Historical Events on Monday, 8th September

08/09/2025

Balçova police station shooting: 4 people, including the perpetrator are killed an attack on a police station in Turkey.

On the morning of 8 September 2025, 16-year-old Eren Bigül opened fire on the Salih İşgören Police Station in the Balçova district of İzmir, Turkey, killing three police officers and injuring three others.

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08/09/2023

A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Morocco, killing nearly 3,000 people and damaging historic sites in Marrakesh.

On 8 September 2023 at 23:11 DST, an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.9 and maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) struck Morocco's Al Haouz Province. The earthquake's epicenter was 73.4 km (45.6 mi) southwest of Marrakesh, near the town of Ighil and the Oukaïmeden ski resort in the Atlas Mountains. It occurred as a result of shallow oblique-thrust faulting beneath the mountain range. At least 2,960 deaths were reported, with most occurring outside Marrakesh. Damage was widespread, and historic landmarks in Marrakesh were destroyed. The earthquake was also felt in Spain, Portugal, and Algeria.

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The 2023 Rugby World Cup, the tenth men's Rugby World Cup is held in France. The opening ceremony, directed and written by Jean Dujardin, Olivier Ferracci and Nora Matthey, took place at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, before the opening match between France and New Zealand, which saw the host nation winning 27 to 13.

The 2023 Rugby World Cup was the tenth men's Rugby World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national rugby union teams. It took place in France from 8 September to 28 October 2023 in nine venues across the country. The opening game and the final took place at the Stade de France, north of Paris. The tournament was held in the bicentenary year of the purported invention of the sport by William Webb Ellis.

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08/09/2022

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom dies at Balmoral Castle in Scotland after reigning for 70 years. Her son Charles, Prince of Wales, ascends the throne upon her death as Charles III.

Elizabeth II was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until her death in 2022. She was queen regnant of 32 sovereign states during her lifetime and was the monarch of 15 realms at her death. Her reign of 70 years and 214 days is the longest of any British monarch, the second-longest of any sovereign state, and the longest of any queen regnant in history.

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08/09/2017

Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) announce the beginning of the Deir ez-Zor campaign, with the stated aim of eliminating the Islamic State (IS) from all areas north and east of the Euphrates.

The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale protests and pro-democracy rallies across Syria, as part of the wider Arab Spring. The Assad regime responded to the protests with lethal force, which led to a series of defections, the emergence of armed opposition groups, and the civilian uprising descending into a civil war. The war lasted almost 14 years and culminated in the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024. Many sources regard this as the end of the civil war. Post-war clashes and disputes have continued into 2026.

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08/09/2016

NASA launches OSIRIS-REx, its first asteroid sample return mission. The probe visited 101955 Bennu and returned with samples in September 2023.

OSIRIS-REx was a NASA asteroid-study and sample-return mission that visited and collected samples from 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous near-Earth asteroid. The material, returned in September 2023, is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of the Solar System, its initial stages of planet formation, and the source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life on Earth. Following the completion of the primary OSIRIS-REx mission, the spacecraft, renamed as OSIRIS-APEX, began a follow-up mission to asteroid 99942 Apophis.

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08/09/2005

Two Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft from EMERCOM land at a disaster aid staging area at Little Rock Air Force Base; the first time Russia has flown such a mission to North America.

The Ilyushin Il-76 is a multi-purpose, fixed-wing, four-engine turbofan strategic airlifter designed by the Soviet Union's Ilyushin design bureau as a commercial freighter in 1967, to replace the Antonov An-12. It was developed to deliver heavy machinery to remote and poorly served areas. Military versions of the Il-76 have been widely used in Europe, Asia and Africa, including use as an aerial refueling tanker and command center.

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08/09/2004

NASA's uncrewed spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open.

Genesis was a NASA sample-return probe that collected a sample of solar wind particles and returned them to Earth for analysis. It was the first NASA sample-return mission to return material since the Apollo program, and the first to return material from beyond the orbit of the Moon. Genesis was launched on August 8, 2001, and the sample return capsule crash-landed in Utah on September 8, 2004, after a design flaw prevented the deployment of its drogue parachute. The crash contaminated many of the sample collectors. Although most were damaged, some of the collectors were successfully recovered.

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08/09/2000

NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on STS-106 to resupply the International Space Station.

Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter vehicle which belongs to NASA, the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States. Atlantis was manufactured by the Rockwell International company in Southern California and was delivered to the Kennedy Space Center in Eastern Florida in April 1985. Atlantis is the fourth operational and the second-to-last Space Shuttle built. Its maiden flight was STS-51-J made from October 3 to 7, 1985.

