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HISTORY & TIMELINE
3 August

A journey through
3 August in history

The story of 3 August runs from three small ships leaving a Spanish river port in 1492 to a spacecraft setting off for Mercury in 2004. In between come the opening of La Scala in Milan, the Treaty of Greenville, the first ascent of the Jungfrau, America’s first college sporting contest, a president sworn in by his father by lamplight, Jesse Owens’s Olympic 100 metres, Germany’s declaration of war on France, a submarine beneath the North Pole, the shooting of striking dockers in Bissau, Niger’s independence and a strike that ended with more than 11,000 air traffic controllers losing their jobs.

Begin the Timeline ↓ ← Back to Explore This Day
JUMP THROUGH TIME
II
THE MIDDLE AGES

Medieval History

Kingdoms, conflict, faith, power and the changing medieval world.

1492
Replicas of the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María on the Hudson River in New York, after crossing from Spain for the Chicago World's Fair of 1893Replicas of the Pinta, the Niña and the Santa María on the Hudson River in New York, after crossing from Spain for the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893Image: E. Benjamin Andrews · Public domain
world · Europe

Columbus sails from Palos on his first voyage west

For years the Genoese navigator Christopher Columbus had tried to persuade the rulers of Portugal and then Spain to back a voyage west across the Atlantic, which he believed would bring him quickly to Japan, China and the riches of the Indies. In April 1492, soon after the fall of Granada, Ferdinand and Isabella finally agreed. He was given three ships at Palos, a small port on the Río Tinto in south-western Spain: the Santa María, his flagship, and two lighter caravels, the Pinta and the Niña, commanded by the local seafaring brothers Martín Alonso and Vicente Yáñez Pinzón. At dawn on 3 August 1492 the little fleet, with about 90 men aboard, left Palos and headed first for the Canary Islands to pick up the easterly trade winds. After a long stop for repairs it sailed west into the unknown in September, and on 12 October the crews sighted an island in the Bahamas. Columbus never accepted that he had not reached Asia, but his voyage began lasting contact between Europe and the Americas, with vast consequences for the peoples on both sides of the ocean.

Source: Britannica: Christopher Columbus, the first voyage ↗
III
A CHANGING WORLD

Early Modern Era

Exploration, political change, scientific development and expanding global connections.

1778
The neoclassical front of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, designed by Giuseppe PiermariniThe neoclassical front of the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, designed by Giuseppe PiermariniImage: John Picken · CC BY 2.0
culture · Europe

La Scala opens in Milan

When Milan’s court theatre, the Teatro Regio Ducale, burned down in 1776, the city’s opera-loving nobles asked the Habsburg empress Maria Theresa, who then ruled Milan, for a new and larger house. The architect Giuseppe Piermarini built it on the site of the demolished church of Santa Maria alla Scala, which gave the theatre its name, and the owners of the boxes paid much of the cost. The Teatro alla Scala opened on 3 August 1778 with Europa riconosciuta, a new opera by Antonio Salieri. It became the most famous opera house in Italy, where many works by Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Verdi and Puccini had their first performances. Bombed in 1943 and rebuilt after the war, it was restored again in 2002-04 and reopened, fittingly, with Salieri’s Europa riconosciuta.

Source: Teatro alla Scala: History ↗
1795
The Treaty of Greenville, painted by an unidentified artist around the time; the central figures are believed to be General Anthony Wayne and Little TurtleThe Treaty of Greenville, painted by an unidentified artist around the time; the central figures are believed to be General Anthony Wayne and Little TurtleImage: Unidentified painter · Public domain
politics · Americas

The Treaty of Greenville opens the Ohio country to settlers

After American independence, settlers pushed across the Ohio River into lands held by the Shawnee, Miami, Delaware, Wyandot and other nations, who formed a confederation to resist them. Led by the Miami war chief Little Turtle and the Shawnee Blue Jacket, the confederation destroyed two American armies in 1790 and 1791. In 1794 a new, better-trained army under General Anthony Wayne defeated them at Fallen Timbers, near present-day Toledo, and their British allies refused to help. The following summer leaders of twelve nations met Wayne at Fort Greenville, in western Ohio, and on 3 August 1795 they signed a treaty of peace. In return for goods and yearly payments, they gave up most of what is now Ohio and smaller tracts further west, including the sites of future cities such as Chicago and Fort Wayne. The treaty line opened the region to rapid settlement. The Shawnee leader Tecumseh refused to accept it and later tried to build a new alliance to stop the loss of Native land.

