This day in History - September 7

1191 – Third Crusade: Battle of Arsuf – Richard I of England defeats Saladin at Arsuf.
1228 – Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II landed in Acre, Palestine and started the Sixth Crusade, which resulted in a peaceful restitution of the Kingdom of Jerusalem.
1652 – Around 15,000 Han farmers and militia rebel against Dutch rule on Taiwan.
1776 – According to American colonial reports, Ezra Lee makes the world's first submarine attack in the Turtle, attempting to attach a time bomb to the hull of HMS Eagle in New York Harbor (no British records of this attack exist).
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of Borodino – Napoleon wins a Pyrrhic victory over the Russian army of Alexander I near the village of Borodino.
1818 – Carl III of Sweden-Norway is crowned king of Norway, in Trondheim.
1822 – Dom Pedro I declares Brazil independent from Portugal on the shores of the Ipiranga Brook in São Paulo.
1864 – American Civil War: Atlanta, Georgia, is evacuated on orders of Union General William Tecumseh Sherman.
1876 – In Northfield, Minnesota, Jesse James and the James-Younger Gang attempt to rob the town's bank but are driven off by armed citizens.
1893 – The Genoa Cricket & Athletic Club, to become one of the oldest Italian football clubs, is established by British expats.
1895 – The first game of what would become known as rugby league football is played, in England, starting the 1895–96 Northern Rugby Football Union season.
1901 – The Boxer Rebellion in China officially ends with the signing of the Boxer Protocol.

1906 – Alberto Santos-Dumont flies his 14-bis aircraft at Bagatelle, France for the first time successfully. 1907 – Cunard Line's RMS Lusitania sets sail on her maiden voyage from Liverpool, England to New York City.
1909 – Eugene Lefebvre crashes a new French-built Wright biplane during a test flight at Juvisy, south of Paris, becoming the first 'pilot' in the world to lose his life in a powered heavier-than-air craft.
1911 – French poet Guillaume Apollinaire is arrested and put in jail on suspicion of stealing the Mona Lisa from the Louvre museum.
1916 – Federal employees win the right to Workers' compensation by Federal Employers Liability Act (39 Stat. 742; 5 U.S.C. 751)
1920 – Two newly purchased Savoia flying boats crash in the Swiss Alps en-route to Finland where they would serve with the Suomen Ilmavoimat, killing both crews.
1921 – In Atlantic City, New Jersey, the first Miss America Pageant, a two-day event, is held.
1921 – Legion of Mary is founded in Dublin, Ireland.
1922 – In Aydin, Turkey, independence of Aydin, from Greek occupation.
1927 – The first fully electronic television system is achieved by Philo Taylor Farnsworth.
1929 – Steamer Kuru capsizes and sinks on Lake Näsijärvi near Tampere in Finland. 136 lives are lost. 1936 – The last surviving member of the thylacine species, Benjamin, dies alone in her cage at the Hobart Zoo in Tasmania.

1940 – World War II: The Blitz – Nazi Germany begins to rain bombs on London. This will be the first of 57 consecutive nights of bombing.
1940 – Treaty of Craiova: Romania loses Southern Dobrudja to Bulgaria.
1942 – Holocaust: 8,700 Jews of Kolomyia (western Ukraine) sent by German Gestapo to death camp in Belzec.
1942 – First flight of the Consolidated B-32 Dominator.
1943 – A fire at the Gulf Hotel in Houston, Texas, kills 55 people.
1943 – World War II: The German 17th Army begins its evacuation of the Kuban River bridgehead (Taman Peninsula) in southern Russia and moves across the Strait of Kerch to the Crimea.
1945 – Japanese forces on Wake Island, which they had held since December of 1941, surrender to U.S. Marines.
1953 – Nikita Khrushchev is elected first secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1963 – The Pro Football Hall of Fame opens in Canton, Ohio with 17 charter members.
1965 – China announces that it will reinforce its troops on the Indian border.
1965 – Vietnam War: In a follow-up to August's Operation Starlight, United States Marines and South Vietnamese forces initiate Operation Piranha on the Batangan Peninsula.
1970 – Fighting between Arab guerrillas and government forces in Amman, Jordan.
1970 – Bill Shoemaker sets record for most lifetime wins as a jockey (passing Johnny Longden).
1977 – The Torrijos-Carter Treaties between Panama and the United States on the status of the Panama Canal are signed. The United States agrees to transfer control of the canal to Panama at the end of the 20th century.
1978 – While walking across Waterloo Bridge in London, Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov is assassinated by Bulgarian secret police agent Francesco Giullino by means of a ricin pellet fired from a specially-designed umbrella.

1979 – The Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, better known as ESPN, makes its debut. 1979 – The Chrysler Corporation asks the United States government for USD $1.5 billion to avoid bankruptcy.
1986 – Desmond Tutu becomes the first black man to lead the Anglican Church in South Africa.
1986 – Gen. Augusto Pinochet, president of Chile, escapes attempted assassination.
1988 – Abdul Ahad Mohmand, the first Afghan in space, returns aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz TM-5 after 9 days on the Mir space station.
1996 – American Hip-Hop star Tupac Shakur is fatally shot four times on the Las Vegas strip after leaving the Tyson-Seldon boxing match.
1999 – A 5.9 magnitude earthquake rocks Athens, rupturing a previously unknown fault, killing 143, injuring more than 500, and leaving 50,000 people homeless.
2004 – Hurricane Ivan, a Category 5 hurricane hits Grenada, killing 39 and damaging 90% of its buildings. 2005 – Egypt holds its first-ever multi-party presidential election.
2008 – The US Government takes control of the two largest mortgage financing companies in the US, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
2011 – 43 members of the Lokomotive franchise of the Kontinental Hockey League died in a place crash in Russia. Among dead from the crash included former National Hockey League players Pavol Demitra, Brad McCrimmon, and Josef Vasicek. Wikipedia