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08/09/1994

USAir Flight 427, on approach to Pittsburgh International Airport, suddenly crashes in clear weather killing all 132 aboard, resulting in the most extensive aviation investigation in world history and altering manufacturing practices in the industry.

USAir Flight 427 was a scheduled flight from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport to Palm Beach International Airport, Florida, with a stopover at Pittsburgh International Airport. On Thursday, September 8, 1994, the Boeing 737-3B7 flying this route crashed in Hopewell Township, Beaver County, Pennsylvania while approaching Runway 28R at Pittsburgh, which was USAir's largest hub at the time.

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08/09/1989

Partnair Flight 394 dives into the North Sea, killing 55 people. The investigation showed that the tail of the plane vibrated loose in flight due to sub-standard connecting bolts that had been fraudulently sold as aircraft-grade.

Partnair Flight 394 was a chartered flight that crashed on 8 September 1989 off the coast of Denmark, 18 kilometres north of Hirtshals. All 55 people on board the aircraft died, making this the second-deadliest aircraft accident in Demark after the 1945 crash of a Royal Air Force De Havilland DH.98 Mosquito in Copenhagen, which killed 125, and the deadliest accident involving a Convair CV-240 series. The accident was caused by improper maintenance and use of counterfeit aircraft parts.

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08/09/1988

Yellowstone National Park is closed for the first time in U.S. history due to ongoing fires.

The Yellowstone fires of 1988 collectively formed the largest wildfire in the recorded history of Yellowstone National Park in the United States. Starting as many smaller individual fires, the flames quickly spread out of control due to drought conditions and increasing winds, combining into several large conflagrations which burned for several months. The fires almost destroyed two major visitor destinations and, on September 8, 1988, the entire park was closed to all non-emergency personnel for the first time in its history. Only the arrival of cool and moist weather in the late autumn brought the fires to an end. A total of 793,880 acres (3,213 km2), or 36 percent of the park, burned at varying levels of severity.

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08/09/1986

Nicholas Daniloff, a correspondent for U.S. News & World Report, is indicted on charges of espionage by the Soviet Union.

Nicholas S. Daniloff was an American journalist known for his reporting on the Soviet Union. In 1986, he was briefly detained by Soviet security services on espionage charges, sparking a diplomatic crisis.

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08/09/1978

Black Friday, a massacre by soldiers against protesters in Tehran, results in 88 deaths, it marks the beginning of the end of the monarchy in Iran.

Black Friday was a mass shooting on 8 September 1978 in Pahlavi Iran, during which the Imperial Army of Iran killed 64 civilians and injured 205 in Jaleh Square, Tehran. According to Spencer C. Tucker, 30 government security forces were also killed. The deaths were a pivotal event in the Iranian Revolution that ended any "hope for compromise" between the protest movement and the regime of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

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08/09/1975

Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "I Am A Homosexual". He is given a general discharge, later upgraded to honorable.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) personnel are able to serve in the armed forces of some countries around the world: the vast majority of industrialized, Western countries including some South American countries, such as Argentina, Brazil and Chile in addition to other countries, such as Canada, Japan, Australia, Mexico, France, Finland, Denmark and Israel. The rights concerning intersex people are more vague.

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08/09/1974

Watergate scandal: US President Gerald Ford signs the pardon of Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office.

The Watergate scandal, or simply Watergate, was a political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon. On June 17, 1972, operatives associated with Nixon's 1972 re-election campaign were caught burglarizing and planting listening devices in the Democratic National Committee headquarters at Washington, D.C.'s Watergate complex. Nixon's efforts to conceal his administration's involvement led to an impeachment process and his resignation in August 1974.

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08/09/1973

World Airways Flight 802 crashes into Mount Dutton in King Cove, Alaska, killing six people.

On September 8, 1973, a Douglas DC-8 operated by World Airways as World Airways Flight 802 crashed on high ground while on approach to Cold Bay Airport, Alaska, killing all six people on board.

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08/09/1971

In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, serving as a "living memorial" to John F. Kennedy. Located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., the center opened September 8, 1971, and hosts many genres of performance art, spanning theater, ballet, modern dance, classical music, jazz, pop, psychedelic, and folk music. The Kennedy Center is the residence of the National Symphony Orchestra.

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08/09/1970

Trans International Airlines Flight 863 crashes during takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City, killing all 11 aboard.

