Events

• 585 BC – Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, king of Rome, celebrates a triumph for his victories over the Sabines, and the surrender of Collatia.
• 533 – Belisarius of the Byzantine Empire defeats Gelimer and the Vandals at the Battle of Ad Decimum, near Carthage, North Africa.
• 1437 – Battle of Tangier: a Portuguese expeditionary force initiates a failed attempt to seize the Moroccan citadel of Tangier.
• 1645 – Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Scottish Royalists are defeated by Covenanters at the Battle of Philiphaugh.
• 1743 – Great Britain, Austria and the Kingdom of Sardinia sign the Treaty of Worms.
• 1759 – Battle of the Plains of Abraham: the British defeat the French near Quebec City in the Seven Years’ War, known in the United States as the French and Indian War.
• 1782 – American Revolutionary War: Franco-Spanish troops launch the unsuccessful “grand assault” during the Great Siege of Gibraltar.
• 1788 – The Philadelphia Convention sets the date for the first presidential election in the United States, and New York City becomes the country’s temporary capital.
• 1808 – Finnish War: In the Battle of Jutas, Swedish forces under Lieutenant General Georg Carl von Döbeln beat the Russians, making von Döbeln a Swedish war hero.
• 1812 – War of 1812: A supply wagon sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.
• 1814 – In a turning point in the War of 1812, the British fail to capture Baltimore. During the battle, Francis Scott Key composes his poem “Defence of Fort McHenry”, which is later set to music and becomes the United States’ national anthem.
• 1843 – The Greek Army rebels (OS date: 03 September) against the autocratic rule of king Otto of Greece, demanding the granting of a constitution.
• 1847 – Mexican-American War: Six teenage military cadets known as Niños Héroes die defending Chapultepec Castle in the Battle of Chapultepec.
  • American troops under General Winfield Scott capture Mexico City.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Union soldiers find a copy of Robert E. Lee’s battle plans in a field outside Frederick, Maryland.
  • It is the prelude to the Battle of Antietam.
• 1880 – The Basuto Gun War breaks out after the Basuto launch a rebellion against the Cape Colony.
• 1882 – Anglo-Egyptian War: The Battle of Tel el-Kebir is fought.
• 1898 – Hannibal Goodwin patents celluloid photographic film.
• 1900 – Filipino insurgents defeat a small American column in the Battle of Pulang Lupa, during the Philippine-American War.
• 1914 – World War I: The Battle of Aisne begins between Germany and France.
• 1922 – The final act of the Greco-Turkish War, the Great Fire of Smyrna, commences.
• 1923 – Following a military coup in Spain, Miguel Primo de Rivera takes over, setting up a dictatorship.
• 1942 – World War II: Second day of the Battle of Edson’s Ridge in the Guadalcanal Campaign.
  • US Marines successfully defeat attacks by the Japanese with heavy losses for the Japanese forces.
• 1944 – World War II: Start of the Battle of Meligalas between the Greek Resistance forces of the Greek People’s Liberation Army (ELAS) and the collaborationist security battalions.
• 1948 – Deputy Prime Minister of India Vallabhbhai Patel orders the Army to move into Hyderabad to integrate it with the Indian Union.
• 1953 – Nikita Khrushchev is appointed General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
• 1956 – The IBM 305 RAMAC is introduced, the first commercial computer to use disk storage.
• 1964 – South Vietnamese Generals Lâm Văn Phát and Dương Văn Đức fail in a coup attempt against General Nguyễn Khánh.
• 1968 – Cold War: Albania leaves the Warsaw Pact.
• 1971 – State police and National Guardsmen storm New York’s Attica Prison to quell a prison revolt, which claimed 43 lives.
• 1971 – Chairman Mao Zedong’s second in command and successor Marshal Lin Biao flees China after the failure of an alleged coup.
  • His plane crashes in Mongolia, killing all aboard.
• 1979 – South Africa grants independence to the “homeland” of Venda (not recognised outside South Africa).
• 1993 – Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin shakes hands with Palestine Liberation Organisation chairman Yasser Arafat at the White House after signing the Oslo Accords granting limited Palestinian autonomy.
• 1997 – A German Air Force Tupolev Tu-154 and a United States Air Force Lockheed C-141 Starlifter collide in mid-air near Namibia, killing 33.

People (Births)

• 1604 – Sir William Brereton, 1st Baronet, English commander and politician (d. 1698).
• 1813 – John Sedgwick, American general and educator (d. 1864).
• 1842 – John H. Bankhead, American soldier and politician (d. 1920).
• 1860 – John J. Pershing, American general and lawyer (d. 1948).
• 1865 – William Birdwood, Indian-English field marshal (d. 1951).
• 1883 – Petros Voulgaris, Greek admiral and politician, 136th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1957).
• 1912 – Maurice K. Goddard, American colonel and politician (d. 1995).
• 1917 – Robert Ward, American soldier, composer, and educator (d. 2013).
• 1926 – J. Frank Raley Jr., American soldier and politician (d. 2012).
• 1928 – Tzannis Tzannetakis, Greek soldier and politician, 175th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2010).
• 1931 – Marjorie Jackson-Nelson, Australian sprinter and politician, 33rd Governor of South Australia.
• 1946 – Henri Kuprashvili, Georgian swimmer.
• 1948 – Sitiveni Rabuka, Fijian general and politician, 3rd Prime Minister of Fiji.
• 1955 – Colin Moynihan, 4th Baron Moynihan, English rower and politician, Minister for Sport and the Olympics.
• 1967 – Michael Johnson, American sprinter and journalist.
• 1973 – Christine Arron, French runner.
• 1981 – Koldo Fernández, Spanish cyclist.

People (Deaths)

• 1759 – James Wolfe, English general (b. 1727).
• 1800 – Claude Martin, French-English general and explorer (b. 1735).
• 1806 – Charles James Fox, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (b. 1749).
• 1847 – Nicolas Oudinot, French general (b. 1767).
• 1881 – Ambrose Burnside, American general and politician, 30th Governor of Rhode Island (b. 1824).
• 1912 – Nogi Maresuke, Japanese general (b. 1849).
• 1915 – Andrew L. Harris, American general and politician, 44th Governor of Ohio (b. 1835).
• 1946 – Amon Göth, Austrian captain and Nazi war criminal (b. 1908).
• 1967 – Robert George, English air marshal and politician, 24th Governor of South Australia (b. 1896).
• 1991 – Robert Irving, English soldier and conductor (b. 1913).
• 2002 – George Stanley, Canadian soldier, historian, and author, designed the Flag of Canada (b. 1907).
• 2014 – Benjamin Adekunle, Nigerian general (b. 1936).