Historical Events on Sunday, 3rd August

03/08/2023

Worst floods hit major parts of Slovenia.

In August 2023, major floods occurred in large part of Slovenia and neighbouring areas of Austria and Croatia due to heavy rain. Amongst others, the level of rivers Sava, Mur and Drava was exceptionally high. Several settlements and transport links in Slovene Littoral, Upper Carniola and Slovenian Carinthia were flooded. Due to the amount of rain, the streams in Idrija, Cerkno and Škofja Loka Hills overflowed. Due to the event, the National Flood Protection and Rescue Plan was activated. Slovenia had already experienced heavier rains in the second half of July. This extra water in the system meant that floods and major river overflows were caused by downpours that crossed Slovenia on the night of 3–4 August. The first rivers flooded in Upper Carniola and Posočje. These floods began on 3 August at around 20.00h. The Slovenian Environment Agency (ARSO) also warned that there was a possibility of sea flooding. The floods were similar to those that occurred in 1990, 1998 and 2004.

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03/08/2019

Six hundred protesters, including opposition leader Lyubov Sobol, are arrested in an election protest in Moscow, Russia.

Lyubov Eduardovna Sobol is a Russian opposition politician, lawyer and a member of the Russian Opposition Coordination Council (2012–2013). She produces the YouTube channel "Navalny Live" of Alexei Navalny. Sobol was a lawyer of the Anti-Corruption Foundation until it was designated as an "extremist organization" by the Putin government in 2021.

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Twenty-three people are killed and 22 injured in a mass shooting at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.

On August 3, 2019, a mass shooting occurred at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, United States. The gunman, 21-year-old Patrick Crusius, shot 45 people, killing 23 and injuring 22 others. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated the shooting as an act of domestic terrorism and a hate crime. The shooting has been described as the deadliest attack on Latinos in modern American history.

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03/08/2018

Two burka-clad men kill 29 people and injure more than 80 in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in eastern Afghanistan.

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03/08/2014

A 6.1 magnitude earthquake kills at least 617 people and injures more than 2,400 in Yunnan, China.

The 2014 Ludian earthquake struck Ludian County, Yunnan, China, with a moment magnitude of 6.1 on 3 August. The earthquake killed at least 615 people, injuring at least 2,400 others. At least 114 people remained missing. Over 12,000 houses collapsed and 30,000 were damaged. According to the United States Geological Survey, the earthquake occurred 29 km (18 mi) west-southwest of Zhaotong city at 16:30 local time (08:30 UTC).

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The genocide of Yazidis by ISIL begins.

The Yazidi genocide was perpetrated by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria between 2014 and 2017. It was characterized by massacres, genocidal rape, and forced conversions to Islam. The Yazidis are a Kurdish-speaking people who are indigenous to Kurdistan who practice Yazidism, a monotheistic Iranian ethnoreligion derived from the Indo-Iranian tradition.

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03/08/2010

Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.

The 2010 Karachi riots started on August 3, 2010, after the assassination of Parliament member Raza Haider, a member of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement political party, on the night of August 2, 2010, in Karachi, Pakistan. The Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) blamed the Awami National Party, it's political rival, for the killing. Haider, was killed as he attended a funeral at a mosque.

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03/08/2007

Former deputy director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.

The Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional was the secret police of Chile during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The DINA has been referred to as "Pinochet's Gestapo".

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03/08/2005

President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.

This is a list of heads of state of Mauritania since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day.

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03/08/2004

The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.

The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture of a robed and crowned woman on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, within New York City, U.S. The copper-clad statue, a gift to the United States from the people of France, was designed by French sculptor Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi, and its metal framework built by Gustave Eiffel. The statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886.

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03/08/1997

Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria: A total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.

The Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre took place on August 2, 1997. This massacre occurred between two villages near Arib in the wilaya of Tipaza and Ain Defla, Algeria. Around 100 people were killed as a result of the massacre. This massacre was one of the bloodiest since the start of terrorism in Algeria. Algeria-Watch's timeline describes them as strange guerrillas with shaven heads and eyebrows, carrying flags emblazoned "al-ghadhibun 'ala Allah".

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The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.

This is the history of the world's tallest structures.

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03/08/1981

Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.

Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated along the Atlantic Ocean coast. It borders Mauritania to the north, Mali to the east, Guinea to the southeast and Guinea-Bissau to the southwest. Senegal nearly surrounds the Gambia, a country occupying a narrow strip of land along the banks of the Gambia River, which separates Senegal's southern region of Casamance from the rest of the country. It also shares a maritime border with Cape Verde. The capital and largest city of Senegal is Dakar.

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03/08/1977

Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.

Tandy Corporation was an American family-owned retailer based in Fort Worth, Texas that made leather goods, operated the RadioShack and Tandy electronics stores, and later built personal computers.

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03/08/1975

A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.

The Boeing 707 was an early American long-range narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial 707-120 first flew on December 20, 1957. Pan Am began regular 707 service on October 26, 1958. With versions produced until 1979, the 707 is a swept wing quadjet with podded engines. Its larger fuselage cross-section allowed six-abreast economy seating, retained in the later 720, 727, 737, and 757 models.

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03/08/1972

The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.

The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, and the U.S. House of Representatives is the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the Constitution to make and pass or defeat federal legislation.

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03/08/1960

Niger gains independence from France.

The Niger, officially the Republic of the Niger, is a landlocked country in West Africa. It is a unitary state bordered by Libya to the northeast, Chad to the east, Nigeria to the south, Benin and Burkina Faso to the southwest, Mali to the west, and Algeria to the northwest. It covers a land area of almost 1.27 million km2 (490,000 mi2), making it the largest landlocked country in West Africa and the second-largest landlocked nation in Africa behind Chad. Over 80% of its land area lies in the Sahara. Its predominantly Muslim population of about 25 million lives mostly in clusters in the south and west of the country. The capital, Niamey, is located in Niger's southwest corner along the namesake Niger River.

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03/08/1959

Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.

The International and State Defense Police was a Portuguese security agency that existed during the Estado Novo regime of António de Oliveira Salazar. Formally, the main roles of the PIDE were the border, immigration and emigration control and internal and external state security. Over time, it came to be known for its secret police activities.

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03/08/1958

The world's first nuclear submarine, the USS Nautilus, becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.

USS Nautilus (SSN-571) was the world's first nuclear-powered boat, nuclear-powered submarine, and the first submarine to complete a submerged transit of the North Pole on 3 August 1958. Her initial commanding officer was Eugene "Dennis" Wilkinson, a widely respected naval officer who set the stage for many of the protocols of today's Nuclear Navy in the US, and who had a storied career during military service and afterwards.

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03/08/1949

The Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League finalize the merger that would create the National Basketball Association.

The Basketball Association of America (BAA) was a professional basketball league in North America, founded in 1946 by team owners from the National Hockey League (NHL) and American Hockey League (AHL) at the time. Following its third season, 1948–49, the BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to form the National Basketball Association (NBA).

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03/08/1948

Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.

Whittaker Chambers was an American author, journalist, and spy. After dropping out of Columbia University, Chambers joined the open Communist Party in 1925. He wrote and edited for the New Masses and the Daily Worker, before being ordered to go underground as a secret agent for the Soviet intelligence services. From 1932 to 1938 he was part of the clandestine "Ware Group", based in Washington, D.C. Disillusioned by Joseph Stalin's rule and by Communism more broadly, Chambers defected from the Soviet spy ring and eventually found employment at Time magazine, where he rose to become a senior editor.

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03/08/1946

Santa Claus Land, the world's first themed amusement park, opens in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States.

Holiday World & Splashin' Safari, originally known as Santa Claus Land, is a theme park and water park located in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States. The park opened in 1946 and features rides, live entertainment, and games. It is divided into four sections that celebrate Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July. Holiday World features three wooden roller coasters, most notably The Voyage, which has consistently ranked in Amusement Today's Golden Ticket Awards as one of the best in the world. The park is also home to three steel coasters.

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03/08/1940

World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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03/08/1936

Jesse Owens wins the 100 metre dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.

James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens was an American track and field athlete who made history at the 1936 Olympic Games by winning four gold medals, setting Olympic records in each event. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest athletes in track and field history.

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A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.

