August 1
Four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers, Russia and Germany, declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called Great War that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent. – 1914.
A gunman at an observatory platform on top of a 300-foot tower at the University of Texas proceeds to shoot 46 individuals with 14 dead and 31 wounded. A 15th died in 2001 because of his injuries. The shooter eventually was shot to death after courageous Austin police officers charged up the stairs of the tower to subdue the attacker. – 1966.
August 2
Adolf Hitler becomes absolute dictator of Germany under the title of Fuhrer, or “Leader.” The German army took an oath of allegiance to its new commander-in-chief, and the last remnants of Germany’s democratic government were dismantled to make way for Hitler’s Third Reich. – 1934.
At about 2 a.m. local time, Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq’s tiny, oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait’s defense forces were rapidly overwhelmed. – 1990.
August 3
From the Spanish port of Palos, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sets sail in command of three ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, on a journey to find a western sea route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia. – 1492.
CBS-TV news shows pictures of men from the First Battalion, Ninth Marines setting fire to huts in the village of Cam Na, six miles west of Da Nang, despite reports that the Viet Cong already had fled the area. The film report sparked indignation and condemnation of the U.S. policy in Vietnam both at home and overseas. – 1965.
August 4
The Nazi Gestapo captures 15-year-old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family in a sealed-off area of an Amsterdam warehouse. The Franks had taken shelter there in 1942 out of fear of deportation to a Nazi concentration camp. They occupied the small space with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man, and were aided by Christian friends, who brought them food and supplies. Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps. – 1944.
August 5
U.S. president Abraham Lincoln imposes the first federal income tax by signing the Revenue Act. Strapped for cash with which to pursue the Civil War, Lincoln and Congress agree to impose a three percent tax on annual incomes more than $800.. – 1861.
U.S. president Ronald Reagan begins firing 11,359 air-traffic controllers on strike in violation of his order for them to return to work. The controllers complained of difficult working conditions and a lack of recognition of the pressures they face. – 1981.
August 6
At Auburn Prison in New York, the first execution by electrocution in history is carried out against William Kemmler, who had been convicted of murdering his lover, Matilda Ziegler, with an axe. – 1890.
At 8:16 a.m. Japanese time, an American B-29 bomber, the Enola Gay, drops the world’s first atom bomb, over the city of Hiroshima. Approximately 80,000 individuals are killed as a direct result of the blast, and another 35,000 are injured. At least another 60,000 would be dead by the end of the year from the effects of the fallout. – 1945.
August 7
In Newburgh, N. Y., General George Washington, the commander-in-chief of the U.S. Continental Army, creates the “Badge for Military Merit,” a decoration consisting of a purple, heart-shaped piece of silk, edged with a narrow binding of silver, with the word Merit stitched across the face in silver. The badge was to be presented to soldiers for “any singularly meritorious action” and permitted its wearer to pass guards and sentinels without challenge. – 1782.
Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 4,300-mile, 101-day journey from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago, near Tahiti. Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theory that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on ocean currents. – 1947.