On this day in History - Aug. 7

• 322 BC - Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great.
• 0317 - Constantius II was born (d. 0361). Roman emperor.
• 0461 - Majorian dies assassinated (b. 0420). Roman Emperor.
• 0479 - Emperor Yūryaku of Japan dies.
• 1106 - Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor dies (b. 1050).
• 1400 - Guillaume Dufay was born (d. 1474). French composer.
• 1461 - the Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor; after setting fire to the eastern and western gates of the Forbidden City (which were doused by pouring rains during the day-long uprising), Cao Qin found himself hemmed in on all sides by imperial forces, lost three of his own brothers in the fight, and instead of facing execution he fled to his house and committed suicide by jumping down a well located within the walled compound of his urban Beijing home.
• 1485 - Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany dies. Scottish prince.
• 1533 - Alonso de Ercilla y Zuniga was born (d. 1594). Basque soldier and poet.
• 1560 - Elizabeth Báthory was born (d. 1614). Hungarian serial killer.
• 1598 - Georg Stiernhielm was born (d. 1672). Swedish poet.
• 1606 - The first documented performance of Macbeth performed at the Great Hall at Hampton Court.
• 1613 - Thomas Fleming dies (b. 1544). English judge.
• 1616 - Vincenzo Scamozzi dies (b. 1548). Italian architect.
• 1635 - Friedrich von Spee dies (b. 1591). German writer.
• 1639 - Martin van den Hove dies (b. 1605). Dutch scientist.
• 1661 - Jin Shengtan dies (b. 1608). Chinese editor, writer and critic .
• 1679 - The brigantine Le Griffon, which was commissioned by René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the southern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
• 1695 - Francisco de Pina Melo was born in Montemor-O-Velho (d. 23 Ocr 1773). Portuguese poet.
  
• 1714 - The first important victory of the Russian Navy - the Battle of Gangut.
• 1726 - James Bowdoin was born (d. 1790). American Revolutionary leader and politician.
• 1742 - Nathanael Greene was born (d. 1786). American Revolutionary general.
• 1767 - Alvará que concede privilégios aos directores da Real Fábrica de Chapéus de Pombal para aquisição de matérias-primas. Alvará proíbe a exportação de peles de lebre e coelho.
• 1779 - Louis de Freycinet was born (d. 1842). French explorer.
• 1779 - Carl Ritter was born (d. 1859). German geographer.
• 1782 - George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
• 1782 - Andreas Sigismund Marggraf dies. German chemist.
• 1789 - The United States War Department is established.
• 1791 - United States troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War.
• 1794 - Whiskey Rebellion begins: Farmers in the Monongahela Valley of Pennsylvania rebel against the federal tax on liquor and distilled drinks.
• 1813 - Paulina Wright Davis (d. 1876). Suffragist.
• 1817 - Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours dies (b. 1739). French industrialist.
• 1819 - Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.
• 1830 - Dom Antônio de Macedo Costa was born. Brazilian bishop.
• 1834 - Joseph Marie Jacquard dies (b. 1752). French weaver and inventor of the Jacquard loom.
  
