/year

August 16 in history

234 sourced entries recorded on August 16, from 79 CE to 2025 CE. Every line is quoted from the revision it came from.

Events

  • 636August 15–20 – Battle of Yarmouk: In engagements along the Yarmouk River, Muslim forces (25,000 men) of the Rashidun Caliphate, led by Khalid ibn al-Walid, decisively defeat the armies of the Byzantine Empire, effectively completing the Muslim conquest of Syria. It will be regarded as one of the most decisive battles in military history, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests, after the death of Muhammad.source
  • 963Nikephoros II makes a triumphal entry in Constantinople and is hailed as 'the conqueror'. He is crowned emperor in Hagia Sophia.source
  • 1027Bagrat IV becomes king of Georgia on the death of his father, George I. Queen Dowager Mariam becomes regent for her 9-year-old son.source
  • 1311The Parliament of England presents the Ordinances of 1311 to King Edward II (document dated 5 October; published on 11 October); these substitute the 21 Lord Ordainers for the King as the effective government of the country.source
  • 1324In Italy, Pagano della Torre, Patriarch of Aquileia, is defeated in battle at Vaprio d'Agogna in Piedmont in his attempt to reclaim Milan from the Visconti family, and abandons further crusades.source
  • 1331Earl of Desmond captured by Justiciar at Limericksource
  • 1354War of the Straits: The Venetian-ruled town of Poreč is sacked by the Genoese under Paganino Doria, who carry off the relics of saints Eleutherius and Maurus of Parentium to Genoa, where they were deposited at the church of San Matteo.source
  • 1370(24th day of 7th month, Shōhei 25) The Japanese era Kentoku begins to reflect the reign of the southern Emperor Chōkeisource
  • 1379The Republic of Genoa, led by the Doge Nicolò Guarco and its allies from Hungary and Padua, captures Venice's port of Chioggia and seize the Venetian Army garrison there and soon threaten to take Venice and the Venetian Republic. An attempt by the Venetian Senate to apply for peace is rejected as Genoa demands a full surrender, and the Venetians resolve to fight, releasing Admiral Pisani from prison.source
  • 1384The Hongwu Emperor of Ming China hears a case of a couple who tore paper money notes, while fighting over them. Under the law, this is considered an act of destroying stamped government documents, which is to be punished by a caning with a bamboo rod of 100 strokes. However, the Emperor decides to pardon them, on the grounds that it was unintentional.source
  • 1391Brancaleone Doria takes control of Sassari and Osilo as he gains further power in Sardinia.source
  • 1426August 16 (11 Shawwal 829 AH) – Barakat ibn Hasan, son of the late Hasan ibn Ajlan, is confirmed by the Egyptian Sultan Barsbay as the new Emir of Mecca, conditioned on paying the remaining 25,000 dinars owed by Hasan.source
  • 1434King Eric of Pomerania is deposed from the Swedish throne at a meeting in Vadstena, though he still retains power in Denmark and Norway.source
  • 1505Almeida's fleet destroys the East African city of Mombassa.source
  • 1510All French subjects were forbidden from visiting the court of Rome, by edict from king Louis XII.source
  • 1513Battle of Dubica (part of the Hundred Years' Croatian–Ottoman War): Croatian troops under Petar Berislavić, Ban (Viceroy) of Croatia, defeat an Ottoman army under Sanjak-bey Junuz-aga.source
  • 1513Battle of the Spurs (or Battle of Guinegate, part of the War of the League of Cambrai): English and allied troops under Henry VIII defeat French cavalry under Marshal La Palice.source
  • 1513Henry VIII of England defeated the French at the Battle of the Spurs.source
  • 1527King Francis I meets with Cardinal Wolsey of England in Aimens to ratify the alliance between the two kingdoms. France and England soon declared war on the holy roman emperor Charles V.source
  • 1545The elaborate Tomb of Sher Shah Suri is completed in Sasaram, three months after Sher Shah's death, in what is now India's Bihar state.source
  • 1564A proclamation issued by the Irish administration declares that all persons assisting the rebel O'Connor and his supporters are to be treated as traitors and rebels.source
  • 1566The Beeldenstorm arrives at Ypres and the St Martin's Cathedral is plundered, with the library and artifiacts of Bishop Martin Rythovius burned.source
  • 1570The Treaty of Speyer is signed between John Sigismund Zápolya, Prince of Transylvania and Maximilian II, King of Hungary.source
