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August in History
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August 11291: Republic of Switzerland founded
August 2
216 BC: Hannibal wins Battle of Carnae
47 BC: Caesar wins Battle of Zela
1802: Napoleon becomes consul for life
August 3
1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail
August 4
1914: U.S. proclaims neutrality in World War I
August 5
1864: Battle of Mobile Bay
August 6
1945: Hiroshima bombed
August 7
1942: Battle of Guadalcanal
August 8
1940: Battle of Britain begins
August 9
480 BC: Battle of Thermopylae
48 BC: Battle of Pharsalus
1387: Henry V is born
August 10
1874: Herbert Hoover is born
August 11
1934: First civilian prisoners arrive on Alcatraz
August 12
1676: King Philip's War ends
August 13
1926: Fidel Castro is born
August 14
1945: Japan surrenders World War II
August 15
1769: Napoleon is born
1945: V-J Day
August 16
1896: Gold discovered in the Yukon
August 17
1943: Patton reaches Messina
August 18
1227: Genghis Khan dies
August 19
1931: Willie Shoemaker is born
1946: Bill Clinton is born
August 20
1914: Germany captures Brussels
August 21
1858: Lincoln-Douglas debates begin
August 22
1485: War of the Roses ends
August 23
1939: Hitler and Stalin sign non-aggression pact
August 24
79: Mt. Vesuvius erupts
August 25
1944: Paris is liberated
August 26
1920: 19th Amendment passed, giving women the right to vote
1939: First Major League Baseball game on TV
August 27
1908: Lyndon Johnson is born
August 28
1963: Martin Luther King Jr. gives "I have a dream" speech
August 29
1533: Atahualpa dies
August 30
1941: Siege of Leningrad begins
August 31
1945: Douglas MacArthur goes to Japan
1980: Solidarity formed
