Tuesday, August 8 --1786 The first ascent of Mont Blanc was completed by Dr. Michel-Gabriel Paccard and his porter, Jacques Balmat.
1883 Emiliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary leader, born.
A believer in distribution of the land, he adopted the phrase "Land and Liberty" and helped overthrow the dictator Francisco Madero in 1913.
1900 The first Davis Cup tennis competition, named after Dwight Filley Davis, began at the Longwood Cricket Club in Brookline, Massachusetts, and was won by the United States two days later.
1918 In World War I the battle of Amiens began. Allied forces advanced against 20 German divisions and took 16,000 prisoners in two hours.
1919 Dino de Laurentiis, Italian film producer, born. Famed for his Bitter Rice and La Strada, which won an Oscar for best foreign film.
1919 Frank Winfield Woolworth, U.S. businessman, died.
Founder of the five- and ten-cent stores in 1879. By his death, the F.W. Woolworth Company had over 1,000 outlets.
1919 A peace conference between Afghanistan and India resulted in the signing of the treaty of Rawalpindi.
1942 In World War II, six Germans became the first saboteurs to be executed in the United States. They were electrocuted in a District of Columbia jail, having landed on Long Island in June.
1967 In Bangkok, a declaration signed by foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand led to formation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
1974 Richard Nixon announced on television that he was resigning for his part in the Watergate scandal, effective at midday on August 9.
1983 President Efrain Rios Montt of Guatemala was overthrown in a military coup by Defense Minister General Oscar Humberto Mejia Victores.
1988 South African Foreign Minister Pik Botha announced that agreement had been reached on a cease-fire in the Angolan conflict.
1988 UN Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar announced that a cease-fire in the eight-year war between Iran and Iraq would begin at 0300 GMT on August 20.
1990 Iraq announced that it had annexed Kuwait as its 19th province and U.S. President George Bush sent U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia as part of a multinational force to defend the kingdom.
1994 The leaders of Jordan and Israel opened their countries' first border crossing, cementing an end to 46 years of hostilities.
1997 Iraq cleared the last obstacle for a resumption of oil sales after a UN Security Council panel approved a formula for setting crude prices under an "oil-for-food" plan.
1998 In Afghanistan, the Taleban movement captured the northern opposition capital of Mazar-i-Sharif.
1999 Guyanese president Janet Jagan resigned because of ill health and was replaced by Bharrat Jagdeo.