Today in History

70		The Temple of Jerusalem burns after a nine-month Roman siege.
1526		Ottoman Suleiman the Magnificent crushes a Hungarian army under Lewis II at the Battle of Mohacs.
1533		In Peru, the Inca chief Atahualpa is executed by orders of Francisco Pizarro, although the chief had already paid his ransom.
1776		General George Washington retreats during the night from Long Island to New York City.
1793		Slavery is abolished in Santo Domingo.
1862		Union General John Pope's army is defeated by a smaller Confederate force at the Second Battle of Bull Run.
1882		Australia defeats England in cricket for the first time. The following day a obituary appears in the Sporting Times addressed to the British team.
1942		The American Red Cross announces that Japan has refused to allow safe conduct for the passage of ships with supplies for American prisoners of war.
1945		U.S. airborne troops are landed in transport planes at Atsugi airfield, southwest of Tokyo, beginning the occupation of Japan.
1949		USSR explodes its first atomic bomb, "First Lightning."
1950		International Olympic Committee votes to allow West Germany and Japan to compete in 1952 games.
1952		In the largest bombing raid of the Korean War, 1,403 planes of the Far East Air Force bomb Pyongyang, North Korea.
1957		US Congress passes Civil Rights Act of 1957 after Strom Thurmond (Sen-D-SC) ends 24-hour filibuster, the longest in Senate history, against the bill.
1960		US U-2 spy plane spots SAM (surface-to-air) missile launch pads in Cuba.
1964		Mickey Mantle ties Babe Ruth's career strikeout record (1,330).
1965		Astronauts L. Gordon Cooper Jr. and Charles "Pete" Conrad Jr complete 120 Earth orbits in Gemini 5, marking the first time the US set an international duration record for a manned space mission.
1966		The Beatles give their last public concert (Candlestick Park, San Francisco).
1968		Democrats nominate Hubert H Humphrey for president at their Chicago convention.
1977		Lou Brock (St Louis Cardinals) breaks Ty Cobb's 49-year-old career stolen bases record at 893.
1986		Morocco's King Hassan II signs unity treaty with Libya's Muammar Gadhafi, strengthening political and economic ties and creating a mutual defense pact.
1991		USSR's parliament suspends Communist Party activities in the wake of a failed coup.
1992		Thousands of Germans demonstrate against a wave of racist attacks aimed at immigrants.
1995		NATO launches Operation Deliberate Force against Bosnian Serb forces.
2003		A terrorist bomb kills Ayatollah Sayed Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, and nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf where the ayatollah had called for Iraqi unity.
2005		Rains from Hurricane Katrina cause a levee breech at the Industrial Canal in New Orleans, causing severe flooding.
2012		The Egyptian Army's Operation Eagle results in the deaths of 11 suspected terrorists and the arrest of another 23.