7 August in history

9 events that happened on 7 August, from 461 to 1998.

  1. 461 CE 1,565 years ago

    Western Emperor Majorian is executed on Ricimer's orders

    Majorian, the last Western emperor to attempt a real recovery of the empire, was arrested and beheaded by his general Ricimer. Afterwards Ricimer ruled through puppet emperors.

  2. ✦ Anniversary of the day

    1461 CE 565 years ago

    General Cao Qin's rebellion against the Tianshun Emperor fails

    Fearing a purge by the Tianshun Emperor, General Cao Qin and his troops rose in Beijing, set fire to gates of the Imperial City and killed several leading ministers. Cornered within a day, Cao was forced to take his own life.

    Zhengtong EmperorMing Empire

  3. 1479 CE 547 years ago

    Maximilian of Habsburg defeats the French at Guinegate

    The Burgundians under Maximilian of Habsburg, the future Emperor Maximilian I, defeated the French troops of King Louis XI. It was the first battle in which the Swiss pike square was used by a power that was not natively Swiss.

    Maximilian ILouis XI

  4. 1744 CE 282 years ago

    Prussia begins the Second Silesian War against Austria

    Fearing that Austria would retake Silesia, Prussia declared its intervention in the War of the Austrian Succession on behalf of Emperor Charles VII. The Second Silesian War ended in 1745 with the Treaty of Dresden, which confirmed Prussian possession of Silesia.

    Second Silesian WarWar of the Austrian SuccessionCharles VII

  5. 1782 CE 244 years ago

    George Washington creates the Badge of Military Merit

    Washington established a purple cloth heart to honour enlisted soldiers for meritorious action. Revived in 1932 as the Purple Heart, it is now awarded to those wounded or killed in US service.

  6. 1819 CE 207 years ago

    Simón Bolívar wins the Battle of Boyacá

    After a daring march over the Andes, Bolívar's army defeated the royalists at Boyacá. Bogotá fell days later, securing the independence of New Granada, present-day Colombia.

    Granada

  7. 1942 CE 84 years ago

    US Marines land on Guadalcanal

    US Marines landed on Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands, the first major American offensive of the Pacific war. Six months of fighting ended in a Japanese withdrawal.

    United StatesSolomon

  8. 1947 CE 79 years ago

    Thor Heyerdahl's Kon-Tiki raft reaches Polynesia

    After 101 days and some 7,000 km from Peru, Thor Heyerdahl's balsa raft ran onto the reef at Raroia. The voyage showed that prehistoric people could have crossed the Pacific on such craft.

  9. 1998 CE 28 years ago

    Al-Qaeda bombs US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania

    Truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously at the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, killing 224 people, most of them Africans. The attacks brought Osama bin Laden to world attention.

Died on 7 August 6

Dates as the sources give them: in the Julian calendar before 1582, and in some countries for longer (Britain until 1752, Russia until 1918). Only people whose day of birth or death the records agree on are listed.

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