- 479 BC Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Mycale is won by Greek forces over Persian naval troops on the Ionian coast
- 479 BC Greco-Persian Wars: Battle of Plataea, Persian forces led by Mardonius are routed by a Greek army under Pausanias; a double victory with the success at Mycale that ends the Persian invasion
- 663 Battle of Baekgang: Tang Chinese and Silla Korean forces defeat Baekje Korean forces and their Yamato Japanese allies on the Geum River in Korea, the last Japanese invasion of Korea for 900 years
- 1569 Pope Pius V names Cosimo I de'Medici, Duke of Florence as Grand Duke of Tuscany
- 1585 Duke of Parma's troops occupy Antwerp
- 1601 Olivier van Noort completes first Dutch circumnavigation of the globe, returning home after two years but with little success at trading or taking Spanish possessions
- 1610 Polish King Wladyslaw IV Vasa claims crown as King of Russia (disputed)
- 1619 German Frederick Elector of the Palatinate is chosen as King of Bohemia
- 1626 Battle of Lutter: Catholic League defeats Danish King Christian IV
- 1628 Java: Sultan Agung of Mataram attacks Batavia
- 1665 "Ye Bare & Ye Cubb" is the first play performed in North America in Accomac, Virginia
- 1689 The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing Empire
- 1715 Earl of Mar raises the Jacobite standard at Braemar, Aberdeenshire, starting the Jacobite uprising in Scotland
- 1776 The British defeat the Americans in the Battle of Long Island
Battle of the Combahee River
1782 Battle of the Combahee River near Beaufort, South Carolina: American abolitionist John Laurens is killed while leading the charge
- 1783 First hydrogen balloon flight (unmanned) reaches an altitude of 900 m
Event of Interest
1788 Jacques Necker named as French Minister of Finance
- 1789 French National Assembly issues the "Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen"
- 1798 French army and Irish rebels rout a larger British force at the Battle of Castlebar, Ireland
- 1799 British invasion army lands in North Holland
- 1802 West India Quay officially opens as London’s first purpose-built dock, featuring the largest brick building in the world [1]
- 1816 Lord Exmouth bombards Algiers, a refuge for Barbary pirates
- 1828 Russian Empire defeats the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Akhaltsikhe in modern-day Georgia
- 1828 Uruguay gains independence during Brazil-Argentina peace talks
- 1832 Sauk leaders Black Hawk and Wabokieshiek surrender
- 1859 First successful oil well drilled near Titusville, Pennsylvania, by Edwin Drake
- 1869 The first international boat race is held on the River Thames; Oxford beats Harvard
- 1881 Hurricane hits Florida and the Carolinas, killing about 700
Krakatoa: The World’s Mightiest Explosion
1883 Krakatoa volcano, located west of Java in Indonesia, erupts with a force of 200 megatons of TNT, killing approximately 36,000 people
- 1892 New York City's Metropolitan Opera House, which opened in 1883, catches fire and takes two years to restore
- 1894 Congress passes the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, which includes a graduated income tax later struck down by the Supreme Court
- 1896 Britain defeats Zanzibar in a 38-minute war (9:02 am - 9:40 am), the shortest recorded war in history
Battle of Bergendal
1900 Battle of Bergendal: General Buller defeats the Boers under General Louis Botha
- 1900 Gabriel Fauré's grand cantata "Prométhée" premieres at Arènes de Béziers, France; performance involved almost 800 singers and musicians (including two wind bands and 15 harps) and an audience of 10,000
- 1908 Calgary City Rugby Football Club reorganizes as the Tigers
- 1909 Future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Jack Chesbro plays his final game for the New York Highlanders in a 17-6 loss to the Tigers at Bennett Park, Detroit
- 1910 Using twenty 137,000 candlepower arc lights, two amateur baseball teams play a night game at White Sox Park
- 1910 Washington Senator Red Killefer sacrifices a record four times against Detroit
- 1911 Chicago White Sox pitcher Ed Walsh no-hits Boston Red Sox 5-0 at White Sox Park
- 1913 Pyotr Nesterov becomes the first pilot to fly a loop-the-loop in an airplane in Kyiv, Ukraine (new style: September 9, 1913)
- 1913 Swedish engineer Gideon Sundback of Hoboken applies to patent all-purpose zipper
- 1914 US war reporter Richard H. Davis visits Leuven in Belgium
Battle of Tannenberg
1914 WWI: Germans bombard Usdau on the second day of the Battle of Tannenberg
- 1916 Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary
- 1917 Indians set club record by stealing eight bases in a game
- 1918 Christy Mathewson resigns as Cincinnati Reds manager to accept a commission as a captain in the Chemical Warfare Branch of the US Army
- 1918 Dr. Joseph L. Johnson is named as the US minister to Liberia
The 1918 Flu Pandemic
1918 Spanish flu arrives in Boston, beginning the second and deadliest wave in the US
World Record 3000m
1922 Paavo Nurmi runs a world record in the 3000 m (8:28.6)
- 1928 Times Square derailment kills 18 people and injures 100 in New York City Subway's second deadliest accident
- 1932 200,000 English textile workers strike
- 1932 International anti-war congress opens in Amsterdam
- 1937 Brooklyn Dodger Fred Frankhouse no-hits Cincinnati, 5-0, in a 7 2/3 inning game
- 1937 George E.T. Eyston sets a world auto speed record of 345.49 mph (556 km/h)
- 1938 New York Yankees pitcher Monte Pearson no-hits the Cleveland Indians, 13-0; Joe DiMaggio hits three triples
- 1938 Two NYC subway trains collide at 116th Street, killing 2 and injuring 51
- 1939 Erich Warsitz in a Heinkel He 178 makes the first manned jet-propelled flight with a turbojet engine designed by Hans von Ohain
- 1939 Nazi Germany demands possession of the Free City of Danzig and the Polish Corridor
- 1940 Experimental jet plane Caproni-Campini CC-2 makes its maiden flight in Milan
Shah of Iran Abdicates
1941 Shah of Iran Reza Shah Pahlavi abdicates throne in favor of his son Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
- 1941 WWII: British Royal Navy captures German U-boat U-570 on its maiden voyage; it is reflagged as HMS Graph and used by the British for nearly two years
- 1942 Cuba declares war on Germany, Japan, and Italy
Soviet Sniper Visits White House
1942 Soviet woman sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko arrives in Washington D.C., the first Soviet citizen welcomed at the White House by Eleanor Roosevelt
- 1944 200 RAF Halifax bombers attack oil installations in Hamburg
- 1945 US troops land in Japan after Japan surrenders
- 1948 102°F (38.89°C) is the highest temperature ever recorded in Cleveland in August
- 1950 First transmission of a TV program from continental Europe airs on the BBC
- 1950 General Foods blacklists Jean Muir of The Aldrich Family for alleged communist sympathies
Zátopek Takes the Treble
1952 Having already won 5,000 m and 10,000 m gold medals, Czech star Emil Zátopek claims a rare Olympic treble by winning the Helsinki Games marathon in an Olympic Record time of 2:23:03.2
Roman Holiday
1953 Romantic comedy film "Roman Holiday," starring Audrey Hepburn, Gregory Peck, and Eddie Albert, is released
- 1955 Guinness Book of World Records is first published
- 1955 Sandy Koufax fans 14 Reds as both teams combine for a record 23 strikeouts
- 1956 Curt Roberts of Columbus (International League) hits four home runs in a seven-inning game
- 1957 Hickory Smoke wins the Hambletonian Stakes
- 1957 The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force
- 1957 US performs a nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1958 The US performs a nuclear test over the South Atlantic Ocean as part of Operation Argus to study the Christofilos effect, a theoretical defensive shield to cloud Soviet radar
- 1958 USSR launches Sputnik 3 with two dogs aboard
Griffith Considers Minnesota Move
1958 Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith says he will probably accept an offer to move the team to Minnesota
- 1960 Anita Lonsbrough swims a 200 m breaststroke world and Olympic record of 2:49.5
- 1960 Australian swimmer John Devitt controversially wins the 100 m freestyle gold medal at the Rome Olympics, recording the same time of 55.2 as silver medalist American Lance Larson
- 1960 British swimmer Anita Lonsbrough sets a 200 m breaststroke world record of 2:49.5, beating the German pair Wiltrud Urselmann and Barbara Göbel to win the gold medal at the Rome Olympics
- 1961 Francis the Talking Mule is a mystery guest on "What's My Line"
- 1962 Mariner 2, the first probe to fly by Venus, is launched
- 1962 The USSR performs a nuclear test at Novaya Zemlya, USSR
Mary Poppins
1964 Walt Disney's musical film "Mary Poppins," directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke, with songs by Richard and Robert Sherman, premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, California, and wins five Academy Awards
- 1965 The Beatles spend an evening with Elvis Presley at his Los Angeles, California, home
- 1965 WTVI TV channel 42 in Charlotte, North Carolina (PBS) begins broadcasting
First Solo Sail Around the World
