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Historical Events on August 1

Events 1 - 200 of 289

Octavian Enters Alexandria

30 BC Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic

Emperor Justinian I

527 Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire after the death of his uncle Justin I

  • 607 Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607)
  • 649 Pope Martinus I chosen successor of Theodorus I [or 8/7]
  • 860 Peace of Koblenz: Charles the Bald, Louis the German & Lotharius II
  • 902 Aghlabid emir Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya destroys Taormina, Sicily
  • 1021 Synod of Pavia: Emperor Henry II convicts married priest

Domesday Book

1086 Results of the Domesday inquiry presented to William the Conqueror in Salisbury (the date of compilation and the Great Domesday are historically contestable)

  • 1096 The People's Crusade led by Peter the Hermit arrives at Constantinople with 30,000 followers
  • 1177 Peace Treaty of Venice: Emperor Frederik I and Pope Alexander III
  • 1203 Alexius IV Angelus appointed co-regent of Byzantium
  • 1291 Everlasting League forms, basis of Swiss Confederation (Independence)

Carlisle Castle Siege Fails

1315 Robert the Bruce's siege of Carlisle Castle ends in failure in Cumbria, England, during First War of Scottish Independence

Henry Tudor Returns

1485 Henry Tudor's army sails to England (future Henry VII)

Columbus Lands in South America

1498 Christopher Columbus lands in South America for the first time, near the mouth of the Orinoco river, in modern-day Venezuela

Henry III Assassinated

1589 Assassination of French King Henry III by friar Jacques Clément

  • 1626 Dutch Count Ernest Casimir I, Duke of Nassau-Dietz conquers Oldenzaal

Ferdinand II Demands Conversion

1628 Emperor Ferdinand II demands Austria Protestants convert to Catholicism

  • 1639 French Ursuline nun Marie de l’Incarnation arrives in Quebec on board the Saint-Joseph - goes on to open first school for girls and play a large part in establishing Catholicism in New France [1]
  • 1664 Battle at St Gotthard: Earl Raimondo Montecucculi beats Ahmed Kiprulu

Battle at Staffarda

1690 Battle at Staffarda: French army led by Nicolas Catinat defeats the Duchy of Savoy led by Victor Amadeus II (Nine Years' War)

  • 1701 Huron chief Kondiaronk urges First Nations people to sign a peace settlement with France, dies the next day - results in The Great Peace of Montreal

Peter the Great Flees Azov

1711 After being surrounded Tsar Peter the Great flees Azov

King George I

1714 Monarch Georg Ludwig becomes King George I of England

  • 1715 First Doggett's Coat and Badge race (Waterman's race) held on Thames River (London Bridge to Chelsea)
  • 1717 Nicholas Rowe is appointed British Poet Laureate by George I
  • 1720 South Sea bubble reaches a frenzy in London as the stock price of the South Sea Company peaks at £1,000, collapses soon after and falls to £124 by December
  • 1732 Foundations laid for Bank of England
  • 1759 Battle at Minden, Westfalen: Ferdinand van Brunswick beats France
  • 1770 Battle of Kagul: smaller Russian army defeats larger Ottoman and Cossack force in Moldavia, the major land battle of the Russo-Turkish War and one of the largest battles of the 18th century

The Discovery of Oxygen

1774 English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state

  • 1780 Sweden declares neutrality
  • 1785 Caroline Herschel becomes 1st woman to discover a comet

La Pérouse Expedition Departs

1785 French naval scientific expedition ordered by Louis XVI, led by La Pérouse with 220 men departs Brest (lost in the Pacific 1788) [1]

  • 1789 US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act
  • 1793 France becomes 1st country to use the metric system
  • 1794 Whiskey Rebellion begins in western Pennsylvania

Battle of the Nile

1798 Battle of the Nile: British Royal Navy under Admiral Horatio Nelson attacks and decimates the French fleet at Aboukir Bay off the Nile Delta, Egypt