This day in History - September 6

Funeral of Diana

1492 – Christopher Columbus sails from La Gomera in the Canary Islands, his final port of call before crossing the Atlantic for the first time.
1522 – The Victoria, the only surviving ship of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, returns to Sanlúcar de Barrameda in Spain, becoming the first ship to circumnavigate the world.
1620 – The Pilgrims sail from Plymouth, England, on the Mayflower to settle in North America. (Old Style date; September 16 per New Style date.)
1628 – Puritans settle Salem, which will later become part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1634 – Thirty Years' War: In the Battle of Nördlingen the Catholic Imperial army defeats Protestant armies of Sweden and Germany.
1781 – The Battle of Groton Heights takes place, resulting a British victory.
1847 – Henry David Thoreau leaves Walden Pond and moves in with Ralph Waldo Emerson and his family in Concord, Massachusetts.
1861 – American Civil War: Forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant bloodlessly capture Paducah, Kentucky, which gives the Union control of the mouth of the Tennessee River.
1863 – American Civil War: Confederates evacuate Battery Wagner and Morris Island in South Carolina. 1870 – Louisa Ann Swain of Laramie, Wyoming becomes the first woman in the United States to cast a vote legally after 1807.
1885 – Eastern Rumelia declares its union with Bulgaria. The Unification of Bulgaria is accomplished.
1888 – Charles Turner becomes the first bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season – a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
1901 – Anarchist Leon Czolgosz shoots and fatally wounds US President William McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

1930 – Democratically elected Argentine president Hipólito Yrigoyen is deposed in a military coup.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: The start of the Battle of El Mazuco.
1939 – World War II: The Battle of Barking Creek.
1939 – World War II: South Africa declares war on Germany.
1940 – King Carol II of Romania abdicates and is succeeded by his son Michael.
1943 – The Monterrey Institute of Technology, one of the largest and most influential private universities in Latin America, is founded in Monterrey, Mexico.
1944 – World War II: The city of Ypres, Belgium is liberated by allied forces.
1948 – Juliana becomes Queen of the Netherlands.
1949 – Allied military authorities relinquish control of former Nazi Germany assets back to German control. 1949 – A former sharpshooter in World War II, Howard Unruh kills 13 neighbors in Camden, New Jersey, with a souvenir Luger to become the first U.S. single-episode mass murderer.
1952 – Canada's first television station, CBFT-TV, opens in Montreal.
1955 – Istanbul Pogrom: Istanbul's Greek and Armenian minority are the target of a government-sponsored pogrom. 1963 – The Centre for International Industrial Property Studies (CEIPI) is founded.
1965 – War of 1965: India retaliates following Pakistan's Operation Grand Slam which resulted in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 that ends in a stalemate and follows the signing of the Tashkent Declaration.
1966 – In Cape Town, South Africa, the architect of Apartheid, Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, is stabbed to death during a parliamentary meeting.
1968 – Swaziland becomes independent.
1970 – Two passenger jets bound from Europe to New York are simultaneously hijacked by Palestinian terrorist members of PFLP and taken to Dawson's Field in Jordan.
1972 – Munich Massacre: 9 Israel athletes taken hostage at the Munich Olympic Games by the Palestinian "Black September" terrorist group died (as did a German policeman) at the hands of the kidnappers during a failed rescue attempt. 2 other Israeli athletes are slain in the initial attack the previous day.

1976 – Cold War: Soviet air force pilot Lt. Viktor Belenko lands a MiG-25 jet fighter at Hakodate on the island of Hokkaidō in Japan and requests political asylum in the United States.
1983 – The Soviet Union admits to shooting down Korean Air Flight KAL-007, stating that the pilots did not know it was a civilian aircraft when it violated Soviet airspace.
1985 – Midwest Express Airlines Flight 105, a Douglas DC-9 crashes just after takeoff from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, killing 31.
1986 – In Istanbul, two terrorists from Abu Nidal's organization kill 22 and wound six inside the Neve Shalom synagogue during Shabbat services.
1991 – The Soviet Union recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. 1991 – The name Saint Petersburg is restored to Russia's second largest city, which had been renamed Leningrad in 1924.
1992 – Hunters discover the emaciated body of Christopher Johnson McCandless at his camp 20 miles (32 km) west of the town of Healy, Alaska.

1995 – Cal Ripken Jr of the Baltimore Orioles plays in his 2,131st consecutive game, breaking a record that stood for 56 years.
1997 – Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Over a million people lined the streets and 2.5 billion watched around the world on television.
2008 – Turkish President Abdullah Gül attends an association football match in Armenia after an invitation by Armenian President Serzh Sarkisyan; he is the first Turkish head of state to visit the country. Wikipedia

A history of conflicts

Browse the timeline of war and conflict across the globe. Visit conflicthistory.com

This day in History - September 5

Hanns Martin Schleyer

1590 – Alexander Farnese's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris.
1661 – Fall of Nicolas Fouquet: Louis XIV Superintendent of Finances is arrested in Nantes by D'Artagnan, captain of the king's musketeers.
1666 – Great Fire of London ends: 10,000 buildings including St. Paul's Cathedral are destroyed, but only 6 people are known to have died.
1698 – In an effort to Westernize his nobility, Tsar Peter I of Russia imposes a tax on beards for all men except the clergy and peasantry.
1725 – Wedding of Louis XV and Maria Leszczyńska.
1774 – First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1781 – Battle of the Chesapeake in the American Revolutionary War.
1793 – French Revolution the French National Convention initiates the Reign of Terror.
1798 – Conscription is made mandatory in France by the Jourdan law.
1800 – Napoleon surrenders Malta to Great Britain.
1812– War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Wayne begins when Chief Winamac's forces attack two soldiers returning from the fort's outhouses.
1816 – Louis XVIII has to dissolve the Chambre introuvable ("Unobtainable Chamber").
1836 – Sam Houston is elected as the first president of the Republic of Texas.
1839 – United Kingdom declared First Opium War on the Qing Dynasty of China.
1840 – Premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Un giorno di regno at La Scala of Milan.
1862 – American Civil War: the Potomac River is crossed at White's Ford in the Maryland Campaign.
1862 – James Glaisher, pioneering meteorologist and Henry Tracey Coxwell break world record for altitude whilst collecting data in their balloon.

