480 BC The Persian army defeats Leonidas and his Spartan army at the battle Persia.
48 BC Julius Caesar defeats Gnaius Pompey at Pharsalus.
1483 Pope Sixtus IV celebrates the first mass in the Sistine Chapel.
1549 England declares war on France.
1645 Settlers in New Amsterdam gain peace with the Mohawks.
1805 Austria joins Britain, Russia, Sweden and the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.
1814 Andrew Jackson and the Creek Indians sign the Treaty of Fort Jackson.
1842 The Webster-Ashburn treaty fixes the border between Maine and Canada.
1859 The escalator is patented. The first working escalator appeared in 1900.
1862 At Cedar Mountain, VA, Confederate General "Stonewall" Jackson repels Union.
1910 The first complete, self-contained electric washing machine is patented.
1936 Jesse Owens wins four gold medals in track events at the Berlin Olympics.
1941 President Franklin Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill meet.
1945 The B-29 bomber Bock's Car drops a second atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan.
1969 Charles Manson's followers kill actress Sharon Tate three others in Beverly Hills.
1974 Gerald Ford, new president of the US after the resignation of Richard Nixon.
Born on August 9
1387 Henry V, British king famous for his victory at Agincourt, France.
1631 John Dryden, the first official Poet Laureate of Great Britain (1668 to1700).
1633 Isaak Walton, author of the classic The Compleat Angler.
1896 Jean Piaget, psychologist of the development of children"s intellectual faculties.
1899 P.L. Travers, author of the Mary Poppins books.
1927 Robert Shaw, actor and writer.
1928 Bob Cousey, Hall of Fame basketball player and coach of the Boston Celtics.