On This Day in History August 7, 2023

Historical Events 1461  Ming Dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor 1714  The Battle of Gangut: the first important victory of the Russian Navy during the Great Northern War against Sweden 1933  The Iraqi Government slaughters over 3,000 Assyrians in the village of Sumail. The day becomes known as Assyrian Martyrs Day. 1955  Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering, the precursor to Sony, begins selling its first transistor radios in Japan 1990  US deploys troops to Saudi Arabia beginning Operation Desert Shield Famous Birthdays Constantius II 317 AD - 361 AD Louis Leakey 1903 - 1972 Mata Hari 1876 - 1917 Ralph Bunche 1904 - 1971 More Famous Birthdays Famous Deaths Henry IV 1050 - 1106 Rabindranath Tagore 1861 - 1941 More Famous Deaths August 7: Why Mata Hari Was Not the Spy You Thought She Was The controversial life and death of Mata Hari, the glamorous WWI double agent, executed in 1917, has recently been reassessed in the light of new evidence. Read the Article