/year

August 3 in history

174 sourced entries recorded on August 3, from 435 CE to 2024 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 435Theodosius II exiles Nestorius, archbishop of Constantinople, to a monastery in the Libyan desert at the behest of his sister Pulcheria.source
  • 449The Second Council of Ephesus opens, chaired by Dioscorus, patriarch of Alexandria. Flavian, patriarch of Constantinople, and Domnus II, patriarch of Antioch, are deposed on August 8.source
  • 881Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: The West Frankish kings Louis III, and his brother Carloman II, rout Viking raiders (near Abbeville).source
  • 908Battle of Eisenach: An invading Hungarian force defeats the East Frankish army under Duke Burchard, killing him, together with Duke Egino and Rudolf I, bishop of Würzburg. The Hungarians devastate Thuringia and Saxony as far north as Bremen, returning home with many spoils.source
  • 1096August 2–6 – The People's Crusade reorganize their forces and gather supplies. Alexios I advises Peter the Hermit to wait for reinforcements but he ignores the advice. The People's army (some 30,000 men) is transported across the Bosporus – by the Byzantine fleet to Civetot (modern Turkey).source
  • 1165Emperor Nijō of Japan abdicates the throne, dying soon after following a 7-year reign. He is succeeded by his 1-year-old son Rokujō as 79th emperor.source
  • 1305William Wallace, Scottish rebel leader and knight, is captured near Glasgow at Robroyston, by English troops led by John de Menteith. He is transported to London and led, crowned mockingly with laurel, in procession to Westminster Hall.source
  • 1413The Cabochien revolt comes to an end as the citizenry and nobles of Paris rise up against rebel control. The Cabochiens who fail to flee the city are executed, although Simon Caboche and the Duke of Burgundy escape.source
  • 1432The Ming Chinese expedition arrives at Malacca in what is now Malaysia and stays until September 2.source
  • 1449The Emperor Yingzong designates his younger brother, Zhu Qiyu, to administer the Chinese Empire.source
  • 1488Thaddeus McCarthy is forcibly deprived of his seat as Bishop of Rosssource
  • 1492The Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus sails with three ships (Niña, Pinta and Santa María) from Palos de la Frontera, in the service of the Crown of Castile, on his first voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, intending to reach Asia.source
  • 1495After the sinking of two of his ships, Perkin Warbeck ends this siege of Waterford and retreats from Ireland along with his remaining fleet and warriors.source
  • 1522Lord Erskine is appointed by Margaret Tudor, regent of Scotland, to be the "keeper" of Margaret's 10-year-old son, King James V, who is to remain within the confines of Erskine's home at Stirling Castle.source
  • 1527The first known letter is sent from North America by John Rut, while at St. John's, Newfoundland, during his voyage to the New World.source
  • 1529The Treaty of Cambrai is signed between the Valois dynasty and the Habsburgs.source
  • 1553Queen Mary I of England arrives in London from East Anglia.source
  • 1562A severe hailstorm causes serious damage in the German town of Wiesensteig, and leads a few days later to the demand of Mayor Ulrich von Helfenstein for the arrest of several women on charges of practicing witchcraft. Six of the women are executed, the first of 63 women and men put to death after being convicted of practicing sorcery.source
  • 1593Poland's council of nobles, the Sejm, grants permission to King Sigismund III Vasa and his wife, Queen consort Anne, to travel to Sweden to claim the Swedish crown.source
  • 1601The Battle of Guruslău takes place in Goroszlo in (now Guruslău in Romania), as Wallachian troops led by Michael the Brave and Giorgio Basta defeat Transylvanian defenders commanded by Sigismund Báthory. Wallachia, assisted by Austrian troops from the Holy Roman Empire, retakes the Principality of Transylvania from Ottoman rule.source
  • 1607After Catholics and Protestants clash in Donauwörth, emperor Rudolph II declares an imperial ban over the city and orders Bavarian duke Maximilian I to execute the ban leading to the occupation of the city by a force of 15,000 in December. This in turn leads to the creation of the Protestant Union in 1608.source