Trans International Airlines Flight 863 was a ferry flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City to Washington Dulles International Airport. On September 8, 1970, the Douglas DC-8 crashed during take-off from JFK's runway 13R. None of the 11 occupants, who were all crew members, survived.

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08/09/1966

The landmark American science fiction television series Star Trek premieres with its first-aired episode, "The Man Trap".

Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry that follows the adventures of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and its crew. It acquired the retronym of Star Trek: The Original Series to distinguish the show within the media franchise that it began.

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08/09/1962

Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, BR Standard Class 9F 92220 Evening Star.

The Pines Express was a named passenger train that ran daily between Manchester and Bournemouth in England between 1910 and 1967.

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08/09/1960

In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1).

Huntsville is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Alabama. The population was 215,006 at the 2020 census, making it the 100th-most populous city in the U.S., while the Huntsville metropolitan area has an estimated 542,000 residents and is the second-most populous metropolitan area in the state. As of July 1, 2025, the city's population was estimated to be 249,102 – a 15.9% increase since the 2020 Census. This makes it among the top 20 fastest growing cities in the US. Huntsville is the county seat of Madison County, with portions extending into Limestone County, Marshall County, and Morgan County.

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08/09/1954

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established.

The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) was an international organization for collective defense in Southeast Asia created by the Southeast Asia Collective Defense Treaty signed in September 1954 in Manila, Philippines. The formal institution of SEATO was established on 19 February 1955 at a meeting of treaty partners in Bangkok, Thailand. The organization's headquarters was also in Bangkok. A total of eight members joined the organization in its lifetime.

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08/09/1952

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation makes its first televised broadcast on the second escape of the Boyd Gang.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, branded as CBC/Radio-Canada, is the Canadian public broadcaster for both radio and television. It is a Crown corporation that serves as the national public broadcaster, with its English-language and French-language service units known as CBC and Radio-Canada, respectively.

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08/09/1948

The flag of North Korea is adopted with the passing of the country's first constitution by the Supreme People's Assembly.

The national flag of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea consists of a wide horizontal red stripe bordered above and below by a thin white stripe and a broad blue stripe. The red stripe is charged near the hoist with a five-pointed red star inside a white disc. The design of the flag is defined in the North Korean constitution and regulations regarding the use and manufacture of the flag are outlined in the country's national flag law.

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08/09/1946

A referendum abolishes the monarchy in Bulgaria.

A referendum on becoming a republic was held in Bulgaria on 8 September 1946. Official results showed 96% in favour of the change against only 4% in favour of retaining the monarchy, with voter turnout reported to be 92%. The monarchy had effectively ended soon after the coup of 9 September 1944, which saw the Fatherland Front seize power. At that time, the regency council for the head of state, Tsar Simeon II, was replaced by a new council made up entirely of members of the Bulgarian Communist Party, the dominant force of the Fatherland Front.

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08/09/1945

The division of Korea begins when United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier.

The division of Korea began at the end of World War II on 2 September 1945, with the establishment of a Soviet occupation zone in the north and a US occupation zone in the south. These zones developed into separate governments, named the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea, which fought a war from 1950 to 1953. Since then the division has continued.

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08/09/1944

World War II: London is hit by a V-2 rocket for the first time.

The V-2 rocket, with the development name Aggregat-4 (A4), was the world's first practical, modern ballistic missile. The missile, powered by a liquid-propellant rocket engine, was developed during the Second World War in Nazi Germany as a "vengeance weapon" and assigned to attack Allied cities as retaliation for the Allied bombings of German cities. After an altitude of 100km was selected to define the edge of space, the V2 rocket also became retroactively the first artificial object to travel into space with the vertical launch of MW 18014 on 20 June 1944.

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08/09/1943

World War II: The Armistice of Cassibile is proclaimed by radio. OB Süd immediately implements plans to disarm the Italian forces.

The Armistice of Cassibile was signed on 3 September 1943 by Italy and the Allies, marking the end of hostilities between them during World War II. The armistice was approved by both Victor Emmanuel III and Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who was serving as Prime Minister of Italy at the time. The signing of the armistice was kept secret on that day, and was announced to the media on 8 September.

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08/09/1941

World War II: German forces begin the Siege of Leningrad.

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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08/09/1935

US Senator from Louisiana Huey Long is fatally shot in the Louisiana State Capitol building.

