16th of August

Today is the 228th day of the year with 137 days remaining.

1777 - The Americans led by General John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.

1780 - The British defeat the Americans in South Carolina at the Battle of Camden.

1812 - American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army during the War of 1812.

1841 - U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States.  Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.

1858 - U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

1868 - Arica, Peru, now in Chile, is devastated by a tsunami that follows an earthquake off the coast.  Both events kills and estimated 25,000 people in Arica and most likely 45,000 others.

1896 - Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack, and Dawson Charlie discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada, setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.

1914 - The Battle of Cer during the War to End All Wars begins.

1920 - Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and dies early the next day.  To date, Chapman is only the second lpayer to die from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game.

1920 - American poet Charles Bukowski is born.

1930 - The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is made by Ub Iwerks.

1938 - American blues musician, Robert Johnson dies at the age of 27.  A story surrounds his death that he drank from an open bottle of whiskey that was offered to him, and supposedly was poisoned.  He began to feel ill and over the next three days steadily worsened, and that he died in a convulsive state of severe pain.

1940 - The Communist Party is banned in German-occupied Norway during the Second World War.

1942 - The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol over the Pacific Ocean.  The blimp drifts without her crew and crash-lands in Daly City, California.

1944 - The first flight of the Junkers Ju 287 occurs.

1948 - George Herman "Babe" Ruth, American baseball legend, passes away at the age of 53. 

1954 - The first edition of the magazine Sports Illustrated is published.

1956 - Bela Lugosi, the Hungarian Jewish actor famous for playing Count Dracula, dies at the age of 73.

1960 - Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1960 - Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at 102, 800 feet (31,300 m).  He sets three records that stand today, high-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed by a human without an aircraft.

1964 - A coup d'etat replaces Duong Van Minh with General Nguyen Kanh as President of South Vietnam.  A new constitution is established with aid from the United States Embassy.

1966 - The House Un-American Activities Committee begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong.  The committee intends to introduce legislation making these activities illegal.  Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting and 50 people are arrested.
 
1989 - A solar flare from the Sun, creates a geomagnetic storm that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on Toronto's stock market.

Elvis Presley - King of Rock and Roll dies in 1977 at the age of 42.  He suffered from many ailments including glaucoma, high blood pressure, liver damage, and an enlarged colon.  Presley was supposed to fly out of Memphis that evening to begin another tour, but was found unresponsive on his bathroom floor.  Attempts to revive him failed and he was pronounced dead at 3:30 PM.  His funeral was held at his Graceland home, with approximately 80,000 people lining the processional route.

15th of August

This is the 227th day of the year with only 138 days remaining.

927 - The Saracen Army conquers and destroys Taranto.

982 - Holy Roman Emperor Otto II, is defeated by the Saracens in the battle of Capo Colonna, in Calabria.

1040 - King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth.  The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.

1057 - King Macbeth is killed at the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of Mael Coluim mac Donnchada.

1248 - The foundation stone of the Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid.  The construction will eventually be completed 632 years later.

1534 - Saint Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates take initial vows, leading to the creations of the Society of Jesus in September of six years later.

1769 - Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsican-born French military officer and dictator is born.

1824 - Freed American slaves found the country of Liberia on the African continent.

1843 - Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1859 - Charles Comiskey, American baseball owner of the Chicago White Sox is born.

1914 - A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the creator's Wisconsin home, Taliesin.  The fire kills seven and burns the building to the ground.

1935 - Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.

1941 - Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 7:12 AM, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for treason.

1944 - Operation Dragoon begins with Allied forces landing in southern France.

1945 - The celebration of VJ Day, Victory over Japan as they finally surrender.

1945 - American football player for the Oakland Raiders, Gene Upshaw is born.

1947 - India gains its independence from the British Indian Empire, and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

1948 - The Republic of Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north.

1961 - Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany, while on duty guarding the construction of the infamous Berlin Wall.

1962 - James Joseph Dresnok, defects to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, after running across the Korean DMZ.  Dresnok still resides in the capital of Pyongyang.

1963 - The execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in the country of Scotland.

1965 - The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, in an event later seen as marking the birth of stadium rock.

1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival officially opens.

1973 - The United States strategic bombing of Cambodia ceases during the Vietnam War.

1975 - Clay Shaw, American lawyer and John F. Kennedy assassination investigator passes away.

2007 - An 8.0 earthquake rocks off the Pacific Coast devastating Ica, and various regions of Peru, killing nearly 514 and injuring 1,090 people.

14th of August

It is the 226th day of the year with only 139 days that are remaining until the end of the year.

1183 - Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to Western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan.

1842 - Second Seminole War ends, and the Seminole Indians are forced from Florida all the way to Oklahoma territory.

1846 - The Cape Girardeau meteorite, a 2.3 kg chrondite-type meteorite, strikes down near the town of Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

1848 - The Oregon Territory is organized by an act of Congress.

