[Such a douchebag was US President Richard Nixon that when he was finally driven from office, tainted by scandal - on this day in 1974 - he didn't even have the courtesy or good sense to look upset.]
48 BCE - During what was known as
Caesar's Civil War the leader of the
Roman Republic's
Populares faction,
Julius Caesar, decisively defeated
Pompey and his
Optimates faction at the
Battle of Pharsalus - which had been conveniently located near
Pharsalus, in central Greece - after which Pompey fled to Egypt.
378 CE - A large Roman army led by Emperor
Valens was defeated by the
Visigoths at the
Battle of Adrianople; Valens was killed in battle on the day along with over half of his army, making the engagement a stunning victory for the Visigoth commanders
Fritigern,
Alatheus, and
Saphrax in the ongoing
Gothic War.
1048 - Pope
Damasus II died in Rome, following a reign of only 23 days; he would be succeeded by
Leo IX, who - say what you will about him - at least managed to hang on for five years.
1173 - Work began on the
Tower of Pisa, which would take two centuries to complete; the amazing thing is that it was completed at all, seeing as it began to lean in 1178, following the completion of its third story.
1483 - The
Sistine Chapel was opened in the Vatican; renowned for the quality of its decoration, the Sistine Chapel is also the site of the
Papal conclave, at which every new Pope has been chosen since 1492.
1842 - The
Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed, establishing the US-Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.
1877 - At the
Battle of Big Hole a small band of
Nez Percé Indians in Montana led by
Chief Joseph and
Chief Looking Glass clashed with the US Army commanded by
John Gibbon and
Oliver Otis Howard during the
Nez Perce War, a smaller sub-war of the greater conflict called the
Indian Wars.
1892 -
Thomas Edison received
US Patent 480,567 for a two-way telegraph.
1902 -
Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra were crowned in
Westminster Abbey; their coronation, originally scheduled for June 26th, had to be postponed because of His Majesty's
bout with appendicitis. The service would be the last major rite conducted by the aged
Archbishop of Canterbury,
Frederick Temple, who died just four months later.
1907 -
Robert Baden-Powell's first
Boy Scout encampment concluded at
Brownsea Island in Dorset's
Poole Harbour.
1930 -
Betty Boop made her cartoon debut, in the
Fleischer Studios's
Talkartoon Dizzy Dishes, directed by
Dave Fleischer and produced by
Max Fleischer.
1936 -
Jesse Owens won the fourth and final of his gold medals at the
Games of the XI Olympiad in Berlin, making him the first American to win four medals at an Olympiad.
1942 -
Mahatma Gandhi was arrested in Mumbai for his involvement in Indian independence, having a movement called
Quit India; held for two years at the
Aga Khan Palace in Pune, it was during this incarceration that his wife
Kasturba died.
1945 - The Japanese city of
Nagasaki was
devastated by an atomic bomb.
1965 -
Singapore seceded from
Malaysia, thus gaining its independence.
1969 -
Charles Manson and his followers
murdered Sharon Tate (the wife of director
Roman Polanski), coffee heiress
Abigail Folger,
Wojciech Frykowski, celebrity hairdresser
Jay Sebring, and
Steven Parent at
10050 Cielo Drive in Los Angeles.
1974 - President Richard Nixon became the first US President to resign from office, due to his complicity in Watergate; his Vice-President, Gerald Ford, became President the same day.
1986 -
Freddie Mercury played his final concert with
Queen, at
Knebworth.
1993 -
Albert II was sworn is as Belgium's new king - having succeeded his father
Baudouin I, who died on July 31st.
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