Huey Pierce Long Jr., nicknamed "The Kingfish", was an American politician who served as the 40th governor of Louisiana from 1928 to 1932 and as a United States senator from 1932 until his assassination in 1935. He was a left-wing populist member of the Democratic Party and rose to national prominence during the Great Depression for his vocal criticism of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his New Deal, which Long deemed insufficiently radical. As the political leader of Louisiana, he commanded wide networks of supporters and often took forceful action. A controversial figure, Long is celebrated as a populist champion of the poor or, conversely, denounced as a fascistic demagogue.

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08/09/1934

Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 137 people.

SS Morro Castle was an American ocean liner that caught fire and ran aground on the morning of September 8, 1934, en route from Havana, Cuba, to New York City, United States, with the loss of 137 passengers and crew.

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08/09/1933

Ghazi bin Faisal became King of Iraq.

Ghazi ibn Faisal was King of Iraq from 1933 to 1939 having been briefly Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Syria in 1920. He was born in Mecca, and was the only son of Faisal I. He died in a car accident in Baghdad in 1939, where he was succeeded by Faisal II.

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08/09/1926

Germany is admitted to the League of Nations.

The Weimar Republic was a historical period of the German state from 9 November 1918 to 23 March 1933, during which it was a constitutional republic for the first time in history. The state was officially named the German Reich; it is also referred to, and unofficially proclaimed itself, as the German Republic. The period's informal name is derived from the city of Weimar, where the republic's constituent assembly took place. In English, the republic was usually simply called "Germany", with "Weimar Republic" not commonly used until the 1930s. The Weimar Republic had a semi-presidential system.

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08/09/1925

Rif War: Spanish forces including troops from the Foreign Legion under Colonel Francisco Franco landing at Al Hoceima, Morocco.

The Rif War was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain and Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco.

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08/09/1923

Honda Point disaster: Nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost, and twenty-three sailors killed.

The Honda Point disaster was the largest peacetime loss of U.S. Navy ships in history. On the foggy night of September 8, 1923, seven destroyers traveling at 20 knots (37 km/h) ran aground and wrecked at California's Honda Point. The location was several miles north of the Santa Barbara Channel, the ships' intended route. Two other destroyers grounded, but were able to maneuver free off the rocks. Twenty-three sailors died; 745 were rescued.

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08/09/1921

Margaret Gorman, a 16-year-old, wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America.

Margaret Gorman was an American model and beauty queen who was the winner of the first Miss America beauty pageant after being crowned Miss District of Columbia in 1921.

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08/09/1916

In a bid to prove that women were capable of serving as military dispatch riders, Augusta and Adeline Van Buren arrive in Los Angeles, completing a 60-day, 5,500 mile cross-country trip on motorcycles.

Augusta Van Buren and Adeline Van Buren, sisters, rode 5,500 miles in 60 days to cross the continental United States, each on their own motorcycle, completing on 8 September 1916. In so doing, they became the first women to ever ride solo motorcycles across the entire US continent, and the second and third women to drive motorcycles across the continent, following Effie Hotchkiss, who had completed a Brooklyn-to-San Francisco route the year before with her mother, Avis, who took part as a sidecar passenger.

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08/09/1914

World War I: Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during the war.

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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08/09/1905

The 7.2 Mw  Calabria earthquake shakes southern Italy with a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme), killing between 557 and 2,500 people.

Striking southern Italy on 8 September, the 1905 Calabria earthquake had a moment magnitude of 7.2 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of XI (Extreme). The first major earthquake of the 20th century, it severely damaged parts of Lipari, Messina Province and a large area between Cosenza and Nicotera and killed between 557 and 2,500 people.

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08/09/1900

Galveston hurricane: A powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people.

The 1900 Galveston hurricane, also known as the Great Galveston hurricane and the Galveston Flood, and known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900 or the 1900 Storm, was a catastrophic tropical cyclone that became the deadliest natural disaster in the history of the United States. The strongest storm of the 1900 Atlantic hurricane season, it left between 6,000 and 12,000 fatalities in the United States; the number most cited in official reports is 8,000. Most of these deaths occurred in and near Galveston, Texas, after the storm surge inundated the coastline and the island city with 8 to 12 ft of water. As of 2026, it remains the fourth deadliest Atlantic hurricane on record, behind Hurricane Fifi of 1974. In addition to the number killed, the storm destroyed about 7,000 buildings of all uses in Galveston, which included 3,636 demolished homes; every dwelling in the city suffered some degree of damage. The hurricane left approximately 10,000 people in the city homeless, out of a total population of fewer than 38,000. The disaster ended the Golden Era of Galveston. The hurricane alarmed potential investors, who turned to Houston instead. In response to the storm, three engineers designed and oversaw plans to raise the Gulf of Mexico shoreline of Galveston Island by 17 ft (5.2 m) and erect a 10 mi (16 km) seawall.

