/year

August 12 in history

227 sourced entries recorded on August 12, from 624 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 624The Army of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, led by Illig Qaghan, clashes with the army of Tang dynasty China, led by Taizong, Prince of Qin and son of Emperor Gaozu, with fighting taking place west of Binzhou in what is now the Shandong province.source
  • 756Xuan Zong abdicates the throne after a 44-year reign. He is succeeded by his son Su Zong, as emperor of the Tang Dynasty. He hires 22,000 Muslim mercenaries to reinforce his decimated army at Lingzhou.source
  • 1099Battle of Ascalon: The Crusader army (some 10,000 men) decisively defeats the Fatimids who are sent to relieve Jerusalem. Vizier Al-Afdal is forced to retreat to Egypt.source
  • 1157The 1157 Hama earthquake takes place after a year of foreshocks. Its name is taken from the city of Hama, in west-central Syria (then under Seljuk rule), where the most casualties are sustained.source
  • 1164Battle of Harim: Zangid forces under Nur al-Din defeat and capture Bohemond III of Antioch, Raymond of Tripoli, and Hugh of Lusignan.source
  • 1248King Louis IX of France ("the Saint") leaves Paris together with his wife, Queen Margaret of Provence, and her sister Beatrice of Provence. Two of Louis' brothers, Charles of Anjou and Robert of Artois, are also present. He is followed by his cousins, Hugh IV of Burgundy and Peter Mauclerc, both are veterans of the Barons' Crusade.source
  • 1308Pope Clement V publishes the papal bull Faciens Misericordiam ("The granting of forgiveness"), absolving the Knights Templar from charges of heresy and declaring that the Roman Catholic Church, rather than any individual nation, will be in charge of future charges against the Knights. On the same day, he issues the bull Regnans in coelis, summoning what will become the Council of Vienne in 1311.source
  • 1319The Duchy of Bavaria, split between two brothers since 1294, is reunited upon the death of Rudolf the Stammerer, Duke of Upper Bavaria. Ludwig the Barbarian, King of the Romans and Duke of Lower Bavaria. In 1328, Ludwig will later be elected the Holy Roman Emperor as Louis IV.source
  • 1323Treaty of Nöteborg: Sweden signs a peace treaty with the Novgorod Republic, regulating the border (known as Finland today) for the first time. The treaty is negotiated with the help of the Hanseatic League in order to conclude the conflict over the control of the Gulf of Finland during the Swedish-Novgorodian Wars.source
  • 1376With the help of the Genoese, Byzantine co-emperor Andronicus IV Palaeologus invades Constantinople and dethrones his father, John V Palaeologus, as co-emperor. John V Palaeologus is taken prisoner.source
  • 1399At the Battle of the Vorskla River, Golden Horde forces, led by Mongol Khan Temür Qutlugh and Emir Edigu, annihilate a crusading army led by former Golden Horde Khan Tokhtamysh, and Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania..source
  • 1417King Henry V of England begins using the English language in correspondence back to England from France, where he is leading a campaign, marking the beginning of this king's continuous usage of English in prose, and the beginning of the restoration of English as an official language for the first time since the Norman Conquest, some 350 years earlier.source
  • 1423The Treaty of Sveti Srdj ends the Second Scutari War, waged between the Serbian Despotate and the Venetian Republic, over Scutari, and other former possessions of Zeta, captured by the Venetians.source
  • 1450Cherbourg, the last English territory in Normandy, surrenders to the French.source
  • 1450Cherbourg-en-Cotentin, the last remaining English stronghold in Normandy, surrenders to the French ending the Siege of Cherbourgsource
  • 1491King Henry VII of England summons the members of the English House of Lords and House of Commons to assemble on October 17 at Westminster.source
  • 1498Columbus concludes his exploration of Venezuela.source
  • 1508The Spanish settlement of Puerto Rico begins when Juan Ponce de León lands on the island. Upon his arrival, Ponce is welcomed by Agüeybaná I, the island's leader a Cacique of the Taíno people. The Spanish explorer soon settles and founds the city of Caparra, near what is now the town of Guaynabo.source
