This Day in History – August 1, 2011

30 BC Octavian (later known as Augustus) enters Alexandria, Egypt, bringing it under the control of the Roman Republic. 69 Batavian rebellion: The Batavians in Germania Inferior (Netherlands) revolt under the leadership of Gaius Julius Civilis. 527 Justinian I becomes the sole ruler of the Byzantine Empire. 1498 Christopher Columbus becomes the first European to visit what is now Venezuela. 1664 The Ottoman Empire is defeated in the Battle of Saint Gotthard by an Austrian army led by Raimondo Montecuccoli, resulting in the Peace of Vasvár. 1759 Seven Years’ War: The Battle of Minden, an allied Anglo-German army victory over the French. In Britain this was one of a number of events that constituted the Annus Mirabilis of 1759 and is celebrated as Minden Day by certain British Army regiments. 1774 Priestly discovers oxygen 1785 Caroline Herschel becomes 1st woman discoverer of a comet 1789 US Customs begins enforcing Tariff Act 1790 1st US census (population of 3,939,214) 1794 Whiskey Rebellion begins 1798 French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay) Battle begins when a British fleet engages the French Revolutionary Navy fleet in an unusual night action. 1800 The Act of Union 1800 is passed in which merges the Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland into the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. 1801 First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca Tripoli in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya. 1831 A new London Bridge opens. 1834 Slavery is abolished in the British Empire as the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 comes into force. 1876 Colorado is admitted as the 38th U.S. state. 1914 Germany declares war on Russia at the opening of World War I. The Swiss Army mobilises because of World War I. 1950 1st Major League baseball player to fight in Korea (Curt Simmons) 1953 Calif introduces sales tax (for education) 1955 1st microgravity research begins 1957 The United States and Canada form the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD). 1958 1st class postage up to $0.04 (had been $0.03 for 26 years) 1966 Charles Whitman kills 16 people at The University of Texas at Austin before being killed by the police. 1972 1st article exposing Wategate scandal (Bernstein-Woodward) 1976 Liz Taylor’s 6th divorce (re-divorces Richard Burton) 1981 MTV begins broadcasting in the United States and airs its first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles. 1984 Commercial peat-cutters discovers a the preserved bog body of a man, called Lindow Man, at Lindow Moss, Cheshire, North West England. 1992 NBC’s “Saturday Today” premieres 1993 The Great Flood of 1993 comes to a peak. 2001 Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore has a Ten Commandments monument installed in the judiciary building, leading to a lawsuit to have it removed and his own removal from office. 2007 The I-35W Mississippi River Bridge spanning the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collapses during the evening rush hour.]]]]> ]]>