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08/09/1898

Seven hundred Greek civilians, 17 British guards and the British Consul of Crete are killed by a Turkish mob.

The Candia massacre occurred on 6 September 1898, on Crete, then part of the Ottoman Empire. It occurred as a reaction by armed Muslim irregular groups (Bashi-bazouks) to the offer to the Christian community of a series of civil rights by foreign powers. They attacked the British security force in Candia, which was part of an international security force on the island.

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08/09/1892

The Pledge of Allegiance is first recited.

The U.S. Pledge of Allegiance is a patriotic recited verse that promises allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States. The first version was written in 1885 by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union army officer in the Civil War who later wrote a book on how to teach patriotism to children in public schools. In 1892, Francis Bellamy revised Balch's verse as part of a magazine promotion surrounding the World's Columbian Exposition, which celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' arrival in the Americas.

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08/09/1888

Isaac Peral's submarine is first tested.

Peral was the first successful submarine powered entirely by electric batteries and the first fully military-capable submarine in history. It was built by the Spanish engineer and sailor Isaac Peral for the Spanish Navy at the Arsenal de la Carraca. The submarine was launched on 8 September 1888.

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The Great Herding (Spanish: El Gran Arreo) begins with thousands of sheep being herded from the Argentine outpost of Fortín Conesa to Santa Cruz near the Strait of Magellan.

In late 19th and early 20th centuries, sheep farming expanded across the Patagonian grasslands making the southern regions of Argentina and Chile one of the world's foremost sheep farming areas. The sheep farming boom attracted thousands of immigrants from Chiloé and Europe to southern Patagonia. Early sheep farming in Patagonia was oriented towards wool production but changed over time with the development of industrial refrigerators towards meat export. Besides altering the demographic and economic outlook of Southern Patagonia the sheep farming boom also changed the steppe ecosystem.

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In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found.

Annie Chapman was the second canonical victim of the unidentified serial killer known as "Jack the Ripper", who murdered and mutilated at least five women in the Whitechapel and Spitalfields districts of London between late August and early November 1888.

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In England, the first six Football League matches are played.

The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, it is the oldest football league in the world, and was the top-level football league in England from its foundation until 1992, when the top 22 clubs split from it to form the Premier League. The Football League was rebranded as the "English Football League" (EFL) starting with the 2016–17 season.

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08/09/1883

The Northern Pacific Railway (reporting mark NP) was completed in a ceremony at Gold Creek, Montana. Former president Ulysses S. Grant drove in the final "golden spike" in an event attended by rail and political luminaries.

The Northern Pacific Railway was an important American transcontinental railroad that operated across the northern tier of the Western United States, from Minnesota to the Pacific Northwest between 1864 and 1970. It was approved and chartered by the 38th Congress of the United States in the national / federal capital of Washington, D.C., during the last years of the American Civil War (1861–1865), and received nearly 40 million acres of adjacent land grants, which it used to raise additional money in Europe, for construction funding.

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08/09/1863

American Civil War: In the Second Battle of Sabine Pass, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

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08/09/1862

Millennium of Russia monument is unveiled in Novgorod.

The Millennium of Russia is a bronze monument in the Novgorod Kremlin. It was erected in 1862 to celebrate the millennium of Rurik's arrival to Novgorod, an event traditionally taken as a starting point of the history of Russian statehood.

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08/09/1860

The steamship PS Lady Elgin sinks on Lake Michigan, with the loss of around 300 lives.

A steamship, often referred to as a steamer, is a type of steam-powered vessel, typically ocean-faring and seaworthy, that is propelled by one or more steam engines that typically move (turn) propellers or paddlewheels. The first steamships came into practical usage during the early 19th century; however, there were exceptions that came before.

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08/09/1855

Crimean War: The French assault the tower of Malakoff, leading to the capture of Sevastopol.

The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont from October 1853 to February 1856. Geopolitical causes of the war included the Eastern question, expansion of Imperial Russia in the preceding Russo-Turkish wars, and the British and French preference to preserve the Ottoman Empire to maintain the balance of power in the Concert of Europe.

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08/09/1831

William IV and Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen are crowned King and Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

William IV was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 26 June 1830 until his death in 1837. The third son of George III, William succeeded his elder brother George IV, becoming the last king and penultimate monarch of the United Kingdom's House of Hanover.

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November uprising: The Battle of Warsaw effectively ends the Polish insurrection.