1864 – Achille François Bazaine becomes Marshall of France.
1877 – Indian Wars: Oglala Sioux chief Crazy Horse is bayoneted by a United States soldier after resisting confinement in a guardhouse at Fort Robinson in Nebraska.
1882 – The first United States Labor Day parade is held in New York City.
1887 – Fire at Theatre Royal in Exeter, England killed 186
1905 – Russo-Japanese War: In New Hampshire, USA, the Treaty of Portsmouth, mediated by US President Theodore Roosevelt, ends the war.
1906 – The first legal forward pass in American football is thrown by Bradbury Robinson of St. Louis University to teammate Jack Schneider in a 22–0 victory over Carroll College (Wisconsin).
1914 – World War I: First Battle of the Marne begins. Northeast of Paris, the French attack and defeat German forces who are advancing on the capital.
1915 – The pacifist Zimmerwald Conference begins.
1918 – Decree "On Red Terror" is published in Russia
1927 – The first Oswald the Lucky Rabbit cartoon, Trolley Troubles, produced by Walt Disney, is released by Universal Pictures.
1932 – The French Upper Volta is broken apart between Ivory Coast, French Sudan, and Niger.
1937 – Spanish Civil War: Llanes falls.
1938 – Chile: A group of youths affiliated with the fascist National Socialist Movement of Chile are assassinated in the Seguro Obrero massacre.
1941 – Whole territory of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany.
1942 – World War II: Japanese high command orders withdrawal at Milne Bay, first Japanese defeat in the Pacific War.
1943 – World War II: The 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment lands and occupies Nazdab, near Lae in the Salamaua-Lae campaign.

1944 – Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg constitute Benelux.
1945 – Cold War: Igor Gouzenko, a Soviet Union embassy clerk, defects to Canada, exposing Soviet espionage in North America, signalling the beginning of the Cold War.
1945 – Iva Toguri D'Aquino, a Japanese-American suspected of being wartime radio propagandist Tokyo Rose, is arrested in Yokohama.
1948 – In France, Robert Schuman becomes President of the Council while being Foreign minister, As such, he is the negotiator of the major treaties of the end of World War II.
1957 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista bombs the revolt in Cienfuegos.
1960 – The poet Léopold Sédar Senghor is elected as the first President of Senegal.
1960 – The boxer Muhammad Ali (then Cassius Clay) is awarded the gold medal for his first place in the light heavyweight boxing competition at the Olympic Games in Rome.
1961 – The first conference of the Non Aligned Countries is held in Belgrade.
1969 – My Lai Massacre: U.S. Army Lt. William Calley is charged with six specifications of premeditated murder for the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians in My Lai.
1970 – Vietnam War: Operation Jefferson Glenn begins: the United States 101st Airborne Division and the South Vietnamese 1st Infantry Division initiate a new operation in Thừa Thiên-Huế Province.
1972 – Munich Massacre: A Palestinian terrorist group called "Black September" attack and take hostage 11 Israel athletes at the Munich Olympic Games. 2 die in the attack and 9 die the following day.

1975 – Sacramento, California: Lynette Fromme attempts to assassinate U.S. President Gerald Ford.
1977 – Hanns Martin Schleyer, is kidnapped in Cologne, West Germany by the Red Army Faction and is later murdered.
1977 – Voyager program: Voyager 1 is launched after a brief delay.
1978 – Camp David Accords: Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat begin peace process at Camp David, Maryland.
1980 – The St. Gotthard Tunnel opens in Switzerland as the world's longest highway tunnel at 10.14 miles (16.224 km) stretching from Goschenen to Airolo.
1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery lands after its maiden voyage.
1984 – Western Australia becomes the last Australian state to abolish capital punishment.
1986 – Pan Am Flight 73 with 358 people on board is hijacked at Karachi International Airport.
1991 – The current international treaty defending indigenous peoples, Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989, came into force.
2000 – Tuvalu joins the United Nations.
2005 – Mandala Airlines Flight 091 crashes into a heavily populated residential of Sumatra, Indonesia, killing 104 people on board and at least 39 persons on ground. Wikipedia

This day in History - September 4

Google Foundation

1260 – The Sienese Ghibellines, supported by the forces of King Manfred of Sicily, defeat the Florentine Guelphs at Montaperti.
1666 – In London, England, the most destructive damage from the Great Fire occurs.
1781 – Los Angeles, California, is founded as El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora La Reina de los Ángeles de Porciúncula (The Village of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels of Porziuncola) by 44 Spanish settlers.
1797 – Coup of 18 Fructidor in France.
1812 – War of 1812: The Siege of Fort Harrison begins when the fort is set on fire.
1862 – Civil War Maryland Campaign: General Robert E. Lee takes the Army of Northern Virginia, and the war, into the North.
1867 – Sheffield Wednesday Football Club: formed.
1870 – Emperor Napoleon III of France is deposed and the Third Republic is declared.
1884 – The United Kingdom ends its policy of penal transportation to New South Wales in Australia. (Needs sources: actual evidence suggests this ended in May 1840. http://www.migrationheritage.nsw.gov.au/exhibition/objectsthroughtime/order-ending-transportation-to-nsw/) 1886 – Indian Wars: after almost 30 years of fighting, Apache leader Geronimo, with his remaining warriors, surrenders to General Nelson Miles in Arizona.