Kursha-2, named so after a road sign, was an industrial community in the Central Meshchyora, Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It was built soon after the October Revolution for the exploitation of the local forests, and was annihilated by a firestorm on 3 August 1936. The disaster caused more than 1,000 human deaths, making it the second-deadliest wildfire in recorded history, behind only the Peshtigo fire of 1871.

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03/08/1921

Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.

The commissioner of baseball is the chief executive officer of Major League Baseball (MLB) and the associated Minor League Baseball (MiLB) – a constellation of leagues and clubs known as "organized baseball". Under the direction of the commissioner, the Office of the Commissioner of Baseball hires and maintains the sport's umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, and television contracts. The commissioner is chosen by a vote of the owners of the teams. The incumbent MLB commissioner is Rob Manfred, who assumed office on January 25, 2015.

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03/08/1914

World War I: Germany declares war against France, while Romania declares its neutrality.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as The Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

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03/08/1907

Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.

Kenesaw Mountain Landis was an American jurist who served as a United States federal judge from 1905 to 1922 and as the first commissioner of baseball from 1920 until his death in 1944. He is remembered for his resolution of the Black Sox Scandal, in which he expelled eight members of the Chicago White Sox from organized baseball for conspiring to lose the 1919 World Series and repeatedly refused their reinstatement requests. His iron rule over baseball in the near quarter-century of his commissionership is generally credited with restoring public confidence in the game.

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03/08/1903

Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists for only ten days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.

The Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization, was a secret revolutionary society founded in the Ottoman territories in Europe, that operated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

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03/08/1900

The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.

Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is an American tire manufacturer based in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1900 by Harvey S. Firestone in Akron, Ohio, originally producing solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus. The company later expanded to manufacture pneumatic tires for wagons, carriages, and other wheeled vehicles of the time.

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03/08/1859

The American Dental Association is founded in Niagara Falls, New York.

The American Dental Association (ADA) is an American professional dental association. Established in 1859 and with over 159,000 current members, ADA is the world's largest and oldest national dental association. The organization lobbies on behalf of the American dental profession and provides dental accreditation.

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03/08/1852

Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also known as the first ever American intercollegiate athletic event.

Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636, and named Harvard College in 1639 in honor of its first benefactor, Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

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03/08/1829

The Treaty of Lewistown is signed by the Shawnee and Seneca peoples, exchanging land in Ohio for land west of the Mississippi River.

On August 3, 1829, members of the Shawnee Indians and the Seneca Indians signed the Treaty of Lewistown with the United States. In this treaty, Senecas and Shawnees living at Lewistown, Ohio, relinquished their claim to the land and joined the rest of the Ohio Senecas already living on a reservation west of the Mississippi River.

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03/08/1811

First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.

The Jungfrau, at 4,158 m (13,642 ft) is one of the main summits of the Bernese Alps, located between the southern canton of Bern and the northern canton of Valais, halfway between Interlaken and Fiesch. Together with the Eiger and Mönch, the Jungfrau forms a massive wall of mountains overlooking the Bernese Oberland and the Swiss Plateau, one of the most distinctive sights of the Swiss Alps.

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03/08/1795

Treaty of Greenville is signed, ending the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country.

The Treaty of Greenville, also known to Americans as the Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., but formally titled A treaty of peace between the United States of America, and the tribes of Indians called the Wyandots, Delawares, Shawanees, Ottawas, Chippewas, Pattawatimas, Miamis, Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory, including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples, that redefined the boundary between indigenous peoples' lands and territory for United States community settlement.

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03/08/1778

The theatre La Scala in Milan is inaugurated with the première of Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.

La Scala is a historic opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as il Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala. The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.

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03/08/1678

Robert LaSalle builds the Le Griffon, the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.

René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, was a French explorer and fur trader in North America. He explored the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada, and the Mississippi River. He is best known for an early 1682 expedition in which he canoed the lower Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf of Mexico; there, on April 9, 1682, he claimed the Mississippi River basin for France after giving it the name La Louisiane, in honor of Saint Louis and Louis XIV. One source states that "he acquired for France the most fertile half of the North American continent". A later, ill-fated expedition in 1684 to the Gulf coast of Mexico gave the United States a putative claim to Texas in the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803; La Salle was assassinated during that expedition.

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03/08/1645

Thirty Years' War: The Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.