• 1836 - Evander Law was born (d. 1920). American Confederate general.
• 1844 - Auguste Michel-Lévy was born (d. 1911). French geologist.
• 1848 - Jöns Jakob Berzelius dies (b. 1779). Swedish chemist.
• 1855 - Mariano Arista dies (b. 1802). President of Mexico.
• 1858 - Ottawa es elegida como la capital de Canadá por la Reina Victoria.
• 1860 - Alan Leo was born (d. 1917). Brititsh astrologer.
• 1867 - Emil Nolde was born (d. 1956). German painter.
• 1876 - Mata Hari (Margret Gertrude Zelle) was born in Leewarden, Netherland (d. 1917). Dutch spy and dancer.
• 1877 - Ulrich Salchow was born (d. 1949). Swedish figure skater.
• 1879 - The opening of the Poor Man's Palace in Manchester.
• 1883 - Joachim Ringelnatz was born (d. 1934). Writer.
• 1885 - Billie Burke was born (d. 1970). American actress.
• 1889 - Anna Månsdotter becomes the last woman in Sweden to be executed, this for the 1889 Yngsjö murder.
• 1890 - Gurley Flynn was born. Politician.
• 1890 - Carlos E. Pellegrini accede a la Presidencia de Argentina, tras la renuncia de Miguel Juárez Celman.
• 1895 - Ed Gil was born (d. 1995). Former baseball player.
• 1898 - Manuel Antonio Sanclemente becomes President of Colombia.
• 1901 - Ann Harding was born (d. 1981). American actress.
• 1903 - Louis Leakey was born (d. 1972). British archaelogist.
• 1904 - Ralph Bunche was born in Detroit (d. 1971). U.S. government official and UN diplomat. He was awarded the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the 1948 Arab-Israeli truce.
• 1904 - Hanna Melzer was born (d. 1960). Anti-Nazi.
• 1907 - Albert Kotin was born (d. 1980). American abstract expressionist painter of the New York School.
• 1911 - Nicholas Ray was born (d. 1979). American actor, director and scenarist.
• 1912 - François-Alphonse Forel dies (b. 1841). Swiss hydrologist.
• 1913 - George Van Eps dies (b. 1998). American guitarist.
• 1914 - José Vicente Concha Ferreira assume a presidência da Colômbia.
• 1916 - O Parlamento português aceita a participação de Portugal na Primeira Guerra Mundial de acordo com o convite formal do governo britânico de 15 de Junho.
• 1916 - Óscar Acúrsio was born. Portuguese actor.
• 1917 - Squadron Commander E.H. Dunning dies (b. 1891). First pilot to land his aircraft on a moving ship.
• 1921 - Manitas de Plata was born. Gypsy guitarist.
• 1925 - M. S. Swaminathan was born. Indian scientist.
• 1925 - Felice Bryant was born (d. 2003). American country songwriter and singer.
• 1926 - Stan Freberg was born. American voice comedian.
• 1926 - Miguel Abadía Méndez assume a presidência da Colômbia.
• 1927 - The Peace Bridge opens, between Fort Erie, Ontario and Buffalo, New York.
• 1927 - Edwin W. Edwards was born. Four-term Louisiana governor.
• 1927 - Art Houtteman was born (d. 2003). Baseball player.
• 1927 - Carl Switzer was born (d. 1959). American child actor.
• 1928 - James Randi was born. Magician.
• 1928 - Romeo Muller was born (d. 1992). American screenwriter.
• 1928 - James Randi was born. Canadian magician.
• 1929 - Don Larsen was born. Baseball player.
• 1931 - Charles E. Rice was born. Legal Scholar and Author.
• 1931 - Bix Beiderbecke dies (b. 1903). Musician.
• 1932 - Abebe Bikila was born (1973). Ethyop marathon runner. Gold medal in Olympic games 1960 and 1964.
• 1932 - gana la maratón en los Juegos Olímpicos de Los Angeles. Es la primera medalla de oro del deporte argentino.
• 1932 - Abebe Bikila was born (d. 1973). Ethiopan athlete.
• 1932 - Dr. Maurice Rabb, Jr. was born. African American ophthalmologist.
• 1932 - Edward Hardwicke was born. British actor.
• 1933 - The Simele massacre: The Iraqi Government slaughtered over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Sumail. The day becomes Assyrian Martyrs day.
• 1933 - Eddie Firmani was born. South African football player and coach.
• 1934 - Alfonso López Pumarejo assume a presidência da Colômbia.
• 1936 - Se inaugura el Teatro Opera de Buenos Aires.
• 1936 - Rahsaan Roland Kirk was born. American saxophonist.
• 1938 - Konstantin Stanislavski dies (b. 1863). Russian/Soviet actor, producer, dramatist.
• 1939 - Anjanette Comer was born. American actress.
• 1940 - Alsace Lorraine is annexed by the Third Reich (Germany) during World War Two.
• 1940 - Jean-Luc Dehaene was born. Prime Minister of Belgium.
  
