Today in history 8
Here are some historical events that occurred on August 8th:
- 1918 - The Imperial German Navy launches a surprise attack on the British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands, Scotland, during World War I.
- 1945 - The United States drops an atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, killing an estimated 39,000-80,000 people immediately. The bombing leads to Japan's surrender in World War II.
- 1963 - The United States and the Soviet Union agree to establish a direct telephone line between Washington, D.C. and Moscow, known as the "hot line," to reduce the risk of nuclear war.
- 1974 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) treaty, which limits the number of nuclear missiles each country can possess.
- 1985 - The United States and the Soviet Union agree to a treaty that bans the production and stockpiling of chemical weapons.
- 1991 - The United States and the Soviet Union sign the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which reduces the number of nuclear weapons each country can possess.
- 2008 - The United States and the European Union sign a treaty aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and combating climate change.
These are just a few of the many historical events that have occurred on August 8th.