Historical Events on August 21, Facts & Special Events On This Day - CalendarZ

Historical Events on August 21

959
Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.
1140
Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin-Song Wars.
1192
Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Seii Tai Shōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: July 12, 1192)
1331
King Stefan Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stefan Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia.
1415
Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Battle of Ceuta.
1680
Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
1689
The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.
1770
James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
1772
King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.
1778
American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.
1791
A Vodou ceremony, led by Dutty Boukman, turns into a violent slave rebellion, beginning the Haitian Revolution.
1808
Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.
1810
Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
1821
Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.
1831
Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites.
1852
Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.
1863
Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by pro-Confederate guerrillas known as Quantrill's Raiders.
1883
An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.
1888
The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
1897
Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles, is founded.
1901
Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.
1911
The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Perugia, a Louvre employee.
1914
World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.
1918
World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
1942
World War II: The flag of Nazi Germany is planted atop Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus mountain range.
1942
World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
1944
Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.
1944
World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.
1945
Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.
1957
The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
1959
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day
1961
American country music singer Patsy Cline returns to record producer Owen Bradley's studio in Nashville, Tennessee to record her vocals to Willie Nelson's "Crazy", which would become her signature song.
1961
Motown releases what would be its first #1 hit, "Please Mr. Postman" by The Marvelettes.
1963
Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizes Buddhist pagodas across the country, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
1968
Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.
1968
James Anderson, Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
1971
A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.
1982
Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.
1983
Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. is assassinated at the Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).
1986
Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometer range.
1988
The 6.9 Mw Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal-India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving 709-1,450 people killed and thousands injured.
1991
Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after the occupation of Soviet Union.
1991
Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
1993
NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
2013
Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.
2016
Last day of the Rio Summer Olympics.
2017
An eclipse traverses the continental United States.

August 21 Birthdays

August 21 Deaths