  • 1515Isabella of Austria is crowned as Queen consort of Denmark and Norway after her marriage to King Christian II is ratified.source
  • 1537The coronation of Christian III as King of Denmark and King of Norway takes place at Copenhagen.source
  • 1554Battle of Renty: French forces led by François, Duke of Guise turn back an invasion of Picardy, by Charles V.source
  • 1554Battle of Renty: French forces led by Francis, Duke of Guise turn back an invasion of Picardy by Charles V.source
  • 1563Duke John and his spouse are arrested for treason after the Siege of Turku, and imprisoned at Gripsholm Castle.source
  • 1588The fleeing Spanish Armada sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English call off their pursuit, entirely avoiding the storm which destroys most of the Spanish fleet as it attempts to round Scotland and the west coast of Ireland.source
  • 1588the fleeing Spanish Armada sails past the Firth of Forth, and the English call off their pursuit. Much of the Spanish fleet is destroyed by storms as it sails for home around Scotland and Ireland. On 27 September, El Gran Grifón is wrecked on Fair Isle; and on 5 November the San Juan de Silicia is said to have been destroyed by explosion having sought shelter off Tobermory, Mull.source
  • 1636following a public disputation in Belfast, Henry Leslie, Church of Ireland Bishop of Down and Connor, sentences Edward Brice, Henry Calvert, James Hamilton, John Ridge and one other non-subscribing Presbyterian minister to silence.source
  • 1648King Frederick III was hailed as King of Norway in Christiania.source
  • 1652the Parliament of England passes the Act for the Settlement of Ireland.source
  • 1654The Battle of Shklow, one of the first clashes of the Russo-Polish War, takes place at the modern-day Belarusan town of Škłoŭ during a total eclipse of the Sun visible over Eastern Europe. The Russian troops retreat.source
  • 1654Total solar eclipse across large parts of Jutland, Funen and Zealand.source
  • 167612 August – 16 September – Siege of Bohus Fortress.source
  • 1681Ahom King Gadadhar Singha (or Gadapani), who takes the Tai name Supaatphaa, ascends the throne.source
  • 1682Vesuvius begins a period of volcanic activity lasting for 10 days.source
  • 1687Great Turkish War: Battle of Mohács – The Habsburg imperial army, and allies under Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, defeat the Ottoman Turks, and enable Austria to conquer most of Ottoman-occupied Hungary.source
  • 1692The city of Ponce is founded in Puerto Rico.source
  • 1692A total solar eclipse is visible in the South Atlantic Ocean.source
  • 1730General Nader Khan of Persia captures Tabriz from the Ottoman Empire, bringing an end to the Western Persia Campaign, the first major action in the Ottoman–Persian War (1730–1735). Tabriz becomes a permanent part of Iran. Nader leaves the city four days later to begin the Herat Campaign of 1731.source
  • 1736A fire in Saint Petersburg, capital of the Russian Empire, destroys 2,000 buildings, the city's post office, and several palaces.source
  • 1744Battle of Velletri in the Kingdom of Naples: Spanish-Neapolitan forces defeat those of the Archduchy of Austria.source
  • 1759Battle of Kunersdorf: Frederick the Great is rebuffed in bloody assaults, by the combined Austro–Russian army of Pyotr Saltykov and Ernst von Laudon. This is one of Frederick's greatest defeats.source
  • 1765Robert Clive secures the rights for the East India Company to collect taxes in Bengal from Mughal Emperor Shah Alam II.source
  • 1765The Royal Shepherd, by Richard Rolt, is performed in Dublin to celebrate the birthday of the Prince of Wales.source
  • 1772The volcano Mount Papandayan in West Java erupts and partially collapses, the debris avalanche killing several thousand.source
  • 1773Second voyage of James Cook in the Tuamotus: Captain Cook discovers Marutea Nord, which he names Furneaux Island.source
  • 1788The Anjala conspiracy is signed.source
  • 1800start of construction of the Military Road across the Wicklow Mountains.source
