August
16
Events
1328 – The
House of Gonzaga seizes power in the Duchy of Mantua, and will
rule until 1708.
1513 – Battle of Guinegate (Battle of the Spurs) – King Henry
VIII of England defeats French Forces who are then forced to
retreat.
1777 – American Revolutionary War: The Americans led by General
John Stark rout British and Brunswick troops under Friedrich
Baum at the Battle of Bennington in Walloomsac, New York.
1780 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Camden – The British
defeat the Americans near Camden, South Carolina.
1792 – Maximilien Robespierre presents the petition of the Commune
of Paris to the Legislative Assembly, which demanded the formation
of a revolutionary tribunal.
1793 – French Revolution: a levée en masse is decreed by the
National Convention.
1812 – War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders
Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
1819 – Seventeen people die and over 600 are injured in cavalry
charges at a public meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester,
England.
1841 – U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called
for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States.
Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House in the
most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.
1858 – U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new transatlantic
telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria
of the United Kingdom. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown
of the service in a few weeks.
1859 – The Tuscan National Assembly formally deposes the House
of Habsburg-Lorraine.
1863 – The Dominican Restoration War begins when Gregorio Luperón
raises the Dominican flag in Santo Domingo after Spain had recolonized
the country.
1869 – Battle of Acosta Ñu: A Paraguayan battalion made up of
children is massacred by the Brazilian Army during the Paraguayan
War.
1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Mars-La-Tour is fought,
resulting in a Prussian victory.
1891 – The Basilica of San Sebastian in Manila, the first all-steel
church in Asia, is officially inaugurated and blessed.
1896 – Skookum Jim Mason, George Carmack and Dawson Charlie
discover gold in a tributary of the Klondike River in Canada,
setting off the Klondike Gold Rush.
1900 – the Battle of Elands River during the Second Boer War
ends after a 13-day siege is lifted by the British. The battle
had begun when a force of between 2,000 and 3,000 Boers had
surrounded a force of 500 Australians, Rhodesians, Canadians
and British soldiers at a supply dump at Brakfontein Drift.
1906 – An estimated 8.2 MW earthquake hits Valparaíso, Chile,
killing 3,886 people.
1913 – Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern day Tōhoku
University) becomes the first university in Japan to admit female
students.
1913 – Completion of the Royal Navy battlecruiser HMS Queen
Mary.
1914 – World War I: Battle of Cer begins.
1920 – Ray Chapman of the Cleveland Indians is hit on the head
by a fastball thrown by Carl Mays of the New York Yankees, and
dies early the next day. Chapman was the second player to die
from injuries sustained in a Major League Baseball game, the
first being Doc Powers in 1909.
1920 – The congress of the Communist Party of Bukhara opens.
The congress would call for armed revolution.
1927 – The Dole Air Race begins from Oakland, California, to
Honolulu, Hawaii, during which six out of the eight participating
planes crash or disappear.
1929 – The 1929 Palestine riots break out in the British Mandate
of Palestine between Arabs and Jews and continue until the end
of the month. In total, 133 Jews and 116 Arabs are killed.
1930 – The first color sound cartoon, called Fiddlesticks, is
made by Ub Iwerks.
1942 – World War II: The two-person crew of the U.S. naval blimp
L-8 disappears without a trace on a routine anti-submarine patrol
over the Pacific Ocean. The blimp drifts without her crew and
crash-lands in Daly City, California.
1944 – First flight of the Junkers Ju 287.
1945 – An assassination attempt is made on Japan's prime minister,
Kantaro Suzuki.
1945 – Puyi, the last Chinese emperor and ruler of Manchukuo,
is captured by Soviet troops.
1946 – Mass riots in Kolkata begin, in which more than 4,000
would be killed in 72 hours.
1960 – Cyprus gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1960 – Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico
at 102,800 feet (31,300 m), setting three records that still
stand today: High-altitude jump, free-fall, and highest speed
by a human without an aircraft.
1962 – Eight years after the remaining French India territories
were handed to India, the ratifications of the treaty are exchanged
to make the transfer official.
1964 – Vietnam War: A coup d'état replaces Duong Van Minh with
General Nguyen Khanh as President of South Vietnam. A new constitution
is established with aid from the U.S. Embassy.
1966 – Vietnam War: The House Un-American Activities Committee
begins investigations of Americans who have aided the Viet Cong.
The committee intends to introduce legislation making these
activities illegal. Anti-war demonstrators disrupt the meeting
and 50 people are arrested.
1972 – In an unsuccessful coup d'état attempt, the Royal Moroccan
Air Force fires upon Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is
traveling back to Rabat.
1987 – Northwest Airlines Flight 255 a McDonnell Douglas MD-82
crashes after take off in Detroit, killing 154 of the 155 on
board, plus 2 people on the ground.
1989 – A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm
that affects micro chips, leading to a halt of all trading on
Toronto's stock market
Holidays
and observances
Children's
Day (Paraguay)
Christian Feast Day:
Roch
Simplician
Stephen I of Hungary
Translation of the Acheiropoietos icon from Edessa to Constantinople.
(Eastern Orthodox Church)
August 16 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Gozan no Okuribi (Kyoto, Japan)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Gabon from
France in 1960.
Restoration Day (Dominican Republic)
Xicolatada (Palau-de-Cerdagne, France)
For details, contact Datacentre
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