August 15

Events

Pre-1600

* 636 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The Battle of Yarmouk between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate begins.
* 717 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik begins the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, which will last for nearly a year.
* 718 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Raising of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople.
* 747 – Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, renounces his position as ''majordomo'' and retires to a monastery near Rome. His brother, Pepin the Short, becomes the sole ruler (''de facto'') of the Frankish Kingdom.
* 778 – The Battle of Roncevaux Pass takes place between the army of Charlemagne and a Basque army.
* 805 – Noble Erchana of Dahauua grants the Bavarian town of Dachau to the Diocese of Freising
* 927 – The Saracens conquer and destroy Taranto.
* 982 – Holy Roman Emperor Otto II is defeated by the Saracens in the Battle of Capo Colonna, in Calabria.
*1018 – Byzantine general Eustathios Daphnomeles blinds and captures Ibatzes of Bulgaria by a ruse, thereby ending Bulgarian resistance against Emperor Basil II's conquest of Bulgaria.
*1038 – King Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, dies; his nephew, Peter Orseolo, succeeds him.
*1057 – King Macbeth is killed at the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada.
*1070 – The Pavian-born Benedictine Lanfranc is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in England.
*1096 – Starting date of the First Crusade as set by Pope Urban II.
*1185 – The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia.
*1237 – Spanish Reconquista: The Battle of the Puig between the Moorish forces of Taifa of Valencia against the Kingdom of Aragon culminates in an Aragonese victory.
*1248 – The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid. (Construction is eventually completed in 1880.)
*1261 – Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned as the first Byzantine emperor in fifty-seven years.
*1281 – Mongol invasion of Japan: The Mongolian fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a "divine wind" for the second time in the Battle of Kōan.
*1310 – The city of Rhodes surrenders to the forces of the Knights of St. John, completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights establish their headquarters on the island and rename themselves the Knights of Rhodes.
*1430 – Francesco Sforza, lord of Milan, conquers Lucca.
*1461 – The Empire of Trebizond surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II. This is regarded by some historians as the real end of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor David is exiled and later murdered.
*1483 – Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel.
*1511 – Afonso de Albuquerque of Portugal conquers Malacca, the capital of the Malacca Sultanate.
*1517 – Seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernão Pires de Andrade meet Chinese officials at the Pearl River estuary.
*1519 – Panama City, Panama is founded.
*1534 – Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates take initial vows, leading to the creation of the Society of Jesus in September 1540.
*1537 – Asunción, Paraguay is founded.
*1540 – Arequipa, Peru is founded.
*1549 – Jesuit priest Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: 22 July 1549).
*1592 – Imjin War: At the Battle of Hansan Island, the Korean Navy, led by Yi Sun-sin, Yi Eok-gi, and Won Gyun, decisively defeats the Japanese Navy, led by Wakisaka Yasuharu.
*1599 – Nine Years' War: Battle of Curlew Pass: Irish forces led by Hugh Roe O'Donnell successfully ambush English forces, led by Sir Conyers Clifford, sent to relieve Collooney Castle.

1601–1900

*1695 – French forces end the bombardment of Brussels.
*1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz: Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon.
*1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving French general of the American Revolutionary War, arrives in New York and begins a tour of 24 states.
*1843 – The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.
* 1843 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.
*1863 – The Anglo-Satsuma War begins between the Satsuma Domain of Japan and the United Kingdom (Traditional Japanese date: July 2, 1863).
*1893 – Ibadan area becomes a British Protectorate after a treaty signed by Fijabi, the Baale of Ibadan with the British acting Governor of Lagos, George C. Denton.
*1899 – Fratton Park football ground in Portsmouth, England is officially first opened.