  • 1805Lewis and Clark Expedition: U.S. Army Captain Meriwether Lewis reaches the Continental Divide of the Americas, crossing to the west at Lemhi Pass. Karen Jones and John Wills, The American West: Competing Visions (Edinburgh University Press, 2009) p17source
  • 1806Governor King boards HMS Buffalo for his return to England, and Bligh's commission is formally read.source
  • 1807Start of the Gunboat War between Denmark-Norway and the United Kingdom.source
  • 1812Peninsular War: The combined English and Portuguese army under the command of Wellington enters Madrid, following the Battle of Salamanca.source
  • 1812The Middleton Railway, serving coal pits at Leeds, becomes the first to use steam locomotives successfully in regular service.source
  • 1814Brigadier Mariano Osorio and his expedition arrive to Talcahuano.source
  • 1814In England, the last hanging under the Black Act is carried out, of William Potter for cutting down an orchard (although the judge petitions for reprieve).source
  • 1814The last hanging under the Black Act in England is of William Potter for cutting down an orchard; the judge petitions for reprieve.source
  • 1816August 12–24 – The Treaty of St. Louis, between the United States and the Council of Three Fires tribes, is signed in St. Louis.source
  • 1819Marsden arrives in New Zealand on the General Gates on his second visit accompanied by Butler and James Kemp and their families. Marsden accepts the offer of land at Kerikeri from Hongi Hika to start the second Church Missionary Society mission. Butler will be in charge. He is the first resident ordained clergyman in New Zealand.source
  • 1822St David's College (the modern-day University of Wales, Lampeter) is founded in Wales by Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St David's.source
  • 1822St David's College (the modern-day University of Wales, Lampeter) is founded by Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St David's.source
  • 1822St David's College (now the University of Wales, Lampeter) is founded by Thomas Burgess, Bishop of St David's.source
  • 1822The Foreign Secretary Lord Castlereagh cuts his own throat at his house in Kent.source
  • 1822August 5–13 – A sequence of earthquakes occurs in the northern part of the Ottoman Empire, causing severe damage from Gaziantep to Antakya in modern Turkey and from Aleppo to Khan Sheikhun in modern Syria. At least 20,000 people are killed.source
  • 1829Mrs. Helen Dance, wife of the captain of the ship Sulphur, cuts down a tree to mark the founding day of the town of Perth, Western Australia.source
  • 1829Mrs Helen Dance, wife of the captain of HMS Sulphur, cuts down a tree to mark the foundation of the town of Perth, Western Australia.source
  • 1833The settlement of Chicago is established by 350 settlers at the estuary of the Chicago River in the U.S. state of Illinois.source
  • 1833The town of Chicago is established at the estuary of the Chicago River by 350 settlers.source
  • 1834In the Empire of Brazil, the Additional Act provides for establishment of the Provincial Legislative Assembly, extinction of the State Council, replacement of the Regency Trina, and introduction of a direct and secret ballot.source
  • 1834August 11–12 – Ursuline Convent riots: A convent of Ursuline nuns is burned near Boston.source
  • 1847Mexican–American War: U.S. troops of General Winfield Scott begin to advance along the aqueduct around Lakes Chalco and Xochimilco in Mexico.source
  • 1851Isaac Singer is granted a United States patent for his improved sewing machine.source
  • 1853New Zealand acquires self-government.source
  • 1853sailing ship Madagascar left Melbourne for London with two tonnes of gold and disappeared.source
  • 1853Licensing (Scotland) Act (known after its sponsor as the 'Forbes Mackenzie Act') regulates the supply of intoxicating beverages.source
  • 1873A peace treaty is signed between Imperial Russia and the Khanate of Khiva, making the khanate a Russian protectorate.source
  • 1877American astronomer Asaph Hall discovers Deimos, the outer moon of Mars.source
  • 1877Six houses are washed away when Lønstrup is hit by a thunderstorm and torrential rain.source
  • 1889The Canada (Ontario Boundary) Act, 1889 of the British Parliament expands Ontario's boundaries west to the Lake of the Woods and north to the Albany River.source
