10th August 1961: United States begins Operation Ranch Hand to destroy trees and crops during the Vietnam War
Operation Ranch Hand was part of a strategy by the U.S. to counter the guerrilla tactics of the Viet Cong and North Vietnamese forces by targeting agricultural areas and forest cover with chemicals such as Agent ...
10 Aug 0s
9th August 1974: Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United States of America while facing impeachment due to the Watergate Scandal
Nixon announced his resignation in a televised speech on 8 August and it took effect from noon the next ...
9 Aug 0s
8th August 1786: Mont Blanc was successfully climbed for the first time by Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard
Jacques Balmat, a local mountaineer and crystal hunter, and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard, a physician from Chamonix, set out on the evening of 7 August 1786 and made their way up Mont Blanc via what is now known as the Grands Mulets ...
8 Aug 0s
7th August 1964: The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed by the United States Congress
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution granted powers to President Johnson to use American military force to assist countries in Southeast Asia that were facing so-called ...
7 Aug 0s
6th August 1945: The United States drop an atomic bomb nicknamed ‘Little Boy’ on the Japanese city of Hiroshima from the B-29 aircraft Enola Gay
The bomb exploded 1,900 feet above Hiroshima as planned, with the equivalent to 16 kilotons of TNT. Virtually all buildings within a mile of the blast were ...
6 Aug 0s
5th August 1914: The Battle of Liège begins, marking the first major engagement of the First World War
The bombardment of the city's ring of forts by Germany's 'Big Bertha' howitzer caused extensive damage, and one by one, the forts were rendered inoperable. By 16 August, the forts had ...
5 Aug 0s
4th August 1789: The August Decrees result in the National Constituent Assembly of France voting to abolish the feudal system
The decision to end the privileges enjoyed by the nobility and clergy came in the early stages of the French Revolution, during a special session of the National Constituent Assembly of France and resulted in the August ...
4 Aug 0s
3rd August 1492: Christopher Columbus sets sail from the Spanish port of Palos de la Frontera on the voyage that takes him to the Americas
Palos de la Frontera holds the official title as the starting point of Columbus’ transatlantic ...
3 Aug 0s