  • 1598August 16 (Keichō 3, 15th day of the 7th month) – The Council of Five Elders, to serve in Japan as regents after the death of General Hideyoshi, is gathered at Fushimi on orders of Hideyoshi, and the members vow their allegiance to Hideyoshi's son, Hideyori.source
  • 1601High tides at Ostend flood trenches.source
  • 1606Battle of Cape Rachado: A Dutch fleet is defeated by the Portuguese.source
  • 1625Ernest Casimir of Nassau-Dietz is appointed stadtholder of Drenthe.source
  • 1635a Galway jury refuses to find the king's title to land, juries in counties Roscommon, Sligo and Mayo having found for the king during the previous month.source
  • 1637Adam Olearius, sent along with Philipp Crusius and Otto Bruggemann by the German Duke of Holstein-Gottorp to establish a trade deal with Persia, is welcomed by the Safavid ruler, the Shah Safi at the Persian capital, Isfahan.source
  • 1648The Imam of Oman, Nasir bin Murshid, dispatches an army to recapture Muscat from Portuguese occupiers, who eventually surrender the town on January 23, 1650.source
  • 1660an Indemnity and Oblivion Act is sent to Ireland by Sir Paul Davys, granting indemnities to those who had been active in the Interregnum.source
  • 1686King James VII of Scotland dismisses the Parliament of Scotland after the members refuse to remove restrictions on Roman Catholics and on Protestants outside of the Church of Scotland and the Church of England. The Parliament does not meet again for more than two and a half years.source
  • 1705August 16–18 – In an Atlantic tropical cyclone across Cuba and Florida, four ships are lost and there are many casualties.source
  • 1728Because of advancing Arctic ice, the First Kamchatka Expedition turns around after Vitus Bering concludes (inaccurately) that it had reached the easternmost point of Russia and Asia, and fails to spot the coast of Alaska because of the weather.source
  • 1732The Order of Malta under the command of Jacques-François de Chambray defeats a convoy of the Ottoman Empire and frees 14 Christian slaves, following the naval battle of Damietta.source
  • 1735August 16 (August 5 old style) – John Peter Zenger of The New York Weekly Journal becomes a symbol of freedom of the press when he is acquitted of seditious libel against William Cosby, the British Governor of the Province of New York. A jury concludes that what Zenger published was true.source
  • 1745Jacobite rising: A Jacobite victory at Highbridge Skirmish.source
  • 1765The Treaty of Allahabad is signed. The Treaty marks the political and constitutional involvement and the beginning of Company rule in India.source
  • 1768The equestrian statue of Frederick V is installed on Amalienborg in Copenhagen.source
  • 1777American Revolutionary War – Battle of Bennington: British and Brunswicker forces are decisively defeated by American troops at Walloomsac, New York.source
  • 1777American Revolution: at the Battle of Bennington British and Brunswicker forces are decisively defeated by American troops.source
  • 1780American Revolutionary War – Battle of Camden: British troops inflict heavy losses on a Patriot army at Camden, South Carolina.source
  • 1784Britain creates the colony of New Brunswick.source
  • 1784In response to Loyalist demands, the Crown creates New Brunswick out of Nova Scotia. New Brunswick was then divided into eight counties.source
  • 1809Meikle Ferry disaster: An overloaded ferry crossing the Dornoch Firth to Tain market sinks, drowning 99.source
  • 1812War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit, without a fight, to the British Army.source
  • 1812August 16–18 – Battle of Smolensk: The Grande Armée (180,000 men) under Emperor Napoleon I defeats the Russian army on the road to Moscow.source
  • 1812Isaac Brock with a force of 1,350, nearly half Aboriginals, takes Detroit. He paroles many of Hull's 2,000.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
  • 1816Thomas Kendall starts the first school in New Zealand, at Rangihoua. The opening roll is 33.source
  • 1819Peterloo Massacre: A yeomanry unit charges into a crowd of radical protesters in Manchester, England, resulting in 15 deaths and over 600 injuries.source
  • 1819Peterloo Massacre in St. Peter's Field, Manchester: a cavalry charge into a crowd of radical protesters results in eleven deaths and over 400 injuries.source