• 1941 - Rabindranath Tagore dies (b. 1861). Indian author. Nobel Prize in Literature in 1913.
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of Guadalcanal begins - US Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with a landing on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
• 1942 - Alfonso López Pumarejo assumes for the second time the presidency of Colombia.
• 1942 - B.J. Thomas was born. American singer.
• 1942 - Caetano Veloso was born. Brazilian musician.
• 1942 - Carlos Monzón was born. Argentine boxer.
• 1942 - Garrison Keillor was born. American writer and radio host.
• 1943 - Alain Corneau was born. French film director.
• 1943 - Dino Valente was born (d. 1994). American musician, Quicksilver Messenger Service.
  
• 1944 - IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).
• 1944 - David Rasche was born. American actor.
• 1945 - Alan Page was born. American football player
• 1945 - President Harry Truman announces the successful bombing of Hiroshima with a atomic bomb while returning from the Potsdam Conference aboard the heavy cruiser USS Augusta (CA-31) in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
• 1945 - Alberto Lleras Camargo assume a presidência da Colômbia.
• 1945 - Alan Page was born. American football player.
• 1946 - Ed Seykota was born. Commodities and futures trader.
• 1947 - Thor Heyerdahl's balsa wood raft the Kon-Tiki, smashes into the reef at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands after a 101 day 7 000 km (4,300 mile) journey across the Pacific Ocean proving that pre-historic peoples could have traveled from South America.
• 1947 - The Bombay Municipal Corporation formally takes over the Bombay Electric Supply and Transport (BEST).
• 1947 - Franciscus Henri (Franciscus Henricus Antheunis) was born. Children's entertainer, composer and artist.
• 1948 - Greg Chappell was born. Australian test cricket player, captain and coach.
• 1949 - Walid Jumblatt was born. Leader of the Lebanese Druze.
• 1952 - Alexei Sayle was born. British comedian.
• 1953 - Ohio admitted to the union, retroactive to 1803 (this is disputed by some).
• 1953 - Anne Fadiman was born. American writer, daughter of Clifton Fadiman
• 1954 - Jonathan Pollard was born. Israeli spy
• 1955 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, begins selling its first transistor radios in Japan.
• 1955 - Vladimir Sorokin was born. Russian writer.
• 1955 - Wayne Knight was born. American actor.
• 1955 - Mariano Arista dies. President of México (1851 - 1853).
• 1955 - Vladimir Sorokin was born. Russian writer.
• 1957 - Alexander Dityatin was born. Soviet gymnast.
• 1957 - Oliver Hardy dies (b. 1892). Comedian, actor.
• 1958 - Alberto Lleras Camargo assumes for the second time the Presidency of Colombia.
• 1958 - Bruce Dickinson was born. English singer (Iron Maiden).
• 1958 - Alberto Salazar was born. American distance runner.
• 1959 - The Lincoln Memorial design on the U.S. penny goes into circulation. It replaces the "sheaves of wheat" design and is still in use.
• 1959 – Explorer program: Explorer 6 launched from the Atlantic Missile Range in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
• 1959 - Ali Shah was born. Zimbabwean cricketer.
• 1960 - Côte d'Ivoire becomes independent.
• 1960 - David Duchovny was born. Actor.
• 1960 - Jacquie O'Sullivan was born. British singer (Bananarama).
• 1961 - Yelena Davydova was born. Soviet gymnast.
• 1962 - Guillermo León Valencia assumes the Presidency of Colombia.
• 1962 - Bruno Pelletier was born. Québécois singer.
• 1963 - Harold Perrineau Jr. was born. American actor.
• 1963 - Patrick Bouvier Kennedy was born. Son of U.S. President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
  
