Take a look at the events that took place during the month of August which changed the world.
August 1
1714 – George, Elector of Hanover, becomes King George I of Great Britain, marking the beginning of the Georgian era of British history.
1715 – The Riot Act comes into force in England.
1759 – Seven Years' War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain, this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments.
1774 – British scientist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen gas, corroborating the prior discovery of this element by German-Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele.
1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay) – The battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action.
1800 – The Acts of Union 1800 is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1801 – First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.
1831 – A new London Bridge opens.
1834 – Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act of 1833 comes into force.
1838 – Non-laborer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
1840 – Laborer slaves in most of the British Empire are emancipated.
August 2
1776 – The signing of the United States Declaration of Independence took place.
1790 – The first United States Census is conducted.
1798 – French Revolutionary Wars: the Battle of the Nile concludes with a British victory.
1830 – Charles X of France abdicates the throne in favor of his grandson Henri.
August 3
1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.
1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed.
1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, the third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
August 4
1693 – Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Perignon's invention of Champagne, although he actually did not have anything to do with sparkling wine.
1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: Gibraltar is captured by an English and Dutch fleet, commanded by Admiral Sir George Rooke and allied with Archduke Charles.
1783 – Mount Asama erupts in Japan, killing about 1,400 people. The eruption causes famine, which results in an additional 20,000 deaths.
1789 – In France members of the National Constituent Assembly take an oath to end feudalism and abandon their privileges.
1790 – A newly passed tariff act creates the Revenue Cutter Service (the forerunner of the United States Coast Guard).
1791 – The Treaty of Sistova is signed, ending the Ottoman–Habsburg wars.
1796 – French Revolutionary Wars: Napoleon leads the French Army of Italy to victory in the Battle of Lonato.
1821 – Atkinson & Alexander publish The Saturday Evening Post for the first time as a weekly newspaper.
1824 – The Battle of Kos is fought between Turkish and Greek forces.
August 5
1689 – One thousand five hundred Iroquois attacked the village of Lachine in New France.
1716 – The Battle of Petrovaradin takes place.
1735 – Freedom of the press: New York Weekly Journal writer John Peter Zenger is acquitted of seditious libel against the royal governor of New York, on the basis that what he had published was true.
1763 – Pontiac's War: Battle of Bushy Run: British forces led by Henry Bouquet defeat Chief Pontiac's Indians at Bushy Run.
1772 – The First Partition of Poland begins.
1781 – The Battle of Dogger Bank takes place.
1824 – Greek War of Independence: Constantine Kanaris leads a Greek fleet to victory against Ottoman and Egyptian ships in the Battle of Samos.
August 6
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The bloody Battle of Oriskany prevents American relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix.
1787 – Sixty proof sheets of the Constitution of the United States are delivered to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
1806 – Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, ending the Holy Roman Empire.
1819 – Norwich University is founded in Vermont as the first private military school in the United States.
1824 – Battle of Junin Peru.
1825 – Bolivia gains independence from Spain.
1845 – The Russian Geographical Society is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
August 7
1679 – The brigantine Le Griffon, commissioned by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, is towed to the south-eastern end of the Niagara River, to become the first ship to sail the upper Great Lakes of North America.
1714 – The Battle of Gangut: The first important victory of the Russian Navy.
1782 – George Washington ordered the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.
1789 – The United States Department of War is established.
1791 – American troops destroy the Miami town of Kenapacomaqua near the site of present-day Logansport, Indiana in the Northwest Indian War.
1794 – U.S. President George Washington invokes the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
1819 – Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.
August 8
1709 – Bartolomeu de Gusmão demonstrates the lifting power of hot air in an audience before the King of Portugal in Lisbon, Portugal
1786 – Mont Blanc on the French – Italian border is climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard.
1793 – The insurrection of Lyon occurs during the French Revolution.
1794 – Joseph Whidbey leads an expedition to search for the Northwest Passage near Juneau, Alaska.
1844 – The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, headed by Brigham Young, is reaffirmed as the leading body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).
August 9
1780 -- A large convoy of British ships is captured. The victory was the result of a combined French and Spanish effort, led by Spanish Admiral Luis de Córdova y Córdova.
1810 – Napoleon annexes Westphalia as part of the First French Empire.
1814 – Indian Wars: the Creek sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving up huge parts of Alabama and Georgia.
1842 – The Webster–Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States–Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
August 10
1675 – The foundation stone of the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London, England is laid.
1680 – The Pueblo Revolt begins in New Mexico.
1755 – Under the orders of Charles Lawrence, the British Army begins to forcibly deport the Acadians from Nova Scotia to the Thirteen Colonies.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: word of the United States Declaration of Independence reaches London.