1888 – George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak and receives a patent for his camera that uses roll film.
1919 – Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who founded the Republic of Turkey, gathers a congress in Sivas to make decisions as to the future of Anatolia and Thrace.
1923 – Maiden flight of the first U.S. airship, the USS Shenandoah.
1939 – World War II: a Bristol Blenheim is the first British aircraft to cross the German coast following the declaration of war and German ships are bombed.
1941 – World War II: a German submarine makes the first attack against a United States ship, the USS Greer.
1944 – World War II: the British 11th Armoured Division liberates the Belgian city of Antwerp.
1944 – World War II: Finland exits from the war with Soviet Union.
1948 – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands abdicates for health reasons.
1949 – Maiden flight of the Bristol Brabazon.
1949 – The Peekskill Riots erupt after a Paul Robeson concert in Peekskill, New York.
1950 – First appearance of the "Beetle Bailey" comic strip.

1950 – Darlington Raceway is the site of the inaugural Southern 500, the first 500-mile NASCAR race. 1951 – The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, California, from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference.
1956 – The IBM RAMAC 305 is introduced, the first commercial computer to use magnetic disk storage. 1957 – American Civil Rights Movement: Little Rock Crisis – Orval Faubus, governor of Arkansas, calls out the National Guard to prevent African American students from enrolling in Central High School.
1957 – The Ford Motor Company introduces the Edsel.
1963 – Swissair Flight 306 crashes near Dürrenäsch, Switzerland, killing all 80 people on board.
1964 – Scotland's Forth Road Bridge near Edinburgh officially opens.
1967 – Vietnam War: Operation Swift begins: U.S. Marines engage the North Vietnamese in battle in the Que Son Valley.
1971 – Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 crashes near Juneau, Alaska, killing all 111 people on board.
1972 – Mark Spitz becomes the first competitor to win seven medals at a single Olympic Games.
1975 – The Sinai Interim Agreement relating to the Arab-Israeli conflict is signed.
1977 – The Golden Dragon Massacre took place in San Francisco, California.
1985 – The discovery of Buckminsterfullerene, the first fullerene molecule of carbon.

1996 – War on Drugs: Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) attack a military base in Guaviare, starting three weeks of guerrilla warfare in which at least 130 Colombians are killed.
1998 – Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, two students at Stanford University.
2010 – Canterbury earthquake: a 7.1 magnitude earthquake which struck the South Island of New Zealand at 4:35 am causing widespread damage and several power outages.

This day in History - September 3

Beslan school hostage crysis

1189 – Richard I of England (a.k.a. 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.
1650 – Third English Civil War: in the Battle of Dunbar, English Parliamentarian forces led by Oliver Cromwell defeat an army loyal to King Charles II of England and led by David Leslie, Lord Newark.
1651 – Third English Civil War: Battle of Worcester – Charles II of England is defeated in the last main battle of the war.
1658 – Richard Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of England
1666 – The Royal Exchange burns down in the Great Fire of London
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. 1802 – William Wordsworth composes the sonnet Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802.
1803 – English scientist John Dalton begins using symbols to represent the atoms of different elements.
1812 – 24 settlers are killed in the Pigeon Roost Massacre in Indiana.
1838 – Future abolitionist Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery.

1855 – 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 between 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 October 23.
1874 – The congress of the state of México elevates Naucalpan to the category of Villa, with the title of "Villa de Juárez".
1875 – The first official game of Polo is played in Argentina after being introduced by British Ranchers.
1878 – Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
1914 – William, Prince of Albania leaves the country after just six months due to opposition to his rule.
1925 – USS Shenandoah (ZR-1), 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.

1933 – Yevgeniy Abalakov is the first man to reach the highest point in the Soviet Union, Communism Peak (now called Ismoil Somoni Peak and situated in Tajikistan) (7495 m).
1935 – Sir Malcolm Campbell reaches a speed of 304.331 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, becoming the first person to drive an automobile over 300 mph
1939 – World War II: France, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Australia declare war on Germany after the invasion of Poland, forming the Allies.
1941 – 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, in present-day Belarus.
1944 – Holocaust: diarist Anne Frank and her family are placed on the last transport train from Westerbork to Auschwitz, arriving three days later.
1945 – Three-day celebration was held in China, following the Victory over Japan Day on September 2. 1950 – "Nino" Farina becomes the first Formula One Drivers' champion after winning the 1950 Italian Grand Prix.
1951 – The first long-running American television soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, airs its first episode on the CBS network.
1954 – The People's Liberation Army begins shelling the Republic of China-controlled islands of Quemoy, starting the First Taiwan Strait Crisis.
1954 – The German U-Boat U-505 begins its move from a specially constructed dock to its final site at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry.

1967 – Dagen H in Sweden: traffic changes from driving on the left to driving on the right overnight.
1971 – Qatar becomes an independent state
1976 – Viking program: The American Viking 2 spacecraft lands at Utopia Planitia on Mars.
1987 – In a coup d'état in Burundi, President Jean-Baptiste Bagaza is deposed by Major Pierre Buyoya. 1994 – Sino-Soviet Split: Russia and the People's Republic of China agree to de-target their nuclear weapons against each other.
1997 – Vietnam Airlines Flight 815 (Tupolev TU-134) crashes on approach into Phnom Penh airport, killing 64.
1999 – An 87-automobile pile-up happens on Highway 401 freeway just East of Windsor, Ontario, Canada after an unusually thick fog from Lake St. Clair.
2004 – Beslan school hostage crisis – day 3: the Beslan hostage crisis ends with the deaths of over 300 people, more than half of which are children. Wikipedia

