Today in History: Thursday, Aug. 3

Posted

8 AD – Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats the Dalmatae on the river Bosna

70 – Fires resulting from the destruction of the Second Temple are extinguished.

435 – Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.

881 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.

908 – Battle of Eisenach: An invading Hungarian force defeats an East Frankish army under Duke Burchard of Thuringia.

1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.

1342 – The Siege of Algeciras commences during the Spanish Reconquista.

1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.

1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.

1601 – Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.

1645 – Thirty Years' War: The Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.

1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.

1778 – The theatre La Scala is inaugurated.

1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed.

1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.

1852 – Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also the first American intercollegiate athletic event

1859 – The American Dental Association is founded in Niagara Falls, New York.

1860 – The Second Maori War begins in New Zealand.

1900 – The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.

1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists only for ten days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.

1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.

1914 – World War I: Germany declares war against France, while Romania declares its neutrality.

1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.

1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 metre dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.

1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.

1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.

1946 – Santa Claus Land, the world's first themed amusement park, opens in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States.

1948 – Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.

1949 – The Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League finalize the merger, that would create the National Basketball Association

1959 – Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.

1960 – Niger gains independence from France.

1972 – The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.

1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.

1981 – Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.

1997 – Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria: A total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.

2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.

2005 – President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.

2007 – Former Deputy Director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.

2010 – Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.

2014 – A 6.1 magnitude earthquake kills at least 617 people and injures more than 2,400 in Yunnan, China.