Today in history

1776

The Battle of Long Island began during the Revolutionary War as British troops attacked American forces, who ended up being forced to retreat two days later.

1883

The island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions; the resulting tidal waves in Indonesia’s Sunda Strait claimed some 36,000 lives in Java and Sumatra.

1928

The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed in Paris, outlawing war and providing for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

1939

The first turbojet-powered aircraft, the Heinkel He 178, went on its first fullfledged test flight over Germany.

1949

A violent white mob prevented an outdoor concert headlined by Paul Robeson from taking place near Peekskill, New York. (The concert was held eight days later.)

1957

The USS Swordfish, the second Skate Class nuclear submarine, was launched from the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

1962

The United States launched the Mariner 2 space probe, which flew past Venus in December 1962.

1965

Influential Swiss-born architect Le Corbusier, 77, died in Cap Martin, France.

1975

Haile Selassie, the last emperor of Ethiopia’s 3,000-year-old monarchy, died in Addis Ababa at age 83 almost a year after being overthrown.

1979

British war hero Lord Louis Mountbatten and three other people, including his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas, were killed off the coast of Ireland in a boat explosion claimed by the Irish Republican Army.