1901–present

*1907 – Ordination in Constantinople of Fr. Raphael Morgan, the first African-American Orthodox priest, "Priest-Apostolic" to America and the West Indies.
*1914 – A servant of American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, sets fire to the living quarters of Wright's Wisconsin home, Taliesin, and murders seven people there.
* 1914 – The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship .
* 1914 – World War I: The First Russian Army, led by Paul von Rennenkampf, enters East Prussia.
* 1914 – World War I: Beginning of the Battle of Cer, the first Allied victory of World War I.
*1915 – A story in ''New York World'' newspaper reveals that the Imperial German government had purchased excess phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the war effort and diverted it to Bayer for aspirin production.
*1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, so-called Miracle at the Vistula.
*1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.
*1939 – Twenty-six Junkers Ju 87 bombers commanded by Walter Sigel meet unexpected ground fog during a dive-bombing demonstration for Luftwaffe generals at Neuhammer. Thirteen of them crash and burn.
* 1939 – '' The Wizard of Oz'' premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.
*1940 – An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the at Tinos harbor during peacetime, marking the most serious Italian provocation prior to the outbreak of the Greco-Italian War in October.
*1941 – Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad at the Tower of London at 07:12, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for espionage.
*1942 – World War II: Operation Pedestal: The oil tanker reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island's defenses.
*1943 – World War II: Battle of Trahili: Superior German forces surround Cretan partisans, who manage to escape against all odds.
*1944 – World War II: Operation Dragoon: Allied forces land in southern France.
*1945 – Emperor Hirohito broadcasts his declaration of surrender following the effective surrender of Japan in World War II; Korea gains independence from the Empire of Japan.
*1947 – India gains independence from British rule after near 190 years of British company and crown rule and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
* 1947 – Founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as first Governor-General of Pakistan in Karachi.
*1948 – The First Republic of Korea (South Korea) is established in the southern half of the peninsula.
*1950 – Measuring 8.6, the largest earthquake on land occurs in the Assam-Tibet-Myanmar border, killing 4,800.
*1952 – A flash flood drenches the town of Lynmouth, England, killing 34 people.
*1954 – Alfredo Stroessner begins his dictatorship in Paraguay.
*1959 – American Airlines Flight 514, a Boeing 707, crashes near the Calverton Executive Airpark in Calverton, New York, killing all five people on board.
*1960 – Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent from France.
*1961 – Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
*1962 – James Joseph Dresnok defects to North Korea after running across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Dresnok died in 2016.
*1963 – Execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland.
* 1963 – President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of the Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital.
*1965 – The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.
*1969 – The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in Bethel, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.
*1970 – Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.
*1971 – President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.
* 1971 – Bahrain gains independence from the United Kingdom.
*1973 – Vietnam War: The USAF bombing of Cambodia ends.
*1974 – Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President Park Chung-hee.
*1975 – Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.
* 1975 – Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.
*1976 – SAETA Flight 232 crashes into the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador, killing all 59 people on board; the wreckage is not discovered until 2002.
*1977 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.
*1984 – The Kurdistan Workers' Party in Turkey starts a campaign of armed attacks upon the Turkish Armed Forces with an attack on police and gendarmerie bases in Şemdinli and Eruh.
*1985 – Signing of the Assam Accord, an agreement between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement to end the movement.
*1995 – In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel (she drops out less than a week later).
* 1995 – Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister of Japan, releases the Murayama Statement, which formally expresses remorse for Japanese war crimes committed during World War II.
*1998 – Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.
* 1998 – Apple introduces the iMac computer.
*1999 – Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria: Some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.
*2005 – Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.
* 2005 – The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.
*2007 – An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
*2013 – At least 27 people are killed and 226 injured in an explosion in southern Beirut near a complex used by Lebanon's militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. A previously unknown Syrian Sunni group claims responsibility in an online video.
* 2013 – The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivorous species found in the Americas in 35 years.
*2015 – North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time, 8 hours ahead of UTC.
*2020 – Russia begins production on the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.
*2021 – Kabul falls into the hands of the Taliban as Ashraf Ghani flees Afghanistan along with local residents and foreign nationals, effectively reestablishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Births

Pre-1600

*1013 – Teishi, empress of Japan (d. 1094)
*1171 – Alfonso IX, king of León and Galicia (d. 1230)
*1195 – Anthony of Padua, Portuguese priest and saint (d. 1231)
*1385 – Richard de Vere, 11th Earl of Oxford, English commander (d. 1417)
*1432 – Luigi Pulci, Italian poet (d. 1484)
*1455 – George, duke of Bavaria (d. 1503)
*1507 – George III, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau, German prince (d. 1553)
*1575 – Bartol Kašić, Croatian linguist and lexicographer (d. 1650)
*1589 – Gabriel Báthory, Prince of Transylvania (d. 1613)

