Switzerland becomes a nation

Events

• 30 BC – Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic.

• 527 – Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire.

• 607 – Ono no Imoko is dispatched as envoy to the Sui court in China (Traditional Japanese date: July 3, 607).

• 902 – Taormina, the last Byzantine stronghold in Sicily, is captured by the Aghlabid army.

• 1203 – Isaac II Angelus, restored Eastern Roman Emperor, declares his son Alexius IV Angelus co-emperor after pressure from the forces of the Fourth Crusade.

• 1291 – The Swiss Confederation is formed with the signature of the Federal Charter.

• 1461 – Edward IV is crowned king of England.

• 1492 – Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile drive the Jews out of Spain.

• 1498 – Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit Venezuela.

• 1619 – First African slaves arrive in Jamestown, Virginia.

• 1664 – The Ottoman Empire is defeated in the Battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár.

• 1774 – The element oxygen is discovered for the third (and last) time.

• 1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay) – Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.

• 1800 – The Act of Union 1800 is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

• 1820 – London's Regent's Canal opens.

• 1828 – Bolton and Leigh Railway opens to freight traffic.

• 1831 – A new London Bridge opens.

• 1832 – The Black Hawk War ends.

• 1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force.

• 1838 – Non-labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.

• 1840 – Labourer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.

• 1842 – Lombard Street Riot erupts

• 1855 – First ascent of Dufourspitze (Monte Rosa), the second highest summit in the Alps.

• 1876 – Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.

• 1894 – The First Sino-Japanese War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.

• 1902 – The United States buys the rights to the Panama Canal from France.

• 1907 – Start of First Scout camp on Brownsea Island.

• 1914 – Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilises because of World War I

• 1927 – The Nanchang Uprising marks the first significant battle in the Chinese Civil War between the Kuomintang and Communist Party of China. This day is commemorated as the anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army.

• 1937 – Tito reads the resolution "Manifesto of constitutional congress of KPH" to the constitutive congress of KPH (Croatian Communist Party) in woods near Samobor.

• 1941 – The first Jeep is produced.

• 1944 – Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary.

• 1944 – Warsaw Uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.

• 1948 – The U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations is founded.

• 1957 – The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).

• 1960 – Dahomey (later renamed Benin) declares independence from France.

• 1960 – Communist Party of Independence and Work is banned in Senegal.

• 1960 – Islamabad declared as the federal capital of the Government of Pakistan.

• 1964 – The Belgian Congo is renamed the Republic of the Congo.

• 1966 – Charles Whitman kills 15 people at The University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police.

• 1966 – Purges of intellectuals and imperialists becomes official People's Republic of China policy at the beginning of the Cultural Revolution.

• 1967 – Israel annexes East Jerusalem.

• 1968 – The coronation is held of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei.

• 1975 – CSCE Final Act creates the Conference for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

• 1977 – Former Lockheed U-2 pilot Francis Gary Powers crashes the news helicopter he is flying in Los Angeles

• 1980 – Buttevant Rail Disaster kills 18 and injures dozens of train passengers in Ireland.

• 1981 – MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles.

• 1993 – The Great Flood of 1993 comes to a peak.

• 1996 – Michael Johnson breaks the 200m world record by 0.30 seconds with a time of 19.32 seconds at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

• 2001 – An agreement is reached on the position of the minority Albanian language in the Republic of Macedonia.

• 2001 – Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Environment Agency.

• 2001 – Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office.

• 2004 – A supermarket fire kills 396 people and injures 500 in Asunción, Paraguay.

• 2007 – The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.

