3 August

Events

Pre-1600

* 8 – Roman Empire general Tiberius defeats the Dalmatae on the river Bosna.
* 435 – Deposed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople Nestorius, considered the originator of Nestorianism, is exiled by Roman Emperor Theodosius II to a monastery in Egypt.
* 881 – Battle of Saucourt-en-Vimeu: Louis III of France defeats the Vikings, an event celebrated in the poem '' Ludwigslied''.
* 908 – Battle of Eisenach: An invading Hungarian force defeats an East Frankish army under Duke Burchard of Thuringia.
*1031 – Olaf II of Norway is canonized as Saint Olaf by Grimketel, the English Bishop of Selsey.
*1057 – Frederik van Lotharingen elected as first Belgian Pope Stephen IX.
*1342 – The Siege of Algeciras commences during the Spanish Reconquista.
*1492 – Christopher Columbus sets sail from Palos de la Frontera, Spain.
*1527 – The first known letter from North America is sent by John Rut while at St. John's, Newfoundland.

1601–1900

*1601 – Long War: Austria captures Transylvania in the Battle of Goroszló.
*1645 – Thirty Years' War: The Second Battle of Nördlingen sees French forces defeating those of the Holy Roman Empire.
*1678 – Robert LaSalle builds the '' Le Griffon'', the first known ship built on the Great Lakes.
*1778 – The theatre ''La Scala'' in Milan is inaugurated with the première of Antonio Salieri's ''Europa riconosciuta''.
*1795 – Treaty of Greenville is signed, ending the Northwest Indian War in the Ohio Country.
*1811 – First ascent of Jungfrau, third highest summit in the Bernese Alps by brothers Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer.
*1829 – The Treaty of Lewistown is signed by the Shawnee and Seneca peoples, exchanging land in Ohio for land west of the Mississippi River.
*1852 – Harvard University wins the first Boat Race between Yale University and Harvard. The race is also known as the first ever American intercollegiate athletic event.
*1859 – The American Dental Association is founded in Niagara Falls, New York.
*1900 – The Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is founded.

1901–present

*1903 – Macedonian rebels in Kruševo proclaim the Kruševo Republic, which exists for only ten days before Ottoman Turks lay waste to the town.
*1907 – Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis fines Standard Oil of Indiana a record $29.4 million for illegal rebating to freight carriers; the conviction and fine are later reversed on appeal.
*1914 – World War I: Germany declares war against France, while Romania declares its neutrality.
*1921 – Major League Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis confirms the ban of the eight Chicago Black Sox, the day after they were acquitted by a Chicago court.
*1936 – Jesse Owens wins the 100 metre dash, defeating Ralph Metcalfe, at the Berlin Olympics.
* 1936 – A fire wipes out Kursha-2 in the Meshchera Lowlands, Ryazan Oblast, Russia, killing 1,200 and leaving only 20 survivors.
*1940 – World War II: Italian forces begin the invasion of British Somaliland.
*1946 – Santa Claus Land, the world's first themed amusement park, opens in Santa Claus, Indiana, United States.
*1948 – Whittaker Chambers accuses Alger Hiss of being a communist and a spy for the Soviet Union.
*1949 – The Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League finalize the merger that would create the National Basketball Association.
*1958 – The world's first nuclear submarine, the USS ''Nautilus'', becomes the first vessel to complete a submerged transit of the geographical North Pole.
*1959 – Portugal's state police force PIDE fires upon striking workers in Bissau, Portuguese Guinea, killing over 50 people.
*1960 – Niger – The United States Senate ratifies the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
*1975 – A privately chartered Boeing 707 strikes a mountain peak and crashes near Agadir, Morocco, killing 188.
*1977 – Tandy Corporation announces the TRS-80, one of the world's first mass-produced personal computers.
*1981 – Senegalese opposition parties, under the leadership of Mamadou Dia, launch the Antiimperialist Action Front – Suxxali Reew Mi.
*1997 – Oued El-Had and Mezouara massacre in Algeria: A total of 116 villagers killed, 40 in Oued El-Had and 76 in Mezouara.
* 1997 – The tallest free-standing structure in the Southern Hemisphere, Sky Tower in downtown Auckland, New Zealand, opens after two-and-a-half years of construction.
*2004 – The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty reopens after being closed since the September 11 attacks.
*2005 – President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
*2007 – Former deputy director of the Chilean secret police Raúl Iturriaga is captured after having been on the run following a conviction for kidnapping.
*2010 – Widespread rioting erupts in Karachi, Pakistan, after the assassination of a local politician, leaving at least 85 dead and at least 17 billion Pakistani rupees (US$200 million) in damage.
*2014 – A 6.1 magnitude earthquake kills at least 617 people and injures more than 2,400 in Yunnan, China.
* 2014 – The genocide of Yazidis by ISIL begins.
*2018 – Two burka-clad men kill 29 people and injure more than 80 in a suicide attack on a Shia mosque in eastern Afghanistan.
*2019 – Six hundred protesters, including opposition leader Lyubov Sobol, are arrested in an election protest in Moscow, Russia.
* 2019 – Twenty-three people are killed and 23 injured in a shooting in El Paso, Texas.

