Off the coast of Gravelines, France, Spain’s so-called “Invincible Armada” is defeated by an English naval force under the command of Lord Charles Howard and Sir Francis Drake. After eight hours of furious fighting, a change in wind direction prompted the Spanish to break off from the battle and retreat toward the North Sea. The remnants of the Spanish Armada, its hopes of invasion crushed, began a long and difficult journey back to Spain.

In the aftermath of his defeat at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Confederate General Robert E. Lee sends a letter of resignation as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia to Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

On August 8, 1918, the Allies launch a series of offensive operations against German positions on the Western Front during World War I with a punishing attack at Amiens, on the Somme River in northwestern France.

During World War II, six German saboteurs who secretly entered the United States on a mission to attack its civil infrastructure are executed by the United States for spying. Two other saboteurs who disclosed the plot to the FBI and aided U.S. authorities in their manhunt for their collaborators were imprisoned.

On August 8, 1945, the Soviet Union officially declares war on Japan, pouring more than 1 million Soviet soldiers the following day into Japanese-occupied Manchuria, northeastern China, to take on the 700,000-strong Japanese army.

On August 8, 1986, actor, writer and director Spike Lee’s first feature-length movie, She’s Gotta Have It, opens in theaters around the United States. Made on a shoestring budget, She’s Gotta Have It was a comedy about a young African American woman in Brooklyn, New York, and her three suitors. The movie launched Lee’s career and established his reputation as an outspoken filmmaker who often tackled controversial subjects such as sex and race relations. Lee also co-starred in the film, playing an annoying bike messenger named Mars Blackmon.

On August 8, 1988, hip hop group N.W.A—”Niggaz With Attitude” launch their debut album, Straight Outta Compton. The recording, which would go triple platinum, revolutionized the hip hop genre, bringing a harder-edged, more profane "gangsta" rap to a wide audience.

On August 8, 2009, Sonia Sotomayor is sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. Born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents, Sotomayor is the first Hispanic justice to serve on the nation's highest court.