On September 6, 1757, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier de Lafayette, better known as the Marquis de Lafayette was born in Chavaniac, in Haute Loire, France to a wealthy family. He became known as the “Hero to two worlds” after joining in the American Revolution.
On September 3, 1943, the Allies launched their invasion of Italy during World War II. Part of Operation Husky, it ultimately led to the liberation of Rome in June 1944.
On August 27, 1918, US and Mexican forces engaged in the Battle of Ambos Nogales, amid the tensions of the Mexican Revolution, World War I, and the Border War.
On August 25, 1944, Allied troops liberated Paris, France after four years of Nazi occupation.
On August 16, 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of the Yukon in northwestern Canada. Lasting three years, the Klondike Gold Rush was the largest and most dramatic discovery of gold in American history.
On August 14, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill issued the Atlantic Charter, which defined their postwar goals for the world. The Atlantic Charter is credited as the inspiration for several international agreements that followed.
When the Nazis were defeated in World War II, Germany was divided into two countries. Shortly after midnight on August 13, 1961, East German soldiers laid barbed wire and bricks, creating the Berlin Wall.
On July 29, 1858, the US signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with Japan, opening trade between the two nations. The treaty marked the end of more than 200 years of Japanese isolationism.
Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, Viscount of Galveston and Count of Gálvez, was born on July 25, 1746, in Macharaviaya, Málaga, Spain. A hero of the Revolutionary War, he later served as Spanish Governor of Louisiana and Viceroy of New Spain.