Births

Pre-1600

*1442 – Galeotto I Pico, Duke of Mirandola (d. 1499)
*1486 – Imperia Cognati, Italian courtesan (d. 1512)
*1491 – Maria of Jülich-Berg, German noblewoman (d. 1543)
*1509 – Étienne Dolet, French scholar and translator (d. 1546)

1601–1900

*1622 – Wolfgang Julius, Count of Hohenlohe-Neuenstein, German field marshal (d. 1698)
*1692 – John Henley, English minister and poet (d. 1759)
*1766 – Aaron Chorin, Hungarian rabbi and author (d. 1844)
*1770 – Frederick William III of Prussia (d. 1840)
*1803 – Joseph Paxton, English gardener and architect, designed The Crystal Palace (d. 1865)
*1808 – Hamilton Fish, American lawyer and politician, 26th United States Secretary of State (d. 1893)
*1811 – Elisha Otis, American businessman, founded the Otis Elevator Company (d. 1861)
*1817 – Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen (d. 1895)
*1823 – Thomas Francis Meagher, Irish-American revolutionary and military leader, territorial governor of Montana (d. 1867)
*1832 – Ivan Zajc, Croatian composer, conductor, and director (d. 1914)
*1840 – John Bigham, 1st Viscount Mersey, English jurist and politician (d. 1929)
*1850 – Reginald Heber Roe, English-Australian swimmer, tennis player, and academic (d. 1926)
*1856 – Alfred Deakin, Australian lawyer and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1919)
*1860 – William Kennedy Dickson, French-Scottish actor, director, and producer (d. 1935)
*1863 – Géza Gárdonyi, Hungarian author and journalist (d. 1922)
*1867 – Stanley Baldwin, English businessman and politician, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1947)
*1871 – Vernon Louis Parrington, American historian and scholar (d. 1929)
*1872 – Haakon VII of Norway (d. 1957)
*1886 – Maithili Sharan Gupt, Indian poet and playwright (d. 1964)
*1887 – Rupert Brooke, English poet (d. 1915)
* 1887 – August Wesley, Finnish journalist, trade unionist, and revolutionary (d. ?)
*1890 – Konstantin Melnikov, Russian architect, designed the Rusakov Workers' Club (d. 1974)
*1894 – Harry Heilmann, American baseball player and sportscaster (d. 1951)
*1895 – Allen Bathurst, Lord Apsley, English politician (d. 1942)
*1896 – Ralph Horween, American football player and coach (d. 1997)
*1899 – Louis Chiron, Monegasque race car driver (d. 1979)
*1900 – Ernie Pyle, American soldier and journalist (d. 1945)
* 1900 – John T. Scopes, American educator (d. 1970)

1901–present

*1901 – John C. Stennis, American lawyer and politician (d. 1995)
* 1901 – Stefan Wyszyński, Polish cardinal (d. 1981)
*1902 – Regina Jonas, German rabbi (d. 1944)
* 1902 – David Buttolph, American film composer (d. 1983)
*1903 – Habib Bourguiba, Tunisian journalist and politician, 1st President of the Republic of Tunisia (d. 2000)
*1904 – Dolores del Río, Mexican actress (d. 1983)
* 1904 – Clifford D. Simak, American journalist and author (d. 1988)
*1905 – Franz König, Austrian cardinal (d. 2004)
*1907 – Lawrence Brown, American trombonist and composer (d. 1988)
* 1907 – Ernesto Geisel, Brazilian general and politician, 29th President of Brazil (d. 1996)
* 1907 – Yang Shangkun, Chinese politician, and 4th President of China (d.1998)
*1909 – Walter Van Tilburg Clark, American author and educator (d. 1971)
*1911 – Alex McCrindle, Scottish actor and producer (d. 1990)
*1912 – Fritz Hellwig, German politician (d. 2017)
*1913 – Mel Tolkin, Ukrainian-American screenwriter and producer (d. 2007)
*1916 – Shakeel Badayuni, Indian poet and songwriter (d. 1970)
* 1916 – José Manuel Moreno, Argentinian footballer and manager (d. 1978)
*1917 – Les Elgart, American trumpet player and bandleader (d. 1995)
*1918 – James MacGregor Burns, American historian, political scientist, and author (d. 2014)
* 1918 – Sidney Gottlieb, American chemist and theorist (d. 1999)
* 1918 – Larry Haines, American actor (d. 2008)
* 1918 – Eddie Jefferson, American singer-songwriter (d. 1979)
*1920 – Norman Dewis, English test driver and engineer (d. 2019)
* 1920 – Max Fatchen, Australian journalist and author (d. 2012)
* 1920 – P. D. James, English author (d. 2014)
* 1920 – Charlie Shavers, American trumpet player and composer (d. 1971)
* 1920 – Elmar Tampõld