48 BC Caesar’s civil war: Battle of Pharsalus – Julius Caesar decisively defeats Pompey at Pharsalus and Pompey flees to Egypt.
1898 Rudolf Diesel of Germany obtains patent #608,845 for his internal combustion engine, later known as the diesel engine
1942 Mahatma Gandhi and 50 others arrested in Bombay after passing of a “quit India” motion and campaign by the All-India Congress
1945 US drops 2nd atomic bomb “Fat Man” on Japan destroys part of Nagasaki
Nagasaki was the second Japanese city to be bombed by the US in the dying days of WWII. Unlike “Little Boy” dropped on Hiroshima on the 6th August 1945, Nagasaki’s bomb, christened “Fat Man”, was plutonium based and dropped three days later on the 9th August.
Although this second bomb was more powerful than that dropped on Hiroshima, the hilly terrain of Nagasaki protected it to some extent and there was no firestorm. The effects were still catastrophic, with the exact death toll unknown but estimated at about 75,000. – On This Day
1965 Singapore separates from the Federation of Malaysia and gains its independence
1974 Richard Nixon resigns as President of the United States and Vice President Gerald Ford swears the oath of office to take his place as the 38th US President
