Events

• AD 14 – Agrippa Postumus, maternal grandson of the late Roman emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards under mysterious circumstances while in exile.
• 636 – Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of the Levant away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
• 917 – Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.
• 1191 – Richard I of England initiates the Massacre at Ayyadieh, leaving 2,600–3,000 Muslim hostages dead.
• 1308 – Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
• 1391 – Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.
• 1467 – The Second Battle of Olmedo takes places as part of a succession conflict between Henry IV of Castile and his half-brother Alfonso, Prince of Asturias.
• 1519 – Philosopher and general Wang Yangming defeats Zhu Chenhao, ending the Prince of Ning rebellion against the reign of the Ming dynasty’s Zhengde Emperor.
• 1648 – A French victory over Spain at the Battle of Lens brings the Thirty Years’ War to a close.
• 1707 – The first Siege of Pensacola comes to an end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
• 1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: A multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg defeats the Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by Alexandre Maître, Marquis de Bay in the Battle of Saragossa.
• 1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
• 1794 – Northwest Indian War: United States troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganised retreat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
• 1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
• 1905 – The United Allegiance Society, dedicated to overthrowing the Qing dynasty in Beijing, is founded by Chinese students in Tokyo.
• 1914 – World War I: Brussels is captured during the German invasion of Belgium.
• 1940 – In Mexico City, exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.
• 1940 – World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”.
• 1944 – World War II: One hundred sixty-eight captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being “terror fliers”, arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.
• 1955 – Battle of Philippeville: In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
• 1960 – Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
• 1962 – The NS Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.
• 1968 – Cold War: Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring.
  • East German participation is limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war.
  • Only Albania and Romania refuse to participate.
• 1988 – Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
• 1988 – The Troubles: Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone.
• 1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union’s parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1991 – Estonia, occupied by and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of legal continuity of its pre-occupation statehood.
  • Restoration of Independence Day, re-declaration of the independence of Estonia from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• 1993 – After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.
• 1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.
• 1998 – US embassy bombings: The United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
• 2002 – A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
• 2006 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.

People (Births)

• 1778 – Bernardo O’Higgins, Chilean general and politician, 2nd Supreme Director of Chile (d. 1842).
• 1833 – Benjamin Harrison, American general, lawyer, and politician, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901).
• 1912 – John H. Michaelis, American general (d. 1985).
• 1927 – Peter Oakley, English soldier and blogger (d. 2014).
• 1930 – Peter Randall, English sergeant, George Medal recipient (d. 2007).
• 1933 – George J. Mitchell, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician.
• 1935 – Ron Paul, American captain, physician, and politician.
• 1956 – Desmond Swayne, English soldier and politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household.

People (Deaths)

• 917 – Constantine Lips, Byzantine admiral.
• 1386 – Bo Jonsson, royal marshal of Sweden.
• 1648 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English soldier and diplomat (b. 1583).
• 1825 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, English admiral and politician, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753).
• 1942 – István Horthy, Hungarian admiral and pilot (b. 1904).
• 1951 – İzzettin Çalışlar, Turkish general (b. 1882).
• 1971 – Rashid Minhas, Pakistani lieutenant and pilot (b. 1951).
• 1985 – Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken, German admiral (b. 1897).
• 1997 – Norris Bradbury, American soldier, physicist, and academic (b. 1909).
• 2006 – Bryan Budd, Northern Ireland-born English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1977).
• 2008 – Ed Freeman, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honour recipient (b. 1927).
• 2012 – Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (b. 1955).
• 2013 – John W. Morris, American general (b. 1921).
• 2015 – Frank Wilkes, Australian soldier and politician (b. 1922).