Source: Britannica: Treaty of Greenville ↗
IV
THE NINETEENTH CENTURY

The 1800s

Industry, empire, invention, reform and a century of enormous transformation.

1811
The Jungfrau in the Bernese AlpsThe Jungfrau in the Bernese AlpsImage: Earth explorer · CC BY-SA 3.0
world · Europe

The Meyer brothers make the first ascent of the Jungfrau

The Jungfrau, at 4,158 metres one of the great peaks of the Bernese Alps, had never been climbed when Johann Rudolf and Hieronymus Meyer, merchants’ sons from Aarau, set out with porters in the summer of 1811. Approaching over the glaciers from the Valais side, the brothers and two local chamois hunters, Joseph Bortis and Alois Volker, reached the summit on 3 August 1811. Doubts about their account led to a second climb in 1812, which confirmed the route.

Source: Swiss Alpine Club (SAC) route portal: Jungfrau ↗
1852
View on Lake Winnipiseogee, painted by Thomas Cole in 1828, of the New Hampshire lake where the first race was rowedView on Lake Winnipiseogee, painted by Thomas Cole in 1828, of the New Hampshire lake where the first race was rowedImage: Thomas Cole · Public domain
sport · Americas

Harvard beats Yale in America’s first college sporting contest

In the summer of 1852 a railway company, keen to fill its trains to a lakeside resort, offered to pay for rowing crews from Harvard and Yale to race on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. On 3 August 1852 Harvard’s boat, the Oneida, beat Yale’s two crews at Center Harbor, watched by a crowd that included Franklin Pierce, soon to be elected president. It was the first intercollegiate sporting event in the United States, and the two universities still race each year.

Source: Harvard Athletics: Harvard-Yale Regatta 163rd anniversary ↗
V
THE TWENTIETH CENTURY

The 1900s

War and peace, technological leaps, social change, politics, sport and popular culture.

1914
Baron Wilhelm von Schoen, the German ambassador in Paris, who delivered Germany's declaration of war to the French governmentBaron Wilhelm von Schoen, the German ambassador in Paris, who delivered Germany’s declaration of war to the French governmentImage: Bain News Service · Public domain
world · Europe

Germany declares war on France

Germany’s plans for a war on two fronts rested on one idea: defeat France quickly in the west, then turn east against Russia, whose huge army would be slow to mobilise. When Russia began to mobilise in support of Serbia at the end of July 1914, Germany declared war on it on 1 August. France, Russia’s ally, ordered its own general mobilisation the same day, while Germany demanded to know whether France would stay neutral and was told only that France would act in its own interests. On the evening of 3 August 1914 the German ambassador, Wilhelm von Schoen, called on the French prime minister, René Viviani, in Paris and handed him Germany’s declaration of war, which accused French aircraft of bombing German territory, claims that were untrue. German armies were already poised to sweep through neutral Belgium, whose government had refused them passage that day. The invasion began the next morning, and it brought Britain into the war on 4 August.

Source: Imperial War Museums: How the world went to war in 1914 ↗
1923
The Coolidge homestead at Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where Calvin Coolidge took the oath of officeThe Coolidge homestead at Plymouth Notch, Vermont, where Calvin Coolidge took the oath of officeImage: Pi3.124 · CC BY-SA 4.0
politics · Americas

Calvin Coolidge is sworn in as president by his father

Vice President Calvin Coolidge was on holiday at his family’s farmhouse in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, which had no telephone, when news came late on 2 August 1923 that President Warren Harding had died in San Francisco. At 2:47 a.m. on 3 August, in the parlour by the light of a kerosene lamp, his father, John Coolidge, a notary public, administered the presidential oath. The homestead is now a state historic site.

Source: Vermont State Historic Sites: President Calvin Coolidge State Historic Site ↗
1936
Jesse Owens in July 1936, a few weeks before the Berlin OlympicsJesse Owens in July 1936, a few weeks before the Berlin OlympicsImage: Acme News Photos · Public domain
sport · Europe

Jesse Owens wins the Olympic 100 metres in Berlin

The Nazi regime meant the 1936 Olympics in Berlin to show off a proud, efficient Germany and its ideas of racial superiority. Jesse Owens, the grandson of enslaved people and the son of an Alabama sharecropper, had already shown his talent at Ohio State University, where he set or equalled several world records in less than an hour in 1935. After the heats on 2 August, Owens won the 100 metres final on 3 August 1936 in 10.3 seconds, equal to the world record, ahead of his American team-mate Ralph Metcalfe and the Dutch sprinter Tinus Osendarp. It was the first of four gold medals he won in Berlin, followed by the long jump, the 200 metres and the sprint relay, and his triumph made him one of the most famous athletes of the century.