1966 British sailor Francis Chichester begins the first solo sail around the world, leaving Plymouth aboard the Gipsy Moth IV and completing it in May 1967
- 1966 Oakland pitcher Paul Lindblad begins a 385-game consecutive errorless streak
- 1966 Race riot in Waukegan, Illinois
- 1967 Naomi Sims is the first Black model on a US cover (Fashion of the Times)
- 1968 Protest by the Derry Housing Action Committee (DHAC) at the Guildhall's council chamber, after which Eamon Melaugh phones the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association (NICRA) to organize a march in Derry
- 1969 Lindy's Pride wins Hambletonian Stakes
- 1969 Mike Procter hits six consecutive sixes (across two overs)
Slow Blues
1970 Jimi Hendrix creates his last studio recording at Electric Lady Studios in NYC, an instrumental called "Slow Blues"
- 1972 Operation Lion's Den: US Navy bombards Haiphong Harbor, North Vietnam, from the sea, firing over 700 rounds in 33 minutes [1]
- 1972 The Grateful Dead holds a benefit concert for the Springfield Creamery (a yogurt company owned by writer Ken Kesey's brother) at the Old Renaissance Faire Grounds in Veneta, Oregon [1]
- 1974 NY Met Benny Ayala hits a home run in his first at-bat
- 1975 Veronica and Colin Scargill of England complete their tandem bicycle ride around the world, covering a record 18,020 miles (29,000 km)
- 1977 Army shoots at market vendor women in Conakry, Guinea
- 1977 Toby Harrah and Bump Wills hit back-to-back inside-the-park home runs off Yankee Ken Clay at Yankee Stadium as the Rangers win 8-2
- 1978 Dutch cyclist Gerrie Knetemann wins the UCI Road World Championship, defeating Francesco Moser of Italy and Dane Jorgen Marcussen in Nürburg, West Germany
Morgan Creates 200/500 Club
1978 MLB Cincinnati Reds' Joe Morgan is the first to hit 200 home runs and have 500 stolen bases
- 1978 MLB New York Yankees pitcher Catfish Hunter's 6-2 win gives him a perfect 6-0 record in August
Mountbatten Assassinated
1979 Lord Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and last Viceroy of India, is killed along with three companions, two of whom are children, by the IRA when his boat is blown up near Sligo, Ireland
- 1979 Warrenpoint ambush: 18 British Army soldiers are killed when the Provisional IRA explodes two roadside bombs as a British convoy passes Narrow Water Castle
- 1980 Chun Doo-hwan is elected president of South Korea
- 1981 Divers begin to recover a safe found aboard the Italian liner Andrea Doria, which sank on July 26, 1956, but the safe does not yield the rumored jewels
- 1981 US performs a nuclear test at the Nevada Test Site
Henderson Steals Record
1982 MLB Oakland A's outfielder Rickey Henderson steals his 119th base of the season, breaking Lou Brock's record
Teacher in Space
1984 US President Ronald Reagan announces the "Teacher in Space" project
- 1984 War Against Indiscipline is launched by the Buhari regime in Nigeria
Buhari Government Overthrown
1985 General Ibrahim Babangida overthrows Major General Muhammadu Buhari's regime in Nigeria
- 1985 Space Shuttle Discovery launches its 20th mission, STS-51-I
- 1986 Protests erupt in Soweto, South Africa, against evictions carried out after an 11-week rent boycott
- 1988 Dodgers' Tommy Lasorda wins his 1,000th game as manager, topping Philadelphia 4-2
- 1989 100 people march through Bensonhurst protesting racial violence
- 1989 Chris Patton wins the 89th US Golf Amateur Championship
No Fences
1990 "No Fences," the second studio album by Garth Brooks, is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1991)
- 1990 52 Americans arrive in Turkey from Iraq
- 1990 Brewers-Blue Jays game is delayed 35 minutes due to gnats
- 1990 Market prices plunge as OPEC nears an informal agreement to increase output to cover the shortfall due to the invasion; cash market trading experiences an abrupt decline
- 1990 Rosa Mota wins the women's marathon (2:31:27) at the European Championships in Split, Croatia
- 1991 Moldova declares independence from the Soviet Union
Nine New Nigeria States
1991 Nigerian President Ibrahim Babangida creates nine states: Abia, Enugu, Delta, Jigawa, Kebbi, Osun, Kogi, Taraba, and Yobe
- 1992 CFL revokes BC Lions' franchise
- 1992 Mets trade David Cone to Toronto for Jeff Kent and Ryan Thompson
- 1993 The Rainbow Bridge connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba is completed
- 1993 Yak-40 crashes in Tajikistan, killing 79 people with 1 survivor
- 1995 Worst fire in New York in 80 years ends after 4 days [1]
- 1996 Dino Ciccarelli is traded by the Detroit Red Wings to the Tampa Bay Lightning
Ostankino Tower Fire
