THURSDAY, Sept. 3, 2026

301-San Marino, one of the smallest nations in the world and the world's oldest republic still in existence, is founded by Saint Marinus

1650-Oliver Cromwell's English New Model Army defeats a Scottish force in a surprise attack at the Battle of Dunbar

1783-The Treaty of Paris is signed in Paris, ending the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States of America

1791-The new French Constitution, declaring France a constitutional monarchy, is passed by the National Assembly during the French Revolution

1900-With a proclamation by General Lord Roberts, Britain annexes the Boer Republic of South Africa

1928-Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming discovers a mold later identified as penicillin while sorting through petri dishes containing colonies of the bacteria Staphylococcus, at St. Mary's Hospital in London

1939-World War II: Britain declares war on Germany after the invasion of Poland; France follows six hours later, quickly joined by Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and Canada

1944-Holocaust diarist Anne Frank (15) is among the prisoners on the 68th and final transport of Dutch Jews sent from Westerbrooksent to Auschwitz concentration camp

1988-An estimated 50,000 Kurdish civilians and soldiers are killed by Iraq by this date, many using chemical weapons, in the aftermath of the Iran-Iraq War