September 8

70 - Roman forces under Titus sack Jerusalem. 1264 - The Statute of Kalisz, guaranteeing Jews safety and personal liberties and giving battei din jurisdiction over Jewish matters, is promulgated by Boleslaus the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland. 1331 - Stefan DuÅ¡an declares himself king of Serbia 1380 - Battle of Kulikovo - Russian forces defeat a mixed army of Tatars and Mongols, stopping their advance. 1449 - Battle of Tumu Fortress - Mongolians capture the Chinese emperor. 1504 - Michelangelo's David is unveiled in Florence. 1514 - Battle of Orsha - in one of the biggest battles of the century, Lithuanians and Poles defeat the Russian army. 1565 - Pedro MenÃ©ndez de AvilÃ©s settles St. Augustine, Florida. 1565 - The Knights of Malta lift the Turkish siege of Malta that started on May 18. 1727 - A barn fire during a puppet show in the village of Burwell in Cambridgeshire, England kills 78 people, many of whom are children. 1755 - French and Indian War: Battle of Lake George. 1756 - French and Indian War: Kittanning Expedition. 1761 - Marriage of George III of the United Kingdom to Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Queen Charlotte). 1793 - French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Hondschoote. 1796 - French Revolutionary Wars: Battle of Bassano - French forces defeat Austrian troops at Bassano del Grappa. 1810 - The Tonquin sets sail from New York Harbor with 33 employees of John Jacob Astor's newly created Pacific Fur Company on board. After a six-month journey around the tip of South America, the ship arrives at the mouth of the Columbia River and Astor's men establish the fur-trading town of Astoria, Oregon. 1831 - William IV is crowned King of Great Britain. 1863 - American Civil War: Second Battle of Sabine Pass - on the Texas-Louisiana border at the mouth of the Sabine River, a small Confederate force thwarts a Union invasion of Texas. 1888 - In London, the body of Jack the Ripper's second murder victim, Annie Chapman, is found. 1888 - In England the first six Football League matches ever are played. 1900 - Galveston Hurricane of 1900: a powerful hurricane hits Galveston, Texas killing about 8,000 people. 1914 - World War I: Private Thomas Highgate becomes the first British soldier to be executed for desertion during the war. 1921 - 16-year-old Margaret Gorman wins the Atlantic City Pageant's Golden Mermaid trophy; pageant officials later dubbed her the first Miss America. 1923 - Honda Point Disaster: nine US Navy destroyers run aground off the California coast. Seven are lost. 1926 - Germany was admitted to the League of Nations. 1930 - 3M begins marketing Scotch transparent tape. 1934 - Off the New Jersey coast, a fire aboard the passenger liner SS Morro Castle kills 135 people. 1935 - US Senator from Louisiana, Huey Long, nicknamed "Kingfish", is fatally shot in the Louisiana capitol building. 1941 - World War II: Siege of Leningrad begins. German forces begin a siege against the Soviet Union's second-largest city, Leningrad. 1943 - World War II: The O.B.S. (German General Headquarters for the Mediterranean zone) in Frascati is bombed by USAAF. 1943 - World War II: United States General Dwight D. Eisenhower publicly announces the Allied armistice with Italy. 1944 - World War II: London is hit by a V2 rocket for the first time. 1944 - World War II: Menton is liberated from Germany. 1945 - Cold War: United States troops arrive to partition the southern part of Korea in response to Soviet troops occupying the northern part of the peninsula a month earlier. 1951 - Treaty of San Francisco: In San Francisco, California, 48 nations sign a peace treaty with Japan in formal recognition of the end of the Pacific War. 1954 - The Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is established. 1959 - The Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) is established. 1960 - In Huntsville, Alabama, US President Dwight D. Eisenhower formally dedicates the Marshall Space Flight Center (NASA had already activated the facility on July 1). 1962 - Newly independent Algeria, by referendum, adopts a Constitution. 1962 - Last run of the famous Pines Express over the Somerset and Dorset Railway line (UK) fittingly using the last steam locomotive built by British Railways, 9F locomotive 92220 'Evening Star' 1966 - The Severn Bridge is officially opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 1966 - The first Star Trek series premieres on NBC. 1967 - The formal end of steam traction in the North East of England by British Railways. 1968 - The Beatles perform their last live TV performance on the David Frost show. They perform their new hit Hey Jude. 1970 - Hijacking (and subsequent destruction) of three airliners to Jordan by Palestinians; the events to follow would later become known as Black September 1971 - In Washington, D.C., the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is inaugurated, with the opening feature being the premiere of Leonard Bernstein's Mass. 1974 - Watergate Scandal: US President Gerald Ford pardons former President Richard Nixon for any crimes Nixon may have committed while in office. 1975 - Gays in the military: US Air Force Tech Sergeant Leonard Matlovich, a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War, appears in his Air Force uniform on the cover of Time magazine with the headline "I Am A Homosexual". He is later given a general discharge. 1991 - Republic of Macedonia becomes independent. 1994 - A USAir Boeing 737 crashes in Hopewell Township, Pennsylvania, near the city of Aliquippa. 1999 - United States Attorney General Janet Reno names former Senator John Danforth to head an independent investigation of the 1993 fire at the Branch Davidian church near Waco, Texas in response to revelations in the film Waco: The Rules of Engagement contradicting the official government stories. 2004 - The NASA unmanned spacecraft Genesis crash-lands when its parachute fails to open. 2005 - Two EMERCOM Il-76 aircraft land at a disaster aid staging area at Little Rock Air Force Base; the first time Russia has flown such a mission to North America.