• 1964 - Vietnam War: The U.S. Congress passes the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution giving US President Lyndon B. Johnson broad war powers to deal with North Vietnamese attacks on American forces.
• 1964 - Elsa Raposo was born. Portuguese TV presenter and jetset figure.
• 1964 – John Birmingham was born. Australian author.
• 1964 - Michael Weishan was born. American TV host, author.
• 1965 - Singapore is expelled and separated from the Federation of Malaysia.
• 1965 - The infamous first party between Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters and motorcycle gang the Hell's Angels takes place at Kesey's estate in La Honda, California introducing psychedelics to the gang world and forever linking the hippie movement to the Hell's Angels.
• 1966 - Race riots occur in Lansing, Michigan.
• 1966 - Carlos Lleras Restrepo becomes President of Colombia.
• 1966 - Jimmy Wales was born. American founder of Wikipedia.
• 1966 - Kristin Hersh was born. American singer and guitarist (Throwing Muses).
• 1967 - Vietnam War: The People's Republic of China agrees to give North Vietnam an undisclosed amount of aid in the form of a grant.
• 1967 - Jason Grimsley was born. American baseball player.
• 1968 - Lynn Strait was born. American singer (Snot).
• 1969 - Kevin Cash was born. American baseball player.
• 1969 - Joseph Kosma dies (b. 1905). French composer (Autumn Leaves).
• 1970 - Harold Haley, Marin County Superior Court Judge taken hostage and murdered in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
• 1970 - California judge Harold Haley is taken hostage in his courtroom and killed during in an effort to free George Jackson from police custody.
• 1970 - Misael Pastrana Borrero assumes the presidency of Colombia.
• 1971 – Dominic Cork was born. England cricketer
• 1971 - Rachel York was born. American actress and singer.
• 1971 - Sydney Penny was born. American actress.
• 1972 - Greg Serano was born. American actor.
• 1972 - Joi Lansing dies (b. 1929). American model and actress.
• 1973 - NBC airs the final day of the Watergate hearings on U.S. daytime television.
• 1973 - Danny Graves was born. American baseball player.
• 1973 – Kevin Muscat was born. Australian footballer.
• 1974 - Philippe Petit performed a high wire act between the twin towers of the World Trade Center 1,368 ft (417.0 m) in the air.
• 1974 - Alfonso López Michelsen becomes President of Colombia.
• 1974 - Chico Benymon was born. American actor.
• 1974 – Michael Shannon was born. American actor.
• 1974 – Sek Loso was born. Thai singer.
• 1974 - Rosario Castellanos dies (b. 1925). Mexican poet.
• 1974 - Sylvio Mantha dies (b. 1902). Professional ice hockey player.
• 1975 - Portugal - O documento Melo Antunes, apoiado pelo Grupo dos Nove, é divulgado.
• 1975 - Charlize Theron was born. South African actress (See here wallpapers of Charlize Théron).
• 1975 - David Hicks was born. Australian alleged terrorist.
  
• 1975 - Edgar Rentería was born. Colombian baseball player.
• 1975 - Gaahl (Kristian Eivind Espedal) was born. Norwegian black metal musician.
• 1975 – Koray Candemir was born. Turkish singer.
• 1976 - Viking program: Viking 2 enters into orbit around Mars.
• 1976 - Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos was born. Greek footballer.
• 1976 – Shane Lechler was born. American football player.
• 1977 – Charlotte Ronson was born. British fashion designer.
• 1977 - Samantha Ronson was born. British DJ.
• 1978 - Julio César Turbay Ayala assumes the presidency of Colombia.
• 1978 - United States President Jimmy Carter declares a federal emergency at Love Canal.
• 1978 - Golpe de Estado en Honduras: un triunvirato militar depone al jefe de Estado, Gral. Melgar.
• 1978 - Alexandre Aja was born. French director.
• 1978 - Cirroc Lofton was born. American actor.
• 1978 - Jamey Jasta was born. American singer (Hatebreed).
  
• 1978 - Linsey Dawn McKenzie was born. English model and porn star.
  
• 1978 - Shirley Yeung was born. Hong Kong actress.
• 1978 - Vanness Wu was born. Taiwanese singer.
• 1979 - Eric Johnson was born. American actor.
• 1980 – Anomie Belle (Toby Campbell) was born. American musician.
• 1980 - Aurélie Claudel was born. French supermodel.
• 1981 - The Washington Star ceases all operations after 128 years of publication.
  