  • 189112 August Godfrey Shaw sets the first (unofficial) world record by a New Zealander. He runs 57.2 seconds for 440 yards hurdles at the Isle of Man.source
  • 1893First Paris–Brussels road cycle racesource
  • 1895Minnie Dean, the only woman to be executed in New Zealand, hanged for murdersource
  • 1898Spanish–American War: Hostilities end between American and Spanish forces in Cuba.source
  • 1898Inebriates Act permits inebriates to be admitted to reformatories for up to 3 years if convicted of drunkenness 4 times in one year. It is largely ineffective as few reformatories are established. Of those who are committed, more than 80% are women.source
  • 1899South African Republic General Jan Smuts makes a final initiative to avert the outbreak of what will become the Second Boer War, meeting in Pretoria with the British chargé d'affaires, Conyngham Greene.source
  • 1900Train wreck at Castel Giubileo along the Florence-Rome railway with twenty victims and a hundred injured. A failure to report a broken-down train, caused a rear-end collision. The crashed train was transporting the foreign delegations who had just attended the funeral of King Umberto I and the subsequent coronation of Victor Emmanuel III.source
  • 19012/3 of the town of Farsund burns down.source
  • 1905The first running takes place of the Shelsley Walsh Speed Hill Climb in England, the world's oldest motorsport event to be staged continuously on its original course.source
  • 1912Sultan Abd al-Hafid of Morocco abdicates.source
  • 192312 August–8 November – Eallabus on Islay records 89 successive rain-days, a British record.source
  • 1924August 9–17 – the 2nd World Scout Jamboree is held in Ermelunden, Denmark.source
  • 1930Turkish troops move into Persia to fight Kurdish insurgents.source
  • 1930Liberal Republican Party (SCF) was foundedsource
  • 1933British politician Winston Churchill makes his first speech publicly warning of the dangers of German rearmament.source
  • 1940Thorvald Astrup, architect (born 1876)source
  • 1941All Japanese Canadians are ordered to carry identity cards with their thumbprint and photo.source
  • 1942August 3–15 – WWII: Operation Pedestal – A British convoy of 14 merchant ships with a massive escort of two battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 7 cruisers, 32 destroyers and smaller ships commanded by Admiral Edward Neville Syfret, sets sail to Malta under relentless attacks by day and night from enemy submarines, aircraft and Axis surface forces. The 55,000 tons of food and fuel (particularly from oil tanker SS Ohio) delivered by this convoy saves Malta from surrender and allows Malta-based aircraft and submarines to resume their attacks against Rommel's supply lines, although over 500 British sea- and airmen are killed and many ships (including carrier HMS Eagle (1918)) are lost.source
  • 1944Operation Pluto: The world's first undersea oil pipeline is laid between England and France.source
  • 1944Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre: The Waffen-SS and Black Brigades paramilitaries murder about 560 civilians and refugees (including more than 100 children) in the Italian village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema, burn their bodies, and leave their houses semi-derelict.source
  • 1944In the Kara Sea, German submarine U-365 torpedoes the passenger-cargo ship Marina Raskova; 618 people die.source
  • 1948August 10–23 – The Herrenchiemsee convention prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.source
  • 1948Babrra massacre: About 600 unarmed members of the Khudai Khidmatgar movement are shot dead on the orders of the Chief Minister of the North-West Frontier Province, Abdul Qayyum Khan Kashmiri, on Babrra ground in the Hashtnagar region of Charsadda District, North-West Frontier Province (modern-day Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), Pakistan.source
  • 1950In his encyclical Humani generis, Pope Pius XII requires Catholic theologians to defer to the teachings of the Church as a whole but declares evolution to be a serious hypothesis that does not contradict essential Catholic views.source
  • 1952The Firebird releasedsource