Source: Olympics.com: Jesse Owens’ quest for glory started with 100m gold ↗
1958
USS Nautilus, the world's first nuclear-powered submarine, under way at seaUSS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, under way at seaImage: U.S. Navy (official photograph) · Public domain
science · Global

USS Nautilus passes beneath the North Pole

USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, could stay submerged for weeks rather than hours, because her reactor needed no air. That made a voyage long dreamed of possible: a passage under the Arctic ice cap from the Pacific to the Atlantic. After a first attempt was turned back by deep ice in 1958, she left Pearl Harbor in secret in late July on a mission code-named Operation Sunshine, with 116 men aboard under Commander William R. Anderson. Nautilus slipped beneath the ice north of Alaska and steered for the Pole, where ordinary compasses become useless, relying on a special inertial navigation system. At 11:15 p.m. on 3 August 1958 Anderson announced to the crew that they had reached 90 degrees north, the first ship ever to do so. Two days later she surfaced in the Greenland Sea, and the famous signal ‘Nautilus 90 North’ told the world that she had crossed the top of the planet.

Source: Naval History and Heritage Command: Nautilus (SSN-571) ↗
1960
Hamani Diori, Niger's first president, photographed on a visit to the Netherlands in October 1968Hamani Diori, Niger’s first president, photographed on a visit to the Netherlands in October 1968Image: Kroon, Ron / Anefo · CC BY-SA 3.0 nl
politics · Africa

Niger becomes independent from France

Niger, a vast, mostly desert country on the southern edge of the Sahara, was conquered by France in the decades around 1900 and ruled as part of French West Africa. After the Second World War its people gained a limited say in their own affairs, and two rival parties emerged: Hamani Diori’s Nigerien Progressive Party, which favoured a gradual path and close ties with France, and Djibo Bakary’s Sawaba, which wanted a clean break. In the referendum of 1958 Niger voted to stay within a French Community, and Diori’s side came out on top. Across Africa, though, the tide was running towards full independence, and in 1960 France let its West African colonies go one after another. Niger became independent on 3 August 1960, with Diori as its first president. He ruled for 14 years as head of a one-party state, but he could not relieve a terrible Sahel drought and famine, and in April 1974 he was overthrown by the army under Seyni Kountché. Niger still marks 3 August as its independence day.

Source: Britannica: Hamani Diori ↗
1981
President Ronald Reagan, with Attorney General William French Smith, speaks about the air traffic controllers' strike in the White House Rose Garden on 3 August 1981President Ronald Reagan, with Attorney General William French Smith, speaks about the air traffic controllers’ strike in the White House Rose Garden on 3 August 1981Image: White House Photo Office · Public domain
world · Americas

US air traffic controllers go on strike

On 3 August 1981 about 13,000 members of the Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization walked out, demanding higher pay, a shorter working week and better retirement terms, even though strikes by federal employees were illegal. That morning President Ronald Reagan warned that any controller who did not return within 48 hours would be dismissed. More than 11,000 stayed out and lost their jobs, the union was decertified, and the defeat weakened American trade unions for years.

Source: Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: Remarks on the air traffic controllers strike, 3 August 1981 ↗
VI
2000 TO TODAY

Modern Day

The events of recent decades that have already become part of the historical record.

2004
MESSENGER lifts off from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket in the early hours of 3 August 2004MESSENGER lifts off from Cape Canaveral on a Delta II rocket in the early hours of 3 August 2004Image: NASA/KSC · Public domain
science · Global

NASA launches MESSENGER, the first spacecraft to orbit Mercury

Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, had been visited only once, by Mariner 10 in the 1970s. On 3 August 2004 a Delta II rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, carrying NASA’s MESSENGER probe, built at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory. After flybys of Earth, Venus and Mercury itself, it entered orbit around Mercury in March 2011, the first spacecraft to do so, and mapped the whole planet before it was steered into the surface in April 2015.

Source: NASA: 15 years ago, MESSENGER launched to orbit Mercury ↗
RESEARCH

Sources & Further Reading

Selected authoritative references supporting the events on this page.

WHY THESE MOMENTS?

Significance before volume

This page is not the longest possible list of events. It is a chronological journey through 3 August, where each entry is chosen for historical significance, human interest and reliability.

Facts are checked against authoritative museums, archives, universities and reference works. Where sources disagree, the page says so.

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