Events

• 994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes.
• 1588 – The so-called “Invincible Armada” sent by Catholic King Philip II of Spain to overthrow Protestant Queen Elizabeth I of England has been handed a crushing defeat in the English Channel.
• 1762 – Seven Years’ War: Battle of Signal Hill.
• 1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces land at Kip’s Bay during the New York Campaign.
• 1794 – French Revolutionary Wars: Arthur Wellesley (later Duke of Wellington) sees his first combat at the Battle of Boxtel during the Flanders Campaign.
• 1795 – Britain seizes the Dutch Cape Colony in southern Africa to prevent its use by the Batavian Republic.
• 1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Grande Armée under Napoleon reaches the Kremlin in Moscow.
• 1812 – War of 1812: A second supply train sent to relieve Fort Harrison is ambushed in the Attack at the Narrows.
• 1816 – HMS Whiting runs aground on the Doom Bar.
• 1820 – Constitutionalist revolution in Lisbon, Portugal.
• 1821 – The Captaincy General of Guatemala declares independence from Spain.
• 1835 – HMS Beagle, with Charles Darwin aboard, reaches the Galápagos Islands.
  • The ship lands at Chatham or San Cristobal, the easternmost of the archipelago.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Confederate forces capture Harpers Ferry, Virginia (present-day Harpers Ferry, West Virginia).
• 1873 – Franco-Prussian War: The last Imperial German Army troops leave France upon completion of payment of indemnity.
• 1894 – First Sino-Japanese War: Japan defeats Qing dynasty China in the Battle of Pyongyang.
• 1916 – World War I: Tanks are used for the first time in battle, at the Battle of the Somme.
• 1918 – World War I: Allied troops break through the Bulgarian defenses on the Macedonian front.
• 1940 – World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Luftwaffe launches its largest and most concentrated attack of the entire campaign.
• 1942 – World War II: US Navy aircraft carrier USS Wasp is sunk by Japanese torpedoes at Guadalcanal.
• 1944 – Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill meet in Quebec as part of the Octagon Conference to discuss strategy.
• 1944 – Battle of Peleliu begins as the United States Marine Corps’ 1st Marine Division and the United States Army’s 81st Infantry Division hit White and Orange beaches under heavy fire from Japanese infantry and artillery.
• 1945 – A hurricane strikes southern Florida and the Bahamas, destroying 366 airplanes and 25 blimps at Naval Air Station Richmond.
• 1948 – The Indian Army captures the towns of Jalna, Latur, Mominabad, Surriapet and Narkatpalli as part of Operation Polo.
• 1948 – The F-86 Sabre sets the world aircraft speed record at 671 miles per hour (1,080 km/h).
• 1950 – Korean War: The US X Corps lands at Inchon.
• 1952 – The United Nations cedes Eritrea to Ethiopia.
• 1962 – The Soviet ship Poltava heads toward Cuba, one of the events that sets into motion the Cuban Missile Crisis.
• 1971 – The first Greenpeace ship departs from Vancouver to protest against the upcoming Cannikin nuclear weapon test in Alaska.
• 2000 – The Summer Olympics, officially known as the games of the XXVII Olympiad, are opened in Sydney, Australia.
• Battle of Britain Day (UK).
• Earliest day on which German-American Steuben Parade can fall, while 21 September is the latest; celebrated on the third Saturday in September (US, especially New York City).
• Earliest day on which POW/MIA Recognition Day can fall, while 21 September is the latest; celebrated on the third Friday in September (US).
• Independence Day, celebrates the Act of Independence of Central America from Spain in 1821 of Guatemala (a Patriotic Day), El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica.
• Restoration of Primorska to the Motherland Day (Slovenia).

People (Births)

• 1613 – François de La Rochefoucauld, French soldier and author (d. 1680).
• 1715 – Jean-Baptiste Vaquette de Gribeauval, French general and engineer (d. 1789).
• 1759 – Cornelio Saavedra, Argentinean general and politician (d. 1829).
• 1760 – Bogislav Friedrich Emanuel von Tauentzien, Prussian general (d. 1824).
• 1830 – Porfirio Díaz, Mexican general and politician, 29th President of Mexico (d. 1915).
• 1867 – Vladimir May-Mayevsky, Russian general (d. 1920).
• 1901 – Donald Bailey, English engineer, designed Bailey bridge (d. 1985).
• 1913 – Johannes Steinhoff, German general and pilot (d. 1994).
• 1914 – Creighton Abrams, American general (d. 1974).
• 1916 – Frederick C. Weyand, American general (d. 2010).
• 1918 – Phil Lamason, New Zealand soldier and pilot (d. 2012).
• 1919 – Fausto Coppi, Italian cyclist and soldier (d. 1960).
• 1924 – Mordechai Tzipori, Israeli politician and soldier (d. 2017).
• 1927 – Rudolf Anderson, pilot and commissioned officer in the United States Air Force (d. 1962).
• 1934 – Fred Nile, Australian soldier, minister, and politician.
• 1941 – Mirosław Hermaszewski, Polish general, pilot, and astronaut.
• 1947 – Russel L. Honoré, retired lieutenant general best known for serving as commander of Joint Task Force Katrina responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina-affected areas across the Gulf Coast.
• 1953 – Margie Moran, Filipino peace advocate and beauty queen, Miss Universe 1973.
• 1955 – Željka Antunović, Croatian politician, 9th Croatian Minister of Defence.
• 1959 – Mark Kirk, American commander, lawyer, and politician.
• 1963 – Stephen C. Spiteri, Maltese military historian.
• 1975 – Tom Dolan, American swimmer.

People (Deaths)

• 1146 – Alan, 1st Earl of Richmond, English soldier (b. 1100).
• 1813 – Antoine Étienne de Tousard, French general and engineer (b. 1752).
• 1842 – Francisco Morazán, Guatemalan general, lawyer, and politician, President of Central American Federation (b. 1792).
• 1864 – John Hanning Speke, English soldier and explorer (b. 1827).
• 1921 – Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, Austrian-Russian general (b. 1886).
• 1975 – Franco Bordoni, Italian race car driver and pilot (b. 1913).
• 1978 – Willy Messerschmitt, German engineer and academic, designed the Messerschmitt Bf 109 (b. 1898).
• 2007 – Jeremy Moore, English general (b. 1928).
• 2015 – Meir Pa’il, Israeli commander, historian, and politician (b. 1926).
• 2015 – Bernard Van de Kerckhove, Belgian cyclist (b. 1941).