  • 1812 Rare tornado hits Westchester County, NY
  • 1814 Dutch King Willem I accepts blame in Southern defeat
  • 1820 London's Regent's Canal opens
  • 1828 Bolton and Leigh Railway opens to freight traffic.
  • 1831 London Bridge across the Thames opens to traffic

Darwin Returns to Bahia

1836 As part of their homeward journey on the HMS Beagle, Charles Darwin returns to Bahia in Brazil

  • 1838 Apprenticeship system abolished in most of the British Empire. Former slaves no longer indentured to former owners.
  • 1842 Lombard Street Riot erupts in Philadelphia [1] [2]
  • 1842 Rotherhithe Tunnel under the Thames opens
  • 1852 San Francisco Methodists establish 1st black church, Zion Methodist
  • 1855 Castle Garden in NYC (now known as Castle Clinton) opens as 1st US receiving station for immigrants [1]
  • 1861 Brazil recognizes Confederacy
  • 1863 Battle of Little Rock, Arkansas; start of Chattanooga campaign
  • 1863 Cavalry action near Brandy Station-End of Gettysburg Campaign
  • 1867 Blacks vote for 1st time in a US state election in the South (Tennessee)
  • 1870 Irish Land Act gives rights to tenants of landlords in Ireland
  • 1876 Colorado becomes 38th state of the Union
  • 1881 US Quarantine Station authorized for Angel Island, San Francisco Bay
  • 1883 A papyrus offered to British Museum for £10,000 (forgery)
  • 1883 Amsterdam's Grand Hotel Krasnapolsky gets electric lights
  • 1883 Inland postal service begins in Great Britain
  • 1886 Great Britain annexes Kermadec Island, near New Zealand
  • 1888 The roof of Seville's cathedral collapses after an earthquake
  • 1890 Cecil Rhodes' colonists reach Lundi

First Michelin Guide

1900 The 1st Michelin Guide is published by the brothers Édouard and André Michelin as a hotel and restaurant reference guide to encourage more road travel and thus boost tire sales (exact date beyond Aug 1900 unknown)

  • 1901 Burials within San Francisco City limits prohibited
  • 1902 Building begins on Dutch public housing
  • 1902 Mine accident in Wollongong, Australia (100 die)
  • 1906 Brooklyn Superbas MLB pitcher Harry McIntire no-hits Pittsburgh for 10 2/3 innings but loses in 13th, 1-0 on an unearned run
  • 1907 First Scout camp opens on Brownsea Island, in Poole Harbour, Dorset
  • 1907 U.S. Army Signal Corps establish a small Aeronautical Division

1st American Woman to get a Pilot's License

1911 Harriet Quimby passes her pilot's test and becomes the 1st US woman to earn an Aero Club of America aviator's certificate

Omar Bradley Enters West Point

1911 Omar Bradley, aged 18, begins education in West Point Military Academy

  • 1911 Transportation workers begin a major strike in England; part of a wave of industrial unrest
  • 1914 British Grand Fleet reaches Scapa Flow

Germany Declares War on Russia

1914 Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany declares war on his nephew Tsar Nicholas II of Russia in WWI

  • 1914 France and Germany mobilize their troops at outbreak of WWI

Universal Negro Improvement Assoc.

1914 Marcus Garvey and others found the Universal Negro Improvement Association in Jamaica with aim of creating black-governed nation in Africa

  • 1914 Trois Vierges: German 69th infantry regiment enters Luxembourg on outbreak of WWI
  • 1916 Hawaii National Park forms
  • 1917 Frank Little, IWW organizer, lynched in Butte, Montana
  • 1918 British troops enter Vladivostok
  • 1918 Pittsburgh and Boston Braves play a MLB record 20 scoreless innings before Pirates win, 2-0 in 21