  • 1635Cossack rebel leader Ivan Sulyma stages a surprise attack on Poland's newly constructed Kodak fortress, and his raiders kill most of the 200 mercenaries stationed there. Sulyma and his allies are captured by the army of Stanisław Koniecpolski, and Sulyma is executed on December 12.source
  • 1642A Dutch Navy fleet of 14 warships, led by Hendric Harouse, begins a campaign to drive Spaniards from the island of Formosa (modern-day Taiwan) off of the coast of mainland China. After disembarking at Tamsui, the Dutch begin a siege of Fort Domingo, which falls on Saint Bartolomeo Day (August 24).source
  • 1659Booth's Uprising, led by George Booth, begins in the city of Chester as 3,000 royalists attempt a revolt against the military government of England. English Army troops begin marching on August 5 to suppress the rebellion.source
  • 1675August 2–4 – The Nipmucks attack Massachusetts troops and besiege Brookfield, Massachusetts.source
  • 1688the Royal Pawn is created by royal ordinance.source
  • 1692War of the Grand Alliance: the allied forces of England and the Dutch Republic led by King William III of England are defeated at the Battle of Steenkerque.source
  • 1704August 1–3 - Capture of Gibraltarsource
  • 1704August 3 (July 23 Old Style) – War of the Spanish Succession – Gibraltar is captured from Spain, by English and Dutch forces under Sir George Rooke.source
  • 1708In the Battle of Trenčín, 8,000 soldiers of the Imperial Army of the Habsburgs are victorious over the 15,000 Hungarian Kuruc forces of Francis II Rákóczi.source
  • 1716Natchez, one of the oldest towns on the Mississippi River, is founded by French civilians at the site of Fort Rosalie.source
  • 1716Martin Düssel and Christoffer Düssel are ennobled with letters patent under the name “von Falkenskiold”, founding the noble House of Falkenskiold.source
  • 1717the title Viscount Boyne, in the province of Leinster, is created in the peerage of Ireland in favour of the Scottish military commander Gustavus Hamilton, 1st Baron Hamilton of Stackallan.source
  • 1719The Saint-Joseph from Ostend arrives in Canton.source
  • 1744the Colthurst Baronetcy, of Ardrum in the County of Cork, is created in the Baronetage of Ireland.source
  • 1749The Battle of Ambur is fought in south India as the Second Carnatic War begins between the French-supported troops of Chanda Sahib of the Mughal Empire and the British-supported defenders of the Arcot State, led by its 77-year old Nawab, Anwaruddin Khan. After marching outside of the walls of Arcot to confront Chanda Sahib and Joseph Dupleix's 4,000 troops, Anwaruddin Khan's numerically superior force is routed and he is killed in the battle.source
  • 1749French explorer Pierre Joseph Céloron de Blainville, commissioned by New France to explore the Ohio Territory claimed by both France and Britain, buries the first of six engraved lead markers claiming the land for King Louis XV. The first plate is buried on the banks of the Allegheny River, near a rock with petroglyphs, in what is now Venango County, Pennsylvania.source
  • 1752Edward Cornwallis, the British Governor of Nova Scotia, is recalled to Britain after being unsuccessful in pressuring Nova Scotia's Acadian population to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown or to face expulsion. His replacement, Peregrine Hopson, is more lenient with the Acadians but is reassigned less than two years later.source
  • 1757August 3–9 – French and Indian War: A French army under Louis-Joseph de Montcalm forces the English to surrender Fort William Henry. The French army's Indian allies slaughter the surviving men, women and children.source
  • 1758Seven Years' War – Battle of Negapatam: Off the coast of India, Admiral Pocock again engages d'Aché's French fleet, this time with more success.source
  • 1763August 3 and 4 – Amsterdam banking crisis: The spectacular bankruptcies of Leendert Pieter de Neufville and Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky lead to a financial contagion which in the following days affects many merchants in Amsterdam, Hamburg, Berlin and Stockholm.source
  • 1769part of the first North Bridge, Edinburgh, collapses while nearing completion, killing five.source
