Events

• 36 BC – In the Battle of Naulochus, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, admiral of Octavian, defeats Sextus Pompey, son of Pompey, thus ending Pompeian resistance to the Second Triumvirate.
• 301 – San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world’s oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus.
  • Feast of San Marino and the Republic, celebrates the foundation of the Republic of San Marino in 301.
• 673 – King Wamba of the Visigoths puts down a revolt by Hilderic, governor of Nîmes (France) and rival for the throne.
• 863 – Major Byzantine victory at the Battle of Lalakaon against an Arab raid.
• 1189 – Richard I of England (aka Richard “the Lionheart”) is crowned at Westminster.
• 1260 – The Mamluks defeat the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking their first decisive defeat and the point of maximum expansion of the Mongol Empire.
• 1411 – The Treaty of Selymbria is concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the Republic of Venice.
• 1650 – Victory over the royalists in the Battle of Dunbar opens the way to Edinburgh for the New Model Army in the Third English Civil War.
• 1651 – The Battle of Worcester is the last significant action in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms.
• 1658 – The death of Oliver Cromwell; Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England.
• 1777 – American Revolutionary War: During the Battle of Cooch’s Bridge, the Flag of the United States is flown in battle for the first time.
• 1783 – American Revolutionary War: The war ends with the signing of the Treaty of Paris by the United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain.
• 1798 – The week long battle of St. George’s Caye begins between Spain and Britain off the coast of Belize.
• 1843 – King Otto of Greece is forced to grant a constitution following an uprising in Athens.
• 1855 – American Indian Wars: In Nebraska, 700 soldiers under United States General William S. Harney avenge the Grattan massacre by attacking a Sioux village and killing 100 men, women and children.
• 1861 – American Civil War: Confederate General Leonidas Polk invades neutral Kentucky, prompting the state legislature to ask for Union assistance.
• 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Siege of Metz begins, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory on 23 October.
• 1879 – Siege of the British Residency in Kabul: British envoy Sir Louis Cavagnari and 72 men of the Guides are massacred by Afghan troops while defending the British Residency in Kabul.
  • Their heroism and loyalty became famous and revered throughout the British Empire.
• 1914 – World War I: French composer Albéric Magnard is killed defending his estate against invading German soldiers.
• 1914 – World War I: Start of the Battle of Grand Couronné, a German assault against French positions on high ground near the city of Nancy.
• 1916 – World War I: Leefe Robinson destroys the German airship Schütte-Lanz SL 11 over Cuffley, north of London; the first German airship to be shot down on British soil.
• 1925 – USS Shenandoah, the United States’ first American-built rigid airship, was destroyed in a squall line over Noble County, Ohio.
  • Fourteen of her 42-man crew perished, including her commander, Zachary Lansdowne.
• 1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allied nations.
  • The Viceroy of India also declares war, but without consulting the provincial legislatures.
• 1939 – World War II: The United Kingdom and France begin a naval blockade of Germany that lasts until the end of the war. This also marks the beginning of the Battle of the Atlantic.
• 1941 – World War II: The Holocaust: Karl Fritzsch, deputy camp commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, experiments with the use of Zyklon B in the gassing of Soviet POWs.
• 1942 – World War II: In response to news of its coming liquidation, Dov Lopatyn leads an uprising in the Ghetto of Lakhva (present-day Belarus).
• 1943 – World War II: British and Canadian troops land on the Italian mainland. On the same day, Walter Bedell Smith and Giuseppe Castellano sign the Armistice of Cassibile, although it is not announced for another five days.
• 1944 – World War II: Holocaust: Diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from the Westerbork transit camp to the Auschwitz concentration camp, arriving three days later.
• 1945 – World War II: A three-day celebration begins in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on 02 September.
• 1954 – The People’s Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
• 1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state.
• 1978 – During the Rhodesian Bush War a group of ZIPRA guerrillas shot down civilian Vickers Viscount aircraft (Air Rhodesia Flight 825) with a Soviet-made SAM Strela-2; of 56 passengers and crew 38 people died in crash, 10 were massacred by the guerrillas at the site.
• 1987 – In a coup d’état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya.
• 2004 – Beslan school siege results in over 330 fatalities, including 186 children.
• 2017 – North Korea conducts its sixth and most powerful nuclear test.
• China’s victory over Japan commemoration related observances:
  • Armed Forces Day (Republic of China).
  • V-J Day (People’s Republic of China).

People (Births)

• 1693 – Charles Radclyffe, English captain and politician (d. 1746).
• 1724 – Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, Irish-English general and politician, 21st Governor General of Canada (d. 1808).
• 1781 – Eugène de Beauharnais, French general and politician (d. 1824).
• 1911 – Bernard Mammes, American cyclist and sergeant (d. 2000).
• 1919 – Phil Stern, American soldier and photographer (d. 2014).
• 1920 – Tereska Torrès, French soldier and author (d. 2012).
• 1929 – Carlo Clerici, Swiss cyclist (d. 2007).
• 1971 – Glen Housman, Australian swimmer.
• 1996 – Abrahm DeVine, American swimmer.
• 1996 – Florian Maitre, French cyclist.
• 1996 – Neilson Powless, American cyclist.

People (Deaths)

• 1120 – Gerard Thom (The Blessed Gerard), founder of the Knights Hospitaller (b. c. 1040).
• 1658 – Oliver Cromwell, English general and politician (b. 1599).
• 1720 – Henri de Massue, Earl of Galway, French general and diplomat (b. 1648).
• 1981 – Alec Waugh, English soldier and author (b. 1898).
• 2003 – Alan Dugan, American soldier and poet (b. 1923).
• 2007 – Jane Tomlinson, English runner (b. 1964).
• 2008 – Donald Blakeslee, American colonel and pilot (b. 1917).
• 2014 – A.P. Venkateswaran, Indian soldier and politician, 14th Foreign Secretary of India (b. 1930).
• 2015 – Zhang Zhen, Chinese general and politician (b. 1914).