First Aviation Exhibition Amsterdam

1919 Queen Wilhelmina opens 1st Air Fair in Amsterdam

  • 1922 Dutch editor and politician Hendrikus Colijn becomes political editor-in-chief of The Standard
  • 1922 In Italy, the socialist 'Alianza del Lavoro' declare a national strike which collapses immediately and fascist forces destroy union and socialist headquarters
  • 1924 MLB Brooklyn Robins pitcher Dazzy Vance strikes out a MLB record 7 consecutive batters, and 14 overall in 4-0 win over visiting Chicago Cubs at Ebbets Field
  • 1925 Shortwave-radio link between Kootwijk and Netherland East-Indies
  • 1926 Battles between Druze & French in Damascus
  • 1926 Failed assassination on General Primo de Rivera in Barcelona
  • 1927 Earliest date for a film to be considered for the Academy Awards

Carter Family First Records

1927 Influential country music group the Carter Family make their first recording with producer Ralph Peer in Bristol, Tennessee

  • 1928 Americans sweep medals at a rainy Olympic pole vault final in Amsterdam with Sabin Carr gold, from William Droegemuller and Charles McGinnis

Babe Ruth Hits HR #42

1928 Babe Ruth hits home run #42 in the Yankees 12-1 win v St. Louis Browns, takes him 4 weeks ahead of his 1927 pace

  • 1932 George Washington quarter goes into circulation
  • 1933 Death penalty for anti-fascists in Germany

Dutch Arrest Sukarno

1933 Dutch colonial regime in Batavia arrests Sukarno

National Recovery Administration Founded

1933 National Recovery Administration (NRA) is founded with Hugh S. Johnson as its first director

Scoreless Innings Record Set

1933 NY's future Hall of Fame pitcher Carl Hubbell sets MLB record for consecutive scoreless innings at 45 1/3 as Giants lose 3-1 v Boston Braves

  • 1934 US Amateur Golf Championship format is changed to a 6-day event with no 36-hole stroke-play qualifying, and 36-hole matches for semi-finals and final
  • 1936 Benjamin Mays named president of Morehouse College

XI Summer Olympic Games

1936 XI Summer Olympic Games are opened by Adolph Hitler in Berlin

  • 1941 Luftwaffe bombs German 23rd division
  • 1941 NY Yankees pitcher Lefty Gomez sets MLB record for most walks in a shutout, issuing 11 in 9-0 win v St. Louis Browns
  • 1941 The first Jeep is produced
  • 1942 American Federation of Musicians labor union begins a strike over royalty payment disagreements, refusing to perform on commercial recordings. ban lasts over two years
  • 1942 Nazi German occupiers demand listing of all Dutch telephone subscribers
  • 1942 Race riots in Harlem, New York City
  • 1943 Japan declares Burma Independence under U Ba Maw
  • 1943 Race riot in Harlem, New York City
  • 1943 Sunderland seaplanes sink U-454 & U-383

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Elected

1944 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. elected 1st African-American congressman from New York

Anne Frank's Last Diary Entry

1944 Anne Frank's last diary entry; 3 days later she is arrested

  • 1944 General Montgomery takes command of 12th & 21st army
  • 1944 Polish resistance fighters of the Home Army launch the Warsaw Uprising, the largest military effort undertaken by a resistance movement in occupied Europe
  • 1944 US 90th division occupies St Hilaire-du-Harcourt
  • 1944 US troops enter Tessy-sur-Vir
  • 1945 Japanese city Toyama destroyed by B-29's

Ott Hits 500th HR

1945 NY Giants outfielder Mel Ott hits historic 500th MLB home run off Braves Johnny Hutchings, joins Babe Ruth & Jimmy Foxx as only players to reach milestone

Atomic Energy Commission Established

1946 US President Harry Truman establishes Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)

  • 1948 The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.
  • 1950 American Bowling Congress ends all-white-males rule
  • 1950 Guam Organic Act establishes Guam as an unincorporated US territory
  • 1950 King Leopold of Belgium abdicates, Baudouin becomes King

