise Payette, Quebec politician, writer and columnist, born in Verdun, Quebec, Canada
- 1933 Jehan Sadat, Widow of Anwar Sadat and 1st Lady of Egypt, born in Cairo, Egypt
- 1933 Arnold Koller, Swiss politician (member of Swiss Federal Councilor), born in St. Gallen, Switzerland
- 1934 David Pryor, American politician (Sen-D Arkansas, 1979-97), born in Camden, Arkansas
- 1935 Hugo Brandt Corstius, Dutch essayist and mathematician, born in Eindhoven, Netherlands (d. 2014)
John McCain
1936 John McCain, American war hero and Republican politician (Rep-Arizona, 1983-2018, Presidential nominee 2008), born in Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone (d. 2018)
John McCain
- 1937 James Florio, American politician (49th Governor of New Jersey), born in Brooklyn, New York
- 1938 Robert Rubin, United States Secretary of the Treasury, born in NYC, New York
- 1940 James Brady, U.S. press secretary (wounded during Reagan assassin attempt), born in Centralia, Illinois (d. 2014)
- 1942 John Heuser, American electron microscopist, born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania
- 1943 Mohamed Amin, Kenyan photojournalist, born in Eastleigh, Nairobi, Kenya (d. 1996)
- 1947 Temple Grandin, American animal welfare and autism expert, born in Boston, Massachusetts
- 1948 Charles David Walker, American engineer and astronaut (STS 12 STS 16 STS 23), born in Bedford, Indiana
- 1950 Dave Reichert, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington) and sheriff, born in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota
- 1952 Karen Hesse, American children's book writer (Out of the Dust), born in Baltimore, Maryland
- 1953 James Quesada, Nicaraguan-American anthropologist
- 1954 Michael P. Kube-McDowell, American sci-fi author (Enigma, Empery), born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1959 Chris Hadfield, Canadian astronaut (STS 74, sk: 99), born in Sarnia, Ontario
- 1967 Neil Gorsuch, American lawyer and US Supreme Court Judge (2017-) nominated by Donald Trump, born in Denver, Colorado
- 1973 Adam Sessler, American TV show host, born in Berkeley, California,
- 1977 John Patrick O'Brien, American footballer, born in Los Angeles, California
Brian Chesky
1981 Brian Chesky, American internet entrepreneur (CEO of Airbnb), born in Niskayuna, New York
Brian Chesky
- 1990 Sam Stern, British chef and author, born in Yorkshire, United Kingdom
Weddings in History
- 1885 Pulitzer Prize-winning American author (Age of Innocence) Edith Jones (23), marries Edward "Teddy" Wharton (36)
Wedding of Interest
1964 46th US Vice President Dick Cheney (23) weds Lynne Ann Vincent (23) at the First Presbyterian Church of Casper in Wyoming
Dick Cheney
- 1968 Norwegian Crown Prince Harald (later Harald V) marries Sonja Haraldsen at Oslo Cathedral
Deaths in History
- 29 John the Baptist, beheaded
- 886 Basilius I, the Macedonier, Byzantine emperor (867-886), dies
- 1093 Hugh I, Duke of Burgundy (b. 1057)
- 1123 King Eystein I of Norway (b. ca. 1088)
- 1395 Albert III, Duke of Austria (1365-95), dies at 45
- 1442 John VI, Duke of Brittany (b. 1389)
- 1523 Ulrich von Hutten, German scholar and poet, dies at 35
- 1526 Louis II, King of Hungary and Bohemia, dies in accident at 20
- 1542 Cristovão da Gama, Portuguese soldier (born c. 1516)
- 1653 Gillesz de Hondecoeter, painter/Hostage rights, buried at about 49
- 1657 John Lilburne, English dissenter
- 1712 Gregory King, English statistician (law of King), dies at 63
- 1758 Gerard Van Wage, historian, dies at 75
- 1758 Stepan F graaf Apraksin, Russian general-fieldmarshal, dies at 56
- 1769 Edmond Hoyle, games expert, dies (birth date unknown)
- 1780 Jacques-Germain Soufflot, French architect (b. 1713)
- 1782 Richard Kempenfelt, Royal Navy Admiral drowns (b. 1718)
- 1844 Edmund Ignatius Rice, Irish founder of the Christian Brothers and Presentation Brothers (b. 1762)
Charles Napier
1853 Charles Napier, British soldier and Major General of the Bombay Army who conquered Sindh and became its Governor (1843-47), dies at 71
