Battle of Pharsalus
48 BC Caesar's civil war: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.
- 378 Battle of Adrianople: Goth army defeats Roman forces under Emperor Valens, who is killed
- 681 Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube, after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.
- 1173 Construction of the Tower of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete
Event of Interest
1253 Clare of Assisi's rules confirmed by Pope Innocent IV for Clare's Order of Poor Ladies
William I Appointed Stadtholder
1559 William I of Orange appointed Stadtholder of Holland, Zealand and Utrecht by King Philip II of Spain
Cromwell Divides England
1655 Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell divides England into 11 districts
- 1666 Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling, an act later known as "Holmes's Bonfire".
- 1673 Dutch under Admiral Cornelis Evertsen de Jonge recapture NY from English; regained by English in 1674
- 1726 Netherlands signs Covenant of Hannover
- 1757 English Fort William Henry, NY, surrenders to French & Indians troops
Cook Reaches the Bering Straits
1778 Captain James Cook reaches Cape Prince of Wales, Bering Straits
Fulton's Steamboat Sinks
1803 Robert Fulton tests his steam paddle-boat on the River Seine, France, but it sinks
Martin Van Buren for President
1848 US Barnburners (anti-slavery) party merges with Free Soil Party nominating Martin Van Buren for president
- 1849 Hungarian Republic crushed by Austria & Russia
Walden
1854 American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau publishes "Walden"
Beatrice et Benedict
1862 Hector Berlioz's opera "Beatrice et Benedict" premieres in Baden-Baden, Germany
Stanley Reaches Boma
1877 Henry Morton Stanley's party reaches Boma, Congo, after 999 days, losing half of its 228 members
Diesel Engine Patented
1898 Rudolf Diesel of Germany obtains patent #608,845 for his internal combustion engine, later known as the diesel engine
Edward VII
1902 Edward VII of Great Britain crowned King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, succeeding his mother Queen Victoria
- 1904 Libanus McLouth Todd of Rochester, New York patents his check-writing machine, the Protectograph designed to protect against check forgers
Beatty Made Vice-Admiral
1915 British naval officer David Beatty is confirmed in the rank of vice-admiral
- 1930 113°F (45°C) at Perryville, Tennessee (state record)
- 1930 Animated character Betty Boop debuts in Max Fleischer's cartoon "Dizzy Dishes"
- 1930 Percy Williams runs world record 100m (10.3 sec)
- 1934 4th Women's World Games (track & field competition for women) is conducted over 3-days at the White City Stadium in London, England
- 1936 Helen Stephens claims the women's sprint double at the Berlin Olympics having won the 100m and as part of the victorious American 4 x 100m relay team
- 1936 Hungarian swimmer Ferenc Csik wins 100m freestyle gold medal in 57.6 at the Berlin Olympics, beating Japanese pair Masanori Yusa & Shigeo Arai
Owen Helps US Win Gold
1936 Jesse Owens is part of the American 4 x 100m relay team that wins gold in world record (39.8) at the Berlin Olympics; his 4th gold medal of the Games
- 1936 Korean nationals representing Japan earn medals in the marathon at the Berlin Olympics; Sohn Kee-chung won gold and Nam Sung-yong bronze
- 1937 Ranger (US) easily beats Endeavour II (England) in race 4 to wrap up the 17th America's Cup yachting series, 4-0; it's the final competition for 21 years
Churchill FDR Talks
1941 Winston Churchill reaches Newfoundland for talks with FDR
- 1942 CBS radio broadcasts the debut of wartime series "Our Secret Weapon"
Shostakovich's 7th Symphony
1942 Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th Symphony, dedicated to city of Leningrad, performed in Leningrad by starving musicians and broadcast to German forces over loudspeakers during siege by Nazi forces
Gandhi Arrested
1942 Mahatma Gandhi and 50 others arrested in Bombay after passing of a "quit India" motion and campaign by the All-India Congress
- 1942 Vice-Adm Mikawa lands at Guadalcanal, Solomon Island
Life of Galileo
1943 Bertolt Brecht's play "Life of Galileo" premieres in Zurich
- 1944 12 workers of Dutch illegal paper "Trouw" executed at Camp Vught
- 1944 Smokey Bear debuts as spokesman for fire prevention for US Forest Service (named after NYC fireman Smokey Joe Martin)
- 1944 US 79th/90th division enter Le Mans
- 1944 WWII: Port Chicago Mutiny - mass work stoppage by munition loaders at Port Chicago Naval facility concerned with conditions after recent explosion in Port Chicago, California; 50 men were tried for mutiny, found guilty and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor
Nuclear Bombing of Nagasaki
1945 US drops second atomic bomb "Fat Man" on Nagasaki, Japan, destroying part of the city
- 1946 1st time all major-league baseball games (8) are played at night
- 1948 Italian rider Mario Ghella beats Reg Harris of Great Britain for the gold medal in the cycling sprint final at the London Olympics