Ben-Gurion Wins Election

1951 David Ben-Gurion's Mapai-party wins Israeli parliamentary election

  • 1953 Boston Red Sox pitcher Ben Flowers sets then MLB record of 8 consecutive games in relief
  • 1953 California introduces sales tax (for education)
  • 1953 KMBC TV channel 9 in Kansas City, Missouri (MET/ABC) begins broadcasting
  • 1953 KOBI TV channel 5 in Medford, Oregon (NBC) begins broadcasting
  • 1953 Northern Rhodesia becomes part of Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland
  • 1954 South African Natives Resettlement Act comes into being, empowers the Government to remove Africans from any area within and next to the magisterial district of Johannesburg
  • 1954 WKBT TV channel 8 in La Crosse, WI (CBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1955 1st microgravity research begins
  • 1955 Tengku Abdul Rahman forms Malacca government
  • 1955 WILL TV channel 12 in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois (PBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1956 KRCR TV channel 7 in Redding-Chico, California (ABC) begins broadcasting
  • 1957 1st commercial building heated by Sun (Albuquerque, New Mexico)
  • 1957 Ex MLB outfielder Glen Gorbous throws a regulation baseball a record 136m (445' 10") in a game promotion

Baseball Record

1957 Gil Hodges hits his 13th MLB career grand slam, a NL record and the last ever by a Brooklyn Dodgers player

  • 1957 US and Canada create North American Air Defense Command (NORAD)
  • 1958 US 1st class postage up to 4 cents (had been 3 cents for 26 years)
  • 1958 US atomic submarine USS Nautilus begins 1st transit of North Pole "Operation Sunshine"

Catholic Encyclical

1959 Pope John XXIII publishes encyclical Sacerdotii nostri primordia

  • 1959 WAAY TV channel 31 in Huntsville, AL (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting

Music Recording

1960 Aretha Franklin's 1st recording session for Columbia Records in NYC

  • 1960 Benin (Dahomey) gains independence from France
  • 1960 Islamabad declared as the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.

Cricket History

1961 Australian cricket captain Richie Benaud takes 6 for 70 in England's 2nd innings for a 54 run 4th Test win at Old Trafford

  • 1961 German DR limits traffic to West Berlin
  • 1961 New San Francisco Hall of Justice opens
  • 1961 Whitney Young Jr named executive director of National Urban League
  • 1962 Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Monbouquette no-hits Chicago White Sox, 1-0 at White Sox Park

Event of Interest

1962 Failed assassination of President Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana

  • 1963 Beatles Book is sold out on its 1st day of sale
  • 1963 Germany FR annexes Elten village
  • 1963 WQAD TV channel 8 in Moline, Illinois (ABC) begins broadcasting
  • 1964 ALM (Antillian Airlines) begins operation
  • 1964 Beatles' single "A Hard Day's Night" goes #1 & stays #1 for 2 weeks
  • 1964 Dan 'Big Daddy' Garlits becomes first drag racer to run the 1/4 mile at over 200mph (201.34mph at Island Dragway, New Jersey)

F1 World Champion

1965 Scottish Lotus driver Jim Clark wins the German Grand Prix at the Nürburgring to clinch his second F1 World Drivers Championship

  • 1966 Charles Whitman wounds 31 and kills 16 at University of Texas

Coup d'état

1966 Yakubu Gowon becomes Nigerian Head of State after a military coup d'état

  • 1967 Izaak Samkalden becomes mayor of Amsterdam
  • 1967 WBRA TV channel 15 in Roanoke, VA (PBS) begins broadcasting
  • 1968 Canada begins replacing silver with nickel in coins
  • 1968 Cleveland Metroparks begins operating Zoo (Cleveland, Ohio)
  • 1968 The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.
  • 1968 WXIX TV channel 19 in Cincinnati-Newport, OH (IND) begins broadcasting