  • 1823Tsar Alexander I of Russia draws up a secret "manifesto", designating his second younger brother Nikolai to succeed him, bypassing Nikolai's older brother, Grand Duke Konstantin. The existence of the manifesto is revealed on Alexander's death in 1825.source
  • 1824Lafayette begins his tour of the United States, departing on September 7, 1825.source
  • 1829August 15–22 – Cincinnati riots of 1829.source
  • 1837The Dutch colonial forces sack the fortress of Bonjol, Indonesia, ending the Padri War.source
  • 1838The Tin Duties Act converts the tin coinage taxation system of the mines of Devon and Cornwall into an annual payment to the Duchy of Cornwall.source
  • 1841U.S. President John Tyler vetoes a bill which called for the re-establishment of the Second Bank of the United States. Enraged Whig Party members riot outside the White House, in the most violent demonstration on White House grounds in U.S. history.source
  • 1843Georg Carstensen Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen are inaugurated with 3,615 visitors on the opening day. At the end of the 1843 season, more than 175,000 guests have visited the park.source
  • 1844Narciso Claveria, Governor-General of the Philippines, makes a decree announcing that Monday, December 30, 1844, will be immediately followed by Wednesday, January 1, 1845. (Tuesday, December 31, 1844, is removed from the Philippine calendar because since 1521 the country has been one day behind its Asian neighbors.)source
  • 1854Battle of Bomarsund: Russian troops on the island of Bomarsund, in Åland, surrender to French–British troops.source
  • 1855Battle of Chernaya River: Russian troops are defeated by French and Sardinian forces in the Crimean War.source
  • 1858U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new trans-Atlantic telegraph cable, by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.source
  • 1858U.S. President James Buchanan inaugurates the new trans-Atlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria. However, a weak signal forces a shutdown of the service on September 1.source
  • 1859The Tuscan National Assembly formally deposes the House of Habsburg-Lorraine, ending an ascendancy of 109 years.source
  • 1863After Spain's annexation of the Dominican Republic, rebels raise the Dominican flag in Santiago to begin the Dominican Restoration War.source
  • 1863August 15–17 – Bombardment of Kagoshima: The British Royal Navy bombards the town of Kagoshima in Japan in retribution, after the Namamugi Incident of 1862.source
  • 1863August 15–17 - Bombardment of Kagoshimasource
  • 1865The Dominican Republic regains independence from Spain.source
  • 1875The Hermannsdenkmal was inaugurated in Detmold.source
  • 1879Fulham F.C. is founded in London as a church soccer team.source
  • 1893August 16–17 – Massacre of Italian workers of the Compagnie des Salins du Midi in Aigues-Mortes (France) by French villagers and workers. The New York Times, reporting from the trial of ringleaders later in the year, reported that "ten men were killed and twenty-six wounded". Anti-French riots erupt in Italy. In Rome the windows of the French Embassy were smashed and for a while the angry mob seemed to get out of hand.source
  • 1896Keish (often called Skookum Jim Mason), George Carmack, and Dawson Charlie discover gold in the Klondike, Yukon.source
  • 1897Belgian Antarctic Expedition sets sail from Antwerpsource
  • 1897Emil Racoviță departs on an expedition aboard the Norwegian research vessel RV Belgica as part of the Belgian Antarctic Expedition. The international team is the first to overwinter in Antarctica.source
  • 1900A German excavation at the Tel Amran ibn Ali, near the Babylonian temple at Etemenanki (near modern Al Hillah, Iraq), German excavators unearth a glazed amphora with 10,000 coins dating from the 7th century BC.source
  • 19061906 Aleutian Islands earthquake: An earthquake with an estimated magnitude of 8.35 occurs off the Rat Islands in Alaska.source
  • 19061906 Valparaíso earthquake: A magnitude 8.2 earthquake in Valparaíso, Chile leaves nearly 4,000 dead and approximately 20,000 injured.source
  • 19061906 Valparaíso earthquakesource
  • 1910Berliner FV, German association football club founded.source
  • 1914German warships SMS Goeben and SMS Breslau (both commissioned in 1912), which reached Constantinople on August 10, are transferred to the Ottoman Navy, Goeben becoming its flagship, Yavuz Sultan Selim.source