1601–1900

*1607 – Herman IV, landgrave of Hesse-Rotenburg (d. 1658)
*1608 – Henry Howard, 22nd Earl of Arundel, English politician (d. 1652)
*1613 – Gilles Ménage, French lawyer, philologist, and scholar (d. 1692)
*1615 – Marie de Lorraine, duchess of Guise (d. 1688)
*1652 – John Grubb, American politician (d. 1708)
*1702 – Francesco Zuccarelli, Italian painter and Royal Academician (d. 1788)
*1717 – Blind Jack, English engineer (d. 1810)
*1736 – Johann Christoph Kellner, German organist and composer (d. 1803)
*1740 – Matthias Claudius, German poet and author (d. 1815)
*1769 – Napoleon Bonaparte, French general and emperor (d. 1821)
*1771 – Walter Scott, Scottish novelist, playwright, and poet (d. 1832)
*1785 – Thomas De Quincey, English journalist and author (d. 1859)
*1787 – Eliza Lee Cabot Follen, American writer, editor, abolitionist (d. 1860)
*1798 – Sangolli Rayanna, Indian warrior (d. 1831)
*1807 – Jules Grévy, French lawyer and politician, 4th President of the French Republic (d. 1891)
*1810 – Louise Colet, French poet (d. 1876)
*1824 – John Chisum, American businessman (d. 1884)
*1839 – Antonín Petrof, Czech piano maker (d. 1915)
*1844 – Thomas-Alfred Bernier, Canadian journalist, lawyer, and politician (d. 1908)
*1845 – Walter Crane, English artist and book illustrator (d. 1915)
*1856 – Keir Hardie, Scottish politician and trade unionist (d. 1915)
*1857 – Albert Ballin, German businessman (d. 1918)
*1858 – E. Nesbit, English author and poet (d. 1924)
*1859 – Charles Comiskey, American baseball player and manager (d. 1931)
*1860 – Florence Harding, American publisher, 31st First Lady of the United States (d. 1924)
*1863 – Aleksey Krylov, Russian mathematician and engineer (d. 1945)
*1865 – Mikao Usui, Japanese spiritual leader, founded Reiki (d. 1926)
*1866 – Italo Santelli, Italian fencer (d. 1945)
*1872 – Sri Aurobindo, Indian guru, poet, and philosopher (d. 1950)
*1873 – Ramaprasad Chanda, Indian archaeologist and historian (d. 1942)
*1875 – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, English pianist, violinist, and composer (d. 1912)
*1876 – Stylianos Gonatas, Greek colonel and politician, 111th Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1966)
*1877 – Tachiyama Mineemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 22nd Yokozuna (d. 1941)
*1879 – Ethel Barrymore, American actress (d. 1959)
*1881 – Alfred Wagenknecht, German-American activist and politician (d. 1956)
*1882 – Marion Bauer, American composer and critic (d. 1955)
* 1882 – Gisela Richter, English archaeologist and art historian (d. 1972)
*1883 – Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor and architect (d. 1962)
*1885 – Edna Ferber, American novelist, short story writer, and playwright (d. 1968)
*1886 – Bill Whitty, Australian cricketer (d. 1974)
*1890 – Jacques Ibert, French composer and educator (d. 1962)
*1892 – Louis de Broglie, French physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1987)
* 1892 – Abraham Wachner, New Zealand politician, 35th Mayor of Invercargill (d. 1950)
*1893 – Leslie Comrie, New Zealand astronomer and academic (d. 1950)
*1896 – Gerty Cori, Czech-American biochemist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1957)
* 1896 – Catherine Doherty, Russian-Canadian activist, founded the Madonna House Apostolate (d. 1985)
* 1896 – Paul Outerbridge, American photographer and educator (d. 1958)
*1898 – Jan Brzechwa, Polish author and poet (d. 1966)
*1900 – Estelle Brody, American silent film actress (d. 1995)
* 1900 – Jack Tworkov, Polish-American painter and educator (d. 1982)

