This Day in History
31 Aug 1142
Possible date for establishment of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) League - with the aid of Hiawatha and Deganawidah
31 Aug 1230
Bishop Willebrand of Utrecht grants Swells state justice
31 Aug 1310
German king Heinrich VII makes his son Johan king of Bohemia
31 Aug 1422
Henry VI becomes King of England at the age of 9 months
More History
Sam Mason survives Native American attack
Samuel Mason a Patriot captain in command of Fort Henry on the Ohio frontier survives a devastating Native American attack on August 31 1777.The son of a dis...
Polish government signs accord with Gdansk shipyard workers
On August 31 1980 representatives of the communist government of Poland agree to the demands of striking shipyard workers in the city of Gdansk. Former electr...
Jack the Ripper s first victim murdered
Prostitute Mary Ann Nichols the first known victim of London serial killer Jack the Ripper is found murdered and mutilated in the citys ...
Thomas Edison patents the Kinetograph
Thomas Edison receives a patent for his movie camera the Kinetograph. Edison had developed the camera and its viewer in the early 1890s and staged several demo...
William Cobb demonstrates first solar powered car
On August 31 1955 William G. Cobb of the General Motors Corp. (GM) demonstrates his 15-inch-long Sunmobile the worlds first solar-power...
FDR signs Neutrality Act
On August 31 1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Neutrality Act or Senate Joint Resolution No. 173 which he calls an expression of the des...
Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill s The Threepenny Opera premieres in Berlin
Die Dreigroschenoper (The Threepenny Opera) receives its world premiere in Berlin on August 31 1928.I think Ive written a good piece and that se...
Earthquake shakes Charleston South Carolina
An earthquake near Charleston South Carolina on August 31 1886 leaves more than 100 people dead and hundreds of buildings destroyed. This was the largest rec...
Los Angeles mob attacks Night Stalker serial killer
Richard Ramirez the notorious Night Stalker is captured and nearly killed by a mob in East Los Angeles California after being recognized from ...
American soldier Harry Butters killed in the Battle of the Somme
On August 31 1916 Harry Butters an American soldier serving in the British army during World War I is killed by a German shell during the Battle of the Somm...
How Paula Yates Discovered Her Real Father
August 31 1986 Television presenter Paula Yates was married on this day to pop star Bob Geldof former lead singer with the Boomtown Rats and in...
John Snow, Cholera and the Battle for Broad Street
August 31 1854 In the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in London John Snow made his name as one of the founders of modern epidemiology. Previously chol...
1887 You oughta be in pictures
Thomas Edison received a patent for his Kinetoscope and moving pictures were born....
1997: Princess Diana dies in Paris crash
Diana Princess of Wales has died after a car crash in Paris.She was taken to hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning where surgeons tried for two hour...
1994: IRA declares 'complete' ceasefire
1994 IRA declares complete ceasefire The IRA has announced a ceasefire after a quarter of a century of what it called its armed struggle to get the...
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