The November Uprising, also known as the Polish–Russian War of 1830–31 or the Cadet Revolution, was an armed rebellion in the heartland of partitioned Poland against the Russian Empire. The uprising began on 29 November 1830 in Warsaw when young Polish officers from the military academy of the Army of Congress Poland revolted.

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08/09/1819

1819 Balloon riot occurred at Vauxhall Garden in Philadelphia, PA and resulted in the destruction of the amusement park.

The Philadelphia Balloon Riot occurred at Vauxhall Garden in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the evening of September 8, 1819. After guards beat a boy unconscious for attempting to climb a fence separating the paying guests from those who couldn't afford the expensive entry fee, crowds broke down the fence and ripped the hot air balloon to pieces.

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08/09/1813

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.

The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by the Iberian nations Spain and Portugal, along with the United Kingdom, against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence. It overlapped with the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) and the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812–1814).

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08/09/1810

The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board.

Tonquin was a 290-ton American merchant ship initially operated by Fanning & Coles and later by the Pacific Fur Company (PFC), a subsidiary of the American Fur Company (AFC). Its first commander was Edmund Fanning, who sailed to the Qing Empire for valuable Chinese trade goods in 1807. The vessel was outfitted for another journey to China and then was sold to German-American entrepreneur John Jacob Astor. Included within his intricate plans to assume control over portions of the lucrative North American fur trade, the ship was intended to establish and supply trading outposts on the Pacific Northwest coast. Valuable animal furs purchased and trapped in the region would then be shipped to China, where consumer demand was high for particular pelts.

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08/09/1808

The Treaty of Paris is signed ending the French military occupation of Prussia.

The Treaty of Paris was an agreement signed on 8 September 1808 in Paris between the First French Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia. Also known as the Convention of Paris, it set the terms of a withdrawal of French occupying troops, including an indemnity of 140 million francs and an upper limit on the size of the Prussian Army of 42,000 a figure insisted on by the French emperor Napoleon.

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08/09/1796

French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Bassano: French forces defeat Austrian troops at Bassano del Grappa.

The Battle of Bassano was fought on 8 September 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, in the territory of the Republic of Venice, between a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces led by Count Dagobert von Wurmser. The engagement occurred during the second Austrian attempt to raise the siege of Mantua. It was a French victory; however, it was the last battle in Napoleon's perfect military career as two months later he would be defeated at the Second Battle of Bassano, ending his victorious streak. The Austrians abandoned their artillery and baggage, losing supplies, cannons, and battle standards to the French. The victory led to Wurmser being trapped in Mantua, but Napoleon would find his army now badly overstretched, due to holding both Trento and Bassano, meaning he could not support either of those locations without being drawn too far away from the other, something that would nearly allow the Austrians to win during the third attempt to raise the siege of Mantua in November.

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08/09/1793

French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Hondschoote.

The French Revolutionary Wars were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted France against Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia, and several other countries. The wars are divided into two periods: the War of the First Coalition (1792–1797) and the War of the Second Coalition (1798–1802). Initially confined to Europe, the fighting gradually assumed a global dimension. After a decade of constant warfare and aggressive diplomacy, France had conquered territories in the Italian peninsula, the Low Countries, and the Rhineland with its very large and powerful military which had been totally mobilized for war against most of Europe with mass conscription of the vast French population. French success in these conflicts ensured military occupation and the spread of revolutionary principles over much of Europe.

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08/09/1781

American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Eutaw Springs in South Carolina, the war's last significant battle in the Southern theater, ends in a narrow British tactical victory.

The American Revolutionary War, also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which American Patriot forces organized as the Continental Army and commanded by George Washington defeated the British Army. The conflict was fought in North America, the Caribbean, and the Atlantic Ocean. The war's outcome seemed uncertain for most of the war, but Washington and the Continental Army's decisive victory in the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 led King George III and the Kingdom of Great Britain to negotiate an end to the war. In 1783, in the Treaty of Paris, the British monarchy acknowledged the independence of the Thirteen Colonies, leading to the establishment of the United States as an independent and sovereign nation.

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08/09/1775

The unsuccessful Rising of the Priests in Malta.

The Rising of the Priests, also known as the September 1775 Rebellion, was an uprising against the Knights Hospitaller which broke out in Valletta, Hospitaller Malta in September 1775. It came about after an extended period of political and economic tension following the death of Grand Master Manuel Pinto da Fonseca in 1773. The magistracy of his successor, Francisco Ximénez de Tejada, was characterised by largely unsuccessful attempts to alleviate economic problems and disputes between the Hospitallers and Bishop of Malta Giovanni Carmine Pellerano.

