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This day in history

This day in history: 15 August

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day234 · 109

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Key facts

446 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 15 August.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: US president Donald Trump meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the first such summit since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (Poland)

Christian feast day: Altfrid

Christian feast day: Alypius of Thagaste

Christian feast day: August 15 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Blessed Elvira Moragas Cantarero

Christian feast day: Blessed Giuliana Puricelli

Christian feast day: Blessed Isidore Bakanja

Christian feast day: Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation (a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany,

Christian feast day: San La Muerte (Paraguayan Folk Catholicism)

Christian feast day: Santa Muerte (Mexican Folk Catholicism)

Christian feast day: Tarcisius

Constitution Day (Equatorial Guinea)

Events

2025US president Donald Trump meets with Russian president Vladimir Putin in Alaska, the first such summit since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.

2021Kabul 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.

2020Russia begins production on the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine.

2015North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time, 81⁄2 hours ahead of UTC.

2013At 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.

2013The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivorous species found in the Americas in 35 years.

2007An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru, killing 514 and injuring 1,090.

2005Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.

2005The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia is signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.

1999Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria: Some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.

1998Apple introduces the iMac computer.

1998Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.

1995In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel (she drops out less than a week later).

1995Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister of Japan, releases the Murayama Statement, which formally expresses remorse for Japanese war crimes committed during World War II.

1989China Eastern Airlines Flight 5510 crashes after takeoff from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, killing 34 of the 40 people on board.

1985Signing of the Assam Accord, an agreement between representatives of the Government of India and the leaders of the Assam Movement to end the movement.

1984The 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.

1977The 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.

1976SAETA Flight 011 crashes into the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador, killing all 59 people on board; the wreckage is not discovered until 2002.

1975Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.

1975Takeo Miki makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by an incumbent prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

1974Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President Park Chung Hee.

1973Vietnam War: The US Air Force bombing of Cambodia ends.

1971Bahrain gains independence from the United Kingdom.

1971President Richard Nixon completes the break from the gold standard by ending convertibility of the United States dollar into gold by foreign investors.

1970Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.

1969The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in Bethel, New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.

1965The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.

1963Execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland.

1963President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of the Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital.

1962James Joseph Dresnok defects to North Korea after running across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Dresnok died in 2016.

1961Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.

1960Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) becomes independent from France.

1959American Airlines Flight 514, a Boeing 707, crashes near the Calverton Executive Airpark in Calverton, New York, killing all five people on board.

1954Alfredo Stroessner begins his dictatorship in Paraguay.

1952A flash flood devastates the town of Lynmouth, England, killing 34 people.

1950Measuring Mw 8.6, the largest earthquake on land occurs in the Assam-Tibet-Myanmar border, killing 4,800.

1948The First Republic of Korea (South Korea) is established in the southern half of the peninsula.

1947Founder of Pakistan Muhammad Ali Jinnah is sworn in as first Governor-General of Pakistan in Karachi.

1947India gains independence from British rule after nearly 190 years of British company and crown rule and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

Born on this day

2003Juanlu Sánchez, Spanish footballer

1999Paola Reis, BMX rider

1995Chief Keef, American rapper

1995Setyana Mapasa, Indonesian-Australian badminton player

1994Kosuke Hagino, Japanese swimmer

1994Lasse Vigen Christensen, Danish footballer

1993Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English footballer

1993Clinton N'Jie, Cameroonian footballer

1992Baskaran Adhiban, Indian chess player

1992Matthew Judon, American football player

1991Petja Piiroinen, Finnish snowboarder

1990Jennifer Lawrence, American actress and producer

1989Carlos PenaVega, American actor and singer

1989Joe Jonas, American singer, songwriter, and actor

1989Jordan Rapana, New Zealand rugby league player

1989Ryan McGowan, Australian footballer

1988Boban Marjanović, Serbian basketball player

1988Oussama Assaidi, Moroccan footballer

1987Michel Kreder, Dutch cyclist

1987Ryan D'Imperio, American football player

1987Sean McAllister, English footballer

1985Nipsey Hussle, American rapper (died 2019)

1984Emily Kinney, American actress and singer-songwriter

1984Jarrod Dyson, American baseball player

1983Rachel Haot, American businesswoman

1983Siobhan Chamberlain, English association football goalkeeper

1982Casey Burgener, American weightlifter

1982David Harrison, American basketball player

1981Brendan Hansen, American swimmer

1981Óliver Pérez, American baseball player

1980Fiann Paul, Icelandic explorer

1979Carl Edwards, American race car driver

1978Kerri Walsh Jennings, American volleyball player

1978Lilia Podkopayeva, Ukrainian gymnast

1978Stavros Tziortziopoulos, Greek footballer

1978Waleed Aly, Australian journalist and television host

1977Anthony Rocca, Australian footballer and coach

1977Martin Biron, Canadian ice hockey player

1976Boudewijn Zenden, Dutch footballer and manager

1976Robert Macfarlane, English nature writer

Died on this day

2024Peter Marshall, American game show host, performer, and singer (born 1926)

2021Gerd Müller, German footballer (born 1945)

2020Robert Trump, American real-estate developer, business executive (born 1948)

2017Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (born 1925)

2015Hamid Gul, Pakistani general (born 1936)

2015Julian Bond, American academic, leader of the civil rights movement, and politician (born 1940)

2014Licia Albanese, Italian-American soprano and actress (born 1909)

2013August Schellenberg, Canadian actor (born 1936)

2013Marich Man Singh Shrestha, Nepali politician, 28th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1942)

2013Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (born 1944)

2013Sławomir Mrożek, Polish-French author and playwright (born 1930)

2012Altamiro Carrilho, Brazilian flute player and composer (born 1924)

2012Bob Birch, American bass player and saxophonist (born 1956)

2012Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (born 1925)

2011Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1984)

2009Mary Catherine Lamb, American textile artist (born 1949)

2008Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (born 1917)

2008Vic Toweel, South African-Australian boxer (born 1929)

2007Geoffrey Orbell, New Zealand physician (born 1908)

2007John Gofman, American biologist, chemist, and physicist (born 1918)

2007Richard Bradshaw, English conductor and director (born 1944)

2007Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (born 1925)

2006Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer and manager (born 1923)

2006Rick Bourke, Australian rugby league player (born 1955)

2006Te Atairangikaahu, New Zealand Māori queen (born 1931)

2005Bendapudi Venkata Satyanarayana, Indian dermatologist and academic (born 1927)

2004Amarsinh Chaudhary, Indian politician, 8th Chief Minister of Gujarat (born 1941)

2004Sune Bergström, Swedish biochemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1916)

2001Kateryna Yushchenko, Ukrainian computer scientist and academic (born 1919)

2001Richard Chelimo, Kenyan runner (born 1972)

Quote of the day

“Confine yourself to the present.”

Marcus Aurelius

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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