Some of the significant events which took place on August 7 taken from the leaf of History:

322 BC -Battle of Crannon between Athens and Macedon following the death of Alexander the Great.

626 -Battle at Constantinople: Slavic/Persians/Avarenvloot defeated.

768 – Stephen III [IV] begins his reign as Catholic Pope.

936 – Otto I the Great becomes King of Germany.

1409 – Council of Pisa closes.

1428 – Valais witch trial proceedings begin in Valais Canton, Switzerland, first organized witch trials.

1461 – Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor.

1479 – Battle of Guinegate: Emperor Maximilian I vs King Louis XI.

1485 – Henry Tudor’s (Henry VII to be) army lands in Milford Haven, South Wales.

1905 – Indian National Congress declares boycott of British Goods.

1911 – Two men and a woman were charged in Fulton, MO with poisoning children with strychnine-laced chewing gum. The children belonged to families who had testified against Anna Boyd in her lawsuit against prominent doctor, W.B. Boyd. Boyd was suing the physician with defamation of her character and wanted $10,000 in damages.

1924 – In Philadelphia, prominent surgeon, Dr. Robert Grier LaConte, an internationally acclaimed doctor shot himself in the head. His suicide note indicated that he killed himself because of financial difficulties. Dr. LaConte served as lieutenant commander and was on a medical advisory board in World War I. He was decorated with many military honors and served on many prestigious scientific committees.

1935 – Flying ants were plaguing London, England, even stopping a tennis tournament. Heaps of the noxious insects were invading pantries and piling up on doorsteps. Authorities claim that this was the worst attack of pestilence in a quarter of a century.

1945 – Japan Nuclear Bomb Comment: Japanese imperial headquarters stated a few new type bombs had been dropped, causing considerable damage. The US confirmed it was a single bomb which later is confirmed to have destroyed 60 percent of the City of Hiroshima including practically all living things, human and animal burned to death by the tremendous heat and pressure engendered by the blast.

1947 – The Kon-Tiki expedition headed by Thor Heyerdahl, which had carried a six-man crew aboard a balsa wood raft from Peru 3,770 nautical miles across the Pacific Ocean, crashed into a reef in at Raroia in the Tuamotu Islands on a Polynesian archipelago after being at sea for 101 days since April 28th.

1948 – Truman Government accused of Un-American activities: Representative, McDowell a member of the House Committee on Un-American Activities, claimed that the Truman government shipped 1,300 tons of uranium to the Soviet Union in 1945. McDowell thought that the Soviets had a spy ring sabotaging the United States government and that the uranium was going to be used for military purposes. He also accused Canada of shipping 500 pounds of uranium nitrate and 500 pounds of black uranium to Moscow. The Soviets claimed the radio-active material was for medical and research purposes.

1957 – U.S.A. Laurel and Hardy: For twenty years the Laurel and Hardy comedy team was wildly popular, doing over 200 slap stick comedy routines. Oliver Hardy passed away today in North Hollywood at the home of his mother-in-law. He was 65 years old and had been paralyzed by a stroke since last September 12. The stroke left him unable to speak. Hardy was described as “an elephant on tippy-toe.”

1958 – U.S.A. Arthur Miller:  The playwright Arthur Miller has been cleared of contempt of court by the Court of Appeals for refusing to provide the names of alleged Communist writers with whom he had attended meetings with in New York in 1947 to the House of Un-American Activities Committee.

1959 – Space Explorer 6 is launched hoping to take the first satellite photographs of Earth from an unmanned spacecraft Explorer 6. On August 14th the photograph was taken: The photograph was later released to the worlds press by NASA in September. It was of Mexico captured by Explorer 6 as it raced westward over the earth at speeds in excess of 20,000 miles an hour.

1960 – In Oklahoma City more than 200 black protesters had a sit-in to protest the ban on blacks eating at white-only restaurants. The protesters marched from Calvary Baptist Church to the downtown area in 90 degree temperatures. Although the group maintained a policy of non-violence, the leader Mrs. Luper decided that if the sit-in failed the next step would be a boycott of Oklahoma City businesses.

1964 – Gulf of Tonkin Resolution: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution is passed which will allow President Lyndon B. Johnson authorization for increased use of military force in Southeast Asia, without a formal declaration of war by Congress. The resolution is in response to the attack by three North Vietnamese torpedo boats on the US Destroyer Maddox in the Gulf of Tonkin on August 2nd.