This day in History - September 2

 Swissair Flight 111

1649 – The Italian city of Castro is completely destroyed by the forces of Pope Innocent X, ending the Wars of Castro.
1666 – The Great Fire of London breaks out and burns for three days, destroying 10,000 buildings including St Paul's Cathedral.
1752 – Great Britain adopts the Gregorian calendar, nearly two centuries later than most of Western Europe.
1789 – The United States Department of the Treasury is founded.
1792 – During what became known as the September Massacres of the French Revolution, rampaging mobs slaughter three Roman Catholic Church bishops, more than two hundred priests, and prisoners believed to be royalist sympathizers.
1806 – A massive landslide destroys the town of Goldau, Switzerland, killing 457.
1807 – The Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent Denmark from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon.
1811 – The University of Oslo is founded as The Royal Fredericks University, after Frederick VI of Denmark and Norway.
1833 – Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio is founded by John Jay Shipherd and Philo P. Stewart.
1856 – The Tianjing Incident takes place in Nanjing, China.
1859 – A solar super storm affects electrical telegraph service.
1862 – American Civil War: President Abraham Lincoln reluctantly restores Union General George B. McClellan to full command after General John Pope's disastrous defeat at the Second Battle of Bull Run. 1864 – American Civil War: Union forces enter Atlanta, Georgia, a day after the Confederate defenders flee the city.
1867 – Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Japan, marries Masako Ichijō. The Empress consort is thereafter known as Lady Haruko. Since her death in 1914, she is called by the posthumous name Empress Shōken.

1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Battle of Sedan – Prussian forces take Napoleon III of France and 100,000 of his soldiers prisoner.
1885 – Rock Springs massacre: in Rock Springs, Wyoming, 150 white miners, who are struggling to unionize so they could strike for better wages and work conditions, attack their Chinese fellow workers killing 28, wounding 15 and forcing several hundred more out of town.
1898 – Battle of Omdurman – British and Egyptian troops defeat Sudanese tribesmen and establish British dominance in Sudan.
1901 – Vice President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt utters the famous phrase, "Speak softly and carry a big stick" at the Minnesota State Fair.
1935 – Labor Day Hurricane of 1935: a large hurricane hits the Florida Keys killing 423.
1939 – World War II: following the start of the invasion of Poland the previous day, the Free City of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) is annexed by Nazi Germany.
1945 – World War II: Combat ends in the Pacific Theater: the Instrument of Surrender of Japan is signed by Japanese Foreign Minister Mamoru Shigemitsu and accepted aboard the battleship USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
1945 – Vietnam declares its independence, forming the Democratic Republic of Vietnam.

1946 – The Interim Government of India is formed with Jawaharlal Nehru as Vice President with the powers of a Prime Minister.
1957 – President Ngo Dinh Diem of South Vietnam becomes the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia.
1958 – United States Air Force C-130A-II is shot down by fighters over Yerevan in Armenia when it strays into Soviet airspace while conducting a sigint mission. All crew members are killed.
1960 – The first election of the Parliament of the Central Tibetan Administration, in history of Tibet. The Tibetan community observes this date as the Democracy Day.
1963 – CBS Evening News becomes U.S. network television's first half-hour weeknight news broadcast, when the show is lengthened from 15 to 30 minutes.
1970 – NASA announces the cancellation of two Apollo missions to the Moon, Apollo 15 (the designation is re-used by a later mission), and Apollo 19.
1990 – Transnistria is unilaterally proclaimed a Soviet republic; the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev declares the decision null and void.
1991 – The United States recognize the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. 1991 – Nagorno Karabakh declares its independence from Azerbaijan forming the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.

1992 – An earthquake in Nicaragua kills at least 116 people.
1998 – Swissair Flight 111 crashes near Peggys Cove, Nova Scotia. All 229 people on board are killed. 1998 – The UN's International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda finds Jean Paul Akayesu, the former mayor of a small town in Rwanda, guilty of nine counts of genocide. Wikipedia

This day in History - September 1

Beslan school hostage crisis

1355 – King Tvrtko I of Bosnia writes In castro nostro Vizoka vocatum from the old town of Visoki.
1532 – Lady Anne Boleyn is made Marquess of Pembroke by her fiancé, King Henry VIII of England. 1604 – Adi Granth, now known as Guru Granth Sahib, the holy scripture of Sikhs, was first installed at Harmandir Sahib.
1644 – Battle of Tippermuir: James Graham, 1st Marquess of Montrose defeats the Earl of Wemyss's Covenanters, reviving the Royalist cause.
1715 – King Louis XIV of France dies after a reign of 72 years — the longest of any major European monarch.
1763 – Catherine II of Russia endorses Ivan Betskoy's plans for a Foundling Home in Moscow
1772 – The Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa is founded in San Luis Obispo, California.
1804 – Juno, one of the largest main belt asteroids, is discovered by German astronomer Karl Ludwig Harding.
1836 – Narcissa Whitman, one of the first English-speaking white women to settle west of the Rocky Mountains, arrives at Walla Walla, Washington.
1859 – Solar Superstorm
1862 – American Civil War: Battle of Chantilly – Confederate forces attack retreating Union troops in Chantilly, Virginia.
1864 – American Civil War: Confederate General John Bell Hood evacuates Atlanta, Georgia after a four-month siege by General Sherman.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: the Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory.

1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande. 1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company.
1894 – More than 400 people die in the Great Hinckley Fire, a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota.
1897 – The Boston subway opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America. 1902 – A Trip to the Moon, considered one of the first science fiction films, is released in France.
1905 – Alberta and Saskatchewan join the Canadian confederation.
1906 – The International Federation of Intellectual Property Attorneys is established.
1910 – Sport Club Corinthians Paulista is created in São Paulo.
1911 – The armored cruiser Georgios Averof is commissioned into the Greek Navy. It now serves as a museum ship.
1914 – St. Petersburg, Russia, changes its name to Petrograd.
1914 – The last passenger pigeon, a female named Martha, dies in captivity in the Cincinnati Zoo.
1920 – The Fountain of Time opens as a tribute to the 100 years of peace between the United States and Great Britain following the Treaty of Ghent.
1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people.

