August 7th in History

936 - Coronation of King Otto I of Germany.

1794 - US President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.

1933 - The Simele massacre: The Iraqi Government slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Simele. The day becomes known as Assyrian Martyrs Day.

1960 - Ivory Coast becomes independent.

1981 - The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.

2008 - Georgia launches a large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia, in an attempt to reclaim the territory from Russia, starting the 2008 South Ossetia war.

Famous Birthdays:

317 - Constantius II, Roman Emperor

1779 - Carl Ritter, Geographer

1876 - Mata Hari, Spy

1928 - Betsy Byars, author

1942 - Tobin Bell, actor

1955 - Wayne Knight, actor

1971 - Sydney Penny, actress

1979 - Eric Johnson, actor

August 6th in History

1284 – The Republic of Pisa is defeated in the Battle of Meloria by the Republic of Genoa, thus losing its naval dominance in the Mediterranean.

1538 - Bogotá, Colombia, is founded by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada.

1787 - Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

1806 - Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates ending the Holy Roman Empire.

1825 - Bolivia gains independence from Spain

1914 - World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.

1940 - Estonia was illegally annexed by the Soviet Union

1942 - Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands becomes the first reigning Queen to address a joint session of the United States Congress.

1945 - World War II: Hiroshima, Japan is devastated when the atomic bomb "Little Boy" is dropped by the United States B-29 Enola Gay. Around 70,000 people are killed instantly, and some tens of thousands die in subsequent years from burns and radiation poisoning.

1962 - Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

2012 - NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, lands on Mars.

Famous Birthdays:

1504 - Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury

1697 - Charles VII, Holy Roman Emperor

1861 - Edith Roosevelt, First Lady of the United States

1881 - Sir Alexander Fleming, Scientist

1926 - Frank Finlay, actor

1937 - Barbara Windsor, actress

1972 - Geri Halliwell, singer (Spice Girls)

1977 - Luciano Zavagno, Argentine footballer

August 5th in History

1068 - Byzantine–Norman wars: Italo-Normans begin a nearly-three-year siege of Bari.

1100 - Henry I is crowned King of England in Westminster Abbey.

1305 - William Wallace, who led the Scottish resistance against England, is captured by the English near Glasgow and transported to London where he is put on trial and executed.

1583 - Sir Humphrey Gilbert establishes the first English colony in North America, at what is now St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador.

1620 - The Mayflower departs from Southampton, England on its first attempt to reach North America.

1772 - The First Partition of Poland begins.

1861 - The United States Army abolishes flogging.

1870 - Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.

1926 - Harry Houdini performs his greatest feat, spending 91 minutes underwater in a sealed tank before escaping.

1940 - World War II: the Soviet Union formally annexes Latvia.

1960 - Burkina Faso, then known as Upper Volta, becomes independent from France.

1962 - Nelson Mandela is jailed. He would not be released until 1990.

1965 - The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 begins as Pakistani soldiers cross the Line of Control dressed as locals.

1981 - Ronald Reagan fires 11,359 striking air-traffic controllers who ignored his order for them to return to work.

2010 - 2010 Copiapó mining accident occurs, trapping 33 Chilean miners approximately 2,300 ft (700 m) below the ground.

Famous Birthdays

1623 - Antonio Cesti, composer

1749 - Thomas Lynch, Jr., signer of the United States Declaration of Independence

1827 - Deodoro da Fonseca, 1st President of Brazil

1828 - Louise of the Netherlands, Queen consort of Sweden and Norway

1906 - Joan Hickson, actress

1923 - Devan Nair, 3rd President of Singapore

1930 - Neil Armstrong, pilot, engineer, and astronaut, 1st man to walk on the moon

1937 - Brian G. Marsden, astronomer

1956 - Maureen McCormick, actress

1966 - Jonathan Silverman, actor

1975 - Ami Foster, actress

1982 - Michele Pazienza, footballer

1991 - Esteban Gutierrez, Formula 1 Racing Driver

August 4th in History

70 - The destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans.

1265 - Second Barons' War: Battle of Evesham – the army of Prince Edward (the future king Edward I of England) defeats the forces of rebellious barons led by Simon de Montfort, 6th Earl of Leicester, killing de Montfort and many of his allies.

1327 - First War of Scottish Independence: James Douglas leads a raid into Weardale and almost kills Edward III of England.

1532 - The Duchy of Brittany is united to the Kingdom of France.

1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.

1789 - In France members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges.

1824 - The Battle of Kos is fought between Turkish and Greek forces.

1914 - World War I: Germany invades Belgium. In response, the United Kingdom declares war on Germany. The United States declare their neutrality.

1915 - World War I: The German 12th Army occupies Warsaw during the Gorlice–Tarnów Offensive and the Great Retreat of 1915.

1944 - The Holocaust: a tip from a Dutch informer leads the Gestapo to a sealed-off area in an Amsterdam warehouse, where they find and arrest Jewish diarist Anne Frank, her family, and four others.

1965 - The Constitution of Cook Islands comes into force, giving the Cook Islands self-governing status within New Zealand.

1984 - The Republic of Upper Volta changes its name to Burkina Faso.