Music History

1969 3-day Atlantic City Pop Festival opens at the Atlantic City Race Course in Hamilton Township, New Jersey; performers include: Procol Harum; Joni Mitchell; Chicago; Santana; Little Richard; Booker T and the MG's; Sir Douglas Quintet; Janis Joplin; Jefferson Airplane, B.B. King; The Byrds; Creedence Clearwater Revival; Tim Buckley; Hugh Masekela; Dr. John; and The Mothers of Invention; attendance estimated at 110,000

  • 1969 36th Chicago Charities College All-Star Game: NY Jets 26, All-Stars 24 (74,208)
  • 1969 Mariner 6 sends close-up photos of Mars
  • 1970 EAA Convention moves from Rockford Ill to Oshkosh, Wi

Baseball Record

1970 Future Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Stargell smacks 3 doubles and 2 homers in a 20-10 Pirates win v Braves at Atlanta Stadium

  • 1970 KTSD TV channel 10 in Pierre, SD (PBS) begins broadcasting

The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour

1971 "The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour" debuts on CBS-TV, with comic actor and singer Jimmy Durante as guest

  • 1971 CBS presents the first episode of BBC production "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", continuing weekly until September 5th

Music Concert

1971 George Harrison's benefit concerts for Bangladesh (2 shows) take place at Madison Square Garden, NYC; performers include Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston, and Leon Russell

Sports History

1971 Richard Petty wins the Dixie 500 in Atlanta, Georgia to become the first NASCAR driver to win $1m in career earnings

Event of Interest

1972 1st article exposing Watergate scandal by Bernstein and Woodward in "The Washington Post"

  • 1972 Nate Colbert hits MLB record tying 5 HRs and record 13 RBI as Padres beat Atlanta 9-0, 11-7 in a doubleheader
  • 1973 Johan Witteveen appointed as the 5th managing director of the International Monetary Fund
  • 1973 MLB All Star catchers Thurman Munson of the NY Yankees and Boston Red Sox' Carlton Fisk brawl at home plate Fenway Park; Red Sox win, 3-2

Sports History

1973 Struggling ABA club Virginia Squires trades star forward Julius Erving to New York Nets for George Carter and cash

  • 1974 China's People's Liberation Army Navy, put into service ChangZheng 1, their first nuclear-powered submarine
  • 1975 35 countries (33 European nations, Canada, and the U.S.) sign the"Helsinki Final Act" agreement concerning boundary integrity; human rights; and economic co-operation
  • 1975 41st Chicago Charities College All-Star Game: Pittsburgh 21, All-Stars 14 (54,103)
  • 1975 CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe
  • 1976 Flash flood in Big Thompson Canyon Colo on Route 34, kills 139

Sports History

1976 Reigning world F1 champion Niki Lauda of Austria suffers a near fatal crash during the German Grand Prix at The Nürburgring motorsports complex, Nürburg, Germany

  • 1976 Seattle Seahawks take the field for the first time in pre-season game v SF 49ers at the newly constructed Kingdome in Seattle
  • 1976 XXI Summer Olympic Games, Montreal, Canada: Officially close

Event of Interest

1977 Former Lockheed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers crashes the news helicopter he was flying in Los Angeles

Baseball Record

1977 San Francisco Giants 1st baseman Willie McCovey hits NL record 18th MLB career grand slam

Baseball Record

1978 Atlanta Braves trounce Cincinnati Reds, 16-4 and halt Pete Rose's NL record hitting streak at 44 games

  • 1978 Commandos occupy Iraqi embassy in Paris, 1 dead
  • 1979 Maria de Lurdes Pintasilgo forms government in Portugal
  • 1980 Buttevant Rail Disaster kills 18 and injures dozens of train passengers in Ireland.
  • 1980 East German runner Waldemar Cierpinski wins his second consecutive Olympic Games marathon in 12:11:03 in Moscow
  • 1980 Gerd Wessig of East Germany becomes the first male to set a high jump world record at the Olympics (2.36m [7' 9"] Moscow)