2002 – Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
0069 – Second Battle of Bedriacum, forces under Antonius Primus, the commander of the Danube armies, loyal to Vespasian, defeat the forces of Emperor Vitellius.
0079 – Mt. Vesuvius erupts, burying the cities of Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and Stabiae and killing thousands. New research in 2018 suggests the eruption occurred at about this date, not the previously used 24 August
1260 – Saif ad-Din Qutuz, Mamluk sultan of Egypt, is assassinated by Baibars, who seizes power for himself
1360 – The Treaty of Brtigny is ratified at Calais, marking the end of the first phase of the Hundred Years’ War
1492 – 24 Jews are burned at the stake in Mecklenburg, Germany
1593 – Alleged teleportation of Spanish soldier Gil Perez from the Philippines to Mexico
1648 – The Holy Roman Empire was effectively destroyed by the Peace of Westphalia that brought an end to the Thirty Years War.
1681 – Earl of Shaftesbury accused of high treason in London
1795 – The country of Poland was divided up between Austria, Prussia, and Russia.
1812 – Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Maloyaroslavets takes place near Moscow, French army then forced to retreat through the snow towards Smolensk
1836 – Alonzo D. Phillips received a patent for the phosphorous friction safety match.
1851 – William Lassell discovers Ariel andUmbriel, satellites of Uranus
1861 – The first transcontinental telegraph message was sent when Justice Stephen J. Field of California transmitted a telegram to U.S. President Lincoln.
1871 – A mob of about 500 Anglo and Latino men rioted in Los Angeles’ Chinatown. They lynched at least 17 Chinese residents, some as young as 18.
1901 – Daredevil Anna Edson Taylor became the first person to go over Niagara Falls in a wooden barrel. She was 63 years old.
1911 – Robert Scott’s expedition leaves Cape Evans for South Pole
1926 – Last performance of Houdini – The world famous escape artist performed for the last time at the Garrick Theater in Detroit, Michigan.
1929 – In the U.S., investors dumped more than 13 million shares on the stock market. The day is known as “Black Tuesday.”
1930 – A bloodless coup d’tat in Brazil ousts Washington Lus Pereira de Sousa, the last President of the First Republic. Getlio Dornelles Vargas is then installed as “provisional president.”
1931 – The upper level of the George Washington Bridge opened for traffic between New York and New Jersey.
1939 – Nylon stockings were sold to the public for the first time in Wilmington, DE.
1940 – In the U.S., the 40-hour workweek went into effect under the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938.
1942 – Start of second El Alamein battle, Egypt
1943 – Anti-nazi Clandestine Radio Soldatsender Calais begins transmitting
1945 – The United Nations (UN) was formally established less than a month after the end of World War II. The Charter was ratified by China, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the United States and by a majority of other signatories.
1947 – Walt Disney testifies to the House Un-American Activities Committee, naming Disney employees he believes to be communists
1948 – The term “cold war” was used for the first time. It was in a speech by Bernard Baruch before the Senate War Investigating Committee.
1949 – The cornerstone for the U.N. Headquarters was laid in New York City.
1952 – Arab Liberation Movement becomes the only party of Syria
1954 – Dwight D. Eisenhower pledges United States support to South Vietnam
1960 – All remaining American-owned property in Cuba was nationalized. The process of nationalizing all U.S. and foreign-owned property in Cuban had begun on August 6, 1960.
1962 – During the Cuban Missile Crisis, U.S. military forces went on the highest alert in the postwar era in preparation for a possible full-scale war with the Soviet Union. The U.S. blockade of Cuba officially began on this day.
1964 – Northern Rhodesia gains independence from the United Kingdom and becomes the Republic of Zambia (Southern Rhodesia remained a colony)
1972 – 2 Catholic men are found dead at a farm at Aughinahinch, near Newtownbbutler, County Fermanagh – British soldiers carry out the killings
1973 – John Lennon sues US govt to admit the FBI is tapping his phone
1980 – Polish government legalizes independent labor union Solidarity
1986 – Nezar Hindawi is sentenced to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence handed down by a British court, for the attempted bombing on an El Al flight at Heathrow. After the verdict, the United Kingdom breaks diplomatic relations with Syria, claiming that Hindawi was helped by Syrian officials.
1989 – American televangelist Jim Bakker is sentenced to 45 years in prison for fraud but the sentence is later reduced to eight years on appeal
1990 – Italian prime minister Giulio Andreotti reveals to the Italian parliament the existence of Gladio, the Italian “”stay-behind”” clandestine paramilitary NATO army.
1994 – Bomb attack on opposition in Sri Lanka, 55+ killed
2001 – The U.S. House of Representatives approved legislation that gave police the power to secretly search homes, tap all of a person’s telephone conversation and track people’s use of the Internet.
2002 – Police arrest spree killers John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo, ending the Beltway sniper attacks in the area around Washington, DC.
2003 – In London, the last commercial supersonic Concorde flight landed.
2008 – “Bloody Friday” saw many of the world’s stock exchanges experienced the worst declines in their history, with drops of around 10% in most indices.
2012 – 3 people are shot dead and two critically wounded after being shot by an unknown gunman in Downey, California
2016 – Suicide bomb kills 61 and injures 117 at a police training academy in Quetta, Pakistan, ISIS claims responsibility
2018 – Pipe bombs sent to prominent US Democrats including the Obamas, Clintons, John Brennan and CNN, but safely defused
2019 – Bangladesh sentences 16 men to death for the murder of Nusrat Jahan Rafi, who was set on fire after accusing a teacher of inappropriate behavior
2021 – COVID-19 cases in Eastern Europe pass 20 million with Russia, Ukraine and Romania in top five countries reporting deaths globally
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