  • 1769The party of Gaspar de Portolà becomes the first white group to set foot in the area now known as Santa Monica, California.source
  • 1778The La Scala Opera House opens in Milan, with the première of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.source
  • 1795The signing of the Treaty of Greenville puts an end to the Northwest Indian War.source
  • 1803The British begin the Second Anglo-Maratha War, against the Scindia Dynasty of Gwalior.source
  • 1811Jungfrau, the third highest summit in the Bernese Alps, is first ascended.source
  • 1823The Brampton arrives at the Bay of Islands. On board are Samuel Marsden, Henry Williams and family, and the Wesleyan missionaries John Hobbs and Nathaniel Turner (and family).source
  • 1829Gioacchino Rossini's opera William Tell (Guillaume Tell) is first performed, in Paris.source
  • 1849Hungarian Revolution of 1848: The Hungarian defenders of Komárom, led by György Klapka, destroy the besieging Austrian forces in the Fourth Battle of Komárom, liberating Győr and Székesfehérvár. But this victory comes too late to change the course of military events in the eastern part of the country, where the Hungarian forces are about to crumble under the heavy Austro-Russian pressure.source
  • 1851The filibustering Lopez Expedition sails from New Orleans, Louisiana heading to seize Spanish-ruled Cuba.source
  • 1852The first American intercollegiate athletic event, the Boat Race between Yale and Harvard, is held.source
  • 1852The first Harvard–Yale Regatta boat race between Harvard and Yale Universities, the first North American intercollegiate athletic event, is held on Lake Winnipesaukee.source
  • 1858Explorer John Hanning Speke discovers Lake Victoria, source of the River Nile.source
  • 1863Otago Boys' High School is founded in New Zealand.source
  • 1881The Pretoria Convention peace treaty is signed, officially ending the war between the Boers and Britain.source
  • 1881The Pretoria Convention peace treaty is signed, officially ending the war between the Boers and the Britain.source
  • 1882The United States Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1882, imposing a head tax on immigrants to the U.S. and excluding undesirables.source
  • 1882The U.S. Congress passes the Immigration Act of 1882, imposing a head tax on arrivals in the U.S., excluding undesirable immigrants, and setting up a federal bureaucracy to manage immigration.source
  • 1889Mahdist War: Battle of Toski – Egyptian and British troops are victorious.source
  • 1889Mahdist War: Egyptian and British victory at the Battle of Toski.source
  • 1899The John Marshall Law School is founded in Chicago.source
  • 1903The Kruševo Republic is proclaimed in Ottoman Macedonia; it is crushed 10 days later.source
  • 1904Lhasa was occupied by the British Indian Army, and the 13th Dalai Lama fled to Mongolia via Qinghai.source
  • 1904British expedition to Tibet: The British expedition under Colonel Francis Younghusband takes Lhasa, Tibet.source
  • 1914At the outbreak of World War I, the government, led by the conservative Antonio Salandra, declares that Italy would not commit its troops, maintaining that the Triple Alliance had only a defensive stance and Austria-Hungary had been the aggressor. In reality, both Salandra and the minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonino Paternò Castello, begin to probe which side would grant the best reward for Italy's entrance in the war and to fulfil Italy’s irredentist claims. Although the majority of the cabinet (including former Prime Minister Giolitti) is firmly against intervention, numerous intellectuals, including Socialists such as Ivanoe Bonomi and Leonida Bissolati declare in favour of intervention. One of the most prominent and popular Italian nationalist supporters of the war was Gabriele d'Annunzio who helped sway the Italian public to support intervention in the war.source
  • 1916August 3–5 – WWI: Sinai and Palestine Campaign – Battle of Romani: British Imperial troops secure victory over a joint Ottoman-German force.source
  • 1917The New York Guard is founded.source
  • 1918WWI: Australian hospital ship HMAT Warilda is torpedoed and sunk in the English Channel on passage from Le Havre to Southampton by German submarine SMU UC-49 with the loss of 123 of the 801 people on board.source
