Today:
1191 – Richard the Lionheart’s Crusader army defeated the forces of Saladin at the Battle of Arsuf during the Third Crusade. The victory strengthened the Crusaders’ position along the Mediterranean coast.
1812 – The Battle of Borodino was fought during Napoleon’s invasion of Russia. Roughly 250,000 troops took part, and the enormous casualties made it one of the bloodiest single-day battles of the Napoleonic Wars.
1822 – Brazil declared its independence from Portugal. Prince Pedro proclaimed the country’s independence near São Paulo and later became Emperor Pedro I of Brazil.
1888 – Edith Eleanor McLean became the first baby placed in an incubator at a U.S. hospital, at State Emigrant Hospital on Ward’s Island in New York.
1921 – The first Miss America pageant was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sixteen-year-old Margaret Gorman of Washington, D.C., won the competition.
1927 – American inventor Philo Farnsworth successfully demonstrated the first fully electronic television system by transmitting an image—a simple straight line—at his laboratory in San Francisco.
1940 – Nazi Germany began the Blitz, a sustained bombing campaign against Britain. London was bombed for 57 consecutive nights, while other British cities were also heavily attacked.
1963 – The Pro Football Hall of Fame opened in Canton, Ohio. Its first induction class included 17 football legends, among them Jim Thorpe, George Halas and Sammy Baugh.
1979 – ESPN began broadcasting from Bristol, Connecticut. Its first program was SportsCenter, launching what would become a major transformation in how Americans watched and followed sports.
1996 – Rapper Tupac Shakur was shot multiple times while riding in a car in Las Vegas after attending a Mike Tyson fight. He died from his injuries six days later at age 25.