This Day In History （请勿跟贴，谢谢！）

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August 20


1975:
Viking 1 launched.
The robotic U.S. spacecraft Viking 1, built to explore the surface of Mars, was launched this day in 1975 and nearly one year later landed on Chryse Planitia, a flat lowland region in the northern hemisphere of the planet.

1968:
The Warsaw Pact nations (except Romania and Albania), led by the Soviet Union, invaded Czechoslovakia to put an end to the Prague Spring.

1960:
Senegal seceded from the Mali Federation, declaring its full independence.

1940:
Leon Trotsky was assassinated by a Stalinist agent in Mexico.

1914:
The German army captured Brussels during the initial German invasion of World War I.

1889:
Labour activists closed the entire Port of London in the London Dock Strike.

1865:
Austria and Prussia signed the Convention of Gastein, an agreement that temporarily postponed the final struggle between them for hegemony over Germany.
1833:
Benjamin Harrison, a moderate Republican who became the 23rd president of the United States (1889–93) despite losing the popular vote by more than 95,000 to Democrat Grover Cleveland, was born in North Bend, Ohio.

1794:
U.S. General “Mad” Anthony Wayne defeated the Northwest Indian Confederation in the Battle of Fallen Timbers.

1741:
Danish explorer Vitus Bering, who was working for Russia, encountered Alaska.

1619:
It is thought that slaves were first brought to the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia.

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August 19


1991:
Attempted coup against Gorbachev.
On this day in 1991, Mikhail Gorbachev, the general secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1985–91) and president of the Soviet Union (1990–91), was briefly ousted in a coup by communist hard-liners.

1960:
Francis Gary Powers was sentenced to 10 years' confinement by the Soviet Union for espionage following the U-2 Affair, but he was later released (1962) in exchange for the Soviet spy Rudolf Abel.

1945:
A commando force formed by Vo Nguyen Giap, under Vietnamese nationalist leader Ho Chi Minh, entered the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.

1847:
U.S. forces under Major General Winfield Scott began the Battle of Contreras, opening the final campaign of the Mexican War.

1812:
The USS Constitution, commanded by Captain Isaac Hull, won a brilliant victory over the British frigate Guerrière in the War of 1812.

1458:
Enea Silvio Piccolomini was elected pope as Pius II, following the death of Calixtus III.

1274:
Edward I was crowned king of England at Westminster.

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August 18


1227:
Death of Genghis Khan.
Genghis Khan—a warrior and ruler of genius who, starting from obscure and insignificant beginnings, brought all the nomadic tribes of Mongolia into a rigidly disciplined military state—died this day in 1227.

1900:
Indian political leader Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, one of the world's leading women in public life in the 20th century, was born in Allahabad.

1896:
According to lore, more than 200 outlaws from regional gangs gathered at Brown's Hole in the American West, where Butch Cassidy proposed to organize a Train Robbers' Syndicate, which became familiarly known as the Wild Bunch.

1786:
The city of Reykjavík was designated the administrative capital of Iceland.

1572:
Henry, prince of Béarn (later Henry IV of France), married Margaret of Valois of the French royal house.

1477:
Mary of Burgundy married Archduke Maximilian, son of the Habsburg emperor Ferdinand III.

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August 17


1945:
Indonesia's declaration of independence.
On this day in 1945, Sukarno declared Indonesia's independence from The Netherlands, and, after the Dutch transferred sovereignty four years later, he served as the country's first president (1949–67).

1978:
Ben L. Abruzzo, Maxie Anderson, and Larry Newman completed the first transatlantic balloon flight, in Double Eagle II.

1969:
The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, a rock festival near Bethel, New York, that attracted 450,000 fans, ended.

1896:
George Washington Carmack unearthed gold in Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River in the Yukon Territory, Canada, setting off a gold rush into the Klondike valley.

1887:
Marcus Garvey—a charismatic black leader who helped found the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), which sought, among other things, to build in Africa a black-governed nation—was born in Jamaica.

1590:
John White returned to Roanoke Island, Virginia, from England and found no trace of the colony (now called the Lost Colony) that he had left there three years earlier.

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August 16


1996:
Leonel Fernández Reyna inaugurated as president of the Dominican Republic.
The youngest person ever elected president of the Dominican Republic, Leonel Fernández Reyna was sworn in this day in 1996 and soon instituted measures to end corruption and to improve the country's economy.

1960:
The island of Cyprus became an independent republic.

1948:
American baseball legend Babe Ruth died at age 53.