  • 1953Soviet atomic bomb project: "Joe 4", the first Soviet thermonuclear weapon, is detonated at Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakh SSR.source
  • 1953The 1953 Ionian earthquake of magnitude 7.2 totally devastates Cephalonia and most of the other Ionian Islands, in Greece's worst natural disaster in centuries.source
  • 1955The aircraft carrier HMAS Vengeance is returned to the British Royal Navy.source
  • 1956Around 5,000 members of the Romanian Greek-Catholic Church hold a mass outside Cluj-Napoca Piarists' Church to demonstrate that their church, proscribed by the government in 1948, has not ceased to exist as the regime claims.source
  • 1958Louis Hencks is appointed to the Council of State, replacing Albert Wagner, who resigned in July.source
  • 1972Oil tankers Oswego-Guardian and Texanita collide near Stilbaai, South Africa.source
  • 1975Pinchas Sapir (born 1906), Russian (Poland)-born Israeli politician.source
  • 1977The NASA Space Shuttle, named Enterprise, makes its first test free-flight from the back of a Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft.source
  • 1981The original Model 5150 IBM PC (with a 4.77 MHz Intel 8088 processor) is released in the United States at a base price of $1,565.source
  • 1982Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spreads throughout Latin America.source
  • 1982Mexico announces it is unable to pay its large foreign debt, triggering a debt crisis that quickly spread throughout Latin America.source
  • 1985Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crashes in Japan, killing 520 people, including Japanese singer Kyu Sakamoto; it is the worst single-aircraft disaster in aviation history. There were only 4 survivors.source
  • 1985Japan Air Lines Flight 123 crashes into Mount Takamagahara. All fifteen crew members and five hundred-five passengers died.source
  • 1990"Sue", the best preserved Tyrannosaurus rex specimen ever found, is discovered near Faith, South Dakota, United States, by Sue Hendrickson.source
  • 1992Canada, Mexico and the United States announce that a deal has been reached on the North American Free Trade Agreement; this will be formally signed on December 17.source
  • 1994Woodstock '94 begins in Saugerties, New York, United States, marking the 25-year anniversary of Woodstock in 1969.source
  • 2000The Russian submarine Kursk sinks in the Barents Sea during one of the largest Russian naval exercises since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, resulting in the deaths of all 118 men on board.source
  • 2003The discovery of the dinosaur species Rajasaurus narmadensis is announced.source
  • 2004The Rio–Antirrio Bridge opens in Greece.source
  • 2004August 7–13 – Typhoon Rananim causes widespread destruction as it strikes China.source
  • 2005The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is launched from Cape Canaveral, designed to explore Mars.source
  • 2007Denmark sends a scientific team to the Arctic to try to establish that the Lomonosov Ridge is an extension of Greenland so it can claim sovereignty over oil reserves.source
  • 2013August 10 – 17 – Kazakhstan competed at the 2013 World Championships in Athletics in Moscow, Russia. A team of 17 athletes represented the country in the event.source
  • 2015August 12 and 15 – Large explosions in Tianjin, China kill 173 and injure more than 800 people. The causes of the explosions were found to be an overheated container of dry nitrocellulose and around 800 tonnes of ammonium nitrate.source
  • 2016Scientists say Greenland sharks are now known to be the longest-living vertebrates on Earth, after researchers at the University of Copenhagen, using radiocarbon dating, determined the ages of 28 of the animals, and estimated that one female was about 400 years old. The former vertebrate record-holder was a Bowhead whale estimated to be 211 years old.source
  • 2018NASA launches the uncrewed Parker Solar Probe to study the Sun at close range and the solar wind.source
  • 2018August 10–20 – Heavy rainfall causes severe floods in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the worst flood to hit the state in a century.source
  • 20192019–20 Hong Kong protests: Hong Kong International Airport is closed due to protests.source