1792 – French Revolution: Storming of the Tuileries Palace – Louis XVI of France is arrested and taken into custody as his Swiss Guards are massacred by the Parisian mob.
1793 – The Musée du Louvre officially opened in Paris, France.
1809 – Quito, now the capital of Ecuador, declares independence from Spain. This rebellion will be crushed on August 2, 1810.
1813 – Instituto Nacional, is founded by the Chilean patriot José Miguel Carrera. It is Chile's oldest and most prestigious school. Its motto is Labor Omnia Vincit, which means "Work conquers all things".
1821 – Missouri is admitted as the 24th U.S. state.
1846 – The Smithsonian Institution is chartered by the United States Congress after James Smithson donates $500,000.
August 11
1675 – Franco-Dutch War: Forces of the Holy Roman Empire defeat the French in the Battle of Konzer Brücke.
1786 – Captain Francis Light establishes the British colony of Penang in Malaysia.
1804 – Francis II assumes the title of first Emperor of Austria.
1812 – Peninsular War: French troops engage British-Portuguese forces in the Battle of Majadahonda.
1813 – In Colombia, Juan del Corral declares the independence of Antioquia.
August 12
1676 – Praying Indian John Alderman shoots and kills Metacomet, the Wampanoag war chief, ending King Philip's War.
1687 – Battle of Mohács: Charles of Lorraine defeats the Ottoman Empire.
1765 – Treaty of Allahabad is signed. The Treaty marks the political and constitutional involvement and the beginning of Company rule in India.
1793 – The Rhône and Loire départments are created when the former département of Rhône-et-Loire is split into two.
1806 – Santiago de Liniers, 1st Count of Buenos Aires re-takes the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina after the first British invasion.
1831 – French intervention forces William I of the Netherlands to abandon his attempt to suppress the Belgian Revolution.
August 13
1704 – War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim – English and Imperial forces are victorious over French and Bavarian troops.
1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Royal Navy defeats the Penobscot Expedition with the most significant loss of the United States naval forces prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor.
1792 – King Louis XVI of France is formally arrested by the National Tribunal, and declared an enemy of the people.
1806 – The battle of Mišar during the Serbian Revolution begins. The battle will end two days later, with a decisive Serbian victory over the Ottomans.
1814 – The Convention of London, a treaty between the United Kingdom and the United Provinces, is signed in London, England.
1831 – Nat Turner sees a solar eclipse, which he believes is a sign from God. Eight days later he and 70 other slaves kill approximately 55 whites in Southampton County, Virginia.
August 14
1720 – The Spanish military Villasur expedition is wiped out by Pawnee and Otoe warriors near present-day Columbus, Nebraska.
1784 – Russian colonization of North America: Awa’uq Massacre: The Russian fur trader Grigory Shelikhov storms a Kodiak Island Alutiit refuge rock on Sitkalidak Island, killing 500+ Alutiiq. The consequent subjugation of the Alutiiq on Kodiak Island allows Shelikhov to establish the first permanent Russian settlement in Alaska at Three Saints Bay.
1790 – The Treaty of Wereloe ended the 1788–1790 Russo-Swedish War.
1791 – Slaves from plantations in Saint-Domingue hold a Vodou ceremony led by houngan Dutty Boukman at Bois Caïman, marking the start of the Haitian Revolution.
1814 – A cease-fire agreement, called the Convention of Moss, ended the Swedish–Norwegian War.
1816 – The United Kingdom formally annexed the Tristan da Cunha archipelago, administering them from the Cape Colony in South Africa.
1842 – American Indian Wars: Second Seminole War ends, with the Seminoles forced from Florida to Oklahoma.
August 15
1695 – French forces end the bombardment of Brussels, leaving a third of the buildings in the city in ruins.
1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz – Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon.
1812 – War of 1812: The Battle of Fort Dearborn is fought between United States troops and Potawatomi at what is now Chicago, Illinois.
1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving French general of the American Revolutionary War, arrives in New York and begins a tour of 24 states.
August 16
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans led by General John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich Baum at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden: The British defeated the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
1792 – Maximilien de Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation of a revolutionary tribunal.
1793 – French Revolution: A levée en masse is decreed by the National Convention.
1812 – War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
1819 – Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people died and over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.
August 17
1668 – An earthquake with a magnitude of 8.0 on the Richter magnitude scale causes 8,000 deaths in Anatolia, Ottoman Empire.
1717 – Austro-Turkish War of 1716–18: The month-long Siege of Belgrade ends with Prince Eugene of Savoy's Austrian troops capturing the city from the Ottoman Empire.
