What Happened Today in History on August 7

William Wallace, Scottish leader of the resistance against English rule, is captured by English forces near Glasgow. He was betrayed by John Menteith, a Scottish knight loyal to Edward I, and handed over to the English. Wallace was taken to London, where he was condemned as a traitor and executed on August 23, 1305. Menteith received large land grants in Knapdale and Kintyre for his service.

King Francis I of France issues the Ordinance of Villers-Cotterêts, making French the official language of legal documents.

The Badge of Military Merit is announced by General George Washington to the Continental Army to honor soldiers wounded in battle. Designed by Washington in the form of a purple heart, It was intended as a military order for soldiers who exhibited, "not only instances of unusual gallantry in battle, but also extraordinary fidelity and essential service in any way". This is thought to be the first time in modern history that military honor awards had been presented to common soldiers. Expand +

American forces land on the Solomon Islands of Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Florida. on the morning of August 7,1942. After some fierce fighting, the US Marines cleared Tulagi and Florida by August 9. The main forces on Guadalcanal met little resistance on their way inland to secure the airfield at Lunga Point, Almost immediately, however, Japanese naval aircraft attacked transport and escort ships, and Japanese reinforcements arrived in the area. More

Norwegian scientist Thor Heyerdahl and five companions sail the Kon-Tiki, raft from Peru to the islands east of Tahiti. Heyerdahl was interested in demonstrating the possibility that ancient people from the Americas could have colonized Polynesia; to do so, he constructed the raft from locally available balsa logs at Callao, Peru, and in three and a half months traversed some 4,300 miles (6,900 km) of ocean. The Kon-Tiki has been preserved in a museum in Oslo, Norway. More

Ivory Coast, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, Independence Day. It  commemorates the Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 11 July. The Ivory Coast is located on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city is Yamoussoukro while its largest city and economic center is the port city of Abidjan. It borders Guinea to the northwest, Liberia to the west, Mali to the northwest, Burkina Faso to the northeast, Ghana to the east, and the Atlantic Ocean's Gulf of Guinea to the south. As of 2024, It has a population of 31.5 million inhabitants. More

The U.S. Congress approves the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, granting President Lyndon B. Johnson authority "to take all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression."  Expand +

French high-wire artist Philippe Petit walks between the Twin Towers at 1,350 feet above ground with no net. More

The U.S. Embassies in Nairobi, Kenya and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania are bombed with truck bombs. The terrorist attacks killed 224 people, among them, 12 Americans, and wounded more than 4,500. The U.S. accuses Saudi exile Osama bin Laden, of masterminding the bombings. On August 20, U.S. President Bill Clinton ordered cruise missiles launched against bin Laden’s terrorist training camps in Afghanistan and to a pharmaceutical plant in Sudan, believed to be manufacturing and distributing chemical weapons. More