  • 2019The Trump administration announces it will delay its proposal for 10 percent tariffs slated to take effect from September 1 on certain consumer goods from China while exempting other products — less than two weeks after Trump announced the new proposed tariffs.source
  • 20192019–2020 Japan–South Korea trade dispute: South Korea announces the removal of Japan from its list of most trusted trading partners, effective on September 18.source
  • 2021Russia will provide $1.1 million to build a new military outpost near Tajik-Afghan border following deteriorating security condition in Afghanistan.source
  • 2021Vanuatu stops the sale of its citizenship and revokes the citizenship it gave last April to a Syrian national for US$130,000.source
  • 2021Zambian President Edgar Lungu deploys army members throughout the country as Zambia holds election.source
  • 2022August 9 – August 18: Guyana at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Gamessource
  • 2022Indian-born British-American novelist Salman Rushdie is stabbed multiple times as he is about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, United States.source
  • 2025August 7–17 – The 2025 World Games are held in Chengdu, China.source
  • 2025A water tanker overturns near Podgorica, killing a soldier responding to a wildfire.source

Births

  • 1291Ichijō Uchitsune, Japanese nobleman (kugyō) (died 1325)source
  • 1308Moriyoshi, Japanese nobleman and prince (died 1335)source
  • 1452Abraham Zacuto, Spanish Jewish astronomer, astrologer, mathematician, rabbi and historian (died 1515)source
  • 1503Christian III of Denmark and Norway (died 1559)source
  • 1506Franciscus Sonnius, Dutch counter-Reformation theologian (died 1576)source
  • 1566Isabella Clara Eugenia, Infanta of Spain (died 1633)source
  • 1575James Hamilton, 1st Earl of Abercornsource
  • 1591Louise de Marillac, French co-founder of the Daughters of Charity (died 1660)source
  • 1604Tokugawa Iemitsu, Japanese shōgun (died 1651)source
  • 1626Giovanni Legrenzi, Italian composer (died 1690)source
  • 1629Archduchess Isabella Clara of Austria, Austrian archduchess (died 1685)source
  • 1644Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Bohemian composer and violinist (died 1704)source
  • 1664Magnus Stenbock, Swedish noble (died 1717)source
  • 1737Antoine-Augustin Parmentier, French agronomist (died 1813)source
  • 1762King George IV of the United Kingdom (died 1830)source
  • 1762George, Prince of Wales, later King George IV (died 1830)source
  • 1774Robert Southey, English romantic poet (died 1843)source
  • 1831Helena Blavatsky, Russian-born author, theosophist (died 1891)source
  • 1843Colmar Freiherr von der Goltz, Prussian field marshal (died 1916)source
  • 1870Hubert Gough, British general (died 1963)source
  • 1881Cecil B. DeMille, American film director, producer (died 1959)source
  • 1910Yusof Ishak, 1st President of Singapore (died 1970)source
  • 1911Cantinflas, comic film actor, producer, and screenwriter (died 1993)source
  • 1924Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, leader of Pakistan (died 1988)source
  • 1930George Soros, Hungarian-born investorsource
  • 1953Carlos Mesa, President of Boliviasource
  • 1956Fahim Gul, squash playersource
  • 1988Tyson Fury, British boxersource
  • 1998Stefanos Tsitsipas, Greek tennis playersource

Deaths

  • 792Jænberht, archbishop of Canterburysource
  • 875Emperor Louis II dies in Brescia, after having named his cousin Carloman, son of King Louis the German, as his successor. Louis is buried in the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan.source
  • 875Louis II, king of Italy and Holy Roman Emperor (born 825)source
  • 960Li Gu, chancellor of Later Zhou (born 903)source
  • 961Li Jing, emperor of Southern Tang (born 916)source
  • 1012Walthard, archbishop of Magdeburgsource
  • 1012Death of Ōe no Masahira, husband of poet and former palace lady-in-waiting Akazome Emon, who writes a number of mourning poems to him.source
  • 1127Jordan of Ariano, Norman warrior and noblemansource
  • 1138Suero Vermúdez, Asturian noblemansource
  • 1156Blanca of Navarre, queen of Castilesource
  • 1222Duke Vladislaus III of Bohemiasource
