3761 BC – The epoch reference date epoch (origin) of the modern Hebrew calendar (Proleptic Julian calendar).
1406 – French troops comprising 1,000 men at arms landed on Jersey and fought a battle against 3,000 defenders.
1477 – Uppsala University is inaugurated after receiving its corporate rights from Pope Sixtus IV in February the same year.
1513 – Battle of La Motta: Spanish troops under Ramón de Cardona defeat the Venetians.
1542 – Explorer Cabrillo discovers Santa Catalina Island off of the California coast.
1571 – The Battle of Lepanto is fought, and the Holy League (Spain and Italy) annihilates the Turkish fleet.
1582 – Because of the implementation of the Gregorian calendar, this day is skipped in Italy, Poland, Portugal and Spain.
1691 – The English royal charter for the Province of Massachusetts Bay is issued.
1763 – King George III of the United Kingdom issues the Royal Proclamation of 1763, closing aboriginal lands in North America north and west of Alleghenies to white settlements.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans defeat the British in the Second Battle of Saratoga, also known as the Battle of Bemis Heights.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Kings Mountain: American Patriot militia defeat Loyalist irregulars led by British major Patrick Ferguson in South Carolina.
1800 – French corsair Robert Surcouf, commander of the 18-gun ship La Confiance, captures the British 38-gun Kent inspiring the traditional French song Le Trente-et-un du mois d’août.
1840 – Willem II becomes King of the Netherlands.
1864 – American Civil War: Bahia incident: USS Wachusett illegally captures the CSS Florida Confederate raider while in port in Bahia, Brazil in violation of Brazilian neutrality.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: Siege of Paris: Léon Gambetta flees Paris in a hot-air balloon.
1879 – Germany and Austria-Hungary sign the “Twofold Covenant” and create the Dual Alliance.
1918 – The Regency Council of the Kingdom of Poland declares independence from the German Empire and forms the Republic of Poland.
1919 – KLM, the flag carrier of the Netherlands, is founded. It is the oldest airline still operating under its original name.
1933 – Air France is inaugurated, after being formed by a merger of 5 French airlines.
1940 – World War II: The McCollum memo proposes bringing the United States into the war in Europe by provoking the Japanese to attack the United States.
1942 – World War II: The October Matanikau action on Guadalcanal begins as United States Marine Corps forces attack Imperial Japanese Army units along the Matanikau River.
1944 – World War II: During an uprising at Birkenau concentration camp, Jewish prisoners burn down Crematorium IV.
1949 – The communist German Democratic Republic (East Germany) is formed.
1958 – President of Pakistan Iskander Mirza, with the support of General Ayub Khan and the army, suspends the 1956 constitution, imposes martial law, and cancels the elections scheduled for January 1959.
1958 – The U.S. manned space-flight project is renamed Project Mercury.
1959 – U.S.S.R. probe Luna 3 transmits the first ever photographs of the far side of the Moon.
1963 – John F. Kennedy signs the ratification of the Partial Test Ban Treaty.
1976 – Hua Guofeng becomes Mao Zedong’s successor as chairman of Communist Party of China, following the latter’s death barely a month earlier.
1977 – The adoption of the Fourth Soviet Constitution.
1985 – The Achille Lauro is hijacked by Palestine Liberation Front.
1985 – The Mameyes landslide kills close to 300 in the worst landslide in North American history.
1987 – Sikh nationalists declares the independence of Khalistan from India; it is not internationally recognized.
2001 – The Global War on Terrorism begins as a result of the September 11 attacks. The U.S. invasion of Afghanistan initiates with an air assault and covert operations on the ground.
2008 – Asteroid 2008 TC3 impacts the Earth over Sudan.