2006 - A massacre is carried out by Sri Lankan government forces, killing 17 employees of the French INGO Action Against Hunger (known internationally as Action Contre la Faim, or ACF)

Famous Birthdays

1290 - Leopold I, Duke of Austria

1521 - Pope Urban VII

1821 - Louis Vuitton, fashion designer, founded Louis Vuitton

1900 - Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, Queen consort of the United Kingdom

1919 - Michel Déon, writer

1942 - David Lange, 32nd Prime Minister of New Zealand

1955 - Billy Bob Thornton, actor and writer

1960 - José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, 5th Prime Minister of Spain

1961 - Barack Obama, 44th President of the United States

1968 - Lee Mack, comedian and actor

1974 - Kily González, footballer

1981 - Abigail Spencer, actress

1988 - Tom Parker, singer

1992 - Tiffany Evans, singer and actress

1992 - Cole Sprouse, actor

1992 - Dylan Sprouse, actor

August 3rd in History

881 - Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.

1601 - Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.

1860 - The Second Maori War begins in New Zealand.

1914 - World War I: Germany declares war against France.

1934 - Adolf Hitler becomes the supreme leader of Germany by joining the offices of President and Chancellor into Führer.

1936 - Jesse Owens wins the 100 meter dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.

1940 - World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.

1960 - Niger gains independence from France.

2001 - The Real IRA detonates a car bomb in Ealing, London, England, United Kingdom injuring seven people.

2004 - The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.

2010 - Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees ($200 million) in damage.

Famous Birthdays

1734 - Naungdawgyi, king of Myanmar

1770 - Frederick William III of Prussia

1803 - Joseph Paxton, gardener and architect, designed The Crystal Palace

1856 - Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia

1907 - Ernesto Geisel, military leader and 29th President of Brazil

1934 - Jonas Savimbi, political leader, founded UNITA

1941 - Martha Stewart, businesswoman, publisher, and author, founded Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

1958 - Lambert Wilson, actor

1983 - Mamie Gummer, actress

1986 - Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of HRH Caroline, Princess of Hanover

1992 - Karlie Kloss, model

August 2nd in History

924 - Ælfweard of Wessex, King of Wessex, dies

1100 - William II of England dies

1377 - Russian troops are defeated in the Battle on Pyana River because of drunkenness.

1776 - The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.

1790 -The first US Census is conducted.

1870 - Tower Subway, the world's first underground tube railway, opens in London, United Kingdom.

1918 - Japan announces that it is deploying troops to Siberia in the aftermath of World War I.

1918 - The first general strike in Canadian history takes place in Vancouver.

1923 - As vice president, Calvin Coolidge becomes the 30th President of the United States after the death of Warren G. Harding

1943 - Rebellion in the Nazi death camp of Treblinka.

1989 - Pakistan is re-admitted to the Commonwealth of Nations after having restoring democracy for the first time since 1972.

1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait, eventually leading to the Gulf War.

1998 - The Second Congo War begins.

Famous  Birthdays

1455 - John Cicero, Elector of Brandenburg

1674 - Philippe II, Duke of Orléans

1696 - Mahmud I, Ottoman Sultan

1834 - Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, sculptor, designed the Statue of Liberty

1858 - Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Queen consort of the Netherlands and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg

1868 - Constantine I of Greece

1897 - Karl-Otto Koch, SS officer

1923 - Shimon Peres, 9th President of Israel

1932 - Peter O'Toole, actor

1943 - Max Wright, actor

1955 - Tim Dunigan, actor

1962 - Cynthia Stevenson, actress

1976 - Reyes Estévez, runner

1981 - Sara Foster, actress

1991 -Skyler Day, actress

August 1st in History

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

1192 - Richard the Lionheart landed on Jaffa and defeated the army of Saladin

1498 - Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela.

1759 - Seven Years' War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.

1774 - British scientist Joseph Priestley discovered oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.

1800 - The Acts of Union 1800 is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1834 - Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force.

1894 - The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.

1914 - Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilizes because of World War I.

1944 - The Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.

1957 - The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

1960 - Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.

1960 - Islamabad is declared the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.

1964 - The Belgian Congo is renamed the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1974 - Cyprus dispute: The United Nations Security Council authorizes the UNFICYP to create the "Green Line", dividing Cyprus into two zones.

1981 - MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles.

2007 - The I-35W Mississippi River bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.

Famous  Birthdays

10 BC - Claudius, Roman Emperor

126 - Pertinax, Roman Emperor

1659 - Sebastiano Ricci, painter

1779 - Francis Scott Key, lawyer, author, and songwriter of the US National anthem

1916 - His Eminence Fiorenzo Angelini,  Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church.

1930 - Julie Bovasso, actress

1939 - Terry Kiser, actor

1942 - Giancarlo Giannini, actor

1948 - Avi Arad, businessman and film producer, founded Marvel Studios

1962 - Jesse Borrego, actor

1969 - David Wain, actor

1972 - Tanya Reid, actress

1979 - Jason Momoa, actor

1983 - Craig Clarke, rugby player

1988 - Max Carver, actor

1993 - Leon Thomas III, actor and singer

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