  • 1914Lake Nyasa is the scene of a brief naval battle, when Captain Edmund Rhoades, commander of the British steamship SS Gwendolen, hears that war has broken out, and he receives orders from the British high command to "sink, burn, or destroy" the German Empire's only ship on the lake, the Hermann von Wissmann, commanded by a Captain Berndt. Rhoades's crew finds the Hermann von Wissmann in a bay near "Sphinxhaven", in German East African territorial waters. Gwendolen disables the German vessel with a single cannon shot from a range of about 1,800 meters (2,000 yards). This very brief engagement is hailed by The Times in London as the British Empire's first naval victory of World War I.source
  • 1915WWI: The Allies promise the Kingdom of Serbia, should victory be achieved over Austria-Hungary and its allied Central Powers, the territories of Baranja, Srem and Slavonia from the Cisleithanian part of the Dual Monarchy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and eastern Dalmatia (from the river of Krka to Bar).source
  • 1916The Migratory Bird Treaty between Canada and the United States is signed.source
  • 1918The Battle of Lake Baikal is fought by the Czechoslovak legion, against the Red Army.source
  • 1920August 13–25 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw – The Red Army is defeated.source
  • 1921The Times newspaper in London begins a series of articles, written by its Constantinople correspondent Philip Graves, exposing The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a forgery.source
  • 1924The Dawes Plan is signed in Paris, temporarily resolving German reparations dispute.source
  • 1924August 9–17 – the 2nd World Scout Jamboree is held in Ermelunden, Denmark.source
  • 1928Serial killer Carl Panzram is arrested in Washington, D.C., for burglary. Later it will be discovered that he has committed multiple murders, rapes and other major crimes.source
  • 1929The 1929 Palestine riots break out between Palestinians and Jews in Mandatory Palestine, and continue until the end of the month. In total, 133 Jews and 116 Palestinians are killed.source
  • 1929Tensions are raised in Jerusalem by a 2,000-strong Muslim counter-demonstration after Friday prayers during which youths chase Jewish worshippers from the Western Wall and burn prayer petitions and books.source
  • 1930The first British Empire Games open in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.source
  • 1931Texas experiences an earthquake with a moment magnitude of 6.5, the most powerful earthquake in its recorded history.source
  • 1934Ed van Thijn, politician (died 2021)source
  • 1935Representatives of France, Britain and Italy meet in Paris in an unsuccessful attempt to negotiate a solution to the Abyssinia Crisis.source
  • 1940The Communist Party of Norway is banned in German-occupied Norway.source
  • 1941The Holocaust: Units of the Wehrmacht and the Einsatzgruppen (as part of Operation Barbarossa) start killing Jewish children, signalling the start of the Jewish Genocide.source
  • 1941HMS Mercury Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School opens at Leydene, near Petersfield, Hampshire, England.source
  • 1942Polish-Jewish teacher Janusz Korczak follows a group of Jewish children into the Treblinka extermination camp.source
  • 1942U.S. Navy blimp L-8 (Flight 101) comes ashore near San Francisco, eventually coming down in Daly City (the crew is missing).source
  • 1945Committee for the Preparation of Korean Independence (CPKI) is founded by Lyuh Woon-hyung.source
  • 1946The Kurdistan Democratic Party is founded in South Kurdistan.source
  • 1946Direct Action Day: Violence between Muslims and Hindus in Calcutta begins "The Week of the Long Knives", which leaves 3,000 dead.source
  • 1946The All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress is founded in Secunderabad, India.source
  • 1948August 10–23 – The Herrenchiemsee convention prepares the draft for the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany.source
  • 1948Founding of Bali Post Media Group media conglomeratesource
  • 1950Prince Souphanouvong joins the Viet Minh in Hanoi and becomes the leader of the Pathet Lao.source
  • 1951The Australian Financial Review is first published.source
  • 1952Lynmouth, North Devon, England is devastated by floods; 34 die.source
  • 1953August 15–19 – Cold War: 1953 Iranian coup d'état – Overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh, by Iranian military in favour of strengthening the monarchical rule of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, with the support of the United States Central Intelligence Agency (as "Operation Ajax") and the United Kingdom.source
