August 1

Events

• 527 - Justinian I becomes Byzantine Emperor.
• 1119 - The crusaders are beaten in the Battle of Sarmada.
• 1245 - First Council of Lyons opens.
• 1291 - The Swiss Confederation is formed.
• 1492 - Ferdinand and Isabella drive the Jews out of Spain.
• 1461 - Edward IV crowned king of England.
• 1498 - Christopher Columbus discovers Venezuela.
• 1519 - Charles V elected emperor of Germany.
• 1619 - First Black slaves landed in Jamestown, Virginia.
• 1635 - Guadeloupe becomes a French colony.
• 1774 - The element oxygen is discovered by Carl Wilhelm and Joseph Priestley.
• 1776 - Formal signing of the Declaration of Independence.
• 1790 - The first census of the United States is completed. The total population of the thirteen states was 3,929,214.
• 1798 - Battle of the Nile starts between French and British fleets.
• 1820 - London's Regent's Canal opens.
• 1831 - London Bridge opens.
• 1832 - Black Hawk War ends.
• 1834 - Slavery is abolished in the British Empire.
• 1838 - Victoria crowned queen of Britain.
• 1864 - American Civil War: General Philip Sheridan takes command of the Army of the Shenandoah.
• 1859 - First dog show held in Newcastle-on-Tyne, England.
• 1873 - First cable car begins service in San Francisco, California.
• 1876 - Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state.
• 1894 - War erupts between Japan and China over Korea.
• 1895 - El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua form the Central American Union.
• 1902 - The United States buys the rights to the Panama Canal from France.
• 1909 - United States Army Air Corps founded.
• 1914 - Germany declares war on Russia.
• 1917 - Battle of Third Ypres.
• 1927 - Formation of the People's Liberation Army.
• 1936 - The Berlin Olympic Games are opened.
• 1941 - The first Jeep is produced.
• 1943 - PT-109, with Lieutenant John F. Kennedy aboard, sinks.
• 1944 - Anne Frank makes the last entry in her diary.
• 1944 - An uprising against the Nazi occupation breaks out in Warsaw, Poland.
• 1950 - King Leopold III of Belgium abdicates.
• 1957 - The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
• 1964 - North Vietnam fires on a US destroyer in the Gulf of Tonkin.
• 1965 - President Johnson authorizes the first use of American ground troops in the Vietnam War.
• 1965 - Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands announces her engagement to Claus von Amsberg.
• 1966 - Charles Whitman kills 15 people shooting from a tower at the University of Texas in Austin, in the United States, before being killed by the police.
• 1967 - Israel annexes East Jerusalem.
• 1971 - George Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh in New York features, among others, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and Leon Russell.
• 1981 - First broadcasts by MTV. The first video played was Video Killed The Radio Star by Buggles.
• 1990 - Iraq invades Kuwait.
• 1991 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir accepts a formula for peace talks in the Middle East.
• 1994 - Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley confirm rumours that they had married eleven weeks earlier.
• 1996 - Olympic Games: Michael Johnson wins the 200 meters in 19.32, beating the old world record by over 0.3 seconds.
• 2001 - In talks between the government and representatives of the Albanian minority in the Republic of Macedonia, an agreement is reached on the position of the Albanian language in the Republic.
• 2001 - Bulgaria, Cyprus, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Environment Agency.

Births

• 10 BC - Claudius († 54), Roman emperor
• 126 - Pertinax, Roman Emperor († 193)
• 1367 - Sigismund, emperor, king of Hungary and of Bohemia
• 1476 - Pope Paul IV († 1559)
• 1744 - Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, scientist († 1829)
• 1770 - William Clark, explorer († 1838)
• 1779 - Francis Scott Key, composer of "The Star-Spangled Banner" († 1843)
• 1818 - Maria Mitchell, astronomer (†)
• 1819 - Herman Melville, writer († 1891)
• 1824 - Paul Broca, anthropologist (†)
• 1858 - Hans Rott, composer
• 1863 - Gaston Doumergue, politician and president of France († 1937)
• 1885 - George de Hevesy, chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in chemistry 1943 († 1966)
• 1921 - Jack Kramer, tennis star
• 1922 - Arthur Hill, actor
• 1925 - Ernst Jandl, writer († 2000)
• 1930 - Pierre Bourdieu, French sociologist († 2002)
• 1931 - Tom Wilson, cartoonist (Ziggy)
• 1933 - Dom DeLuise, actor, comedian
• 1936 - Yves Saint Laurent, fashion designer
• 1937 - Senator Alfonse D'Amato from New York
• 1942 - Jerry Garcia, guitarist, lyricist, singer (The Grateful Dead) († 1995)
• 1942 - Sjoukje Dijkstra, figure skater
• 1950 - Jim Carroll, poet, actor
• 1953 - Robert Cray, singer
• 1959 - Joe Elliot, rock and roll musician (Def Leppard)
• 1960 - Chuck D, rapper (Public Enemy)
• 1963 - Coolio, rapper
• 1965 - Sam Mendes, film director
• 1973 - Tempestt Bledsoe, actress
• 1981 - Ashley Parker Angel, singer
• 1984 - Alessandra Angleton, twin daughter of Robert Angleton and Doris Angleton
• 1984 - Nicole Angleton, twin daughter of Robert Angleton and Doris Angleton
• It is also recognised that August 1 is the "Horse's Birthday" for every horse, regardless of their actual date of birth.

Deaths

• 371 - St Eusebius of Vercelli, bishop
• 1598 - Abraham Ortelius, cartographer
• 1836 - James Madison, President of the United States from 1809 to 1817
• 1876 - Wild Bill Hickock, gunfighter
• 1889 - Maria Mitchell, astronomer
• 1917 - Frank Little, IWW organizer, lynched in Butte, Montana
• 1923 - Warren G. Harding, United States President
• 1934 - Paul von Hindenburg, Chancellor of Germany
• 1964 - Johnny Burnett, singer (boating accident)
• 1970 - Frances Farmer, actress
• 1977 - Gary Powers, pilot
• 1981 - Paddy Chayefsky, writer
• 1989 - Joris Ivens, movie director
• 1990 - Graham Young, British serial killer, (b. 1947)
• 1992 - Mikhail Tal, world chess champion

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
• Democratic Republic of Congo - Parent's Day
• Nicaragua - Fiesta Day
• Rastafarianism - Celebration of the liberation of Haile Selassie from slavery
• Switzerland - National Day
• 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

July 31 - August 2 - July 1 - September 1 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By