Births

• 10 BC – Claudius, Roman Emperor (d. 54)

• 126 – Pertinax, Roman Emperor (d. 193)

• 1313 – Emperor Kogon of Japan (d. 1364)

• 1377 – Emperor Go-Komatsu of Japan (d. 1433)

• 1545 – Andrew Melville, Scottish theologian and religious reformer (d. 1622)

• 1555 – Edward Kelley, English spirit medium (d. 1597)

• 1579 – Luís Vélez de Guevara, Spanish writer (d. 1644)

• 1626 – Sabbatai Zevi, Montenegrin rabbi, kabbalist, and founder of the Jewish Sabbatean movement (d. 1676)

• 1630 – Thomas Clifford, 1st Baron Clifford of Chudleigh, English statesman (d. 1673)

• 1713 – Charles I, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg (d. 1780)

• 1714 – Richard Wilson, Welsh painter (d. 1782)

• 1738 – Jacques François Dugommier, French general (d. 1794)

• 1744 – Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French scientist (d. 1829)

• 1770 – William Clark, American explorer (d. 1838)

• 1779 – Francis Scott Key, American lawyer and lyricist (d. 1843)

• 1779 – Lorenz Oken, German naturalist (d. 1851)

• 1815 – Richard Henry Dana, Jr., American lawyer, politician, and author (d. 1882)

• 1818 – Maria Mitchell, American astronomer (d. 1889)

• 1819 – Herman Melville, American writer (d. 1891)

• 1837 – Mary Harris "Mother" Jones, American labor organizer (d. 1930)

• 1843 – Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln; 35th United States Secretary of War (d. 1926)

• 1856 – George Coulthard, Former Australian rules footballer and cricketer (d. 1883)

• 1858 – Hans Rott, Austrian composer (d. 1884)

• 1858 – Gaston Doumergue, French President (d. 1937)

• 1861 – Sammy Jones, Former Australian cricketer (d. 1951)

• 1871 – John Lester, American cricketer (d. 1969)

• 1885 – George de Hevesy, Hungarian chemist, Nobel laureate (d. 1966)

• 1881 – Otto Toeplitz, German mathematician (d. 1940)

• 1889 – Walter Gerlach, German physicist (d. 1979)

• 1891 – Karl Kobelt, Swiss politician (d. 1968)

• 1892 – Kinsan Ginsan, Japanese identical twins who lived to ages 107 and 108, respectively.

• 1893 – King Alexander I of Greece (d. 1920)

• 1894 – Ottavio Bottecchia, Italian cyclist (d. 1927)

• 1900 – Otto Nothling, Former Australian cricketer and rugby union footballer (d. 1965)

• 1901 – Pancho Villa, Filipino world boxing champion (d. 1925)

• 1910 – James Henry Govier, British artist (d. 1974)

• 1910 – Walter Scharf, American composer (d. 2003)

• 1910 – Mohammad Nissar, Indian cricketer (d. 1963)

• 1911 – Jackie Ormes, American cartoonist (d. 1985)

• 1912 – Henry Jones, American actor (d. 1999)

• 1914 – J. Lee Thompson, British film director (d. 2002)

• 1916 – Anne Hébert, French Canadian author and poet (d. 2000)

• 1916 – Fiorenzo Angelini, Italian cardinal

• 1916 – Val Bettin, English voice actor

• 1921 – Jack Kramer, American tennis player

• 1922 – Pat McDonald, Australian actress (d. 1990)

• 1924 – Georges Charpak, Ukrainian-born physicist, Nobel laureate

• 1924 – Marcia Mae Jones, American actress (d. 2007)

• 1924 – Frank Worrell, Former West Indian cricketer (d. 1967)

• 1925 – Ernst Jandl, Austrian writer (d. 2000)

• 1926 – Theo Adam, German bass-baritone

• 1929 – Ann Calvello, Roller Derby queen (d. 2006)

• 1930 – Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist (d. 2002)

• 1930 – Lionel Bart, English song-writer (d. 1999)

• 1930 – Julie Bovasso, American actor and writer (d. 1991)

• 1931 – Trevor Goddard, Former South African cricketer

• 1932 – Meir Kahane, American founder of the Jewish Defense League (d. 1990)

• 1932 – Meena Kumari, Indian film actress (d. 1972)

• 1933 – Dom DeLuise, American actor and comedian (d. 2009)

• 1933 – Jesse Corti, Venezuelan-born actor and comedian

• 1933 – Masaichi Kaneda, Japanese baseball player

• 1933 – Dušan Třeštík, Czech historian (d. 2007)