  • 1953House of the Virgin Mary, close to Ephesus was opened to visitssource
  • 1954The first issue of Sports Illustrated magazine is published in the United States.source
  • 1955The establishment of Mongolian State Honor Guard.source
  • 1960Joseph Kittinger parachutes from a balloon over New Mexico at an altitude of about 102,800 ft. Kittinger sets world records for: high-altitude jump; free-fall by falling 16.0 miles (25.7 kilometers) before opening his parachute; first space dive, and fastest speed attained by a human being without mechanical or chemical assistance, about 982 k.p.h (614 m.p.h.). Kittinger survives more or less uninjured. He is also the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon, and the first man fully to witness the spherical curvature of the Earth. (Felix Baumgartner breaks his space diving record in 2012.)source
  • 1964Vietnam War: In a coup, General Nguyễn Khánh replaces Dương Văn Minh as South Vietnam's chief of state and establishes a new constitution, drafted partly by the U.S. Embassy.source
  • 1966The national government begins the deployment of the Philippine Civic Action Group (PHILCAG) to South Vietnam, dispatching the first detachment of 100 men. This would be followed by other batches, reaching a total strength of 2,048 on October 19.source
  • 1966The Iraqi fighter pilot Munir Redfa defects to Israel by flying a MiG-21 of the Iraqi Air Force to Israel. The MiG-21 fighter is evaluated by the Israeli Air Force. Knowledge obtained from analysis of the aircraft was instrumental to the successes achieved by the Israeli Air Force in its future encounters with Arab MiG-21s.source
  • 1967Taal Volcano experiences another phreatomagmatic eruption, originating from Mount Tabaro, further indicating heightened volcanic activity during this period.source
  • 1969August 15–18 – The Woodstock Festival is held near White Lake, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.source
  • 1971Hastings Banda, President of Malawi, becomes the first black president to visit South Africa.source
  • 1971Hurricane Beth hits Nova Scotiasource
  • 1972As part of a coup attempt, members of the Royal Moroccan Air Force fire upon, but fail to bring down, Hassan II of Morocco's plane while he is traveling back to Rabat.source
  • 1984John DeLorean is acquitted of all eight charges of possessing and distributing cocaine.source
  • 1984Two Limpet mines destroy two floors of the South African Police HQ, Soweto East in Roodepoort, injuring the District Commander, four policemen and two civilians.source
  • 1986Typhoon Wayne formed over the South China Sea, going on to become one of the longest-lived tropical cyclones at 21 days, and kill 490.source
  • 1987The followers of the Harmonic Convergence claim it is observed around the world.source
  • 1987Northwest Airlines Flight 255 (a McDonnell Douglas MD-82) crashes on takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport in Romulus, Michigan, just west of Detroit, killing all but one (4-year-old Cecelia Cichan) of the 156 people on board.source
  • 19941994 Sri Lankan parliamentary election: The People's Alliance led by Chandrika Kumaratunga wins 105 seats, thus making it the largest party in the Parliament and bringing a decisive end to 17 years of United National Party rule.source
  • 1996Brookfield Zoo, Chicago. After a 3-year-old boy falls into the 20 ft deep gorilla enclosure, Binti Jua, a female lowland gorilla sits with the injured boy until his rescue.source
  • 1996August 16–25: Five athletes from Armenia competed at the 1996 Summer Paralympics.source
  • 1998The Hungarian Grand Prix is won by Michael Schumacher at the Hungaroring, Mogyoród, Pestsource
  • 2003Element 110 is formally named darmstadtium by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.source
  • 2004Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez invites Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to Caracas as a display of regional integration.source
  • 2005West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes into a mountain in Venezuela, killing 160 passengers and crew.source
  • 2006Russian government patrol boat 31st Kisshin Maru incident, killing one crew member.source
  • 2006Britain's Ian Porterfield was named Armenia's new soccer coach. The 60-year-old Scotsman replaced Dutchman Henk Wisman, who was fired four months ago following a string of poor results.source