1913:
Menachem Begin—prime minister of Israel (1977–83) who was the corecipient, with Egyptian President Anwar el-Sādāt, of the 1978 Nobel Prize for Peace—was born in Russia.

1819:
A meeting of radicals held on St. Peter's Fields in Manchester, England, was dispersed with violence, an event that became known as the Peterloo Massacre.

1780:
An American force was beaten by British troops under Lord Cornwallis in the Battle of Camden during the American Revolution.

963:
Nicephorus II Phocas was crowned emperor of the Byzantine Empire in Hagia Sophia by the patriarch Polyeuctus.

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August 15


1914:
Panama Canal opened to traffic.
After some 10 years of work, the Panama Canal was opened to ships on this day in 1914 under the control of the United States, which continued to operate the canal until December 31, 1999, when it passed to Panama.

1917：
Bahrain proclaimed independence from Great Britain.

1960:
The Republic of the Congo gained independence from France.

1948:
Syngman Rhee announced the establishment of the Republic of Korea (South Korea).
1935:
American entertainers Will Rogers and Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska.

1769:
Napoleon, future emperor of France, was born on the island of Corsica.

1534:
St. Ignatius of Loyola led companions, who would become cofounders of the Jesuit order, to Montmartre, Paris, where the first Jesuits took their vows.

1057:
Macbeth, king of Scots, was killed in battle by Malcolm, eldest son of Duncan I.

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August 14


1880:
Cologne Cathedral completed.
Originally started in 1248, construction of the cathedral (K鰈ner Dom) in Cologne, Germany—the largest Gothic church in northern Europe and the city's major landmark—was finally completed on this day in 1880.

1959:
American basketball player Magic Johnson, who led the National Basketball Association (NBA) Los Angeles Lakers to five championships, was born in Lansing, Michigan.

1947:
Pakistan became a sovereign state, bringing an end to British rule there.

1941:
British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued the Atlantic Charter, a joint declaration that stated, among other points, that they desired no territorial changes without the free assent of the peoples concerned.

1935:
The U.S. Congress enacted the Social Security Act, establishing a permanent national old-age pension system through employer and employee contributions.

1917:
China declared war on Germany and Austria-Hungary during World War I.

1900:
An international force seized Beijing to crush the Boxer Rebellion.

1457:
The first book printed in Europe with a colophon bearing the name of the printer was completed in Mainz, Germany.

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August 13


1521:
Fall of the Aztec empire.
On this day in 1521, Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés, displaying great leadership and determination, captured Tenochtitlán (now Mexico City), thereby ending the Aztec empire and winning Mexico for the crown of Spain.

2004:
The Games of the XXVIII Olympiad opened in Athens, which had hosted the first modern Summer Games in 1896.

1995:
New York Yankees baseball player Mickey Mantle died in Dallas, Texas.

1919:
Famed racehorse Man o' War suffered the only defeat of his career.

1898:
The U.S. Army took control of the Philippine port of Manila during the Spanish-American War.

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August 12


1877:
Phonograph invented by Thomas Alva Edison.
On this day in 1877, American inventor Thomas Alva Edison made perhaps his most original discovery, the phonograph, and his early recordings were indentations embossed into a sheet of tinfoil by a vibrating stylus.

1955:
German novelist and Nobel Prize winner Thomas Mann died near Zürich, Switzerland.

1944:
Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr.—U.S. naval pilot, son of Joseph P. Kennedy, and brother of President John F. Kennedy—died in a plane crash while flying on a secret mission during World War II.

1898:
The Republic of Hawaii was annexed as part of the United States.

1887:
Austrian theoretical physicist Erwin Schr鰀inger, who shared the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics for his contributions to the wave theory of matter and to other fundamentals of quantum mechanics, was born in Vienna.

1851:
Isaac Merrit Singer patented his sewing machine and formed I.M. Singer & Company to market the product.

1676:
Metacom (also called King Philip), intertribal chief of the Wampanoag Indians, was killed, ending the conflict between Indians and English settlers known as King Philip's War.

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August 11


1956:
Jackson Pollock killed in automobile accident.
American painter Jackson Pollock, a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism who received great fame and serious recognition for his radical poured, or “drip,” technique, died this day in 1956 in an automobile accident.

1994:
The Major League Baseball Players Association began a labour strike following the games of August 11, and the dispute eventually led to the cancellation of the remainder of the season, including the World Series.

