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Events

982 - Otto II is defeated in Calabria by the Saracens, Pandulf II of Salerno and Landulf IV of Benevento killed in battle.

1174 - William the Lion of Scotland, a key rebel in the Revolt of 1173-1174, is captured at Alnwick by forces loyal to Henry II of England.

1558 - Battle of Gravelines: In France, Spanish forces led by Count Lamoral of Egmont defeat the French forces of Marshal Paul des Thermes at Gravelines.

1573 - Eighty Years' War: The Siege of Haarlem ends after seven months.

1643 - English Civil War: Battle of Roundway Down - In England, Lord Henry Wilmot, 1st Earl of Rochester, commanding the Royalist forces, wins a crushing victory over the Parliamentarian Sir William Waller.

1772 - HMS Resolution, under the command of Captain James Cook, sets sail from Plymouth, England.

1787 - The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance establishing governing rules for the Northwest Territory. It also establishes procedures for the admission of new states and limits the expansion of slavery.

1794 - Battle of the Vosges between French forces and those of Prussia and Austria

1822 - Greek War of Independence: Greeks defeat Ottoman forces at Thermopylae.

1837 - Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom moves into the first Buckingham Palace in London and is the first British monarch to live there.

1854 - In the battle of Guaymas, Mexico, General Jose Maria Yanez stops the French invasion led by Count Gaston de Raousset Boulbon.

1863 - New York Draft Riots: In New York City, opponents of conscription begin three days of rioting which will be later regarded as the worst in United States history.

1878 - Treaty of Berlin: The European powers redraw the map of the Balkans. Serbia, Montenegro and Romania become completely independent of the Ottoman empire.

 
 

1900 - Boxer Rebellion: In China, Tientsin is retaken by European Allies from the rebelling Boxers.

1908 - Women compete in modern Olympics for the first time.

1909 - Gold discovered near Cochrane, Ontario.

1912 - Leader of the Indian freedom movement and scholar, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad brought out his noted Urdu news journal, al-Hilal.

1919 - The British airship R-34 lands in Norfolk, England, completing the first airship return journey across the Atlantic in 182 hours of flight.

1923 - The Hollywood Sign is officially dedicated in the hills above Hollywood, Los Angeles. It originally reads "Hollywoodland " but the four last letters are dropped after renovation in 1949.

1936 - A heat wave strikes the Midwestern United States. The all-time highest temperatures for the states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Indiana are all recorded on this date.

1941 - World War II: Montenegrins start the first popular uprising in Europe against the Axis Powers (Crnogorski ustanak).

1942 - World War II: German U-Boats sink three more merchant ships in Gulf of St. Lawrence.

1948 - The Coptic and Ethiopian Churches reach an agreement leading to the promotion of the Ethiopian church to the rank of an autocephalous Patriarchate. Five bishops are immediately consecrated by the Patriarch of Alexandria, who are empowered to elect a new Patriarch for their church, and the successor to Abuna Qerellos IV is granted the power to consecrate new bishops.

1973 - Alexander Butterfield reveals the existence of the Nixon tapes to the special Senate committee investigating the Watergate break in.

1977 - The New York City Blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours and results in looting and other disorder.

1978 - Ford Motor Company President Lee Iacocca is fired by chairman Henry Ford II, ending a long dispute between the men.

 
 

1983 - Around 3,000 Tamils were slaughtered by Sinhalese Buddhist majority in Sri Lanka and some 400,000 Tamils fled to neighboring Tamil Nadu, India and a lot found refuge in Europe and Canada. This incident, known as Black July led directly to beginning of civil war in Sri Lanka.

1985 - The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in London and Philadelphia, as well as other venues such as Sydney and Moscow.

2002 - A lightning strike sets off the Sour Biscuit Fire in Oregon and northern California, which had burned 499,570 acres (2,020 km2) when finally contained on September 5.

2005 - Three trains collide in the Ghotki rail crash in Ghotki, Pakistan, killing over 150 people.

 

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