  • 2010August 14–26 – Lithuania achieved 19th place in 2010 Summer Youth Olympics with 5 medal (3 golden and 2 bronze)source
  • 2010AIRES Flight 8250, a Boeing 737–700, crashed on landing at San Andrés, Colombia, killing two.source
  • 2012Bystrík Režucha, conductor (born 1935)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
  • 2016Gabriela Hermélyová, 92, swing musician.source
  • 2018The Central Government announces residents of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan who work and live in mainland China can apply for identity cards beginning 1 September, which will enable them to access public services similar to mainland residents.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
  • 2020Forty Qʼeqchiʼ families were forced to leave the Cubilgüitz coffee farm, which they had been occupying in protest for fifteen years, after an armed group set fire to several residences.source
  • 2022August 9 – August 18: Guyana at the 2021 Islamic Solidarity Gamessource
  • 2023The death toll from the August 14 explosion in San Cristobal rises to 13 after two more bodies are found.source
  • 2023August 16–21 – Hurricane Hilary, a Category 4 Pacific Hurricane, strikes the Baja California peninsula and later causes record flooding in Southern California.source
  • 2025August 15–17 – The first World Humanoid Robot Games are held in Beijing, China.source
  • 2025August 7–17 – The 2025 World Games are held in Chengdu, China.source

Births

  • 1055Malik-Shah I, sultan of the Seljuk Empire (died 1092)source
  • 1326Amaury IV de Craon, French nobleman and knight (died 1373)source
  • 1355Philippa Plantagenet, Countess of Ulster (died 1382)source
  • 1378Hongxi Emperor of China (died 1425)source
  • 1557Agostino Carracci, Italian painter and graphical artist (died 1602)source
  • 1565Christina, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (died 1637)source
  • 1573Anne of Austria, Queen of Poland (died 1598)source
  • 1587Khusrau Mirza, Mughal prince (died 1622)source
  • 1608Jean-Louis Raduit de Souches, German Imperial field marshal (died 1682)source
  • 1645Jean de La Bruyère, French writer (died 1696)source
  • 1645Jean de La Bruyère, writer (died 1696)source
  • 1650Vincenzo Coronelli, Franciscan friar, Italian cartographer, encyclopedist (died 1718)source
  • 1658Ralph Thoresby, British historian (died 1725)source
  • 1674Catharine Trotter Cockburn, English novelist, dramatist and philosopher (died 1749)source
  • 1679Catharine Trotter Cockburn, English novelist, dramatist, philosopher (died 1749)source
  • 1682Louis, duc de Bourgogne, heir to the throne of France (died 1712)source
  • 1706Bakht Singh of Marwar, Indian Raja of the Rathore Clan (died 1752)source
  • 1744Pierre Méchain, French astronomer (died 1804)source
  • 1763Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, second son of George III of Great Britain (died 1827)source
  • 1815Saint John Bosco, Italian priest, educator (died 1888)source
  • 1830Diego Barros Arana, historian (died 1907)source
  • 1832Wilhelm Wundt, German physiologist, philosopher, and professor, and pioneer of modern psychology (died 1920)source
  • 1862Amos Alonzo Stagg, American football player, coach (died 1965)source
  • 1888T. E. Lawrence ("Lawrence of Arabia"), British liaison officer during the Arab Revolt, writer and academic (died 1935)source
  • 1909Bernardo Leighton (died 1995)source
  • 1913Menachem Begin, Polish-born 6th Prime Minister of Israel, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1992)source
  • 1928Ara Güler, photographer (died 2018)source
  • 1954James Cameron, Canadian-born film directorsource
  • 1958Madonna, American-born singer-songwriter and actresssource
  • 1996Caeleb Dressel, American swimmersource

Deaths

  • 79Ma, Chinese empress of the Han Dynasty (born AD 40)source
  • 842Death of Qaratis also known as Umm Harun, was the mother of Abbasid caliph al-Wathiq (r. 842–847). She died during her Hajj pilgrimage journey.source
  • 856Theutbald I, bishop of Langressource
  • 963Marianos Argyros, Byzantine generalsource
  • 1020Zhou Huaizheng, Chinese eunuchsource
  • 1027George I, king of Georgia (House of Bagrationi)source
  • 1190Dedi III (the Fat), German nobleman (born 1130)source
  • 1225Hōjō Masako, Japanese noblewoman (born 1156)source
  • 1243Stepan Tverdislavich, Russian posadniksource