The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from the effects of battle, famine, or disease, with parts of Germany reporting population declines of over 50%. Related conflicts include the Eighty Years' War, the War of the Mantuan Succession, the Franco-Spanish War, the Torstenson War, the Dutch–Portuguese War, and the Portuguese Restoration War.

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03/08/1601

Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.

The Long Turkish War, or Thirteen Years' War, was an indecisive land war between the Holy Roman Empire and the Ottoman Empire, primarily over the principalities of Wallachia, Transylvania, and Moldavia. It was waged from 1593 to 1606, but in Europe, especially in Hungary, it is called the Fifteen Years' War, reckoning from the 1591–1592 Turkish campaign that captured Bihać in the Kingdom of Croatia. In Turkey, it is called the Ottoman–Austrian War of 1593–1606.

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03/08/1527

The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.

John Rut was an English mariner, born in Essex, who was chosen by Henry VIII to command an expedition to North America in search of the Northwest Passage. On 10 June 1527 he set sail from Plymouth with two ships, Samson and Mary Guilford. The voyage was arranged by Cardinal Wolsey at the wishes of Robert Thorne, a Bristol merchant. Samson was commanded by Master Grube and Mary Guilford was commanded by Rut.

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03/08/1492

Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer and navigator from the Republic of Genoa who completed four Spanish-based voyages across the Atlantic Ocean sponsored by the Catholic Monarchs, opening the way for the widespread European exploration and colonization of the Americas. His expeditions were the first known European contact with the Caribbean and Central and South America.

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03/08/1342

The Siege of Algeciras commences during the Spanish Reconquista.

The siege of Algeciras (1342–1344) was undertaken during the Reconquest of Spain by the Castillian forces of Alfonso XI assisted by the fleets of the Crown of Aragon and the Republic of Genoa. The objective was to capture the city of Algeciras, called Al-Jazeera Al-Khadra by the Arabs who occupied it. The city was the capital and the main port of the European territory of the Marinid Empire.

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03/08/1057

Frederick of Lorraine elected as Pope Stephen IX.

Pope Stephen IX was the Bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 3 August 1057 to his death on 29 March 1058. He was a member of the Ardenne-Verdun family, who ruled the Duchy of Lorraine, and started his ecclesiastical career as a canon in Liège. He was invited to Rome by Pope Leo IX, who made him chancellor in 1051 and one of three legates to Constantinople in 1054. The failure of their negotiations with Patriarch Michael I Cerularius of Constantinople and Archbishop Leo of Ohrid led to the permanent East–West Schism. He continued as chancellor to the next pope, Victor II, and was elected abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Montecassino.

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03/08/1031

Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.

Saint Olaf, also called Olaf the Holy, Olaf II, Olaf Haraldsson, and Olaf the Stout or "Large", was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title Rex Perpetuus Norvegiae and canonised at Nidaros (Trondheim) by Bishop Grimketel, one year after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad on 29 July 1030. His remains were enshrined in Nidaros Cathedral, built over his burial site. His sainthood encouraged the widespread adoption of Christianity by Scandinavia's Vikings/Norsemen.

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03/08/0908

Battle of Eisenach: An invading Hungarian force defeats an East Frankish army under Duke Burchard of Thuringia.

The Battle of Eisenach in 908, was a crushing victory by a Hungarian army over an East Frankish army composed of troops from Franconia, Saxony, and Thuringia.

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03/08/0881

Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem Ludwigslied.

The Battle of Saucourt was part of the Viking invasions of West Francia and occurred between forces of Vikings and the troops of Kings of West Francia, Louis III of France and his brother Carloman II, on 3 August 881 at Saucourt-en-Vimeu.

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03/08/0435

Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.

The Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople is the archbishop of Constantinople and primus inter pares among the heads of the several autocephalous churches that comprise the Eastern Orthodox Church. The ecumenical patriarch is regarded as the representative and spiritual leader of the Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide. The term ecumenical in the title is a historical reference to the Ecumene, a Greek designation for the civilised world, i.e. the Roman Empire, and it stems from Canon 28 of the Council of Chalcedon.

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03/08/0008

Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats the Dalmatae on the river Bosna.

The 0s began on January 1, AD 1 and ended on December 31, AD 9, covering the first nine years of the Common Era.

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