- 1900 - The first Davis Cup tennis competition began at the Longwood Cricket Club in Brooklyn, Massachusetts, with the United States winning after two days.
- 1919 - Frank Winfield Woolworth, the American businessman who founded five stores in 1879, passed away. At the time of his death, the "FW Woolworth" company had over 1,000 outlets.
- 1942 - During World War II, six German saboteurs were executed in the United States by electrocution in a District of Columbia prison.
- 1963 - The Great Train Robbery occurred when a gang hijacked the Royal Mail train from Glasgow to London, stealing £2.6 million, becoming known in Britain as "The Great Train Robbery."
- 1988 - Former UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar announced that the ceasefire in the eight-year Iraq-Iran war would take effect on August 20.
- 1994 - Jordanian and Israeli leaders opened the first border crossing between the two countries after 46 years of hostilities.
- 2000 - Former Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to nine years in prison.
- 2009 - Tens of thousands of participants attempted to set a world record for the largest number of people practicing Taiji at multiple locations.
- 2016 - Dozens were killed in an attack on a hospital in Quetta, Pakistan.
