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This day in history

This day in history: 21 August

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

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Key facts

385 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 21 August.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2017: A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day: Abraham of Smolensk (Eastern Orthodox Church)

Christian Feast Day: August 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian Feast Day: Bernard of Alzira

Christian Feast Day: Blessed Victoire Rasoamanarivo

Christian Feast Day: Cyriaca

Christian Feast Day: Euprepius of Verona

Christian Feast Day: Maximilian of Antioch

Christian Feast Day: Our Lady of Knock

Christian Feast Day: Pope Pius X

Christian Feast Day: Sidonius Apollinaris

Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)

World Senior Citizen's Day

Events

2017A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.

2013Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.

2000American golfer Tiger Woods wins the 82nd PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a calendar year.

1995Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, attempts to divert to West Georgia Regional Airport after the left engine fails, but the aircraft crashes in Carroll County near Carrollton, Georgia, killing nine of the 2

1994Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 crashes in Douar Izounine, Morocco, killing all 44 people on board.

1993NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

1991Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

1991Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.

1988The 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.

1986Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometre (12 mi) range.

1983Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. is assassinated at Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport in his honor).

1982Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.

1971A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos political candidates injured.

1968Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

1968James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

1965The Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed, following the adoption of a new constitution.

1963Xá 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.

1959United 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.

1957The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.

1945Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

1944Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.

1944World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategically important town of Falaise, Calvados, France.

1942World War II: The Guadalcanal campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.

1918World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.

1914World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.

1911The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.

1901Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.

1888The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.

1883An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.

1879The locals of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland report their having seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The apparition is later named "Our Lady of Knock" and the spot transformed into a Catholic pilgrimage site.

1878The American Bar Association is founded in Saratoga Springs, New York.

1863Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by pro-Confederate guerrillas known as Quantrill's Raiders.

1862The Stadtpark, the first public park in Vienna, opens to the public.

1858The first of the Lincoln–Douglas debates is held in Ottawa, Illinois.

1852Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.

1831Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites and about twice that number of blacks.

1821Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.

1810Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.

1808Battle 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.

1791Enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, led by Dutty Boukman, held a Vodou ceremony that became a pivotal act of resistance. This gathering sparked a mass uprising against slavery, marking the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.

Born on this day

2007Piper Rockelle, American model and singer

2002Kenji Fan, Hong Kong model and actor

2002Zion Suzuki, Japanese footballer

2000Corbin Carroll, American baseball player

1999Maxim Knight, American actor

1996Karolína Muchová, Czech tennis player

1995Dominik Kubalík, Czech ice hockey player

1994Alex Cooper, American podcaster

1994Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu, British-Turkish reality television personality, actress and model

1993Mike Evans, American football player

1993Millie Bright, English footballer

1992Brandon Drury, American baseball player

1992Felipe Nasr, Brazilian race car driver

1992RJ Mitte, American actor

1991Jesse Rutherford, American singer and songwriter

1991Leandro Bacuna, Dutch footballer

1990Bo Burnham, American comedian, musician, actor, filmmaker and poet

1990Christian Vázquez, Puerto Rican baseball player

1989Aleix Vidal, Spanish footballer

1989Charlison Benschop, Dutch footballer

1989Hayden Panettiere, American actress (died 2026)

1989James Davey, English rugby league player

1989Matteo Gentili, Italian footballer

1988Joanna Mitrosz, Polish rhythmic gymnast

1988Kacey Musgraves, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1988Robert Lewandowski, Polish footballer

1987Cody Kasch, American actor

1987DeWanna Bonner, American-Macedonian basketball player

1987J. D. Martinez, American baseball player

1987Jodie Meeks, American basketball player and coach

1986Brooks Wheelan, American comedian and actor

1986Koki Sakamoto, Japanese gymnast

1986Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Thai politician and 31st Prime Minister of Thailand

1986Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter

1986Wout Brama, Dutch footballer

1985Aleksandra Kiryashova, Russian pole vaulter

1985Nicolás Almagro, Spanish tennis player

1984Alizée, French singer

1984Melvin Upton, Jr., American baseball player

1984Neil Dexter, South African cricketer

Died on this day

2026Nancy Kassebaum, American businesswoman and politician (born 1932)

2026Sowcar Janaki, Indian actress (born 1931)

2026Zolani Tete, South African boxer (born 1988)

2024Bill Pascrell, American politician (born 1937)

2024John Amos, American actor (born 1939)

2024Nell McCafferty, Northern Irish journalist, playwright and civil rights campaigner (born 1944)

2019Celso Piña, Mexican singer, composer, arranger, and accordionist (born 1953)

2019Ifeanyi Chiejine, Nigerian footballer (born 1983)

2018Stefán Karl Stefánsson, Icelandic actor and singer (born 1975)

2017Bajram Rexhepi, First Kosovan Prime Ministers of UN mission administration in Kosovo (born 1954)

2015Colin Beyer, New Zealand lawyer and businessman (born 1938)

2015Jimmy Evert, American tennis player and coach (born 1924)

2015Wang Dongxing, Chinese commander and politician (born 1916)

2014Albert Reynolds, Irish businessman and politician, ninth Taoiseach of Ireland (born 1932)

2014Gerry Anderson, Irish radio and television host (born 1944)

2014Helen Bamber, English psychotherapist and academic (born 1925)

2014Jean Redpath, Scottish singer-songwriter (born 1937)

2014Steven R. Nagel, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1946)

2013C. Gordon Fullerton, American colonel, engineer, and astronaut (born 1936)

2013Enos Nkala, Zimbabwean politician, Zimbabwean Minister of Defence (born 1932)

2013Fred Martin, Scottish footballer (born 1929)

2013Jean Berkey, American lawyer and politician (born 1938)

2013Sid Bernstein, American record producer (born 1918)

2012Don Raleigh, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1926)

2012Georg Leber, German soldier and politician, Federal Minister of Defence for Germany (born 1920)

2012Guy Spitaels, Belgian academic and politician, seventh Minister-President of Wallonia (born 1931)

2012J. Frank Raley Jr., American soldier and politician (born 1926)

2012William Thurston, American mathematician and academic (born 1946)

2010Rodolfo Enrique Fogwill, Argentinean sociologist and author (born 1941)

2009Rex Shelley, Singaporean engineer and author (born 1930)

Quote of the day

“Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

Seneca

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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