1901–present

*1901 – Arnulfo Arias Madrid, 21st president of the republic of Panamá (d. 1988)
* 1901 – Pyotr Novikov, Russian mathematician and theorist (d. 1975)
*1902 – Jan Campert, Dutch journalist and critic (d. 1943)
*1904 – George Klein, Canadian inventor, invented the motorized wheelchair (d. 1992)
*1909 – Hugo Winterhalter, American composer and bandleader (d. 1973)
*1912 – Julia Child, American chef and author (d. 2004)
* 1912 – Wendy Hiller, English actress (d. 2003)
*1914 – Paul Rand, American graphic designer and art director (d. 1996)
*1915 – Signe Hasso, Swedish-American actress (d. 2002)
*1916 – Aleks Çaçi, Albanian journalist and author (d. 1989)
*1917 – Jack Lynch, Irish footballer and politician, 5th Taoiseach of Ireland (d. 1999)
* 1917 – Óscar Romero, Salvadoran archbishop (d. 1980)
*1919 – Huntz Hall, American actor (d. 1999)
* 1919 – Benedict Kiely, Irish journalist and author (d. 2007)
*1920 – Judy Cassab, Austrian-Australian painter (d. 2008)
*1921 – August Kowalczyk, Polish actor and director (d. 2012)
*1922 – Leonard Baskin, American sculptor and illustrator (d. 2000)
* 1922 – Giorgos Mouzakis, Greek trumpet player and composer (d. 2005)
* 1922 – Sabino Barinaga, Spanish footballer and manager (d. 1988)
*1923 – Rose Marie, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
*1924 – Robert Bolt, English playwright and screenwriter (d. 1995)
* 1924 – Hedy Epstein, German-American Holocaust survivor and activist (d. 2016)
* 1924 – Yoshirō Muraki, Japanese production designer, art director, and fashion designer (d. 2009)
* 1924 – Phyllis Schlafly, American lawyer, writer, and political activist (d. 2016)
*1925 – Mike Connors, American actor and producer (d. 2017)
* 1925 – Rose Maddox, American singer-songwriter and fiddle player (d. 1998)
* 1925 – Oscar Peterson, Canadian pianist and composer (d. 2007)
* 1925 – Bill Pinkney, American singer (d. 2007)
* 1925 – Erik Schmidt, Swedish-Estonian painter and author (d. 2014)
*1926 – Julius Katchen, American pianist and composer (d. 1969)
* 1926 – Eddie Little Sky, American actor (d. 1997)
* 1926 – Sami Michael, Iraqi-Israeli author and playwright
* 1926 – John Silber, American philosopher and academic (d. 2012)
* 1926 – Konstantinos Stephanopoulos, Greek lawyer and politician, 6th President of Greece (d. 2016)
*1927 – Eddie Leadbeater, English cricketer (d. 2011)
* 1927 – Oliver Popplewell, English cricketer and judge
*1928 – Carl Joachim Classen, German scholar and academic (d. 2013)
* 1928 – Malcolm Glazer, American businessman (d. 2014)
* 1928 – Nicolas Roeg, English director and cinematographer (d. 2018)
*1931 – Ernest C. Brace, American captain and pilot (d. 2014)
* 1931 – Richard F. Heck, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 2015)
*1932 – Abby Dalton, American actress (d. 2020)
* 1932 – Robert L. Forward, American physicist and engineer (d. 2002)
* 1932 – Jim Lange, American game show host and DJ (d. 2014)
* 1932 – Johan Steyn, Baron Steyn, South African-English lawyer and judge (d. 2017)
*1933 – Bobby Helms, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1997)
* 1933 – Stanley Milgram, American social psychologist (d. 1984)
* 1933 – Mike Seeger, American folk musician and folklorist (d. 2009)
*1934 – Bobby Byrd, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2007)
* 1934 – Reginald Scarlett, Jamaican cricketer and coach (d. 2019)
*1935 – Jim Dale, English actor, narrator, singer, director, and composer
* 1935 – Régine Deforges, French author, playwright, and director (d. 2014)
*1936 – Rita Shane, American soprano and educator (d. 2014)
*1938 – Stephen Breyer, American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
* 1938 – Stix Hooper, American jazz drummer
* 1938 – Pran Kumar Sharma, Indian cartoonist (d. 2014)
* 1938 – Maxine Waters, American educator and politician
* 1938 – Janusz Zajdel, Polish engineer and author (d. 1985)
*1940 – Gudrun Ensslin, German militant leader, founded Red Army Faction (d. 1977)
*1941 – Jim Brothers, American sculptor (d. 2013)
* 1941 – Don Rich, American country musician (d. 1974)
*1942 – Pete York, English rock drummer
*1943 – Eileen Bell, Northern Irish civil servant and politician, 2nd Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly
*1944 – Dimitris Sioufas