  • 1920July 30–August 8 – The 1st World Scout Jamboree is held at Olympia, London.source
  • 1926Cristero War: Some 400 armed Catholics barricaded themselves in the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Guadalajara, Jalisco and exchanged gunfire with federal troops until they ran out of ammunition and surrendered. According to U.S. consular sources, 18 were killed and 40 wounded.source
  • 19361936 Summer Olympics: African-American athlete Jesse Owens wins the 100-meter dash.source
  • 1940The Lithuanian SSR is annexed into the Soviet Union, followed by the Latvian SSR on August 5 and the Estonian SSR August 6, just seven weeks after their occupation. Ethnic Germans will be deported to Germany.source
  • 1942August 3–15 – WWII: Operation Pedestal – A British convoy of 14 merchant ships with a massive escort of two battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 7 cruisers, 32 destroyers and smaller ships commanded by Admiral Edward Neville Syfret, sets sail to Malta under relentless attacks by day and night from enemy submarines, aircraft and Axis surface forces. The 55,000 tons of food and fuel (particularly from oil tanker SS Ohio) delivered by this convoy saves Malta from surrender and allows Malta-based aircraft and submarines to resume their attacks against Rommel's supply lines, although over 500 British sea- and airmen are killed and many ships (including carrier HMS Eagle (1918)) are lost.source
  • 1943Patton slapping incident: U.S. General George S. Patton Jr. slaps a soldier suffering from battle fatigue, at a field hospital in Sicily. On August 10, he slaps another soldier suffering from the same condition.source
  • 1944The Education Act in the United Kingdom, promoted by Rab Butler, provides for the postwar education system, including free secondary education for children of both sexes and raising of the school leaving age to 15.source
  • 1946A Canadian wheat agreement provided for British purchases of large amounts of Canadian wheat at prices considerably below the world market.source
  • 1946Santa Claus Land opens to the public at Santa Claus, Indiana. It becomes the first themed park, preceding Disneyland by 9 years, and is later renamed Holiday World.source
  • 1948Whittaker Chambers appears under subpoena before the HUAC and alleges that several former U.S. Federal officials were communists, including Harry Dexter White and Alger Hiss.source
  • 1949The Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League finalize the merger that will create the National Basketball Association.source
  • 1953Libya national football team played its first official international match.source
  • 1955July 25-August 4: Bishops from all over Latin America meet in Rio de Janeiro for the first Episcopal Conference of Latin America.source
  • 1958The nuclear-powered submarine USS Nautilus becomes the first vessel to cross the North Pole under water.source
  • 1964August 2–4 – Vietnam War – Gulf of Tonkin incident: United States destroyers USS Maddox and USS C. Turner Joy are attacked in the Gulf of Tonkin. Air support from the carrier USS Ticonderoga sinks one gunboat, while the other two leave the battle.source
  • 1964The opening of Taipei City Council new venue at the corner of Zhongxiao West Road and Zhongshan South Road from the former Zhongshan Hall.source
  • 1979Dictator Francisco Macías Nguema of Equatorial Guinea is overthrown in a bloody coup d'état led by Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo.source
  • 1980July 31–August 11: Hurricane Allen.source
  • 1980The 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow officially ends.source
  • 1981August 3–6. Negotiations between the government and Solidarity in Warsaw. Food supply situation, economic reform and trade unions bills are discussed. The negotiations end in a fiasco; the government accuses Solidarity of terminating the talks.source
  • 1990Proton Saga with Megavalve engine is launched.source
  • 1996A widespread power outage in Peninsular Malaysia began at 5:17pm. The states of Peninsular Malaysia including Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, Johor, Melaka, and Negeri Sembilan lost power for several hours. A transmission line near Sultan Ismail Power Station in Paka, Terengganu tripped at 5:17pm causing all power stations in Peninsular Malaysia to collapse resulting in a massive power failure. Supply was back to normal by 11:00pm. After this blackout, utility giant Tenaga Nasional's stock fell considerably.source