1851 - American gambler, gunfighter, and dentist of the American Old West, John Henry "Doc" Holliday is born.

1870 - David Farragut, United States Navy Admiral during the American Civil War dies at the age of 69.  He is known for his order at the Battle of Mobile Bay, usually paraphrased as "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!"

1885 - Japan's first patent is issued to the inventor of a rust-proof paint.

1888 - A recording of English composer Arthur Sullivan's The Last Chord, one of the first recordings of music ever made, is played during a press conference introducing Thomas Edison's phonograph in London, England.

1900 - A joint European-Japanese-United States forces, the Eight-Nation Alliance, occupies Beijing, in a campaign to end the bloody Boxer Rebellion in China.

1933 - loggers cause a forest fire in the Coast Range of Oregon, later known as the first forest fire of the Tillamook Burn.  It is extinguished on September 5, after destroying nearly 240,000 acres.

1935 - United States Social Security Act passes, creating a government pension system for the retired individuals of the country.

1936 - Rainey Bethea is hanged in Ownesboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States.

1941 - Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt sign the Atlantic Charter of war stating postwar aims.

1941 - American guitarist and songwriter, known for his solo career and founding member of three instrumental bands, David Crosby is born.

1945 - Japan accepts Allied terms of surrender in World War II and the Emperor records the Imperial Rescript on Surrender.

1947 - Pakistan gains its independence from the British Indian Empire and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

1951 - American newspaper magnate, William Randolph Hearst passes away at the age of 88.

1959 - Founding and first official meeting of the American Football League.

1959 - American professional basketball point guard for the Los Angeles Lakers, Earvin "Magic" Johnson is born.

1999 - American professional baseball shortstop, Pee Wee Reese, dies at the age of 81.  He is known for his career from 1940 to 1958 with the Brooklyn / Los Angeles Dodgers, and for his support of teammate Jackie Robinson.

13th of August

Today is the 225th day of the year and 140 days are remaining until the end of the year.

1521 - Tenochtitlan, present day Mexico City, falls to conquistador Hernan Cortez.

1792 - King Louis XVI of France is formally arrested by the National Tribunal, and declared an enemy of the people.

1831 - Nat Turner sees a solar eclipse, which he believes is a sign from God.  Eight days later he and 70 other slaves kill approximately 55 whites in Southampton County, Virginia.

1889 - German Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his Navigable Balloon.

1918 - Women enlist in the United States Marine Corps for the first time.  Opha Mae Johnson is the first woman to enlist.

1918 - Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, commonly known as BMW, is established as a public company in Germany.

1926 - Cuban revolutionary and politician Fidel Castro is born.

1946 - English author and "The Father of Science Fiction," H.G. Wells passes away at the age of  79.

1949 - Bobby Clarke, Canadian professional ice hockey center, who played his 15 seasons with the Philadelphia Flyers is born. 

1960 - The Central African Republic declares independence from France.

1961 - The German Democratic Republic closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin to thwart its inhabitants attempts to escape to West Berlin.

1969 - The Apollo 11 astronauts are released from a three-week quarantine to enjoy a ticker-tape parade in New York City.  That evening, at a state dinner in Los Angeles, they are awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by U.S. President Richard Nixon.

1995 - American baseball player who played his 18-year career with the New York Yankees, Mickey Mantle dies at the age of 63.

12th of August

Today is the 224th day of the year with only 141 days remaining.

It is the peak of the Perseid meteor shower.  Surprisingly, it is also know as the "Glorious Twelfth" in the United Kingdom, as it marks the traditional start of the grouse shooting season.

30 BC - Cleopatra VII Philopator, the last ruler of the Egyptian Ptolemaic dynasty, commits suicide, allegedly by means of an asp bite.

1099 AD - Battle of Ascalon during the First Crusade, under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeats Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah.  This is considered the last engagement of the great crusade.

1281 - The Mongolian fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a typhoon while approaching Japan.

1332 - Battle of Dupplin Moor during the Wars of Scottish Independence occurs.  Scots under Domhnall II, Earl of Mar are routed by Edward Balliol.

1480 - The Battle of Otranto occurs, where Ottoman troops behead 800 Christians for refusing to convert to Islam.

1676 - Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War.

1851 - Isaac Singer is granted a patent for his sewing machine.

1880 - American baseball player Christy Mathewson is born.

1898 - An armistice ends the Spanish-American War.

1898 - The Hawaiian flag is lowered from Iolani Palace in an elaborate annexation ceremony and replaced with the flag of the United States to signify the transfer of sovereignty from the Republic of Hawai'i to the United States.

1914 - The United Kingdom declares war on Austria-Hungary; the countries of the British Empire follow suit.

1943 - Alleged date of the first Philadelphia Experiment test on United States Navy ship USS Eldridge.

