August 8 in History

Historical Events on August 8

870

Treaty 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.
1220

Sweden is defeated by Estonian tribes in the Battle of Lihula.
1503

King James IV of Scotland marries Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland.
1509

Krishnadeva Raya is crowned Emperor of Vijayanagara at Chittoor.
1576

The cornerstone for Tycho Brahe's Uraniborg observatory is laid on the island of Hven.
1585

John Davis enters Cumberland Sound in search of the Northwest Passage.
1588

Anglo-Spanish War: Battle of Gravelines: The naval engagement ends, ending the Spanish Armada's attempt to invade England.
1605

The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
1647

The Irish Confederate Wars and Wars of the Three Kingdoms: Battle of Dungan's Hill: English Parliamentary forces defeat Irish forces.
1648

Mehmed IV (1648-1687) succeeds Ibrahim I (1640-1648) as Ottoman Emperor.
1709

Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the king of Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal.
1786

Mont Blanc on the French-Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
1793

The insurrection of Lyon occurs during the French Revolution.
1794

Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.
1844

The 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).
1863

American 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).
1870

The Republic of Ploiești, a failed Radical-Liberal rising against Domnitor Carol of Romania.
1876

Thomas Edison receives a patent for his mimeograph.
1908

Wilbur Wright makes his first flight at a racecourse at Le Mans, France. It is the Wright Brothers' first public flight.
1918

World 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).
1929

The German airship Graf Zeppelin begins a round-the-world flight.
1940

The "Aufbau Ost" directive is signed by Wilhelm Keitel.
1942

Quit India Movement is launched in India against the British rule in response to Mohandas Gandhi's call for swaraj or complete independence.
1945

The 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.
1946

First flight of the Convair B-36, the world's first mass-produced nuclear weapon delivery vehicle, the heaviest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft, with the longest wingspan of any military aircraft, and the first bomber with intercontinental range.
1963

Great Train Robbery: In England, a gang of 15 train robbers steal £2.6 million in bank notes.
1963

The Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), the current ruling party of Zimbabwe, is formed by a split from the Zimbabwe African People's Union.
1967

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is founded by Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
1969

At a zebra crossing in London, photographer Iain Macmillan takes the iconic photo that becomes the cover image of the Beatles' album Abbey Road.
1969

The Manson Family commits the Tate murders.
1973

Kim Dae-jung, a South Korean politician and later president of South Korea, is kidnapped.
1974

President 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.
1988

The 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.
1989

Space Shuttle program: STS-28 Mission: Space Shuttle Columbia takes off on a secret five-day military mission.
1990

Iraq occupies Kuwait and the state is annexed to Iraq. This would lead to the Gulf War shortly afterward.
1991

The Warsaw radio mast, at one time the tallest construction ever built, collapses.
1993

The 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.
1998

Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan is raided by Taliban leading to the deaths of ten Iranian diplomats and a journalist.
2000

Confederate 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.
2007

An 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.
2008

A 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.
2009

A tour helicopter and a private Piper aircraft collide over the Hudson River near Frank Sinatra Park in Hoboken, New Jersey, U.S; all three people on the helicopter and all six aboard the Piper are killed, 40 blocks south of where US Airways Flight 1549 ditched after suffering multiple bird strikes just 7 months earlier.
2010

China Floods: A mudslide in Zhugqu County, Gansu, China, kills more than 1,400 people.
2013

A suicide bombing at a funeral in the Pakistani city of Quetta kills at least 31 people.
2015

Eight people are killed in a shooting in Harris County, Texas.
2016

Terrorists attack a government hospital in Quetta, Pakistan with a suicide blast and shooting, killing between 70 and 94 people, and injuring around 130 others.

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