  • 1274Duzong (or Zhao Qi), Chinese emperor (born 1240)source
  • 1274Olivier de Termes, French knight (born 1200)source
  • 1283Blanche of Navarre, Duchess of Brittany, Breton noblewoman (born 1226)source
  • 1295Charles Martel, titular king of Hungary (born 1271)source
  • 1315Guy de Beauchamp, English nobleman and magnatesource
  • 1319Rudolf I, German nobleman and knight (born 1274)source
  • 1335Prince Moriyoshi, Japanese shōgun (born 1308)source
  • 1348Gilla-na-naem Ua Cianain, abbot of Lis-gabhail.source
  • 1399Demetrius I Starshy, Prince of Trubczewsk (in battle) (born 1327)source
  • 1424Emperor Cheng Zu of China (born 1360)source
  • 1424China's Yongle era Emperor, Zhu Di, dies at the age of 64 while leading an expedition of almost one million soldiers in an attempt to capture the Mongol leader Arughtai. The Emperor suffers a fatal stroke at at Yumuchuan in what is now Inner Mongolia, while Arughtai has escaped.source
  • 1469Richard Woodville, 1st Earl Rivers (executed) (born 1405)source
  • 1484Pope Sixtus IV (born 1414)source
  • 1503Anna Jagiellon, Duchess of Pomerania, Polish princess (born 1476)source
  • 1551Paul Speratus, German Lutheran (born 1484)source
  • 1577Thomas Smith, English scholar and diplomat (born 1513)source
  • 1602Abu'l-Fazl ibn Mubarak, Mughal vizier and historian (born 1551)source
  • 1612Giovanni Gabrieli, Italian composer (born c. 1554)source
  • 1633Ulrik of Denmark, Danish prince-bishop (born 1611)source
  • 1633Ulrik of Denmark, prince (born 1611)source
  • 1648Peter Sainthill, English politician (born 1593)source
  • 1676King Philip (Metacomet), chief of the Wampanoags that had waged a war throughout southern New England that bore his name, is killed by an Indian named Alderman, a soldier led by Captain Benjamin Church.source
  • 1678Jacob Maschius, clergyman, poet and copperplate engraver (born c.1630).source
  • 1689Pope Innocent XI, pope of the Catholic Church (born 1611)source
  • 1748Jean Jeantot, Canadian Catholic brother and schoolmaster (born c. 1666)source
  • 1750Rachel Ruysch, Dutch painter (born 1664)source
  • 1811Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet, Prime Minister of Naples (born 1736)source
  • 1822Lord Castlereagh, the British Foreign Secretary, commits suicide at his house in Kent. He is judged to have been insane at the time.source
  • 1822Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, British foreign secretary (suicide) (born 1769)source
  • 1827William Blake, English poet and artist (born 1757)source
  • 1848George Stephenson, English locomotive pioneer (Locomotion No. 1 & Rocket) (born 1781)source
  • 1849Albert Gallatin, Swiss-American politician (born 1761)source
  • 1855Helen Hunt Jackson, American activist (born 1830)source
  • 1865William Jackson Hooker, English botanist (born 1785)source
  • 1883The last quagga dies at the Artis Magistra zoo in Amsterdam.source
  • 1891James Russell Lowell, American poet and essayist (born 1819)source
  • 1900Wilhelm Steinitz, Austrian-born chess player, first undisputed World Champion (born 1836)source
  • 1901Francesco Crispi, 11th Prime Minister of Italy (born 1819)source
  • 1915Marcel Kiepach, inventor (born 1894)source
  • 1928Leoš Janáček, Czech composer (born 1854)source
  • 1930Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien, English general (born 1858)source
  • 1950Korean War: Bloody Gulch massacre – 75 U.S. soldiers are executed after being captured in battle by North Korea.source
  • 1955Thomas Mann, German novelist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1875)source
  • 1961Tan Kah Kee, businessman, philanthropist and Chinese community leader (born 1874).source
  • 1964Ian Fleming, British writer (born 1908)source
  • 1988Jean-Michel Basquiat, 27, American artist (Hollywood Africans), heroin overdose.source
  • 1990In South Africa, fighting breaks out between the Xhosa people and the Zulu people; more than 500 people are killed by the end of August.source
  • 1992John Cage, 79, American composer, stroke.source
  • 2017The Unite the Right rally is held in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, by a variety of white nationalist and other far-right groups; Heather Heyer, a counter-protester, is killed after being hit by a car.source