THE DAY IN HISTORY · AUGUST 8

August 8 in history

What happened on August 8: 5 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1846, 1918, 1919, 1942 and 1944, each linked to the map that shows it.

1846

Congressman David Wilmot moves to bar slavery from any land taken from Mexico. The House votes by section instead of party, and the road to the Civil War begins.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MAP →

1918 — Battle of Amiens

8 Aug 1918 — The attack at Amiens brings together 530 tanks, 800 aircraft, artillery dominance and total surprise. Within hours the German line breaks and 15,000 men surrender. Ludendorff calls it “the black day of the German Army”: what troubles him is not the ground lost, but the surrender of the men.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WWI MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1919 — Treaty of Rawalpindi

8 Aug 1919 — A month of border war ended with Britain signing away its control over Afghanistan’s foreign policy. On the map, the parchment northwest corner becomes sovereign: the first piece of the imperial glacis to break off.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE & PARTITION MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1942 — Quit India Movement

8 Aug 1942 — Congress voted to demand immediate British withdrawal. Gandhi gave the crowd a mantra: “Do or die.” By dawn the entire leadership had been jailed without trial, but the country rose even without its leaders.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE & PARTITION MAP → · THE FULL STORY →

1944 — Battle of Hengyang

23 Jun–8 Aug 1944 — Hengyang lay in the path of Ichigo. For 47 days, 17,000 men of the Tenth Army defended the rail city against 100,000 attackers, in the longest defense of the war. The city fell and the corridor was cut through, but the political shock in Chungking and Washington lasted beyond the campaign.

READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE CHINA IN REVOLUTION MAP → · THE FULL STORY →