- 1948 The US crew blitzes the field to win the rowing eights gold medal at the London Olympics; beat silver medallists Great Britain by 10.2 seconds
- 1950 Lusty Song riden by Delvin Miller wins the Hambletonian in Goshen, New York
- 1951 Dutch Korea volunteers win US Collective Unit Citation
- 1952 General strike against overtime conscription in Belgium
- 1953 1st elected Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah dismissed by the Indian government and later arrested
- 1956 1st state-wide state-supported educational TV network, Alabama
- 1956 South African women demonstrate against pass laws
- 1957 24th NFL Chicago All-Star Game: NY Giants 22, All-Stars 12 (75,000)
- 1960 Race riot in Jacksonville, Florida
- 1961 James Benton Parsons is 1st African American to be nominated to a US Federal District Court
- 1963 Britains rock TV show "Ready Steady Go", premieres
- 1963 NY Met pitcher Roger Craig's NL record-tying 18-game losing streak ends with a complete game 7–3 win over the Chicago Cubs at the Polo Grounds, NYC
- 1964 Bunning continues pitching perfectly to NY Mets until 2 outs in 5th, when Joe Christopher beats out a bunt. He totals 15 innings
- 1965 Fire in Titan II silo in Searcy, Arkansas, kills 53
Singapore Leaves Malaysia
1965 Singapore separates from the Federation of Malaysia and gains its independence
- 1969 Manson family commits Tate-LaBianca murders
- 1970 Peruvian Airlines LANSA Flight 502 explodes killing 101 people including 45 US exchange students
- 1971 Operation Demetrius (or Internment) is introduced in Northern Ireland allowing suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial; the security forces arrested 342 people suspected of supporting paramilitaries
Baseball Hall of Fame
1971 Satchel Paige inducted into baseball's Hall of Fame
- 1972 There is widespread and severe rioting in Nationalist areas of Northern Ireland on the anniversary of the introduction of Internment
Music History
1973 Northern Irish guitarist Henry McCullough quits rock band Wings, founded by Paul McCartney
- 1973 USSR launches Mars 7
Richard Nixon's Resignation Letter
1974 Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United States and Vice President Gerald Ford swears the oath of office to take his place as the 38th US President
- 1975 1st NFL game in Louisiana Superdome, Houston beats Saints 13-7
- 1975 Dodger Davey Lopes steals record 32nd consecutive base without being caught
- 1976 Clive Lloyd scores double-ton in 120 mins, WI v Glamorgan
- 1976 Pitt Pirate John Candelaria no-hits LA Dodgers, 2-0
- 1976 USSR launches Luna 24, last Lunar flight to date from Earth
- 1977 Chris Old completes a century in 37 mins, Yorks v Warwicks
- 1977 Military-controlled Government of Uruguay announces the return to civilian rule through general elections in 1981 to democratically elect a President and Congress
- 1977 NHL refuses merger of 6 WHA clubs
- 1978 USSR performs (underground) nuclear test
- 1979 English seaside resort Brighton gets 1st British nude beach
- 1980 Belgian constitution revised
- 1981 NL beats AL 5-4 in 52nd All Star Game (Cleveland Stadium)
- 1981 Six English lifeguards set relay swim record English Channel (7:17)
- 1984 Daley Thompson of Great Britain scores 8,797 points to win the Olympic decathlon in Los Angeles; later recognised as a world record
- 1984 STS 41-D vehicle again moves out to launch pad
- 1984 Valerie Brisco-Hooks beats fellow American Florence Griffith to win the 200m gold at the LA Olympics; completes the 200-400m double
Pee-wee's Big Adventure
1985 Adventure comedy film "Pee-wee's Big Adventure" starring Paul Reubens is released
NHL Trade
1988 Edmonton Oilers trade Wayne Gretzky to LA Kings for $15-$20 millions
- 1988 Just 1 day after 8/8/88 NY's daily number is 888
- 1990 12 Arab leaders agree to send pan-Arab forces to protect Saudi Arabia
- 1990 Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-10 launches
- 1991 British radio show "On the Hour" debuts on BBC Radio 4 with first appearance of Alan Partridge character
- 1992 Cuban boxer Félix Savón wins the first of 3 consecutive Olympic heavyweight gold medals when he dominates Nigerian David Izonritei on points at the Barcelona Games
- 1992 Future 6-weight boxing world champion Oscar De La Hoya of the US beats German Marco Rudolph on points to win the lightweight gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics
Cricket History
1992 Last day of Test Cricket for David Gower
Just to See You Smile
1997 "Just to See You Smile" single released by Tim McGraw (Billboard Song of the Year 1998)
- 1997 Security guard Abner Louima, attacked by NYC police
- 1997 Yanks break Minnesota Twins Brad Radke's string of 12 straight wins
- 1999 Charles Kennedy wins the race to succeed Paddy Ashdown as the leader of the Liberal Democrats, UK
Event of Interest
1999 Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
- 1999 The Diet of Japan enacts a law establishing the Hinomaru as the official national flag, and "Kimi Ga Yo" as national anthem.