  • 1258Theodore II Laskaris dies after a 4-year reign at Magnesia. He is succeeded by his 7-year-old son, John IV, as ruler of the Empire of Nicaea. His regent becomes the bureaucrat George Mouzalon.source
  • 1278Napoleone della Torre (or Napo), Italian noblemansource
  • 1285Philip I, French nobleman (House of Savoy) (born 1207)source
  • 1291Frederick Tuta, German nobleman and regent (born 1269)source
  • 1297John II, Byzantine emperor of Trebizond (born 1262)source
  • 1339Azzone Visconti, founder of the state of Milan (born 1302)source
  • 1358Albert II, Duke of Austria (born 1298)source
  • 1400Bureau de La Rivière, politician and knight.source
  • 1419Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia, King of Bohemia since 1378 (born 1361)source
  • 1419King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia dies of a heart attack at the age of 58, leading to the outbreak shortly thereafter of the Hussite Wars.source
  • 1443Ashikaga Yoshikatsu, Japanese shōgun (born 1434)source
  • 1445Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France, daughter of the late King James I of Scotland and wife of the Dauphin Louis, son of King Charles VII of France, dies from an illness contracted a week earlier. On her deathbed, she accuses a court official, Jamet de Tillay, of having slandered her reputation and causing her death.source
  • 1445Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France (born 1424)source
  • 1445Margaret Stewart, Dauphine of France, the Scottish Princess and wife of the future Louis XI diessource
  • 1518Loyset Compère, French composer (born c. 1445)source
  • 1532John, Elector of Saxony (born 1468)source
  • 1578Andrew Corbet, English landowner and politician (born 1522)source
  • 1627In a persecution of Christians in Japan, 14 Franciscan missionaries and converts are killed.source
  • 1641Thomas Heywood, English playwright (born c. 1573)source
  • 1661Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian (born 1608)source
  • 1678Andrew Marvell, English writer (born 1621)source
  • 1705Jacob Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician (born 1654)source
  • 1717William Blathwayt, English civil servant and politician (born 1649)source
  • 1759Eugene Aram, English philologist and murderer, hanged (born 1704)source
  • 1822The body of British poet Percy Bysse Shelley, who died on July 8 in the sinking of his boat Don Juan, is cremated at the beach, 10 days after his decomposed remains had washed ashore in Italy near Viareggio, in the presence of Lord Byron and Edward John Trelawny, who claims to have seized Shelley's heart from the flames.source
  • 1825Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, American politician, soldier (born 1746)source
  • 1841Fernando Errázuriz Aldunate (born 1777)source
  • 1846Sylvain Charles Valée, Marshal of France (born 1773)source
  • 1886Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Indian spiritual figure (born 1836)source
  • 1893Jean-Martin Charcot, French neurologist (born 1825)source
  • 1894Italian anarchist Sante Geronimo Caserio is executed by guillotine for the assassination of French President Carnot in Lyon.source
  • 1894Sante Geronimo Caserio, Italian anarchist and the assassin of Marie François Sadi Carnot, President of the French Third Republic (born 1873)source
  • 1921Peter I of Serbia, King of Yugoslavia (born 1844)source
  • 1921Peter I of Serbia (born 1844)source
  • 1938Robert Johnson, American blues singer (born 1911)source
  • 1948Babe Ruth, American baseball player (New York Yankees), MLB Hall of Fame member (born 1895)source
  • 1949Margaret Mitchell, American writer (Gone With the Wind) (born 1900)source
  • 1955Yi Kang, former royalsource
  • 1956Bela Lugosi, Hungarian-born American film actor (Dracula) (born 1882)source
  • 1975Carlos Raúl Villanueva, modernist architect (born 1900)source
  • 1977Elvis Presley, American actor, musician and singer-songwriter (born 1935)source
  • 1977Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll, dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis for his funeral, which occurred on August 18, but wasn't televised until August 20.source
  • 1979John Diefenbaker, 83, Canadian politician, prime minister (1957–1963), heart attack.source
  • 1996Fuad Muhammad Syafruddin, Indonesian journalist (born 1963)source
  • 2018Atal Bihari Vajpayee, 93, Indian politician, Prime Minister (1996, 1998–2004), Minister of External Affairs (1977–1979), multiple organ failure.source