August 9

480BC – The Persian emperor Xerxes receives the response by King Leonidas of Sparta to his demand that the Greeks hand over their arms; Μολων  λαβέ “Come and take them!”.

48 BC – During the last Civil War of the Roman Republic, Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus in central Greece and Pompey flees to Egypt.

1173 – Construction of the campanile of the Cathedral of Pisa is started. It begins leaning almost as soon as it is completed.

1610 – The First Anglo-Powhatan War begins in colonial Virginia.

1814 – The Creek nation signs the Treaty of Fort Jackson, giving up parts of Alabama and Georgia.

1842 – The Webster–Ashburton Treaty is signed, establishing the United States–Canada border east of the Rocky Mountains.

1862 – At Cedar Mountain, Virginia, Confederate General Stonewall Jackson narrowly defeats Union forces under General John Pope.

1892 – Thomas Edison receives a patent for a two way ‘duplex’ telegraph.

1914 – The French Army begins its first offensive against Germany when VII Corps attacks the city of Mulhouse, ceded to Germany at the end of the Franco-Prussian war 43 years earlier.

1918 – Kermit Beahan, the bombardier on B-29 Bockscar is born in Joplin, Missouri.

1936 – Jesse Owens wins his fourth gold medal at the XI Olympiad games in Berlin

1942 – Allied naval forces protecting amphibious forces during the initial stages of the Battle of Guadalcanal are surprised off Savo Island by a  Japanese Navy cruiser force resulting in the loss of the HMAS Canberra, USS Vincennes, USS Quincy  and USS Astoria.

1944 – The United States Forest Service releases posters featuring Smokey Bear

1945 – U.S. Army Air Force Major Charles Sweeney and crew aboard the B29 bomber Bockscar, drops “Fat Man” atomic bomb #F-31 on their secondary target, Nagasaki after the primary target of Kokura is obscured by clouds and smoke

1969 – Followers of Charles Manson murder actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Polish actor Wojciech Frykowski, men’s hairstylist Jay Sebring and recent high-school graduate Steven Parent.

1974 – President Nixon resigns from office. Vice President Gerald Ford is sworn in to become the 38th President.

2014 – Michael Brown, an 18-year-old black male in Ferguson, Missouri, is shot and killed by a Ferguson police officer after assaulting the officer and attempting to steal his weapon, sparking protests and rioting in the city.