• 1934 – John Beck, Former New Zealand cricketer (d. 2000)

• 1935 – Geoff Pullar, Former England cricketer

• 1936 – Yves Saint Laurent, French fashion designer (d. 2008)

• 1937 – Al D'Amato, United States Senator from New York

• 1940 – Mervyn Kitchen, Former Somerset cricketer and cricket international umpire

• 1941 – Étienne Roda-Gil, French songwriter and screenwriter (d. 2004)

• 1942 – Jerry Garcia, American musician (The Grateful Dead) (d. 1995)

• 1942 – André Gagnon, French Canadian pianist and composer

• 1942 – Giancarlo Giannini, Italian actor

• 1945 – Douglas D. Osheroff, American physicist, Nobel laureate

• 1945 – Sandi Griffiths, American singer, The Lawrence Welk Show

• 1946 – Fiona Stanley, Australian epidemiologist

• 1946 – Boz Burrell, British musician (King Crimson, Bad Company) (d. 2006)

• 1947 – Chris L. Barnard, Welsh footballer

• 1947 – Dennis Zine, Los Angeles city councilman

• 1949 – Kurmanbek Bakiyev, President of Kyrgyzstan

• 1949 – Ray Nettles, professional football player (d. 2009)

• 1950 – Jim Carroll, American poet and actor (d. 2009)

• 1950 – Bunkhouse Buck, American professional wrestler

• 1951 – Tommy Bolin, American musician (Deep Purple) (d. 1976)

• 1951 – Pete Mackanin, American baseball player

• 1952 – Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia (d. 2003)

• 1952 – Yajurvindra Singh, Former Indian cricketer

• 1953 – Robert Cray, American singer

• 1953 – Howard Kurtz, American journalist

• 1955 – Trevor Berbick, Jamaican boxer (d. 2006)

• 1955 – Arun Lal, Former Indian cricketer

• 1956 – Tom Leykis, American radio personality

• 1958 – Rob Buck, American musician (10,000 Maniacs) (d. 2000)

• 1958 – Tor Håkon Holte, Norwegian cross country skier

• 1958 – Kiki Vandeweghe, American basketball player

• 1958 – Michael Penn, American singer and songwriter

• 1959 – Joe Elliott, English musician (Def Leppard)

• 1959 – Otomo Yoshihide, Japanese musician

• 1960 – Chuck D, American activist and rapper (Public Enemy)

• 1960 – Richard Roeper, American columnist and film critic

• 1962 – Jacob Matlala, South African boxer

• 1962 – Jesse Borrego, American actor

• 1963 – Coolio, American rapper

• 1963 – Demián Bichir, Mexican actor

• 1963 – John Carroll Lynch, American actor

• 1963 – Koichi Wakata, Japanese astronaut

• 1963 – Lynette Sadleir, New Zealand Olympic synchronised swimmer

• 1963 – Dean Wareham, New Zealand musician (Galaxie 500, Luna, Dean and Britta)

• 1964 – Adam Duritz, American musician (Counting Crows)

• 1965 – Sam Mendes, British stage and film director

• 1966 – James St. James, American author and nightlife personality

• 1967 – Gregg Jefferies, American baseball player

• 1968 – Dan Donegan, American musician (Disturbed)

• 1968 – Stacey Augmon, American basketball player

• 1969 – Kevin Jarvis, American baseball player

• 1969 – David Wain, American actor

• 1969 – Graham Thorpe, Former England cricketer

• 1970 – David James, English footballer

• 1972 – Devon Hughes, American professional wrestler

• 1972 – Nicke Royale, Swedish musician (The Hellacopters)