  • 1997August 3–11 – Two of the three islands of the Union of the Comoros – Anjouan and Mohéli – attempt to revert to colonial rule by France. The plan fails when the French government of President Jacques Chirac refuses to recolonize them, resulting in the two islands being reintegrated into the Comoros over the next two years.source
  • 1997A state of emergency was imposed in Kuching, Sarawak after the Air Pollution Index reached "extreme".source
  • 2002July 25–August 4 – The 2002 Commonwealth Games are held in Manchester, England.source
  • 2004NASA's MESSENGER space probe is launched, with its primary mission being the study of Mercury.source
  • 2005The new King Abdullah has been invested. Tony Blair and Jacques Chirac, along with many European Monarchs are present for the "bayaa" ceremony while George H. W. Bush and Dick Cheney will meet with the new King the following day.source
  • 2009Bolivia becomes the first South American country to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves.source
  • 2014Sinjar massacre, beginning of ISIS attacks resulting in the massacre of over 4,000 Yazidis in Iraq's Sinjar District.source
  • 2014July 23–August 3 – The 2014 Commonwealth Games takes place in Glasgow, Scotland.source
  • 2015Pierre Claver Mbonima a human right activist was shot in the face and neck in Bujumbura, after facing numerous death threats and fled to Belgium for urgent medical care. On 9 October 2015, unidentified armed persons killed his son in law Pascal Nshimirimana, a month later the son of Pierre, Welly Nzitonda was arrested and later found dead on a roadside.source
  • 2017USAID expands food aid to Ethiopia as well as Kenya to help them against the famine. $137 million has been donated to Ethiopia.source
  • 2021The oil tanker Asphalt Princess is hijacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates.source
  • 2021Wildfires in Greece begin.source
  • 2022July 28–August 8 – The 2022 Commonwealth Games is held in Birmingham, England.source
  • 2022July 29 – August 8: Guyana at the 2022 Commonwealth Gamessource

Births

  • 1468Albert I, Duke of Münsterberg-Oels, Count of Kladsko (died 1511)source
  • 1486Imperia Cognati, Italian courtesan (died 1512)source
  • 1491Maria of Jülich-Berg, spouse of John III, Duke of Cleves (died 1543)source
  • 1509Étienne Dolet, French scholar and printer (died 1546)source
  • 1509Étienne Dolet, scholar and printer (died 1546)source
  • 1513John, Margrave of Brandenburg-Küstrin (died 1571)source
  • 1543Nicasius de Sille, Dutch diplomat (died 1600)source
  • 1654Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel (died 1730)source
  • 1770King Frederick William III of Prussia (died 1840)source
  • 1803Sir Joseph Paxton, English gardener, architect and Member of Parliament (died 1865)source
  • 1803Mary Dominus, American settler of Hawaii (died 1889)source
  • 1817Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen, Austrian general (died 1895)source
  • 1823Thomas Francis Meagher, American Civil War general (died 1867)source
  • 1851Nikolai Iudovich Ivanov, Russian general (died 1919)source
  • 1856Alfred Deakin, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia (died 1919)source
  • 1867Stanley Baldwin, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1947)source
  • 1871Augusta Holtz, Polish-American supercentenarian, last surviving person born in 1871 (died 1986)source
  • 1872King Haakon VII of Norway (died 1957)source
  • 1903Habib Bourguiba, 1st president of Tunisia (died 2000)source
  • 1904Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (died 1983)source
  • 1926Tony Bennett, American singer (died 2023)source
  • 1977Tom Brady, American football player and entrepreneursource

Deaths

  • 925Cao, Chinese empress dowagersource
  • 979Thietmar, German noblemansource
  • 1003At-Ta'i, Abbasid caliph of Baghdad (born 929)source
  • 1231Richard le Grant, archbishop of Canterburysource
  • 1322Death of Yolande of Dreux, Queen of Scotland.source
  • 1323Augustin Kažotić, Croatian prelate and bishop (born 1260)source
  • 1326Roger Mortimer, English nobleman, knight and judge (born 1256)source