Event of Interest
2000 South African President Thabo Mbeki unveils the Women's Monument commemorating the role of women in the anti-apartheid struggle
Event of Interest
2001 US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
Baseball Record
2002 SF Giants outfielder Barry Bonds hits his 600th career home run
- 2008 United States takes all 3 medals in women's fencing sabre event at the Beijing Olympics; first US podium sweep of a fencing event since 1904; Mariel Zagunis takes gold ahead of Sada Jacobson & Rebecca Ward
Olympic Games
2012 Jamaican sprint superstar Usain Bolt wins the 200m at the London Olympics in 19.32 to become first to win 100/200m double in back-to-back Olympics
- 2012 Philip Glass' Symphony No. 10 premieres with the Orchestre Français des Jeunes conducted by Dennis Russell Davies, at the Grand Théâtre de Provence in Aix-en-Provence, France
- 2012 The death toll from the Philippines' floods rise to 70
Olympic Gold
2012 Women's Olympic Football Gold Medal won by the USA beating Japan 2-1 in the final
Olympic Gold
2016 American swimmer Katie Ledecky wins her second gold medal of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in 1:53.73 in the women's 200m freestyle ahead of Sarah Sjöström of Sweden and Australian Emma McKeon
Olympic Gold
2016 American swimmer Michael Phelps swims 1:53.36 to win the men's 200m butterfly gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics; beats Japan's Masato Sakai by 0.04 for his 20th Olympic gold medal
- 2016 Chinese weightlifter Deng Wei sets a world record of 147kg in the clean & jerk, and another for a total score of 262kg, to win the women's 63kg gold medal at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics
- 2016 Hungary's Katinka Hosszú records an Olympic record of 2:06.58 in the women's 200m individual medley, her 3rd gold medal of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics
- 2016 Longest ever hunger strike ends, Indian human rights campaigner Irom Sharmila tastes honey after 16 years
Inflatable Trump-like Chicken
2017 Giant inflatable chicken resembling US President Donald Trump placed outside US White House as a political protest
- 2017 Nepal's parliament bans menstruation huts (comes into effect August 2018)
- 2017 North Korea says it plans to fire rockets on US territory Guam in continuing escalation of tension between it and the US
- 2018 Argentina's Senate rejects bill to legalize abortion in first 14 weeks
- 2018 EPL club Tottenham Hotspur fails to bring in one player during the transfer window; first time since FIFA made system compulsory in 2002-03
- 2018 Saudi-led air coalition strikes a school bus in Sada Province, Yemen, killing 43, many of them children
- 2019 Landslide from torrential rain kills 59 in Mon state, Myanmar, with 80,000 in emergency evacuation sites
- 2020 Brazil passes 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, the world's 2nd highest, with over 3 million recorded cases
Election of Interest
2020 Disputed Belarusian presidential election sees long time dictator Alexander Lukashenko officially win 80% of the votes but unofficially lose 60-70% of the votes to main opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya. Sparks widespread protests in Belarus and international condemnation.
- 2020 New Zealand marks 100 days without community transmission of COVID-19
- 2021 Cholera outbreak in Nigeria has killed more than 800 people with 31,425 suspected cases since January 2021 according to Nigeria Centre for Disease Control [1]
- 2021 Herd of 14 elephants returning home from a 500km (300-mile) trek across China, lead authorities to evacuate 150,000 people out of their path [1]
- 2021 Landmark UN IPCC climate report "is a "Code Red for humanity", rise of 1.5C now certain, catastrophic change can still be avoided if the world works fast [1] [2]
Sports History
2022 Tennis superstar Serena Williams announces her intention to retire in an interview with "Vogue" [1]
- 2023 Ecuador opposition presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio assassinated at a campaign rally in Quito [1]
- 2023 MLB Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen throws a no-hitter in his first career complete game, a 7-0 win over Washington Nationals, and outfielder Weston Wilson makes his MLB debut, hitting a home run in his first at bat, at Citizen's Bank Park in Philadelphia
- 2023 Wildfires on Hawaiian Island of Maui kill at least 97 and destroy historic town of Lahaina