• 1972 – Tanya Reid, Canadian actress

• 1973 – Gregg Berhalter, American footballer

• 1973 – Tempestt Bledsoe, American actress

• 1973 – Veerle Dejaeghere, Belgian athlete

• 1973 – Eduardo Noriega, Spanish actor

• 1974 – Beckie Scott, Canadian cross-country skiing athlete

• 1976 – Nwankwo Kanu, Nigerian footballer

• 1976 – Hasan Şaş, Turkish footballer

• 1976 – Søren Jochumsen, Danish footballer

• 1977 – Marc Denis, Canadian ice hockey player

• 1977 – Damien Saez, French musician, songwriter, and author

• 1978 – Dhani Harrison, English musician

• 1978 – Edgerrin James, American football player

• 1978 – Andy Blignaut, Former Zimbabwean cricketer

• 1979 – Junior Agogo, Ghanaian footballer

• 1979 – Jason Momoa, American actor

• 1979 – Honeysuckle Weeks, English actress

• 1980 – Mancini, Brazilian footballer

• 1981 – Stephen Hunt, Irish footballer

• 1981 – Ashley Parker Angel, North American singer and actor

• 1982 – Ai Tominaga, Japanese model and actress

• 1984 – Valery Ortiz, Puerto Rican actress

• 1984 – Bastian Schweinsteiger, German footballer

• 1986 – Andrew Taylor, English footballer

• 1986 – Anton Stralman, Swedish ice hockey player

• 1986 – Elena Vesnina, Russian tennis player

• 1987 – Sébastien Pocognoli, Belgian footballer

• 1987 – Rumi Hiiragi, Japanese actress

• 1989 – Jack O'Connell, English actor (Skins)

Deaths

• 30 BC – Mark Antony, Roman politician and general (b. 83 BC)

• 371 – St Eusebius of Vercelli, Italian bishop (b. 283)

• 527 – Emperor Justin I (b. 450)

• 1137 – King Louis VI of France (b. 1081)

• 1227 – Shimazu Tadahisa, Japanese warlord (b. 1179)

• 1252 – Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, Italian explorer (b. c.1180)

• 1402 – Edmund of Langley, 1st Duke of York, son of Edward III of England (b. 1341)

• 1457 – Lorenzo Valla, Italian humanist (b. c.1406)

• 1464 – Cosimo de' Medici, ruler of Florence (b. 1386)

• 1541 – Simon Grynaeus, German theologian (b. 1493)

• 1546 – Peter Faber, French Jesuit theologian (b. 1506)

• 1557 – Olaus Magnus, Swedish writer (b. 1490)

• 1580 – Albrecht Giese, German politician and diplomat (b. 1524)

• 1589 – Jacques Clément, French assassin of Henry III of France (b. 1567)

• 1675 – Weetamoo, sachem of Pocasetts, a band of the Wampanoag Indians her death winding up the end of King Philip's War (b. 1635)

• 1714 – Queen Anne of Great Britain (b. 1665)

• 1787 – Alphonsus Liguori, Italian founder of the Redemptionist order (b. 1696)

• 1795 – Clas Bjerkander, Swedish meteorologist, botanist, and entomologist(b. 1735)

• 1796 – Robert Pigot, British army officer (b. 1720)

• 1798 – François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers, French admiral (killed in battle) (b. 1753)

• 1807 – John Walker, English lexicographer (b. 1732)

• 1812 – Yakov Kulnev, Russian general (killed in battle) (b. 1763)

• 1851 – William Joseph Behr, German writer (b. 1775)

• 1866 – John Ross (aka. Kooweskoowe), Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation (b. 1790)

• 1903 – Calamity Jane, American frontierswoman (b. 1853)

• 1911 – Samuel Arza Davenport, American politician (b. 1843)

• 1911 – Edwin Austin Abbey, American painter (b. 1852)

• 1917 – Frank Little, American labor organizer (lynched) (b. 1879)

• 1918 – John Riley Banister, American cowboy and Texas Ranger (b. 1854)

• 1920 – Bal Gangadhar Tilak, Indian nationalist leader (b. 1856)

• 1929 – Syd Gregory, Australian cricketer (b. 1870)

• 1938 – John Aasen, American actor (b. 1890)

• 1943 – Lydia Litvyak, Soviet female flying ace (b. 1921)

