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On August 3, 1914, Germany declared war on France, completing in two days the escalation that turned the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand into the start of World War I. German troops invaded Belgium to outflank French defences, which in turn drew the United Kingdom into the conflict.

On August 3, 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from the port of Palos de la Frontera with three ships — the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa María — heading into the unknown. Seventy days later he made landfall in the Bahamas, believing he had reached Asia. That voyage began the permanent connection between Europe and the Americas, changing world history forever.

On August 3, 1960, Niger proclaimed its independence from France, joining the wave of decolonisation that freed more than fifteen African countries that year alone. The process, known as the Year of Africa, radically transformed the map of the continent and laid the foundations of contemporary post-colonial Africa.