1723 – Ioan Giurgiu Patachi becomes Bishop of Făgăraş and is festively installed in his position at the St. Nicolas Cathedral in Făgăraş, after being formally confirmed earlier by Pope Clement XI.
1740 – Pope Benedict XIV, previously known as Prospero Lambertini succeeds Clement XII as the 247th Pope.
1771 – Edinburgh botanist James Robertson makes the first recorded ascent of Ben Nevis in Scotland
1784 – Classical composer Luigi Boccherini receives a pay rise of 12000 reals from his employer, the Infante Luis, Count of Chinchón.
1798 – The Vietnamese Roman Catholics report a Marian apparition in Quảng Trị, an event which is called Lady of La Vang.
1807 – Robert Fulton's North River Steamboat leaves New York, New York, for Albany, New York, on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
August 18
1721 – The city of Shamakhi in Safavid Shirvan is sacked.
1783 – A huge fireball meteor is seen across Great Britain as it passes over the east coast.
1809 – The Senate of Finland is established in the Grand Duchy of Finland after the official adoption of the Statute of the Government Council by Tsar Alexander I of Russia.
1826 – Major Gordon Laing becomes the first European to enter Timbuktu
1838 – The Wilkes Expedition, which would explore the Puget Sound and Antarctica, weighs anchor at Hampton Roads.
August 19
1692 – Salem witch trials: In Salem, Province of Massachusetts Bay, five people, one woman and four men, including a clergyman, are executed after being convicted of witchcraft.
1745 – Prince Charles Edward Stuart raises his standard in Glenfinnan: The start of the Second Jacobite Rebellion, known as "the 45".
1759 – Battle of Lagos Naval battle during the Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France.
1768 – Saint Isaac's Cathedral is founded in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
1772 – Gustav III of Sweden stages a coup d'état, in which he assumes power and enacts a new constitution that divides power between the Riksdag and the King.
1782 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Blue Licks: The last major engagement of the war, almost ten months after the surrender of the British commander Charles Cornwallis following the Siege of Yorktown.
1812 – War of 1812: American frigate USS Constitution defeats the British frigate HMS Guerriere off the coast of Nova Scotia, Canada earning the nickname "Old Ironsides".
1813 – Gervasio Antonio de Posadas joins Argentina's Second Triumvirate.
1839 – The French government announces that Louis Daguerre's photographic process is a gift "free to the world".
August 20
1672 – Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis is brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.
1707 – The first Siege of Pensacola comes to end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: A multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg defeats the Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by Alexandre Maître, Marquis de Bay in the Battle of Saragossa.
1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
1794 – Battle of Fallen Timbers: American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.
August 21
1680 – Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
1689 – The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.
1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
1772 – King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.
1808 – Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.
1810 – Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
1821 – Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.
1831 – Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion.
August 22
1711 – Ships from British Admiral Hovenden Walker's Quebec Expedition founders on rocks at the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River.
1717 – Spanish troops land on Sardinia.
1770 – James Cook names and lands on Possession Island, Queensland and claims the east coast of Australia as New South Wales in the name of King George III.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: British forces abandon the Siege of Fort Stanwix after hearing rumors of Continental Army reinforcements.
1780 – James Cook's ship HMS Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage).
1791 – Beginning of the Haitian Slave Revolution in Saint-Domingue.
1798 – French troops land in Kilcummin harbour, County Mayo, Ireland to aid Wolfe Tone's United Irishmen's Irish Rebellion.
1827 – José de la Mar becomes President of Peru.
1831 – Nat Turner's slave rebellion commences just after midnight in Southampton County, Virginia, leading to the deaths of more than 50 whites and several hundred African Americans who are killed in retaliation for the uprising.
August 23
1765 – Beginning of Burmese–Siamese War.
1775 – American Revolutionary War: King George III delivers his Proclamation of Rebellion to the Court of St. James's stating that the American colonies have proceeded to a state of open and avowed rebellion.
1784 – Western North Carolina (now eastern Tennessee) declares itself an independent state under the name of Franklin; it is not accepted into the United States, and only lasts for four years.
1799 – Napoleon I of France leaves Egypt for France en route to seizing power.
1813 – At the Battle of Grossbeeren, the Prussians under Von Bülow repulse the French army.
1839 – The United Kingdom captures Hong Kong as a base as it prepares for war with Qing China. The ensuing 3-year conflict will later be known as the First Opium War.
August 24
1682 – William Penn receives the area that is now the state of Delaware, and adds it to his colony of Pennsylvania.
1690 – Job Charnock of the East India Company establishes a factory in Calcutta, an event formerly considered the founding of the city (in 2003 the Calcutta High Court ruled that the city has no birthday).
