Independence
day
Bahrain
Congo, Republic
India
South Korea
Events
of the day
293 BC – The oldest known
Roman temple to Venus is dedicated.
778 – The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which
Roland is killed.
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.
1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle
against his first cousin and rival Macbeth.
The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.
1057 – King Macbeth is killed at the Battle
of Lumphanan by the forces of Máel Coluim
mac Donnchada.
1185 – The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated
by Queen Tamar of Georgia.
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.
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 Palaeologus is crowned
Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.
1309 – 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 Mehmet 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 Sultanate
of Malacca.
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 – Saint 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 Saint Francis Xavier
comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese
date: July 22, 1549).
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.
1695 – French forces end the Bombardment
of Brussels, leaving a third of the buildings
in the city in ruins.
1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz
– Frederick the Great's victory over the
Austrians under Ernst von Laudon.
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).
1869 – The Meiji government in Japan establishes
six new ministries, including one for Shinto.
1893 – Ibadan area became a British Protectorate
after a treaty signed by Fijabi, the Baale
of Ibadan with the British acting Governor
of Lagos, George C. Denton.
1907 – Ordination in Constantinople of Fr.
Raphael Morgan, first African-American Orthodox
priest, "Priest-Apostolic" to
America and the West Indies.
1914 – A male servant of American architect
Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living
quarters of the architect's Wisconsin home,
Taliesin, murders seven people and burns
the living quarters to the ground.
1914 – The Panama Canal opens to traffic
with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.
1914 – The First Russian Army, led by Pavel
Rennenkampf, enters Eastern Prussia.
1920 – 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 – 13 Stukas dive into the ground during
a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer.
There are no survivors.
1940 – An Italian submarine torpedoes and
sinks the Greek cruiser Elli at Tinos harbour
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
7:12 am, making him the last person to be
executed at the Tower for treason.
1942 – World War II: Operation Pedestal
– The SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta
barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies
for the island's defenses.
1944 – World War II: Operation Dragoon –
Allied forces land in southern France.
1945 – World War II: Japan surrenders to
end the war.
1947 – India gains Independence from the
British Indian Empire 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 Republic of Korea is established
south of the 38th parallel north.
1952 – A flash flood drenches the town of
Lynmouth, England, killing 34 people.
1954 – Alfredo Stroessner begins his dictatorship
in Paraguay.
1960 – Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville)
becomes independent from France.
1961 – Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany
while on duty guarding the construction
of the Berlin Wall.
1962 – James Joseph Dresnok defects to the
Democratic People's Republic of Korea after
running across the Korean DMZ. Dresnok still
resides in the capital, Pyongyang.
1963 – Execution of Henry John Burnett,
the last man to be hanged in Scotland.
1963 – President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown
in the Republic of 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, in
an event later seen as marking the birth
of stadium rock.
1969 – The Woodstock Music and Art Festival
opens.
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 United States bombing
of Cambodia ends.
1974 – Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South
Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination
attempt upon President of South Korea, Park
Chung-hee.
1975 – Bangladesh's founder Sheikh Mujibur
Rahman is killed along with most members
of his family during a military coup.
1975 – Miki Takeo makes the first official
pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent
prime minister on the anniversary of the
end of World War II.
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 PKK in Turkey starts a campaign
of armed attacks upon the Turkish military
with an attack on police and gendarmerie
bases in Şemdinli and Eruh
1995 – In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner
becomes the first female cadet matriculated
at The Citadel (she drops out less than
a week later).
1998 – Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, the
worst terrorist incident of The Troubles
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.
2007 – An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the
Pacific coast devastates Ica and various
regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring
1,090.
Holidays
and observances
Armed
Forces Day (Poland)
Christian Feast Day:
Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one
of the Catholic Holy Day of Obligation.
(Christianity, a public holiday in Austria,
Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon,
Chile, Colombia, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia,
Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala,
Hungary, Italy, Lebanon, Liechtenstein,
Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta,
Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania,
Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland,
Togo, and Vanuatu), and its related observances:
Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos
(Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and
Eastern Catholic Churches)
Ferragosto (Italy)
Mother's Day (Antwerp and Costa Rica)
National Acadian Day (Acadians)
Navy Day (Romania)
Virgin of Candelaria, patron of the Canary
Islands. (Tenerife, Spain)
Stanislaus Kostka
Tarcisius
August 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
Constitution Day (Equatorial Guinea)
Earliest day on which Day of Hearts can
fall, while August 21 is the latest; celebrated
on the third Monday in August. (area around
Haarlem and Amsterdam)
Founding of Asunción (Paraguay)
Independence Day, celebrates the independence
of the Republic of the Congo from France
in 1960.
Independence Day, celebrates the independence
of India from the United Kingdom in 1947.
Liberation Day, celebrates the independence
of Korea from Japan in 1945:
Gwangbokjeol, "Liberation Day"
(South Korea)
Jogukhaebangui nal, "Fatherland Liberation
Day" (North Korea)
The first day of Flooding of the Nile, or
Wafaa El-Nil.(Egypt and Coptic Church)
The main day of Bon Festival (Japan)
Victory over Japan Day (United States)
For details, contact Datacentre
