1057 – Macbeth, King of Scots, slain by son of King Duncan on Death day
1620 – Mayflower sets sail from Southampton with 102 Pilgrims
1769 – Napoleon, French general and emperor (d. 1821) was born.
1771 – Walter Scott, Scottish author and poet (d. 1832) was born.
1785 – Thomas De Quincey, England, writer (Confessions of English Opium Eater)Born
1812 – War of 1812: The Battle of Fort Dearborn is fought between United States troops and Potawatomi at what is now Chicago, Illinois.
1824 – Freed American slaves form country of Liberia
1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving French general of the American Revolutionary War, arrives in New York and begins a tour of 24 states.
1843 – The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
1876 – US law removes Indians from Black Hills after gold find
1900 – In China, the Empress and some of her family, the court, and retainers flee while foreign troops move through Peking in an attempt to put down the Boxer Rebellion
1901 – Great Britain issues a proclamation calling on the Boers to surrender by 15 September or face banishment and confiscation of their property
1912 – Julia Child, American chef and author (d. 2004) was born.
1914 – Japan joins side of allies
1914 – Panama Canal opens (under cost)
1914 – A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect’s Wisconsin home, Taliesin, murders seven people and burns the living quarters to the ground.
1914 – The first large public gathering of Boers in South Africa who do not want to support Britain in a war against Germany; British authorities will try to repress this movement, but discontent spreads
1914 – US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan, in a letter to J P Morgan, declares that loans to any of the belligerents go against US neutrality
1914 – World War I: Beginning of the Battle of Cer, the first Allied victory of World War I.
1915 – A story in New York World newspaper reveals that the Imperial German government had purchased excess phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the war effort and diverted it to Bayer for aspirin production.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, so-called Miracle at the Vistula.
1924 – Phyllis Schlafly, St Louis, right-winger/Eagle Forum president – Born
1928 – Nicolas Roeg, London England, cinematographer/director (Walkabout, Man who fell to earth, Aria, Eureka) Born
1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.
1939 – The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.
1940 – An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.
1941 – Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 07:12, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for espionage.
1942 – World War II: Operation Pedestal — The SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island’s defenses.
1944 – World War II: Operation Dragoon — Allied forces land in southern France.
1945 – World War II: Japan surrenders to end the war.
1947 – India gains Independence from the British Indian Empire after near 190 years of Crown rule and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
1947 – Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as first Governor-General of Pakistan in Karachi.
1948 – The Republic of Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north.
1950 – Tommy Aldridge, American drummer (Motörhead, Whitesnake, OZZY, Black Oak Arkansas, and Thin Lizzy) was born.
1962 – James Joseph Dresnok defects to North Korea after running across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Dresnok still resides in the capital, Pyongyang.
1963 – Execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland, UK.
1964 – Melinda Gates, American businesswoman and philanthropist, co-founded the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was birthed.
1965 – The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York, New York, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.
1968 – Pirate Radio Free London, begins transmitting
1969 – Woodstock rock and roll concert opens.
1971 – President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.
1972 – Ben Affleck, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter was born
1975 – Clay Shaw, alleged John F. Kennedy assassination conspiracist & businessman (b. 1913)
1975 – Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
1973 – Atom Willard, American drummer (The Offspring, Rocket from the Crypt, Danko Jones, and The Special Goodness) was born.
1977 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the “Wow! signal” from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.
1983 – Ramones guitarist Joey Ramone, beaten in fight-undergoes brain surgery
1988 – Mohammed Zia ul-Haq, President of Pakistan, killed in plane crash
2005 – Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.
2007 – An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
2008 – Lee Berger and his nine-year-old son, Matthew, discover the two-million-year-old fossils of a new species of human ancestor (Australopithecus sediba) at Malapa Cave, South Africa
2013 – The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivoran species found in the Americas in 35 years.