• 1982 - Belisario Betancur Cuartas assumes the Presidency of Colombia.
• 1982 - Marco Melandri was born. Italian motorcycle racer.
• 1982 – Vasileios Spanoulis was born. Greek basketball player.
• 1982 - Yana Klochkova was born. Ukrainian swimmer.
• 1983 - Christian Chávez was born. Mexican singer and actor, member of RBD.
• 1983 - Danny was born. Portuguese footballer.
• 1983 - Tina O'Brien was born. British actress.
• 1984 - Esther Phillips dies (b. 1935). American singer.
• 1985 - Takao Doi, Mamoru Mohri and Chiaki Mukai are chosen to be Japan's first astronauts.
• 1985 - Gábor Szegö dies. Hungarian mathematician.
• 1985 - Grayson Hall dies (b. 1923). American actress.
• 1985 - Jader Moreira de Carvalho dies (b. 29 Dec 1901). Brazilian writer, poet and journalist.
• 1986 - Virgilio Barco Vargas becomes President of Colombia.
• 1987 - Sidney Crosby was born. Canadian ice hockey player.
• 1987 - Camille Chamoun dies (b. 1900). Lebanese President.
• 1988 - Rioting in New York City's Tompkins Square Park.
• 1988 - Melody Oliveria was born. American internet blogger.
• 1989 - US Congressman Mickey Leland (D-TX), and 15 others die in a plane crash in Ethiopia.
• 1989 - Sherman Cárdenas was born. Colombian football player
• 1990 - At 12:34:56 (both AM and PM) the time and date by British reckoning was 12:34:56 7/8/90 i.e. 1234567890.
• 1990 - César Gaviria Trujillo becomes President of Colombia.
• 1991 - World Wide Web debuts as a publicly available service on the Internet.
• 1992 - Francisco Fernández Ordóñez dies. Spanish politician.
• 1992 - John Anderson dies (b. 1922). American actor.
• 1994 - Ernesto Samper Pizano becomes President of Colombia.
• 1994 - Larry Martyn dies (b. 1934). English actor, comedian
• 1995 - Operation Storm is officialy declared over in Croatia, resulting in total Croat victory over rebel Serb forces.
• 1995 - Brigid Brophy dies (b. 1929). British author.
• 1996 - Tessa Allen was born. American actress.
• 1997 - Fine Air Flight 101, a cargo flight from Miami to Santo Domingo crashes onto NW 72nd Ave near Miami International Airport, killing five people.
• 1997 - Garth Brooks plays to 750,000 people in Central Park.
• 1997 - Celso Furtado, economist, is elected to the Brazilian Academy of Letters (Academia Brasileira de Letras).
• 1998 - 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: Bombing of the United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya kills 224 people and injures over 4,500.
• 1998 - Andrés Pastrana Arango becomes President of Colombia.
• 1999 - A group of Indian army veterans launch the political party Rashtriya Raksha Dal.
• 1999 - Brion James dies (b. 1945). American actor.
• 2002 - Álvaro Uribe Vélez becomes President of Colombia.
• 2003 - Mickey McDermott dies (b. 1929). Baseball player.
• 2004 - Red Adair dies (b. 1915). American oil well firefighter.
• 2004 - Colin Bibby dies (b. 1948). English ornithologist.
• 2005 - Peter Jennings dies (b. 1938). Canadian-born news anchor.
• 2005 - Russian Priz class mini-submarine AS-28 and its seven crewmembers are rescued off the Pacific coast.
• 2005 - Portuguese Susana Feitor won the bronze medal in World Championship in Helsinky 20 km race. Olimpiada Ivanova (Rus) won the gold and Rita Turava, Bulgarian, won the silver.
• 2006 - Mary Anderson Bain dies (b. 1911). American New Deal politician.
• 2007 - Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants breaks baseball great Hank Aaron's record by hitting his 756th home run.
• 2007 - Angus Tait dies (b. 1919). New Zealand electronics innovator and businessman.
• 2007 - Ernesto Alonso dies (b. 1917). Mexican actor, director and producer.
• 2007 - Hal Fishman dies (b. 1931). Los Angeles based local news anchor.
• 2008 - Georgia launches a military offensive to surround and capture the capital of South Ossetia, Tskhinvali, from Russian control, starting the South Ossetia War.
• 2008 – Andrea Pininfarina dies (b. 1957). CEO of Pininfarina S.p.A.
• 2008 - Bernie Brillstein dies (b. 1931). American talent agent/manager and producer.
• National Holiday in Colombia: Battle of Boyaca, birth of Bogotá.
• Côte d'Ivoire - Republic Day (Independence in 1960 from France).
• Kiribati - Youth Day.
• EmaFncipation Day - Turks and Caicos Islands.
• Dada: International Dadaism Month