1984:
At the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, Carl Lewis became the third track-and-field athlete to win four gold medals in one Olympics, joining fellow Americans Alvin Kraenzlein (1900) and Jesse Owens (1936).

1965:
Race riots erupted in the Watts district of Los Angeles, resulting in the deaths of 34 people.

1924:
The first newsreel of U.S. presidential candidates, which included footage of Calvin Coolidge, John W. Davis, and Robert La Follette, was filmed.

1921:
Alex Haley, an African American writer best known for The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) and Roots: The Saga of an American Family (1976), was born in Ithaca, New York.

1919:
The Weimar constitution was formally declared, establishing Germany as a republic.

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August 10


1792:
Louis XVI of France imprisoned.
As the French Revolution (1787–99) continued, the country's monarchy was effectively overthrown on this day in 1792 when King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie-Antoinette, were imprisoned (they were eventually guillotined).

1914:
France declared war on Austria-Hungary in World War I.

1846:
The Smithsonian Institution was founded in Washington, D.C., by the U.S. Congress with funds bequeathed by English scientist James Smithson.

1815:
Ganioda'yo, Seneca chief and founder of the Longhouse Religion, died in Onondaga, New York.

1729:
William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, commander in chief of the British Army in North America (1776–78) who failed to destroy the Continental Army and stem the American Revolution, was born.

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August 9


48 :
Pompey defeated by Julius Caesar at the Battle of Pharsalus.
During the Roman Civil War of 49–45 BC, Julius Caesar's troops on this day in 48 decisively defeated the army of Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus, causing Pompey to flee to Egypt, where he was subsequently murdered.

1945:
The second atomic bomb dropped on Japan by the United States in World War II struck the city of Nagasaki.

1896:
Russian dancer and innovative choreographer Léonide Massine, one of the most important figures in 20th-century dance, was born in Moscow.

1854:
Henry David Thoreau's masterwork Walden was published.

1814:
Defeated by U.S. General Andrew Jackson, the Creek Indians signed the Treaty of Fort Jackson, requiring them to cede 23 million acres of land, comprising more than half of Alabama and part of southern Georgia.

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August 8


1974:
Resignation of U.S. President Nixon.
Faced with the near-certain prospect of impeachment for his role in the Watergate Scandal, U.S. President Richard M. Nixon announced his resignation on this day in 1974 and was succeeded by Gerald Ford the following day.

1963:
Armed robbers stole

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August 7


1942:
Japanese airfield on Guadalcanal seized by Allies.
In the Allies' first major offensive in the Pacific theatre during World War II, U.S. Marines on this day in 1942 landed on Guadalcanal and captured the airfield from Japan, sparking a battle that lasted some six months.

1960:
C魌e d'Ivoire gained independence from France.

1957:
Oliver Hardy—member of Laurel and Hardy, the first great Hollywood motion-picture comedy team—died in North Hollywood, California.

1932:
Abebe Bikila, an Ethiopian runner who was the first athlete to win two Olympic marathons, was born in Mont.

1888:
The first of the murders committed by Jack the Ripper took place in London's East End.

1819:
A group of South American insurgents under Simón Bolívar defeated Spanish forces at the Battle of Boyacá, which freed New Granada (Colombia and Venezuela) from Spanish control.

1807:
The first serviceable steamboat—the Clermont, designed by American engineer Robert Fulton—embarked on its maiden voyage.

1782:
George Washington ordered the creation of the first U.S. military decoration, the Badge of Military Merit (today called the Purple Heart), which was later awarded to three Revolutionary War soldiers for bravery in action.

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August 6


1945:
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
On this day in 1945, the United States dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan—the blast killed more than 70,000 people and destroyed most of the city—in an effort to hasten the end of World War II.

1990:
The UN Security Council imposed economic sanctions on Iraq, ruled by Ṣaddām Ḥussein, for its invasion of Kuwait four days earlier.

1962:
After 300 years of British rule, Jamaica became an independent country within the Commonwealth of Nations.

1940:
Estonia lost its independence when the Soviet Union annexed the country.

1926:
Gertrude Ederle, age 19, of New York became the first woman to swim the English Channel, breaking the men's record by nearly two hours.

1911:
American radio and motion-picture actress and television comedian Lucille Ball was born in Celoron, New York.

1809:
English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, often regarded as the chief representative of the Victorian Age in poetry, was born in Somersby, Lincolnshire.

1806:
After a thousand years the Holy Roman Empire came to its official end, with the secession of its confederated states, when Emperor Francis II of Austria put down the imperial crown.