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08/09/1761

Marriage of King George III of the United Kingdom to Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

George III was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Great Britain and Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with George as its king. He was concurrently duke and prince-elector of Hanover in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on 12 October 1814. He was the first monarch of the House of Hanover who was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.

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08/09/1760

French and Indian War: French surrender Montreal to the British, completing the latter's conquest of New France.

The Montreal campaign, also known as the fall of Montreal, was a British three-pronged offensive against Montreal which took place from July 2 to 8 September 1760 during the French and Indian War as part of the global Seven Years' War. The campaign, pitted against an outnumbered and outsupplied French army, led to the capitulation and occupation of Montreal, the largest remaining city in French Canada.

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08/09/1756

French and Indian War: Kittanning Expedition.

The Kittanning Expedition, also known as the Armstrong Expedition or the Battle of Kittanning, was a raid during the French and Indian War that led to the destruction of the American Indian village of Kittanning, which had served as a staging point for attacks by Lenape warriors against colonists in the British Province of Pennsylvania. Commanded by Lieutenant Colonel John Armstrong Sr., this raid deep into hostile territory was the only major expedition carried out by Pennsylvanian provincial troops during a brutal backcountry war. Early on September 8, 1756, they launched a surprise attack on the Indian village.

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08/09/1755

French and Indian War: Battle of Lake George.

The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a conflict in North America between Great Britain and France, along with their respective Indigenous allies. Historians generally consider it part of the global Seven Years' War, which lasted from 1756 to 1763, although in the United States it is often viewed as a distinct conflict unassociated with any larger European war.

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08/09/1727

A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England kills 78 people, many of whom are children.

Burwell is a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England, some 10 miles north-east of Cambridge. It lies on the south-east edge of the Fens. Westward drainage is improved by Cambridgeshire lodes (waterways), including Burwell Lode, a growth factor in the village. A population of 6,309 in the 2011 census was put at 6,417 in 2019.

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08/09/1655

Warsaw falls without resistance to a small force under the command of Charles X Gustav of Sweden during The Deluge, making it the first time the city is captured by a foreign army.

Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at 1.86 million residents within a greater metropolitan area of 3.27 million residents, which makes Warsaw the 6th most-populous city in the European Union. The city area measures 517 square kilometres and comprises 18 districts, while the metropolitan area covers 6,100 square kilometres. Warsaw is classified as an alpha global city, a major political, economic and cultural hub, and the country's seat of government. It is also the capital of the Masovian Voivodeship.

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08/09/1565

St. Augustine, Florida is founded by Spanish admiral and Florida's first governor, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés.

St. Augustine or Saint Augustine is a city in and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Located 40 miles (64 km) south of downtown Jacksonville, the city is on the Atlantic coast of northeastern Florida. Founded in 1565 by Spanish settlers, it is the oldest continuously inhabited European-established settlement in what is now the contiguous United States.

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08/09/1522

Magellan–Elcano circumnavigation: Victoria arrives at Seville, completing the first circumnavigation.

The Magellan expedition, sometimes termed the Magellan–Elcano expedition, was a 16th-century Spanish expedition planned and led by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan. Its purpose was to secure a maritime trade route with the Moluccas, or Spice Islands, in present-day Indonesia. The expedition departed Spain in 1519 and returned there in 1522 under the command of Spanish navigator Juan Sebastián Elcano, who completed the voyage after Magellan's death in the Philippines. One of the most significant voyages in the Age of Discovery, the nearly three-year expedition totaled 60,440 km (37,560 mi) and achieved the first circumnavigation of Earth in history. It also marked the first crossing of the Pacific by a European expedition, revealing the vast scale of that ocean, and proved that ships could sail around the world on a western sea route.

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08/09/1514

Battle of Orsha: In one of the biggest battles of the century, Lithuanians and Poles defeat the Russian army.

The Battle of Orsha, was fought on 8 September 1514, between the allied forces of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, under the command of Lithuanian Grand Hetman Konstanty Ostrogski; and the army of the Grand Duchy of Moscow under Konyushy Ivan Chelyadnin and Kniaz Mikhail Bulgakov-Golitsa. The Battle of Orsha was part of a long series of Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars conducted by Muscovite rulers striving to gather all the former Kievan Rus' lands under their rule.

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08/09/1504

Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in Florence.