1928 – Ahmet Zogu declares Albania to be a monarchy and proclaims himself king.
1934 – SMJK Sam Tet is founded by Father Fourgs from the St. Michael Church, Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning World War II.
1939 – George C. Marshall becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army.
1939 – The Wound Badge for Wehrmacht, SS, Kriegsmarine, and Luftwaffe soldiers is instituted. The final version of the Iron Cross is also instituted on this date.
1939 – Switzerland mobilizes its forces and the Swiss Parliament elects Henri Guisan to head the Swiss Army (an event that can happen only during war or mobilization).
1939 – Adolf Hitler signs an order to begin the systematic euthanasia of mentally ill and disabled people. 1951 – The United States, Australia and New Zealand sign a mutual defense pact, called the ANZUS Treaty.
1958 – Iceland expands its fishing zone, putting it into conflict with the United Kingdom, beginning the Cod Wars.
1961 – The Eritrean War of Independence officially begins with the shooting of the Ethiopian police by Hamid Idris Awate.
1969 – A revolution in Libya brings Muammar al-Gaddafi to power, which is later transferred to the People's Committees.
1969 – Tran Thien Khiem became Prime Minister of South Vietnam under President Nguyen Van Thieu. 1970 – Attempted assassination of King Hussein of Jordan by Palestinian guerrillas, who attacked his motorcade.
1972 – In Reykjavík, Iceland, American Bobby Fischer beats Russian Boris Spassky to become the world chess champion.
1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of 1 hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of 1,435.587 miles per hour (2,310.353 km/h).

1979 – The American space probe Pioneer 11 becomes the first spacecraft to visit Saturn when it passes the planet at a distance of 21,000 kilometres (13,000 mi).
1980 – Terry Fox's Marathon of Hope ends near Thunder Bay, Ontario.
1980 – Major General Chun Doo-hwan becomes president of South Korea, following the resignation of Choi Kyu-hah.
1981 – A coup d'état in the Central African Republic overthrows President David Dacko.
1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded.
1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace. All 269 on board die, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald.
1985 – A joint American–French expedition locates the wreckage of the RMS Titanic.
1990 – The Communist Labour Party of Turkey/Leninist is founded, following a split from the Communist Labour Party of Turkey.
1991 – Uzbekistan declares independence from the Soviet Union
2004 – Beslan school hostage crisis commences when armed terrorists take children and adults hostage in Beslan in North Ossetia, Russia. Wikipedia

This day in History - August 31

Diana, Princess of Wales car crash

1218 – Al-Kamil becomes Sultan of Egypt, Syria and northern Mesopotamia on the death of his father Al-Adil.
1314 – King Håkon V Magnusson moves the capital of Norway from Bergen to Oslo.
1422– King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France. His son, Henry VI becomes King of England at the age of 9 months.
1795 – War of the First Coalition: The British capture Trincomalee (present-day Sri Lanka) from the Dutch in order to keep it out of French hands.
1803 – Lewis and Clark start their expedition to the west by leaving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 11 in the morning.
1813 – At the final stage of the Peninsular War, British-Portuguese troops capture the town of Donostia (now San Sebastián), resulting in a rampage and eventual destruction of the town. Elsewhere, Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial.
1864 – During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
1876 – Ottoman Sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II.
1886 – An earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina.
1888 – Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims.
1895 – German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his Navigable Balloon.
1897 – Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.

1907 – Count Alexander Izvolsky and Sir Arthur Nicolson sign the St. Petersburg Convention, which results in the Triple Entente alliance.
1920 – Polish-Bolshevik War: a decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.
1920 – The first radio news program is broadcast by 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.
1936 – Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air.
1939 – Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day thus starting World War II in Europe.
1940 – Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.
1941 – World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica.
1943 – The USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned. 1945 – The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies.
1949 – The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece in Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War.
1957 – The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1958 – A parcel bomb sent by Ngo Dinh Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
1962 – Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.
1963 – Sarawak, North Borneo and Singapore achieve technical independence pending accession to the Federation of Malaysia
1965 – The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy aircraft makes its first flight.
1980 – After two weeks of nationwide strikes, the Polish government was forced to sign the Gdańsk Agreement, allowing for the creation of the trade union Solidarity.
1982 – Anti-government demonstrations are held in 66 Polish cities to commemorate the second anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement.
1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
1986 – The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.
1987 – Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard. 1991 – Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo.

1994 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
1996 – Saddam Hussein's troops seized Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.
1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.
1998 – North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, its first satellite.
1999 – The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.
1999 – A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground.
2005 – A stampede on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills 1,199 people.
2006 – Stolen on August 22, 2004, Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.
2010 – The last episode of The Bill, the longest-running police procedural television series in the United Kingdom, is aired on ITV1.