1944 - Waffen SS troops massacre 560 people in Sant'Anna di Stazzema.

1944 - Alencon is liberated by General Leclerc, the first city in France to be liberated from Nazis by French forces.

1944 - Joseph Kennedy Jr., the eldest of the Kennedy family, dies while flying during World War II.  He was aboard BQ-8 when 21,170 lbs (9600 kg) of Torpex prematurely detonated and destroyed the aircraft.

1964 - Ian Fleming was a British author famous for his creation of the fictional spy James Bond and his series of novels, passes away at the age of 56. 

1980 - Matthew Thiessen, Canadian singer-songwriter and front man of band Relient K, is born.

1994 - Major League Baseball players go on strike.  This will force the cancellation of the 1994 World Series.

2007 - Merv Griffin, American television host, media mogul, and creator of game shows Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy!, passes away at the age of 82.

2009 - Les Paul, pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which made the sound of rock and roll possible, died at the age of 94.

11th of August

This is the 223rd day of the year, with almost 142 days remaining until the end of the year.

3114 BC - The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian civilzations, notably the Mayans, begins.

355 AD - Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II.

1667 - Anna Maria Luisa de Medici, Florentine patroness of the arts, the last scion of the House of Medici is born.

1804 - Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.

1898 - American troops enter the city of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American War.

1919 - The constitution of the Weimar Republic is adopted.

1929 - Babe Ruth becomes the first baseball player to hit 500 home runs in his career with a home run at League Park in Cleveland, Ohio.

1934 - The first civilian prisoners arrive at the Federal prison on Alcatraz Island.

1942 - Actress Hedy Lamarr and composer George Antheil receive a patent for a frequency hopping, spread spectrum communication system that later became the basis for modern technologies in wireless telephones and Wi-Fi.

1972 - The last United States ground combat unit departs South Vietnam.

2003 - NATO takes over command of the peacekeeping force in Afghanistan, marking its first major operation outside Europe in it 54-year history.

10th of August

It is the 222nd day of the year with only 143 days remaining.

The term "the 10th of August" as relevant to this post, is widely used by historians as a shorthand for the Storming of the Tulieries Palace on the 10th of August, 1792.  It was the effective end of the French monarchy, by the arresting of Louis XVI of France, until it is restored in 1814.

955 - Battle of Lechfeld erupts.  Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor defeats the Magyars, ending 50 years of Magyar invasion in the west.

1519 - Ferdinand Magellan's five ships set sail from Seville, Spain to circumnavigate the globe.  The Basque second in command Sebastian Elcano will complete the expedition after Magellan's death while the ships were in the Phillipines.

1776 - Word of the United States Declaration of Independence finally reaches London.  It has taken one month and six days.

1821 - Missouri is admitted at the 24th state to the United States of America.

1846 - The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the United States Congress after James Smithson donates $500,000.

1861 - The war enters Missouri when a band of raw Confederate troops defeat Union forces in the southwestern part of the state at the Battle of Wilson's Creek.

1874 - The 31st President of the United States, Herbert Hoover is born.

1889 - Charles Darrow, the American board game creator of Monopoly is born.

1918 - Erich Loewenhardt, the third highest German flying ace with 54 victories during the First World War, is shot down a British SE-5 fighter near Chaulnes, France.  His parachute failed to open and he plummeted to his death from 12,000 feet, he was 21.

1932 - A 5.1 kilogram (11 pound) chondrite-type meteorite, breaks into at least seven pieces and lands near the town of Archie in Cass County, Missouri.

1944 - American forces defeat the last Japanese troops on Guam during the Second World War.

1949 - Harry Truman signs the National Security Act Amendment, streamlining the defense agencies of the U.S. government, and replacing the Department of War with the United States Department of Defense.

1969 - A day after the Tate household murders, members of Charles Manson's cult strike again and kill Leno and Rosemary LaBianca. 

1971 - The Society for American Baseball Research is founded in Cooperstown, New York.

1977 - In Yonkers, New York, 24-year-old postal employee David Berkowitz is arrested for a series of killings in the area over the course of one year.  He will be nicknamed the Son of Sam.

1988 - U.S. President Ronald Reagan signs the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, providing $20,000 payments to Japanese Americans who were either interned or relocated by the United States during World War II.

1990 - The Magellan space probe reaches the planet of Venus.

1995 - Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols are indicted for the Oklahoma City bombing.  Michael Fortier pleads guilty in a plea-bargain agreement for his testimony.

2003 - Yuri Malenchenko becomes the first person to marry in space.  When he married Ekaterina Dmitrieva in Texas, while he was 240 miles over New Zealand on the International Space Station.

2007 - A member of the prestigious Tuskegee Airmen during World War II, Henry Cabot Lodge Bohler passes away at the age of 82.