📜 This Day in History

August 13

• 582Maurice was crowned as Byzantine emperor, succeeding Tiberius II Constantine.
• 1704War of the Spanish Succession: The Duke of Marlborough led Allied forces to a crucial victory at the Battle of Blenheim.
• 1868A major earthquake near Arica, Peru (now in Chile), caused an estimated 25,000 casualties; the subsequent tsunami caused considerable damage as far away as Hawaii and New Zealand.
• 1906Members of the U.S. Army's all-black 25th Infantry Regiment were accused of killing a white bartender and wounding a white police officer in Brownsville, Texas, despite exculpatory evidence.
• 1999The Act on National Flag and Anthem was adopted, formally establishing the Hinomaru and "Kimigayo" as the Japanese national flag and anthem, respectively.
• 2010After being boarded by Canadian authorities, MV Sun Sea docked in British Columbia and the 492 Sri Lankan Tamil refugee claimants on board were placed in detention.

Born on this day

• 1871Karl Liebknecht, German politician, co-founded Communist Party of Germany (died 1919)
• 1899Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (died 1980)
• 1918Frederick Sanger, English biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2013)
• 1926Fidel Castro, Cuban lawyer and politician, ex-President of Cuba (died 2016)