This day in History - August 30

The Battle of Alam Halfa 

1363 – Beginning date of the Battle of Lake Poyang; the forces of two Chinese rebel leaders — Chen Youliang and Zhu Yuanzhang — are pitted against each other in what is one of the largest naval battles in history, during the last decade of the ailing, Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty.
1574 – Guru Ram Das becomes the Fourth Sikh Guru/Master.
1590 – Tokugawa Ieyasu enters Edo Castle. (Traditional Japanese date: August 1, 1590)
1791 – HMS Pandora sinks after having run aground on a reef the previous day.
1799 – The entire Dutch fleet is captured by British forces under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell[disambiguation needed] during the Second Coalition of the French Revolutionary Wars.
1800 – Gabriel Prosser postpones a planned slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia, but is arrested before he can make it happen.
1813 – Battle of Kulm: French forces are defeated by an Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance.
1813 – Creek War – Fort Mims massacre: Creek "Red Sticks" kill over 500 settlers (including over 250 armed militia) in Fort Mims, north of Mobile, Alabama.
1836 – The city of Houston is founded by Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen
1862 – American Civil War – Battle of Richmond: Confederates under Edmund Kirby Smith rout Union forces under General Horatio Wright.
1873 – Austrian explorers Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht discover the archipelago of Franz Joseph Land in the Arctic Sea.
1897 – The town of Ambiky is captured by France from Menabe in Madagascar.
1896 – Philippine Revolution: After Spanish victory in the Battle of San Juan del Monte, eight provinces in the Philippines are declared under martial law by the Spanish Governor-General Ramón Blanco y Erenas. 1909 – Burgess Shale fossils are discovered by Charles Doolittle Walcott.
1914 – World War I: Germans defeat the Russians in the Battle of Tannenberg
1918 – Fanny Kaplan shoots and seriously injures Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin. This, along with the assassination of Bolshevik senior official Moisei Uritsky days earlier, prompts the decree for Red Terror.

1922 – Battle of Dumlupinar: the final battle in the Greek-Turkish War ("Turkish War of Independence"). 1940 – The Second Vienna Award re-assigns the territory of Northern Transylvania from Romania to Hungary.
1942 – World War II: the Battle of Alam Halfa begins.
1945 – Hong Kong is liberated from Japan by British Armed Forces.
1945 – The Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces, General Douglas MacArthur lands at Atsugi Air Force Base.
1945 – The Allied Control Council, governing Germany after World War II, comes into being.
1956 – The Lake Pontchartrain Causeway opens.
1962 – Japan conducts a test of the NAMC YS-11, its first aircraft since World War II and its only successful commercial aircraft from before or after the war.
1963 – The Hotline between the leaders of the U.S.A. and the Soviet Union goes into operation.
1967 – Thurgood Marshall is confirmed as the first African American Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
1974 – A Belgrade–Dortmund express train derails at the main train station in Zagreb killing 153 passengers. 1974 – A powerful bomb explodes at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries headquarters in Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan. 8 are killed, 378 are injured. Eight left-wing activists are arrested on May 19, 1975 by Japanese authorities.
1981 – President Mohammad-Ali Rajai and Prime Minister Mohammad-Javad Bahonar of Iran are assassinated in a bombing committed by the People's Mujahedin of Iran.
1984 – STS-41-D: The Space Shuttle Discovery takes off on its maiden voyage.

1995 – NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces.

This day in History - August 29

Hurricane Katrina

1498 – Vasco da Gama decides to depart Calicut and return to Portugal. 

1521 – The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár, now known as Belgrade. 

1526 – Battle of Mohács: The Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent defeat and kill the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia. 

1541 – The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom. 

1655 – Warsaw falls without resistance to a small force under the command of Charles X Gustav of Sweden during The Deluge. 

1756 – Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War. 

1758 – The first American Indian Reservation is established, at Indian Mills, New Jersey. 

1786 – Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens. 

1825 – Portugal recognizes the Independence of Brazil. 

1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction. 

1833 – The United Kingdom legislates the abolition of slavery in its empire. 

1835 – The city of Melbourne, Australia is founded.

1842 – Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War. 

1861 – American Civil War: US Navy squadron captures forts at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina. 

1869 – The Mount Washington Cog Railway opens, making it the world's first rack railway. 

1871 – Emperor Meiji orders the Abolition of the han system and the establishment of prefectures as local centers of administration. (Traditional Japanese date: July 14, 1871). 

1885 – Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first internal combustion motorcycle, the Reitwagen 

1898 – The Goodyear tire company is founded. 

1903 – The Russian battleship Slava, the last of the five Borodino-class battleships, is launched. 

1907 – The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.

1910 – The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, becomes effective, officially starting the period of Japanese rule in Korea. 

1911 – Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California. 

1915 – US Navy salvage divers raise F-4, the first U.S. submarine sunk in accident. 

1916 – The United States passes the Philippine Autonomy Act. 

1918 – Bapaume taken by the New Zealand Division in the Hundred Days Offensive. 

1922 – The first radio advertisement is broadcast on WEAF-AM in New York City. 

1930 – The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland. 1941 – Tallinn, the Capital of Estonia is occupied by Nazi Germany following an occupation by the Soviet Union. 

1943 – German-occupied Denmark scuttles most of its navy; Germany dissolves the Danish government. 1944 – Slovak National Uprising takes place as 60,000 Slovak troops turn against the Nazis. 

1949 – Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. 

1950 – Korean War: British troops arrive in Korea to bolster the US presence there. 

1958 – United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

1965 – The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth, landing in the Atlantic ocean. 

1966 – The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. 1970 – Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Ruben Salazar. 

1982 – The synthetic chemical element Meitnerium, atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany. 

1991 – Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party. 

1991 – Libero Grassi, an Italian businessman from Palermo is killed by the Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands.

 1996 – Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, a Vnukovo Airlines Tupolev Tu-154, crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard.

1997 – At least 98 villagers are killed by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria. 

2003 – Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf. 

2005 – Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing more than 1,836 and causing over $80 billion in damage. 

2007 – United States Air Force nuclear weapons incident: six US cruise missiles armed with nuclear warheads are flown without proper authorization from Minot Air Force Base to Barksdale Air Force Base.

This day in History - August 28

The Plainfiled Tornado

1189 – Third Crusade: the Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan
1521 – The Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.
1542 – Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557) – Battle of Wofla: the Portuguese are scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama is captured and later executed.
1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.
1619 – Ferdinand II is elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
1640 – Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn.
1789 – William Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn.
1810 – Battle of Grand Port – the French accept the surrender of a British Navy fleet.
1830 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam's role in US railroading.
1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 receives Royal Assent, abolishing slavery through most the British Empire.
1845 – The first issue of Scientific American magazine is published.

