• 48 BC - Caesar's civil war: Battle of Pharsalus - Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.
• 378 - Gothic War: Battle of Adrianople - A large Roman army led by Emperor Valens is defeated by the Visigoths in present-day Turkey. Valens is killed along with over half of his army.
• 681 - Bulgaria is founded as a Khanate on the south bank of the Danube, after defeating the Byzantine armies of Emperor Constantine IV south of the Danube delta.
• 1048 - Pope Damasus II dies in Rome, after reigning for only 23 days.
• 1173 - Construction of the Tower of Pisa begins, and it takes two centuries to complete.
• 1329 - Quilon the first Indian Diocese was erected by Pope John XXII and Jordanus catalani de Severac was appointed the first Bishop
• 1483 - Opening of the Sistine Chapel
• 1666 - Rear Admiral Robert Holmes leads a raid on the Dutch island of Terschelling, destroying 150 merchant ships in the Vlie estuary, and pillaging the town of West-Terschelling, an act later knkown as "Holmes's Bonfire".
• 1810 - Napoleon annexes Westphalia as part of the First French Empire.
• 1842 - Webster-Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
• 1862 - American Civil War: Battle of Cedar Mountain - At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.
• 1877 - Indian Wars: Battle of Big Hole - A small band of Nez Percé Indians clash with the United States Army.
• 1892 - Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two-way telegraph.
• 1902 - Edward VII is crowned king of the United Kingdom.
• 1907 - The first Boy Scout encampment concludes at Brownsea Island in Southern England.
• 1936 - Summer Olympic Games: Games of the XI Olympiad: Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the games becoming the first American to win four medals in one Olympiad.
• 1942 - Indian leader, Mahatma Gandhi is arrested in Bombay by British forces, launching the Quit India Movement.
• 1942 - World War II: Battle of Savo Island - Allied naval forces protecting their amphibious forces during the initial stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal are surprised and defeated by an Imperial Japanese Navy cruiser force.
• 1944 - The United States Forest Service and the Wartime Advertising Council release posters featuring Smokey Bear for the first time.
• 1945 - World War II: Nagasaki is devastated when an atomic bomb, "Fat Man", is dropped by the United States B-29 Bockscar. 70,000 people are killed instantly.
• 1965 - Singapore seceded from Malaysia and gained independence.
• 1965 - A fire at a Titan missile base near Little Rock, Arkansas kills 53 construction workers.
• 1969 - Members of a cult led by Charles Manson brutally murder pregnant actress Sharon Tate (wife of Roman Polanski), coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men's hairstylist Jay Sebring, and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent at 10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles, California.
• 1974 - As a direct result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon becomes the first President of the United States to resign from office. His Vice President, Gerald Ford, becomes president.
• 1993 - The Liberal Democratic Party of Japan loses a 38-year hold on national leadership.
• 1999 - Russian President Boris Yeltsin fires his Prime Minister, Sergei Stepashin, and for the fourth time fires his entire cabinet.
• 1999 - The Diet of Japan enacts a law establishing the Hinomaru and Kimi Ga Yo as the official national flag and national anthem.
• 2001 - US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.

Births