Charles Napier
Brigham Young
1877 Brigham Young, 2nd president of Latter-day Saints, dies of peritonitis at 76
Brigham Young
- 1880 Paul Octave Hébert, American Brigadier General and 14th Governor of Louisiana, dies at 61
- 1880 Alfred Thomas Archimedes Torbert, Bvt Major General (Union Army), dies at 47
- 1889 Stefan Dunjov, Banat Bulgarian military figure (b. 1815)
- 1893 Aleksey Apukhtin, Russian poet (Stichotvorenia), dies at 52 [OS=8/17]
- 1903 William Henry Penrose, American Brigadier General (Union Army), dies at 71
- 1904 Murad V, 33rd Sultan of the Ottoman Empire (1876), dies at 63
- 1909 Emil Christian Hansen, Danish physiologist, dies at 67
- 1910 John YWJ Eilerts de Cock, sea officer (Suriname), dies at 44
- 1910 Johan Eilerts de Haan, Dutch sea officer (Lucie R, Suriname), dies at 44
- 1916 Johann Oskar Backlund, Swedish-Russian astronomer (planets/asteroids), dies at 64
- 1918 Max Dauthendey, German painter and author (Raubmenschen), dies at 51)
- 1921 Joel Asaph Allen, American zoologist (Allen's rule) and first curator of birds and mammals at the American Museum of Natural History, dies at 83
- 1928 Richard Haldane, British viscount and lord-chancellor (Life of A Smith), dies at 72
- 1930 William Archibald Spooner, English writer (b. 1844)
- 1931 David Abercrombie, Abercrombie & Fitch founder, dies at 64
- 1935 Astrid of Sweden, Queen of the Belgians, first wife of King Leopold III (1934-35), dies in a car accident at 29
- 1941 Henri Louis, French officer/resistance fighter, executed at 40
- 1941 Jan Louis Guillaume Doornik, Dutch resistance fighter in France, executed at 36
- 1946 J E Feenstra, Nazi military police commandant, executed
- 1960 Hazza el-Majali, Prime Minister of Jordan is assassinated
- 1960 Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (Grand Hotel), dies at 72
- 1966 Sayyid Qutb, Egyptian theoretician (b. 1906)
- 1968 Ulysses S. Grant III, American soldier and planner, dies at 87
Éamon de Valera
1975 Éamon de Valera, Irish politician (President of Ireland (1937-48, 51-54, 57-59), dies at 92
Éamon de Valera
- 1979 Samuel I. Newhouse Sr., American businessman and publisher (Parade, Vogue, Glamour), dies at 84
- 1982 Nahum Goldmann, American president of Zionist World Organization, dies at 87
- 1983 William Goyen, American writer, dies at 68
- 1984 Muhammad Naguib, Egyptian statesman (b. 1901)
- 1989 Peter Scott, British naturalist and explorer, dies at 79
- 1990 Sandy, dog in the play Annie, dies at 16
- 1991 Kathryn Cravens, American early news correspondent, dies at 92
- 1991 Libero Grassi, Italian underwear manufacturer/anti mafia, dies
- 1992 Mary Norton, English children book author (Borrowers), dies at 88
- 1993 Henry J "Harry" Smeets, dealer of Volkskrant, dies at 56
- 1994 Arthur Ernest Mourant, British hematologist, dies at 90
- 1994 Jean-Marie Vincent, Haitian Catholic priest, shot dead
- 1994 Tushar Kanti Ghosh, Indian journalist and world's oldest and longest serving newspaper editor, dies at 93
- 1995 Harry Broadhurst, British Royal Air Force commander and flying ace of the Second World War, dies at 89
- 1995 Jack Stoddart, designer/socialist, dies at 70
- 1995 Thomas Strittmatter, German writer, dies at 33
- 2003 Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, Iraqi political leader (b. 1939)
- 2003 Patrick Procktor, English artist, dies at 67
- 2007 Pierre Messmer, French politician and Prime Minister (b. 1916)
- 2007 Alfred Peet, Dutch-American entrepreneur and the founder of Peet's Coffee & Tea (b. 1920)
- 2007 James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand industrialist (b. 1914)
- 2007 Banarsi Das Gupta, Indian 4th Chief Minister of Haryana (1975-77), dies at 89
- 2015 Wayne Dyer, American psychologist and author (Universe Within You), dies at 75
- 2020 Jürgen Schadeberg, German-born South African photographer who photographed apartheid struggle, dies at 89