Events

• 295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War.
• 43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul.
• 947 – Abu Yazid, a Kharijite rebel leader, is defeated and killed in the Hodna Mountains in modern-day Algeria by Fatimid forces.
• 1153 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem takes control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother Melisende, and also captures Ascalon.
• 1504 – In Ireland, the Hiberno-Norman de Burghs (Burkes) and Anglo-Norman Fitzgeralds fight in the Battle of Knockdoe.
• 1561 – Mary, Queen of Scots, aged 18, returns to Scotland after spending 13 years in France.
• 1604 – Eighty Years War: a besieging Dutch and English army led by Maurice of Orange forces the Spanish garrison of Sluis to capitulate.
• 1666 – Second Anglo-Dutch War: Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships, an act later known as “Holmes’s Bonfire”.
• 1745 – Prince Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard in Glenfinnan: The start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion, known as “the 45”.
• 1745 – Ottoman-Persian War: In the Battle of Kars, the Ottoman army is routed by Persian forces led by Nader Shah.
• 1759 – Battle of Lagos: Naval battle during the Seven Years’ War between Great Britain and France.
• 1772 – Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d’état, in which he assumes power and enacts a new constitution that divides power between the Riksdag and the King.
• 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blue Licks: The last major engagement of the war, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Charles Cornwallis following the Siege of Yorktown.
• 1812 – War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname “Old Ironsides”.
• 1813 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina’s Second Triumvirate.
• 1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre’s photographic process is a gift “free to the world”.
• 1854 – The First Sioux War begins when United States Army soldiers kill Lakota chief Conquering Bear and in return are massacred.
• 1862 – Dakota War: During an uprising in Minnesota, Lakota warriors decide not to attack heavily defended Fort Ridgely and instead turn to the settlement of New Ulm, killing white settlers along the way.
• 1920 – The Tambov Rebellion breaks out, in response to the Bolshevik policy of Prodrazvyorstka (refer to the Russian Civil War).
• 1934 – The German referendum of 1934 approves Adolf Hitler’s appointment as head of state with the title of Führer.
• 1936 – The Great Purge of the Soviet Union begins when the first of the Moscow Trials is convened.
• 1940 – First flight of the B-25 Mitchell medium bomber.
• 1941 – Germany and Romania sign the Tiraspol Agreement, rendering the region of Transnistria under control of the latter.
• 1942 – World War II: Operation Jubilee: The 2nd Canadian Infantry Division leads an amphibious assault by allied forces on Dieppe, France and fails, many Canadians are killed or captured.
  • The operation was intended to develop and try new amphibious landing tactics for the coming full invasion in Normandy.
• 1944 – World War II: Liberation of Paris: Paris, France rises against German occupation with the help of Allied troops.
• 1945 – August Revolution: Viet Minh led by Ho Chi Minh take power in Hanoi, Vietnam.
• 1953 – Cold War: The CIA and MI6 help to overthrow the government of Mohammad Mosaddegh in Iran and reinstate the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
• 1960 – Cold War: In Moscow, Russia, Soviet Union, downed American U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers is sentenced to ten years imprisonment by the Soviet Union for espionage.
• 1964 – Syncom 3, the first geostationary communication satellite, is launched.
  • Two months later, it would enable live coverage of the 1964 Summer Olympics.
• 1965 – Japanese prime minister Eisaku Satō becomes the first post-World War II sitting prime minister to visit Okinawa Prefecture.
• 1981 – Gulf of Sidra Incident: United States F-14A Tomcat fighters intercept and shoot down two Libyan Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jets over the Gulf of Sidra.
• 1989 – Several hundred East Germans cross the frontier between Hungary and Austria during the Pan-European Picnic, part of the events that began the process of the Fall of the Berlin Wall.
• 1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union: The August Coup begins when Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is placed under house arrest while on holiday in the town of Foros, Ukraine.
• 2002 – Khankala Mi-26 crash: A Russian Mil Mi-26 helicopter carrying troops is hit by a Chechen missile outside Grozny, killing 118 soldiers.
• 2005 – The first-ever joint military exercise between Russia and China, called Peace Mission 2005 begins.
• 2010 – Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, with the last of the United States brigade combat teams crossing the border to Kuwait.
• Afghan Independence Day, commemorates the Treaty of Rawalpindi in 1919, granting independence from Britain (Afghanistan).
• August Revolution Commemoration Day (Vietnam).

People (Births)

• 1590 – Henry Rich, 1st Earl of Holland, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire (d. 1649).
• 1711 – Edward Boscawen, English admiral and politician (d. 1761).
• 1719 – Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791).
• 1871 – Orville Wright, American engineer and pilot, co-founded the Wright Company (d. 1948).
• 1878 – Manuel L. Quezon, Filipino soldier, lawyer, and politician, 2nd President of the Philippines (d. 1944).
• 1883 – José Mendes Cabeçadas, Portuguese admiral and politician, 9th President of Portugal (d. 1965).
• 1907 – Thruston Ballard Morton, American soldier and politician (d. 1982).
• 1913 – Peter Kemp, Indian-English soldier and author (d. 1993).
• 1934 – David Durenberger, American soldier, lawyer, and politician.
• 1946 – Charles Bolden, American general and astronaut.
• 1958 – Brendan Nelson, Australian physician and politician, 47th Minister for Defence for Australia.
• 1965 – James Tomkins, Australian rower.
• 1977 – Iban Mayo, Spanish cyclist.
• 1987 – Nick Driebergen, Dutch swimmer.
• 1994 – Nafissatou Thiam, Belgian pentathlete and heptathlete.
• 1994 – Fernando Gaviria, Colombian cyclist.

People (Deaths)

• AD 14 – Augustus, Roman emperor (b. 63 BC).
• 947 – Abu Yazid, Kharijite rebel leader (b. 873).
• 1541 – Vincenzo Cappello, Venetian admiral and statesman (b. 1469).
• 1691 – Köprülü Fazıl Mustafa Pasha, Ottoman commander and politician, 117th Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire (b. 1637).
• 1808 – Fredrik Henrik af Chapman, Swedish admiral and shipbuilder (b. 1721).
• 1957 – David Bomberg, English soldier and painter (b. 1890).
• 1970 – Paweł Jasienica, Polish soldier and historian (b. 1909).