Events

• 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.
• 1661 – The Treaty of The Hague is signed by Portugal and the Dutch Republic.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
• 1787 – Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1806 – Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, declares the moribund empire to be dissolved, although he retains power in the Austrian Empire.
• 1819 – Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
• 1824 – Peruvian War of Independence: The Battle of Junín.
• 1825 – The Bolivian Declaration of Independence is proclaimed.
  • Independence Day (Bolivia), celebrates the independence of Bolivia from Spain in 1825.
• 1861 – Britain imposes the Lagos Treaty of Cession to suppress slavery in what is now Nigeria.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Confederate ironclad CSS Arkansas is scuttled on the Mississippi River after suffering catastrophic engine failure near Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Spicheren is fought, resulting in a Prussian victory.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Wörth results in a decisive Prussian victory.
• 1890 – At Auburn Prison in New York, murderer William Kemmler becomes the first person to be executed by electric chair.
• 1901 – Kiowa land in Oklahoma is opened for white settlement, effectively dissolving the contiguous reservation.
• 1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Atlantic: Two days after the United Kingdom had declared war on Germany over the German invasion of Belgium, ten German U-boats leave their base in Heligoland to attack Royal Navy warships in the North Sea.
• 1914 – World War I: Serbia declares war on Germany; Austria declares war on Russia.
• 1915 – World War I: Battle of Sari Bair: The Allies mount a diversionary attack timed to coincide with a major Allied landing of reinforcements at Suvla Bay.
• 1917 – World War I: Battle of Mărășești between the Romanian and German armies begins.
• 1940 – Estonia is illegally annexed by the Soviet Union.
• 1944 – The Warsaw Uprising occurs on 01 August. It is brutally suppressed and all able-bodied men in Kraków are detained afterwards to prevent a similar uprising, the Kraków Uprising, that was planned but never carried out.
• 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.
  • Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony (Hiroshima, Japan).
• 1960 – Cuban Revolution: Cuba nationalizes American and foreign-owned property in the nation.
• 1962 – Jamaica becomes independent from the United Kingdom.
  • Independence Day (Jamaica), celebrates the independence of Jamaica from the United Kingdom in 1962.
• 1990 – Gulf War: The United Nations Security Council orders a global trade embargo against Iraq in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait.
• 1991 – Tim Berners-Lee releases files describing his idea for the World Wide Web. WWW debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.
• 2008 – A military junta led by Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz stages a coup d’état in Mauritania, overthrowing president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
• 2011 – War in Afghanistan: A United States military helicopter is shot down, killing 30 American special forces members and a working dog, seven Afghan soldiers, and one Afghan civilian. It was the deadliest single event for the United States in the War in Afghanistan.
• Russian Railway Troops Day (Russia).

People (Births)

• 1622 – Tjerk Hiddes de Vries, Dutch admiral (d. 1666).
• 1656 – Claude de Forbin, French general (d. 1733).
• 1765 – Petros Mavromichalis, Greek general and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1848).
• 1768 – Jean-Baptiste Bessières, French general and politician (d. 1813).
• 1848 – Susie Taylor, American writer and first black Army nurse (d. 1912).
• 1889 – George Kenney, Canadian-American general (d. 1977).
• 1890 – Wentworth Beaumont, 2nd Viscount Allendale, English captain and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Northumberland (d. 1956).
• 1891 – William Slim, 1st Viscount Slim, English field marshal and politician, 13th Governor-General of Australia (d. 1970).
• 1893 – Wright Patman, American lieutenant and politician (d. 1976).
• 1908 – Maria Ludwika Bernhard, Polish classical archaeologist and a member of WWII Polish resistance (d. 1998).
• 1908 – Helen Jacobs, American tennis player and US naval commander (d. 1997).
• 1923 – Paul Hellyer, Canadian engineer and politician, 16th Canadian Minister of Defence.
• 1934 – Piers Anthony, English-American soldier and author.
• 1934 – Billy Boston, Welsh rugby player and soldier.

People (Deaths)

• 750 – Marwan II, Umayyad general and caliph (b. 688).
• 1657 – Bohdan Khmelnytsky, Ukrainian soldier and politician, 1st Hetman of Zaporizhian Host (b. 1595).
• 1666 – Tjerk Hiddes de Vries, Frisian naval hero and commander (b. 1622).
• 1679 – John Snell, Scottish-English soldier and philanthropist, founded the Snell Exhibition (b. 1629).
• 1828 – Konstantin von Benckendorff, Russian general and diplomat (b. 1785).
• 1945 – Richard Bong, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honour recipient (b. 1920).
• 1973 – Fulgencio Batista, Cuban colonel and politician, 9th President of Cuba (b. 1901).
• 1987 – Ira C. Eaker, American general (b. 1896).
• 1991 – Shapour Bakhtiar, Iranian soldier and politician, 74th Prime Minister of Iran (b. 1915).
• 2001 – Adhar Kumar Chatterji, Indian Naval officer (b. 1914).
• 2001 – Wilhelm Mohnke, German general (b. 1911).