David is a masterpiece of Italian Renaissance sculpture in marble created from 1501 to 1504 by Michelangelo. With a height of 5.17 metres, the David was not only the first colossal marble statue made in the High Renaissance, but also the first since classical antiquity, setting a precedent for the 16th century and beyond. David was originally commissioned as one of a series of statues of twelve prophets to be positioned along the roofline of the east end of Florence Cathedral, but was instead placed in the public square in front of the Palazzo della Signoria, the seat of civic government in Florence, where it was unveiled on 8 September 1504. In 1873, the statue was moved to the Galleria dell'Accademia, Florence. In 1910 a replica was installed at the original site on the public square.

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08/09/1380

Battle of Kulikovo: Russian forces defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols, stopping their advance.

The Battle of Kulikovo was fought between the forces of Mamai, a powerful Mongol military commander of the Golden Horde, and Russian forces led by Grand Prince Dmitry of Moscow. The battle took place on 8 September 1380, at Kulikovo Field near the Don River and was won by Dmitry, who became known as Donskoy after the battle.

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08/09/1334

The Battle of Adramyttion begins in which a Christian naval league defeats a Turkish fleet in several encounters.

The Battle of Adramyttion occurred in autumn 1334 between the fleets of a Christian naval league, headed by the Republic of Venice and the Knights Hospitaller, and of the Turkish beylik of Karasi. The battle was a Christian victory.

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08/09/1331

Stefan Dušan declares himself king of Serbia.

Stefan Uroš IV Dušan, also known as Dušan the Mighty, was the King of Serbia from 8 September 1331 and Emperor of the Serbs, Greeks, Bulgarians and Albanians from 16 April 1346 until his death in 1355. Dušan is considered one of the greatest medieval Balkan conquerors.

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08/09/1276

Pope John XXI is elected Pope.

Pope John XXI, born Pedro Julião, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 September 1276 to his death in May 1277. He is the only Portuguese pope in history. He is sometimes identified with the logician and herbalist Peter of Spain, which would make him the only pope to have been a physician.

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08/09/1264

The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din jurisdiction over Jewish matters, is promulgated by Bolesław the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland.

The General Charter of Jewish rights known as the Statute of Kalisz, and the Kalisz Privilege, granted Jews in the Middle Ages some protection against discrimination in Poland compared to other places in Europe. These rights included exclusive jurisdiction over Jewish matters to Jewish courts, and established rules of evidence for criminal matters involving Christians and Jews.

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08/09/1253

Pope Innocent IV canonises Stanislaus of Szczepanów, who was killed by King Bolesław II.

Pope Innocent IV, born Sinibaldo Fieschi, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 June 1243 to his death in 1254.

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08/09/1198

Philip of Swabia, Prince of Hohenstaufen, is crowned King of Germany (King of the Romans)

Philip of Swabia, styled Philip II in his charters, was a member of the House of Hohenstaufen and King of Germany from 1198 until his assassination.

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08/09/1100

Election of Antipope Theodoric.

Theodoric was an antipope in 1100 and 1101, in the schism that began with Wibert of Ravenna in 1080, in opposition to the excesses of Pope Gregory VII and in support of the Emperor Henry IV.

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08/09/0617

Battle of Huoyi: Li Yuan defeats a Sui dynasty army, opening the path to his capture of the imperial capital Chang'an and the eventual establishment of the Tang dynasty.

The Battle of Huoyi was fought in China on 8 September 617, between the forces of the rebel Duke of Tang, Li Yuan, and the army of the ruling Sui dynasty. Li Yuan, with an army of around 25,000, was advancing south along the Fen River towards the imperial capital, Daxingcheng. His advance was stalled for two weeks due to heavy rainfall, and he was met at the town of Huoyi by an elite Sui army of 20,000 men. Li Yuan's cavalry, under the command of his two eldest sons, lured the Sui out of the protection of the city walls, but in the first clash between the two main armies, Li Yuan's forces were initially driven back. At that point, possibly due to a stratagem on Li Yuan's behalf, the arrival of the rest of the rebel army, or the flanking maneuver of Li Yuan's cavalry, which had gotten behind the Sui army, the Sui troops collapsed and routed, fleeing back towards Huoyi. Li Yuan's cavalry, however, cut off their retreat. The battle was followed by the capture of weakly defended Huoyi and the advance on Daxingcheng, which fell to the rebels in November. The following year, Li Yuan deposed the Sui and proclaimed himself emperor, beginning the Tang dynasty.

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08/09/0070

After the capture of Herod's Palace the previous day, a Roman army under Titus secures and plunders the city of Jerusalem.

AD 70 (LXX) was a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Vespasian and Titus. The denomination AD 70 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years.

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