410 - The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.
663 - Remnants of the Korean Baekje Kingdom and their Yamato Japanese allies engage the combined naval forces of the Tang Chinese and Silla Koreans on the Geum River in Korea; the outcome is a significant Tang-Silla victory, while the Japanese would not attempt another invasion of Korea until the Japanese invasions of Korea of the late 16th century.
1232 - The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated by Regent Hōjō Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 1232)
1689 - The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire.
1776 - The Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1789 - The French National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, proclaiming that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights".
1793 - French counter-revolution: the port of Toulon revolts and admits the British fleet, which lands troops and seizes the port leading to Siege of Toulon.
1798 - Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connaught.
1828 - The Russians defeat the Turks at the Battle of Akhalzic.
1828 - Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great Britain between Brazil and Argentina during the Argentina-Brazil War.
1859 - Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.
1861 - Union (Northern) forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
1883 - Krakatoa, an Indonesian volcano, enters the final stage of its eruption. Four enormous explosions followed by a pyroclastic flow killed about 1,000 people. Its final shock waves traveled around the Earth as many as seven times and tsunamis over 30 metres (320 sq ft) high killed an estimated 36,000 people worldwide. The final explosion is the loudest sound in recorded history, measured at 180 dBSPL 160 kilometres (0.062 sq mi) away.
1896 - Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1916 - Romania declares war against Austria-Hungary, entering World War I as one of the Allied nations. It is soon occupied by German and Bulgarian forces.
1920 - Takes place the first radio broadcasting in Argentina.
1921 - The British install the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali (leader of the Arab Revolt of 1916 against the Ottoman Empire) as King Faisal I of Iraq.
1928 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by the first fifteen nations to do so. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
1939 - First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.
1943 - Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
1952 - West Germany and Israel conclude reparation negotiations in Luxembourg; West Germany agrees to pay 3 billion Deutsch Marks.
1957 - The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force.
1962 - The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by America's NASA.
1969 - Israeli commando force penetrates deep into Egyptian territory to stage mortar attack on regional Egyptian Army headquarters in the Nile Valley of Upper Egypt.
1971 - A coup attempt fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations.
1975 - The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.
1979 - An IRA bomb kills British World War II admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten and 3 others while they were boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another bomb near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.
1982 - Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital. Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide claim responsibility, saying they were avenging the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
1985 - The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
1991 - The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1991 - Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
1993 - The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.
2000 - 540-metre (1,772 ft)-tall Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.
2003 - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
2006 - Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
2008 - Barack Obama becomes the first African-American to be nominated by a major political party for President of the United States.