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August 5


1960:
Independence declared by Upper Volta.
Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso, which means “Land of Incorruptible People”), a landlocked country in western Africa, proclaimed its independence on this day in 1960, ending more than 60 years of French rule.

1964:
U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson put the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution before Congress.

1963:
The United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom signed the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty in Moscow.

1930:
U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the Moon, was born in Wapakoneta, Ohio.

1864:
During the Battle of Mobile Bay, Union Admiral David Farragut sealed off the port of Mobile, Alabama, from Confederate blockade runners.

1772:
Russia, Prussia, and Austria signed a treaty creating the First Partition of Poland, depriving that country of approximately half of its population and almost one-third of its land.

1100:
Henry I was crowned king of England.

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August 4


1704:
Gibraltar captured by Britain.

During the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain took control of Gibraltar on this day in 1704 after Spain surrendered, and “the Rock” subsequently became a British colony and a symbol of British naval strength.

1921:
The eight Chicago White Sox baseball players involved in the 1919 Black Sox Scandal were banned from the game for life by the baseball commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis.

1914:
In response to the German invasion of Belgium, Great Britain entered World War I, declaring war on Germany.

1901:
Louis Armstrong, a prolifically gifted natural musician and the leading trumpeter in jazz history, was born in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1892:
Lizzie Borden's parents were murdered in Fall River, Massachusetts.

1879:
Pope Leo XIII issued the encyclical Aeterni Patris, making Thomism the dominant philosophical viewpoint in Roman Catholicism.

1790:
U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton established the Revenue Marine Service, which became the U.S. Coast Guard.

1578:
The Portuguese armies of King Sebastian—who was allied with the deposed Moroccan sultan al-Mutawakkil—invaded Morocco but were defeated by the Saʿdī sultan ʿAbd al-Malik in the Battle of the Three Kings.

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August 3


1492:
Columbus's first transatlantic voyage begun.
Hoping to find a westward route to India, Christopher Columbus on this day in 1492 set sail on his first transatlantic voyage, departing from Palos, Spain, with three small ships—the Ni馻, Pinta, and Santa María.

1960:
The Republic of Niger gained its independence from France.

1958:
The atomic submarine Nautilus passed beneath the thick ice cap of the North Pole, an unprecedented feat.

1949:
The National Basketball Association (NBA) was formed by the merger of the National Basketball League and the Basketball Association of America.

1940:
Lithuania was “accepted” into the U.S.S.R. following the Soviet occupation of the Baltic states.

1924:
English novelist and short-story author Joseph Conrad died in Canterbury, Kent.

1914:
Germany declared war on France in World War I.

1583:
English navigator Sir Humphrey Gilbert arrived at St. John's, Newfoundland, and claimed it in the name of the queen.

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August 2


1990:
Kuwait invaded.
Iraq invaded Kuwait on this day in 1990, and Ṣaddām Ḥussein's subsequent refusal to withdraw his troops sparked the First Persian Gulf War, in which an international force led by the United States quickly defeated Iraq.

1943:
PT-109, a U.S. Navy torpedo boat under John F. Kennedy's command, was sunk by a Japanese destroyer.

1920:
Marcus Garvey, black leader and founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, reached the height of his power as he presided at an international convention in New York City.

1876:
Wild Bill Hickok—a frontiersman, marksman, gambler, and legend of the American West—was murdered in the city of Deadwood, in what is now South Dakota.

1830:
Charles X of France abdicated the throne, unable to resist the July Revolution.

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August 1


1589:
Henry III of France stabbed by an assassin.
King Henry III of France was stabbed this day in 1589 by Jacques Clément, a Jacobin friar, and died the next day after acknowledging his Bourbon ally, Henry of Navarre (Henry IV), a Huguenot, as his successor.

1944:
The final entry was recorded in the diary of Anne Frank, a Jewish girl who spent two years in hiding during the Nazi occupation of The Netherlands.

1940:
John F. Kennedy's Why England Slept, a critical account of the British military that became a best seller, was published.

1876:
Colorado was admitted to the Union, becoming the 38th U.S. state.

1744:
Jean-Baptiste de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck—a French biologist best known for his notion that acquired traits are inheritable, an idea known as Lamarckism—was born in Bazentin-le-Petit.

1714:
Queen Anne, the last Stuart ruler of England, died.
10: Roman Emperor Claudius I was born in Lugdunum, Gaul (now Lyon, France).