This is a list of selected August 7 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Badge of Military Merit -
Alice Huyler Ramsey with her Maxwell automobile -
René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle -
Peace Bridge -
U.S. Marines wading ashore on Tulagi Island -
Barry Bonds -
Portion of the Harvard Mark I -
Harvard Mark I input/output and control -
Entrance to the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp -
The inauguration of the Bronze Horseman -
The Bronze Horseman -
Love Canal area in 2012 -
Le Griffon
Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| ; Independence Day in Ivory Coast (1960) | refimprove |
| 1782 – The Bronze Horseman, an equestrian statue of Peter the Great that serves as one of the symbols of Saint Petersburg, Russia, was unveiled. | multiple issues |
| 1927 – The official opening ceremony of the Peace Bridge between Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York, at the east end of Lake Erie, was held two months after it opened to the public. | refimprove |
| 1933 – Iraqi troops slaughtered 600–3,000 Assyrians during the Simele massacre in the Dahuk and Mosul districts. | cleanup section |
| 1938 – Prisoners from Dachau concentration camp were sent to begin construction of Mauthausen, which would later be part of one of the largest labour camp complexes in German-occupied Europe. | expansion |
| 1947 – An expedition led by Norwegian explorer Thor Heyerdahl on his raft, the Kon-Tiki, completed a 101-day journey across the Pacific Ocean. | refimprove |
| 1965 – Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman of the Federation of Malaysia demanded that Singapore withdraw from the federation, choosing to "sever ties with a State Government that showed no measure of loyalty to its Central Government." | unreferenced section |
| 1978 – Two years after the discovery of toxic waste that had been negligently disposed of, U.S. President Jimmy Carter declared a federal health emergency in the Love Canal neighborhood of Niagara Falls, New York. | refimprove section |
| 1999 – The Chechnya-based Islamist militia group Islamic International Brigade invaded the neighbouring Russian republic of Dagestan in support of the Shura of Dagestan separatist movement. | refimprove section |
| 2007 – Barry Bonds surpassed Hank Aaron's career home run total with his milestone 756th home run. | refimprove section |
Eligible
- 1679 – Le Griffon (depicted), a barque built by René-Robert de La Salle, began its journey to be the first sailing ship to navigate the upper Great Lakes.
- 1782 – The Badge of Military Merit (pictured), the precursor to the U.S. Purple Heart, was established as a military decoration of the Continental Army.
- 1794 – U.S. president George Washington invoked the Militia Acts of 1792 to suppress the Whiskey Rebellion in western Pennsylvania.
- 1909 – Fifty-nine days after leaving New York City with three passengers, Alice Huyler Ramsey arrived in San Francisco to become the first woman to drive an automobile across the contiguous United States.
- 1914 – The Battle of Mulhouse began with France's first attack of World War I in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to recover the region of Alsace from Germany.
- 1942 – World War II: U.S. Marines initiated the first American offensive of the Guadalcanal campaign, with landings on Tulagi (pictured), Gavutu–Tanambogo and Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.
- 1944 – IBM presented the first program-controlled calculator to Harvard University, after which it became known as the Mark I.
- 1946 – The Soviet Union informed Turkey that the way in which the latter was handling the Turkish Straits no longer represented the security interests of its fellow Black Sea nations, escalating the Turkish Straits crisis.
- 1970 – Jonathan Jackson kidnapped Harold Haley, a judge in Marin County, California, to coerce the release of the Soledad Brothers, including Jackson's brother George.
- 1985 – Five members of the Bamber family were found murdered at a farmhouse in Tolleshunt D'Arcy, England.
- 1987 – Lynne Cox became the first person to swim between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede to Big Diomede in the Bering Strait in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
- 1998 – Car bombs exploded simultaneously at the American embassies in the East African capital cities of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, killing more than 200 people and injuring more than 4,000 others.
- Born/died: | Hugh Foliot |d|1234| Jin Shengtan |d|1661| Joseph Marie Jacquard |d|1834|Jöns Jacob Berzelius |d|1848|Huntley Wright |b|1868| Art Houtteman |b|1927| Richard Sykes |b|1942 Rebecca Kleefisch |b|1975| Charlize Theron |b|1975|Billy T. James |d|1991| Brigid Brophy |d|1995| Peter Jennings |d|2005 Frances Oldham Kelsey |d|2015
Notes
- Bertha Benz appears on August 5, so Alice Huyler Ramsey should not appear in the same year.
- Second Chechen War appears on August 26, so Invasion of Dagestan and Russia–Georgia War should not appear in the same year.
August 7: Assyrian Martyrs Day (1933)
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Badge of Military Merit
- 1461 – Ming Chinese general Cao Qin staged a failed coup against the Tianshun Emperor.
- 1782 – The Badge of Military Merit (pictured), the precursor to the U.S. Purple Heart, was established as a military decoration of the Continental Army.
- 1897 – Mahdist War: Anglo-Egyptian soldiers clashed with Mahdist Sudanese rebels in the Battle of Abu Hamed.
- 1955 – Hurricane Diane, the first Atlantic hurricane to cause more than $1 billion in damages, formed between the Lesser Antilles and Cape Verde.
- 1987 – Lynne Cox became the first person to swim between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, crossing from Little Diomede to Big Diomede in the Bering Strait in 2 hours and 5 minutes.
- Hugh Foliot (d. 1234)
- Abebe Bikila (b. 1932)
- Richard Sykes (b. 1942)
- Robert Martin Gumbura (d. 2021)