• 1964 – Johnny Burnette, American singer (b. 1934)

• 1966 – Charles Whitman, American mass murderer (shot by police) (b. 1941)

• 1967 – Richard Kuhn, Austrian chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1900)

• 1970 – Frances Farmer, American actress (b. 1913)

• 1970 – Otto Heinrich Warburg, German physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1883)

• 1973 – Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer (b. 1882)

• 1973 – Walter Ulbricht, German communist statesman (b. 1893)

• 1974 – Ildebrando Antoniutti, Italian Catholic cardinal (b. 1898)

• 1977 – Gary Powers, American spy plane pilot (b. 1929)

• 1980 – Patrick Depailler, French Formula 1 driver (b. 1944)

• 1980 – Strother Martin, American actor (b. 1919)

• 1981 – Paddy Chayefsky, American writer (b. 1923)

• 1989 – John Ogdon, English pianist (b. 1937)

• 1990 – Norbert Elias, German sociologist (b. 1897)

• 1990 – Graham Young, British serial killer (b. 1947)

• 1996 – Frida Boccara, French singer (b. 1940)

• 1996 – Tadeus Reichstein, Polish chemist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1897)

• 1996 – Lucille Teasdale-Corti, Canadian physician and international aid worker (b. 1929)

• 1997 – Sviatoslav Richter, Ukrainian pianist (b. 1915)

• 1998 – Eva Bartok, Hungarian-born actress (b. 1927)

• 1999 – Nirad C. Chaudhuri, Indian-born writer (b. 1897)

• 2001 – Korey Stringer, American football player (b. 1974)

• 2003 – Guy Thys, Belgian football coach (b. 1922)

• 2003 – Marie Trintignant, French actress (b. 1962)

• 2004 – Philip Abelson, American physicist, Nobel Prize Laureate (b. 1913)

• 2005 – Al Aronowitz, American music journalist (b. 1928)

• 2005 – King Fahd of Saudi Arabia (b. 1923)

• 2005 – Constant Nieuwenhuys, Dutch painter (b. 1920)

• 2005 – Wibo, Dutch cartoonist (b. 1918)

• 2006 – Jason Rhoades, American installation artist (b. 1965)

• 2006 – Bob Thaves, American cartoonist (b. 1924)

• 2006 – Iris Marion Young, American feminist and political scientist (b. 1949)

• 2007 – Tommy Makem, Irish folk singer (b. 1932)

• 2008 – Harkishan Singh Surjeet, Indian politician (b. 1916)

• 2009 – Corazon Aquino, Former President of the Philippines (b. 1933)

Holidays and observances

• Angola – Armed Forces Day.

• Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago – Emancipation Day.

• Benin – National Day.

• People's Republic of China – Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Liberation Army.

• Jamaica – Emancipation Day

• Rastafari movement – Celebration of the liberation of Haile Selassie from slavery.

• Switzerland – National Day – Commemorates Switzerland becoming a single unit on August 1 1291.

• Bahá'í Faith – Feast of Kamál (Perfection) – First day of the eighth month of the Bahá'í calendar.

• Lughnasadh – Lá Lúnasa, the traditional first day of Autumn in Ireland.

• Lammas – Neopagan festival of Lammas.

• Lebanon – Army's Day (Eid al-Jaysh).

• Yorkshire, England – Yorkshire Day.

• World Scout Day – anniversary of the first day of the Brownsea Island Camp in 1907, where Robert Baden-Powell began scouting.

• United States – Colorado statehood day

• Abgar V of Edessa

• Procession of the Cross.

• Saint Alphonso Maria de' Liguori, bishop, Doctor of the Church (died 1787)

• Saint Æthelwold of Winchester, bishop of Winchester, confessor

• Saint Eusebius, bishop of Vercelli, martyr Geneva, Lausanne, France; Paris

• Saint Exuperius, bishop of Bayeux northern France; Paris

• Saint Felix, martyr at Gerona southern France

• Saint Peter Julian Eymard (Pierre-Julien Eymard, died 1868)