1972 – The Ugandan leader, Idi Amin, has ordered most Asians (estimated to be 60,000) to leave the country of Uganda within 90 days or face the consequences. Most Asians in Uganda are British Passport Holders and are expected to move to the UK many have been in the country for two generations and are the backbone to the Ugandan economy running local shops and other businesses, the reasons for the expulsions are the resentment by the black majority over their success. When the Asians were thrown out 30,000 did emigrate to Britain but arrived with no money as they were not compensated for their businesses.

1974 – French stunt man Philippe Petit walked a tightrope between the twin towers of the nearly completed New York’s World Trade Center. The stunt was illegal and when he went to court because of the news coverage and public appreciation he was ordered “to perform a show for the children of New York City” and later was also presented with a lifetime pass to the Twin Towers’ Observation Deck by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

1978 – Vatican Pope Paul VI Dies: Pope Paul VI died at the age of 80. He had been the pontiff for the last 15 years, guiding over 500 million Catholics. His body will be transported to the Vatican and nine days of mourning will be observed. The pope will lie in state at St. Peter’s Basilica.

1983 – Zenie Finkelstein was a 72 year old Holocaust survivor who had endured the horrors of Auschwitz. However, a bureaucratic blunder in June declared that she was deceased and cancelled her Medicare records. However, Finkelstein has been resurrected again by the Social Security Administration and her doctor’s efforts. She exclaimed, “I was in six concentration camps and I never had as much trouble as this.”

1985- Geet Sethi became the third Indian to become the World’s Amature Billiard’s Champion.

1990 – Following the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq troops President George Herbert Walker Bush orders the organization of Operation Desert Shield with American troops becoming part of an international coalition in the war against Iraq.

1995 – Interactive television is the buzz word in technology this year. It would allow people to order groceries, do banking, or get movies without leaving home. A few test sites have sprung up but interactive television is unlikely to go main stream soon. The Daily Herald explains, “Ameritech aimed to deliver the technology to 1 million people in 1996, but now is working to deliver just regular cable service to 200,000 households.”

1998 – The Islamic fundamentalist terrorist organization al-Qaeda (run by Osama bin Laden) is believed responsible for the bombings today of two United States Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where at least 200 people have been killed and more than 5,000 injured. US President Bill Clinton is shocked and has made a statement “We will use all the means at our disposal to bring those responsible to justice.”

2004 – Sgt. Joseph Darby agonized for a month before he reported that his fellow soldiers were abusing Iraqi prisoners. He turned in two CD’s of photos that revealed inmates hooded and naked being led around on a leash like dogs. Darby found it hard to submit the photos, because the soldiers who committed the dishonorable acts were his friends.

2005 – A Russian Priz AS-28 mini-submarine, with seven crew members on board, is rescued from deep in the Pacific Ocean by a British Scorpio-45 rescue sub.

2006 – 2,000 workers at the largest private copper mine in the world, in Escondida, Chile went on strike on this day. The workers demanded a 13% increase in pay during the first strike of the firm’s history. The company, BHP Billiton and the workers reached an agreement on August 31st, 2006.

2007 – American baseball star Barry Bonds hit his 756th home run on this day, beating the previous home run record set by Hank Aaron in 1976. Despite his success, baseball fans were skeptical of his record amid rumors of steroid use. Find out more about Baseball Records and History including origins, records, great players and the modern game.

2008 – A new constitution with more democratic changes including a separation of powers and a bill of rights was ratified by President Gayoom of the Maldives on this day.

2009 – Typhoon Morakot strikes Taiwan with winds approaching 140 km/h (85 mph) strikes Taiwan causing catastrophic damage and loss of life leaving 650 dead or missing. Together with the strong winds was torrential rainfall (109.3 inches) causing major mudslides including one that buried the entire town of Xiaolin killing an estimated 500 people in the village alone. Typhoon Morakot was deadliest typhoon to impact Taiwan in recorded history.

2009 – Film writer and director John Hughes passed away from a heart attack at the age of 59 on this day. Hughes is known for such movies as Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.

2011 – Rioting Occurs in London: Rioting begins in Tottenham near London during which residents attacked people, set fire to shops, and looted the neighborhood. The rioting continued for several days spreading to different parts of London and to other major cities in England as a sign of unrest. Authorities believed the riots were organized through the use of social media like Facebook and Twitter. The original rioting began as residents protested the shooting of a man by police in the area.

2013 – The first special center to house asylum seekers was opened in Bremgarten, Switzerland. Switzerland made a law to restrict the movements and public freedoms of asylum seekers in the country. The first such move was to house asylum seekers in special centers. Other measures included banning them from public places like swimming pools and libraries. Opponents say the measures are racist and discriminatory.