1781 – American Revolutionary War: A small force of Pennsylvania militia is ambushed and overwhelmed by an American Indian group, which forces George Rogers Clark to abandon his attempt to attack Detroit.
1812 – Peninsular War: A coalition of Spanish, British, and Portuguese forces succeed in lifting the two-and-a-half-year-long Siege of Cádiz.
1814 – British troops invade Washington, D.C. and during the Burning of Washington the White House, the Capitol and many other buildings are set ablaze.
1815 – The modern Constitution of the Netherlands is signed.
1816 – The Treaty of St. Louis is signed in St. Louis, Missouri.
1820 – Constitutionalist insurrection at Oporto, Portugal.
1821 – The Treaty of Córdoba is signed in Córdoba, now in Veracruz, Mexico, concluding the Mexican War of Independence from Spain.
August 25
1758 – Seven Years' War: Frederick II of Prussia defeats the Russian army at the Battle of Zorndorf.
1768 – James Cook begins his first voyage.
1825 – Uruguay declares its independence from Brazil.
1830 – The Belgian Revolution begins.
1835 – The New York Sun perpetrates the Great Moon Hoax.
August 26
1748 – The first Lutheran denomination in North America, the Pennsylvania Ministerium, is founded in Philadelphia.
1768 – Captain James Cook sets sail from England on board HMS Endeavour.
1778 – The first recorded ascent of Triglav, the highest mountain in Slovenia.
1789 – The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen is approved by the National Constituent Assembly of France.
1791 – John Fitch is granted a United States patent for the steamboat.
1810 – The former viceroy Santiago de Liniers of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata is executed after the defeat of his counter-revolution.
1813 – War of the Sixth Coalition: An impromptu battle takes place when French and Prussian-Russian forces accidentally run into each other near Liegnitz, Prussia (now Legnica, Poland).
1814 – Chilean War of Independence: Infighting between the rebel forces of José Miguel Carrera and Bernardo O'Higgins erupts in the Battle of Las Tres Acequias.
1821 – The University of Buenos Aires, Argentina, is officially opened.
August 27
1689 – The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing Empire (Julian calendar).
1776 – Battle of Long Island: In what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1793 – French Revolutionary Wars: The city of Toulon revolts against the French Republic and admits the British and Spanish fleets to seize its port, leading to the Siege of Toulon by French Revolutionary forces.
1798 – Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connacht.
1810 – Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France.
1813 – French Emperor Napoleon I defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
1828 – Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by the United Kingdom between Brazil and Argentina during the Cisplatine War.
1832 – Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
August 28
1709 – Meidingnu Pamheiba is crowned King of Manipur.
1789 – William Herschel discovers a new moon of Saturn: Enceladus.
1810 – Battle of Grand Port: The French accept the surrender of a British Navy fleet.
1830 – The Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's new Tom Thumb steam locomotive races a horse-drawn car, presaging steam's role in US railroads.
1833 – The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 receives Royal Assent, abolishing slavery through most the British Empire.
August 29
1728 – The city of Nuuk in Greenland is founded as the fort of Godt-Haab by the royal governor Claus Paarss.
1756 – Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War.
1758 – The first American Indian reservation is established, at Indian Mills, New Jersey.
1778 – American Revolutionary War: British and American forces battle indecisively at the Battle of Rhode Island.
1786 – Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens.
1807 – British troops under Sir Arthur Wellesly defeat a Danish militia outside Copenhagen in the Battle of Køge.
1825 – Kingdom of Portugal recognizes the Independence of Brazil.
1831 – Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.
August 30
1791 – HMS Pandora sinks after having run aground on a reef the previous day.
1799 – The entire Dutch fleet is captured by British forces under the command of Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell during the War of the Second Coalition.
1800 – Gabriel Prosser postpones a planned slave rebellion in Richmond, Virginia, but is arrested before he can make it happen.
1813 – First Battle of Kulm: French forces are defeated by an Austrian-Prussian-Russian alliance.
1813 – Creek War: Fort Mims massacre: Creek "Red Sticks" kill over 500 settlers (including over 250 armed militia) in Fort Mims, north of Mobile, Alabama.
1835 – Melbourne is founded.
1836 – The city of Houston is founded by Augustus Chapman Allen and John Kirby Allen
August 31
1795 – War of the First Coalition: The British capture Trincomalee (present-day Sri Lanka) from the Dutch in order to keep it out of French hands.
1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Irish rebels, with French assistance, establish the short-lived Republic of Connacht.
1803 – Lewis and Clark start their expedition to the west by leaving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 11 in the morning.
1813 – At the final stage of the Peninsular War, British-Portuguese troops capture the town of Donostia (now San Sebastián), resulting in a rampage and eventual destruction of the town. Elsewhere, Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial.