  • 1355Bartholomew de Burghersh, 1st Baron Burghershsource
  • 1382August 3 or August 15 – Kęstutis, Grand Duke of Lithuania (born 1297)source
  • 1460King James II of Scotland (born 1430)source
  • 1460King James II of Scotland is killed by the explosion of a cannon which he had purchased from Flanders as part of acquiring the most up-to-date military technology for Scotland. The King had been supervising the bombardment of Roxburgh Castle during a siege to force out the English occupation troops. Historian Robert Lindsay of Pitscottie later writes "as the King stood near a piece of artillery, his thigh bone was dug in two with a piece of misframed gun that brake in shooting, by which he was stricken to the ground and died hastily. He is succeeded by his 8-year-old son, who becomes King James III, with power exercised by the boy's mother, the Queen Regent Mary of Guelders.source
  • 1486Asakura Ujikage, 8th head of the Japanese Asakura clan (born 1449)source
  • 1508Raphael de Mercatellis, abbot and bibliophile (born 1437)source
  • 1513Ernst II of Saxony, Archbishop of Magdeburg (1476–1513) and Administrator of Halberstadt (born 1464)source
  • 1515Thomas Butler, 7th Earl of Ormonde (born c. 1450)source
  • 1530Battle of Gavinana: Florence is captured by Spanish troops under Prince Philibert of Chalon (who is killed in the action). The Piagnon (followers of the memory of Girolamo Savonarola) are overthrown, ending the Siege of Florence, and the Medici are restored, in the person of the Pope's nephew Alessandro de' Medici.source
  • 1533Philibert de Chalon, Prince of Orange (b.1502).source
  • 1534Andrea della Valle, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1463)source
  • 1546Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, Italian architect (born 1484)source
  • 1546Étienne Dolet, French scholar and printer (born 1509)source
  • 1567Myeongjong of Joseon, ruler of Korea (born 1534)source
  • 1573William Kirkcaldy of Grange, James Mosman, and James Cockie hanged in Edinburgh.source
  • 1638Philipp Moritz, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg, German noble (born 1605)source
  • 1667Francesco Borromini, Swiss sculptor and architect (born 1599)source
  • 1671Antonio Barberini, Italian Catholic cardinal (born 1607)source
  • 1720Anthonie Heinsius, Dutch politician (born 1641)source
  • 1720Anne Finch, Countess of Winchilsea, English poet (born 1661)source
  • 1721Grinling Gibbons, Dutch-born woodcarver (born 1648)source
  • 1728Abraham de Peyster, United States politician (born 1657)source
  • 1768Thomas Secker, Archbishop of Canterbury (born 1693)source
  • 1780Étienne Bonnot de Condillac, French philosopher (born 1715)source
  • 1797Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, British soldier and conqueror of Quebec (born 1717)source
  • 1805Christopher Anstey, English writer (born 1724)source
  • 1811Sebastiaan Cornelis Nederburgh, Dutch statesman and former Commissioner-General for the Dutch East India Company at the Cape (1792–1793), dies in the Netherlands. (born 1762)source
  • 1848Edward Baines, British newspaperman, politician (born 1774)source
  • 1891Amina Aqdas, Persian royal consort.source
  • 1907Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Irish-American Beaux-Arts sculptor (born 1848)source
  • 1916Roger Casement, Irish nationalist (executed) (born 1864)source
  • 1916Roger Casement is executed by hanging in Pentonville Gaol, London for his role in the Easter Rising in Dublin.source
  • 1924Joseph Conrad, Polish-born author (born 1857)source
  • 1929Thorstein Veblen, Norwegian-American economist (born 1857)source
  • 1966Lenny Bruce, American comedian (born 1925)source
  • 1991Ali Sabri, politician (born 1920)source
  • 2008Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, 89, Russian novelist and historian, Nobel Prize winner (1970), heart failure.source
  • 2016Emirates Flight 521 crashes at Dubai International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 1 person was killed and 39 people were injured.source
  • 201923 people are killed during the 2019 El Paso Walmart shooting.source
  • 2024The Central Committee of the Communist Party of Vietnam elects Tô Lâm as the new General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, succeeding Nguyễn Phú Trọng, who died on July 19.source