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This day in history

This day in history: 31 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 day257 · 114

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Key facts

426 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 31 August.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: A landslide in the Darfur region of Sudan kills over 1000 people.

Holidays and observances

Baloch-Pakhtun Unity Day (Balochs and Pashtuns, International observance)

Christian feast day: Aidan of Lindisfarne

Christian feast day: Aristides of Athens

Christian feast day: August 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Cuthburh

Christian feast day: Joseph of Arimathea

Christian feast day: Nicodemus

Christian feast day: Paulinus of Trier

Christian feast day: Raymond Nonnatus

Christian feast day: Wala of Corbie

Day of Solidarity and Freedom (Poland)

Departure Day, celebrates the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan

Events

2025A landslide in the Darfur region of Sudan kills over 1000 people.

2025An earthquake in eastern Afghanistan kills over 1400 people.

2024A helicopter crashes in Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East, killing all 22 occupants.

2019A sightseeing helicopter crashes in the mountains of Skoddevarre in Alta, Norway, killing all six people on board.

2016Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office.

2006Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.

2005The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 953 people.

2002Typhoon Rusa, the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in 43 years, makes landfall, killing at least 236 people.

1999A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground.

1999The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.

1997Diana, Princess of Wales, her partner, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.

1996Saddam Hussein's troops seize Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.

1994Argentina abolishes conscription after months of social backlash over the murder of a conscript.

1994Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia.

1993Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania.

1991Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

1988CAAC Flight 301 overshoots the runway at Kai Tak Airport and crashes into Kowloon Bay, killing seven people.

1988Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crashes during takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, killing 14.

1987Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard.

1986Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.

1986The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.

1972Aeroflot Flight 558 crashes in the Abzelilovsky District in Bashkortostan, Russia (then the Soviet Union), killing all 102 people aboard.

1968Start of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses.

1963Crown Colony of North Borneo (now Sabah) achieves self-governance.

1962Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.

1959A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

1957The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

1950TWA Flight 903 crashes near Itay El Barud, Egypt, killing all 55 aboard.

1949The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece into Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War.

1943USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.

1941World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica.

1940Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.

1939Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.

1936Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air.

1935In an attempt to stay out of the growing tensions concerning Germany and Japan, the United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts.

1933The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage.

1920Polish–Soviet War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.

1918World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive.

1907Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Anglo-Russian Convention, by which the UK recognizes Russian preeminence in northern Persia, while Russia recognizes British preeminence in southeastern Persia and Afghanistan. Both powers pledge not t

1895German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon.

Born on this day

2004Jang Won-young, South Korean singer and model

2001Amanda Anisimova, American tennis player

2000Sauce Gardner, American football player

1998BossMan Dlow, American rapper

1997Jaylen Barron, American actress

1996Jalen Brunson, American basketball player

1995Brittany Mahomes, American soccer player

1994Alex Harris, Scottish footballer

1994Can Aktav, Turkish football player

1993Anna Karnaukh, Russian water polo player

1993Ilnur Alshin, Russian football player

1993Pablo Marí, Spanish football player

1992Holly Earl, British actress

1992Nicolás Tagliafico, Argentine footballer

1992Ragna Sigurðardóttir, Icelandic politician

1992Tyler Randell, Australian rugby league player

1991António Félix da Costa, Portuguese race car driver

1991Cédric Soares, Portuguese footballer

1990Tadeja Majerič, Slovenian tennis player

1989Dezmon Briscoe, American football player

1988Athena, American wrestler

1988David Ospina, Colombian footballer

1988Matt Adams, American baseball player

1988Trent Hodkinson, Australian rugby league player

1987Ondřej Pavelec, Czech ice hockey player

1987Petros Kravaritis, Greek footballer

1987Xavi Annunziata, Spanish footballer

1986Blake Wheeler, American ice hockey player

1986Johnny Wactor, American actor (died 2024)

1986Ryan Kelley, American actor

1985Andrew Foster, Australian footballer

1985Mabel Matiz, Turkish singer

1985Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia

1985Rolando, Portuguese footballer

1984Charl Schwartzel, South African golfer

1984Matti Breschel, Danish cyclist

1984Ryan Kesler, American ice hockey player

1984Ted Ligety, American skier

1983Deniz Aydoğdu, German-Turkish footballer

1983Larry Fitzgerald, American football player

Died on this day

2024Sol Bamba, Ivorian-French footballer (born 1985)

2023Silvina Luna, Argentine model and actress (born 1980)

2021Francesco Morini, Italian footballer (born 1944)

2021Geronimo, British alpaca (born 2013)

2021Mahal, Filipino comedian and actress (born 1974)

2021Michael Constantine, Greek-American actor (born 1927)

2020Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India (born 1935)

2020Tom Seaver, American baseball player (born 1944)

2019Alec Holowka, Canadian game developer (born 1983)

2019Anthoine Hubert, French race car driver (born 1996)

2018Carole Shelley, British-American actress (born 1939)

2015Edward Douglas-Scott-Montagu, 3rd Baron Montagu of Beaulieu, English politician, founded the National Motor Museum (born 1926)

2015Tom Scott, American football player (born 1930)

2014Bapu, Indian director and screenwriter (born 1933)

2014Carol Vadnais, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (born 1945)

2014Stan Goldberg, American illustrator (born 1932)

2014Ștefan Andrei, Romanian politician, 87th Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1931)

2013Alan Carrington, English chemist and academic (born 1934)

2013David Frost, English journalist and game show host (born 1939)

2013Jan Camiel Willems, Belgian mathematician and theorist (born 1939)

2013Jimmy Greenhalgh, English footballer and manager (born 1923)

2012Carlo Maria Martini, Italian cardinal (born 1927)

2012Joe Lewis, American martial artist and actor (born 1944)

2012John C. Shabaz, American judge and politician (born 1931)

2012Kashiram Rana, Indian lawyer and politician (born 1938)

2012Max Bygraves, English actor (born 1922)

2012Sergey Sokolov, Russian commander and politician, 6th Minister of Defence for The Soviet Union (born 1911)

2011Wade Belak, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1976)

2010Laurent Fignon, French cyclist (born 1960)

2009Eraño Manalo, Filipino religious minister and Executive Minister of the Iglesia ni Cristo (born 1925)

Quote of the day

“Only the educated are free.”

Epictetus

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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