1849 – After a month-long siege, Venice, which had declared itself independent as the Republic of San Marco, surrenders to Austria.
1859 – A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far away as Japan.
1862 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the Battle of Second Manassas.
1867 – The United States takes possession of the, at this point unoccupied, Midway Atoll.
1879 – Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British.
1898 – Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink "Pepsi-Cola".
1901 – Silliman University is founded in the Philippines. The first American private school in the country.
1909 – A group of mid-level Greek Army officers launches the Goudi coup, seeking wide-ranging reforms.
1913 – Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.

1914 – World War I: the Royal Navy defeats the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
1914 – World War I: German troops conquer Namur.
1916 – World War I: Germany declares war on Romania.
1916 – World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.
1917 – Ten Suffragettes are arrested while picketing the White House.
1924 – The Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.
1931 – France and Soviet Union sign a treaty of non-aggression.
1937 – Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
1943 – World War II: in Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation is started.
1944 – World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.
1953 – Nippon Television broadcasts Japan's first television show, including its first TV advertisement.
1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.

1957 – U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond begins a filibuster to prevent the Senate from voting on Civil Rights Act of 1957; he stopped speaking 24 hours and 18 minutes later, the longest filibuster ever conducted by a single Senator.
1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech
1963 – Emily Hoffert and Janice Wylie are murdered in their Manhattan flat, prompting the events that would lead to the passing of the Miranda Rights.
1964 – The Philadelphia race riot begins.
1968 – Riots in Chicago, Illinois, during the Democratic National Convention.
1979 – An IRA bomb explodes on the Grand Place in Brussels.
1988 – Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured.
1990 – Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.
1990 – The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hits in Plainfield, Illinois, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.
1991 – Ukraine declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1991 – Collapse of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
1996 – Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales divorce.
1998 – Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate. Wikipedia

Hippies

The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s, swiftly spreading to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into New York City's Greenwich Village, San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, and similar urban areas. Both the words "hip" and "hep" came from black American culture and denote awareness. To say "I'm hip to the situation" means "I am aware of the situation."[citation needed] Thus the word "hippie" means "one who is aware," and expanded awareness was a goal of the movement. The early hippie ideology included the countercultural values of the Beat Generation. Some created their own social groups and communities, listened to psychedelic rock, opposed the Vietnam War, embraced the sexual revolution, and used drugs such as marijuana, LSD and "magic" mushrooms to explore alternative states of consciousness

The foundation of the hippie movement finds historical precedent as far back as the counterculture of the Ancient Greeks, espoused by philosophers like Diogenes of Sinope and the Cynics also as early forms of hippie culture. Hippie philosophy also credits the religious and spiritual teachings of Gandhi, Hillel the Elder, Buddha, Mazdak, St. Francis of Assisi, Henry David Thoreau, and Jesus Christ.
The first signs of what we would call modern "proto-hippies" emerged in fin de siècle Europe. Between 1896 and 1908, a German youth movement arose as a countercultural reaction to the organized social and cultural clubs that centered around German folk music. Known as Der Wandervogel ("migratory bird"), the movement opposed the formality of traditional German clubs, instead emphasizing amateur music and singing, creative dress, and communal outings involving hiking and camping.

Inspired by the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, Goethe, Hermann Hesse, and Eduard Baltzer, Wandervogel attracted thousands of young Germans who rejected the rapid trend toward urbanization and yearned for the pagan, back-to-nature spiritual life of their ancestors. During the first several decades of the twentieth century, Germans settled around the United States, bringing the values of the Wandervogel with them. Some opened the first health food stores, and many moved to Southern California where they could practice an alternative lifestyle in a warm climate. Over time, young Americans adopted the beliefs and practices of the new immigrants. One group, called the "Nature Boys", took to the California desert and raised organic food, espousing a back-to-nature lifestyle like the Wandervogel. Songwriter Eden Ahbez wrote a hit song called Nature Boy inspired by Robert Bootzin (Gypsy Boots), who helped popularize health-consciousness, yoga, and organic food in the United States. Wikipedia

This day in History - August 27

1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned as junior king and queen of England.
1232 – The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated by Regent Hōjō Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 1232)
1689 – The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire.
1776 – The Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1793 – French counter-revolution: the port of Toulon revolts and admits the British fleet, which lands troops and seizes the port leading to Siege of Toulon.
1798 – Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connaught.
1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France.
1813 – French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
1828 – Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great Britain between Brazil and Argentina during the Argentina-Brazil War.
1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.
1861 – Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.

1916 – Romania declares war against Austria-Hungary, entering World War I as one of the Allied nations.
1921 – The British install the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali (leader of the Arab Revolt of 1916 against the Ottoman Empire) as King Faisal I of Iraq.
1922 – The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Greeks.
1927 – Five Canadian women file a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?"
1928 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by the first 15 nations to do so. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.
1943 – Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
1957 – The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force.
1962 – The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by NASA.

1969 – Israeli commando force penetrates deep into Egyptian territory to stage a mortar attack on regional Egyptian Army headquarters in the Nile Valley of Upper Egypt.
1971 – An attempted coup fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations.
1975 – The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.
1979 – A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Shortly after, 18 British Army soldiers are killed in an ambush near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland (see Warrenpoint ambush).
1982 – Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altıkat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital. Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide claim responsibility, saying they are avenging the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
1985 – The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
1990 – Stevie Ray Vaughan dies in a helicopter crash.

1991 – The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1991 – Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
1993 – The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.
2000 – 540-metre (1,772 ft)-tall Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.
2003 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
2009 – The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies begin three days of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region. Wikipedia