2000 The 540-meter (1,772 ft) tall Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, resulting in the deaths of three people
Ambassador Angelina Joie
2001 Angelina Jolie is named a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva
- 2003 Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing within 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km)
- 2004 Australia wins its first-ever Olympic men's field hockey gold medal with a 2-1 win after extra time against the Netherlands in Athens
- 2004 China's first-ever gold in Olympic Games men's track and field; Liu Xiang wins the 110 m hurdles in Athens, equaling Colin Jackson's 1993 world record time of 12.91 seconds
- 2004 Craig Kilborn's final appearance as host of "The Late Late Show" on CBS after 1,190 episodes
- 2004 German kayaker Birgit Fischer wins gold in K-4 500 m and silver in K-2 500 m in Athens; she is the first woman in any sport to win gold medals at six different Olympics, with golds 24 years apart, and the first person to win two or more medals in five different Games
- 2004 In a huge upset in the men's basketball semifinal at the Athens Olympics, Argentina beats a star-studded but unsettled US team 89-81; they go on to take gold and the US takes bronze
- 2004 Osleidys Menéndez of Cuba throws an Olympic record of 71.53 m to easily beat German Steffi Nerius for the women's javelin gold medal at the Athens Games
- 2004 Timothy Mack vaults an Olympic record of 5.95 m to win the pole vault gold medal over fellow American Toby Stevenson (5.90 m) at the Athens Olympics
Emmy Awards
2006 58th Emmy Awards: 24, The Office, Kiefer Sutherland, and Mariska Hargitay win
- 2006 Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia, killing 49 of the 50 on board
Barack Obama Nominated
2008 US Senator Barack Obama becomes the first African American to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States, by the Democratic Party
- 2011 Australia claims the final Tri Nations Rugby Series with a 25-20 win over New Zealand in Brisbane; Argentina's Pumas join the competition the following year; the series is rebranded as The Rugby Championship
Thrift Shop
2012 "Thrift Shop" single is released by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis (Billboard Song of the Year 2013, Grammy Award for Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song 2014)
- 2012 First interplanetary human voice recording broadcast from Mars Rover Curiosity
- 2013 Dove Cameron releases a cover of "On Top of the World" by Imagine Dragons
- 2014 Medical charity Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) calls the international response to Ebola “irresponsible” and “slow and derisory”
The Shepherd's Crown
2015 "The Shepherd's Crown" by Terry Pratchett is published by Doubleday five months after the author's death as the last book in the Discworld series
- 2015 Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos names top Supreme Court judge Vassiliki Thanou as caretaker Prime Minister, Greece's first female Prime Minister
Mayweather vs. McGregor
2017 Former five-weight world boxing champion Floyd Mayweather Jr. defeats MMA fighter Conor McGregor in his debut match in the 10th round in Las Vegas
- 2018 Former Spice Girl Mel B announces she is entering rehab for alcohol and sex addiction following her acrimonious divorce
- 2018 UN releases report saying Myanmar military leaders should face genocide and crimes against humanity charges for violence against Rohingya
- 2019 At least 25 people killed in a fire at a bar, deliberately set by gang members in Coatzacoalcos, Mexico
- 2019 Race car driver Jessi Combs dies while setting a new fastest women's land speed record of 522.783 mph (841.34 km/h) at Alvord Desert, Oregon (posthumously awarded in 2020)
- 2020 Australian terrorist Brenton Tarrant is sentenced to life without parole for the killing of 51 mosque worshippers in Christchurch, New Zealand, the first time the country imposes the sentence [1]
- 2020 Hurricane Laura makes landfall in Louisiana near the Texas border as a Category 4 storm with 150 mph winds, killing at least 16 people
Mike Pence Nominated
2020 Mike Pence accepts the nomination for vice president at the Republican convention, calling for "law and order" after the shooting of Jacob Blake
- 2021 Britain's Prince Andrew is served with a US federal lawsuit alleging he sexually abused a teenager 20 years ago [1]
- 2023 Gymnast Simone Biles (26) wins her record 8th US Championship in San Jose, California
Sports History
2024 Jason Kelce and his brother Travis Kelce sign a deal for their “New Heights” podcast with Amazon's Wondery for more than $100 million [1]
