475 – The Roman general Orestes forces western Roman Emperor Julius Nepos to flee his capital city, Ravenna.
489 – Theodoric, king of the Ostrogoths defeats Odoacer at the Battle of Isonzo, forcing his way into Italy.
1189 – Third Crusade: the Crusaders begin the Siege of Acre under Guy of Lusignan
1349 – 6,000 Jews are killed in Mainz, accused of being the cause of the plague.
1511 – The Portuguese conquer Malacca.
1521 – The Ottoman Turks occupy Belgrade.
1542 – Turkish-Portuguese War (1538-1557) – Battle of Wofla: the Portuguese are scattered, their leader Christovão da Gama is captured and afterwards executed.
1565 – St. Augustine, Florida, is established. It is the oldest surviving European settlement in the United States.
1609 – Henry Hudson discovers Delaware Bay.
1619 – Ferdinand II is elected emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
1640 – Second Bishop's War: King Charles I's English army loses to a Scottish Covenanter force at the Battle of Newburn
1777 – American Revolutionary War – Battle of Cooch's Bridge takes place near Newark, Delaware.
1789 – William Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn.
1830 – The Tom Thumb presages the first railway service in the United States.
1845 – Scientific American magazine publishes its first issue.
1849 – After a month-long siege, Venice, which had declared itself independent, surrenders to Austria.
1859 – A geomagnetic storm causes the Aurora Borealis to shine so brightly that it is seen clearly over parts of USA, Europe, and even as far afield as Japan.
1862 – American Civil War: Second Battle of Bull Run, also known as the battle of Second Manassas.
1867 – The United States takes possession of the, at this point unoccupied, Midway Atoll.
1879 – Cetshwayo, last king of the Zulus, is captured by the British.
1898 – Caleb Bradham renames his carbonated soft drink "Pepsi-Cola".
1913 – Queen Wilhelmina opens the Peace Palace in The Hague.
1914 – World War I: the Royal Navy beats the German fleet in the Battle of Heligoland Bight.
1914 – World War I: German troops conquer Namur.
1916 – World War I: Germany declares war on Romania.
1916 – World War I: Italy declares war on Germany.
1917 – Ten suffragists are arrested when picketing the White House.
1924 – Georgian opposition stages the August Uprising against the Soviet Union.
1931 – France and Soviet Union sign a treaty of non-aggression.
1937 – Toyota Motors becomes an independent company.
1943 – World War II: in Denmark, a general strike against the Nazi occupation is started.
1944 – World War II: Marseille and Toulon are liberated.
1953 – Nippon Television broadcasts Japan's first television show, including its first TV advertisement.
1955 – Black teenager Emmett Till is murdered in Mississippi, galvanizing the nascent American Civil Rights Movement.
1961 – Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.
1963 – March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his I Have a Dream speech.
1964 – The Philadelphia race riot begins.
1968 – Riots in Chicago, Illinois, during the Democratic National Convention.
1979 – An IRA bomb explodes on the Grand Place in Brussels.
1981 – The National Centers for Disease Control announce a high incidence of Pneumocystis and Kaposi's sarcoma in gay men. Soon, these will be recognized as symptoms of an immune disorder, which will be called AIDS.
1986 – United States Navy officer Jerry A. Whitworth is sentenced to 365 years imprisonment for espionage for the Soviet Union.
1988 – Ramstein airshow disaster: three aircraft of the Frecce Tricolori demonstration team collide and the wreckage falls into the crowd. 75 are killed and 346 seriously injured.
1990 – Iraq declares Kuwait to be its newest province.
1990 – The Plainfield Tornado: an F5 tornado hits in Plainfield, Illinois, and Joliet, Illinois, killing 28 people.
1991 – Collapse of the Soviet Union: Ukraine declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1991 – Collapse of the Soviet Union – Mikhail Gorbachev resigns as Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party.
1996 – Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales are divorced.
1998 – Pakistan's National Assembly passes a constitutional amendment to make the "Qur'an and Sunnah" the "supreme law" but the bill is defeated in the Senate.
2003 – An electricity blackout cuts off power to around 500,000 people living in south east England and brings 60% of London's underground rail network to a halt.
Subject: On The 28th Of August 
Wed Aug 12 2009, 06:08
