August 8Birthdays & History

On this day: August 8 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 685 BCSpring and Autumn period: Battle of Qianshi: Upon the death of the previous Duke of Qi, Gongsun Wuzhi, Duke Zhuang of Lu sends an army into the Duchy of Qi to install the exiled Qi prince Gongzi Jiu as the new Duke of Qi – but is defeated at Qianshi by Jiu's brother and rival claimant, the newly inaugurated Duke Huan of Qi.Asia
2. 870Treaty of Meerssen: King Louis the German and his half-brother Charles the Bald partition the Middle Frankish Kingdom into two larger east and west divisions.Europe
3. 1164Hassan II of Alamut proclaims the qiyāma, according to which Ismaili practice would change from traditional Islamic practice.Middle East
4. 1220Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula.Europe
5. 1264Mudéjar revolt: Muslim rebel forces take the Alcázar of Jerez de la Frontera after defeating the Castilian garrison.Europe
6. 1503King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England, at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland.Europe
7. 1509Krishnadeva Raya is crowned Emperor of Vijayanagara at Chittoor.Asia
8. 1576The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.Europe
9. 1585John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage.North America
10. 1588Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.Europe
11. 1647The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Dungan's Hill: English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces.EuropeNorth America
12. 1648Mehmed IV (1648–1687) succeeds Ibrahim I (1640–1648) as Ottoman sultan.Middle East
13. 1709Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the king of Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal.Europe
14. 1786Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.Europe
15. 1794Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.North America
16. 1831Four hundred Shawnee people agree to relinquish their lands in Ohio in exchange for land west of the Mississippi River in the Treaty of Wapakoneta.North America
17. 1844The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).North America
18. 1863Tennessee Military Governor Andrew Johnson frees his personal slaves in Greeneville, Tennessee, despite them being exempt from the Emancipation Proclamation, now commemorated as Emancipation Day in the state.North America
19. 1863American Civil War: Following his defeat in the Battle of Gettysburg, General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation to Confederate President Jefferson Davis (which is refused upon receipt).North America
20. 1870The Republic of Ploiești, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania.Europe
21. 1876Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.North America
22. 1897Italian anarchist Michele Angiolillo assassinates Spanish Prime Minister Antonio Cánovas del Castillo.Europe
23. 1903Black Saturday occurs, killing 12 in a stadium collapse in Philadelphia.North America
24. 1908Wilbur Wright makes the Wright Brothers' first public flight, at a racecourse at Le Mans, France.Europe
25. 1918World War I: The Battle of Amiens begins a string of almost continuous Allied victories with a push through the German front lines (Hundred Days Offensive).Europe
26. 1919The Anglo-Afghan Treaty of 1919 is signed. It establishes peaceful relations between Afghanistan and the UK, and confirms the Durand line as the mutual border. In return, the UK is no longer obligated to subsidize the Afghan government.AsiaEurope
27. 1929The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.Europe
28. 1940The "Aufbau Ost" directive for the mobilization of German forces for the invasion of the Soviet Union is signed by Wilhelm Keitel.Europe
29. 1942Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for swaraj or complete independence.AsiaEurope
30. 1945The London Charter is signed by France, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States, establishing the laws and procedures for the Nuremberg trials.EuropeNorth America
31. 1945World War II: The Soviet Union declares war on Japan.EuropeAsia
32. 1946First flight of the nuclear capable Convair B-36, heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft at the time.North America
33. 1956Marcinelle mining disaster in Belgium. 262 coal miners, including a substantial number of Italian migrant workers, are killed in one of the largest mining accidents in Belgian history.Europe
34. 1963The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the current ruling party of Zimbabwe, is formed by a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union.Africa
35. 1963Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes.Europe
36. 1967The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.Asia
37. 1969At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road.Europe
38. 1973Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped.Asia
39. 1974President Richard Nixon, in a nationwide television address, announces his resignation from the office of the President of the United States effective noon the next day.North America
40. 1988The first night baseball game in the history of Chicago's Wrigley Field (game was rained out in the fourth inning).North America
41. 1988The 8888 Uprising begins in Rangoon (Yangon), Burma (Myanmar). Led by students, hundreds of thousands join in nationwide protests against the one-party regime. On September 18, the demonstrations end in a military crackdown, killing thousands.Asia
42. 1989Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.World
43. 1990Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward.Middle East
44. 1991The Warsaw radio mast, then the tallest construction ever built, collapses.Europe
45. 1993The 7.8 Mw Guam earthquake shakes the island with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent), causing around $250 million in damage and injuring up to 71 people.Oceania
46. 1998The Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, is raided by Taliban, leading to the deaths of ten Iranian diplomats and a journalist.Middle EastAsia
47. 2000Confederate submarine H.L. Hunley is raised to the surface after 136 years on the ocean floor and 30 years after its discovery by undersea explorer E. Lee Spence.North America
48. 2001Albanian rebels ambush a convoy of the Army of the Republic of Macedonia near Tetovo, killing 10 soldiers.Europe
49. 2004A tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band dumps approximately 800 pounds of human waste onto a boat full of passengers.North America
50. 2007Space Shuttle program: STS-118 Mission: Endeavour takes off on a mission to the International Space Station.World
51. 2007An EF2 tornado touches down in Kings County and Richmond County, New York, the most powerful tornado in New York to date and the first in Brooklyn since 1889.North America
52. 2008The 29th modern summer Olympic Games take place in Beijing, China until August 24.Asia
53. 2008A EuroCity express train en route from Kraków, Poland to Prague, Czech Republic strikes a part of a motorway bridge that had fallen onto the railroad track near Studénka railway station in the Czech Republic and derails, killing eight people and injuring 64 others.Europe
54. 2009A Eurocopter AS350 Écureuil and Piper PA-32R collide over the Hudson River, killing nine people.North America
55. 2010China Floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people.Asia
56. 2013A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people.Asia
57. 2015Eight people are killed in a shooting in Harris County, Texas.North America
58. 2016Terrorists attack a government hospital in Quetta, Pakistan with a suicide blast and shooting, killing between 70 and 94 people, and injuring around 130 others.Asia
59. 2019An explosion at the State Central Navy Testing Range in Nyonoksa, Russia, kills five people.Europe
60. 2022The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executes a search warrant at former president Donald Trump's residence in Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida.North America
61. 2023Hawaii wildfires: Seventeen thousand acres of land are burned and at least 101 people are killed, with two others missing, when a series of wildfires break out on the island of Maui in Hawaii.North America
62. 2024Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus takes oath as Chief Adviser to form an interim government in Bangladesh.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "August 8" / CC BY-SA 4.0