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August 15 in History
Historical Events on August 15
636
Arab-Byzantine wars: The Battle of Yarmouk between Byzantine Empire and Rashidun Caliphate begins.
717
Arab-Byzantine wars: Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik begins the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, which will last for nearly a year.
718
Arab-Byzantine wars: Raising of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople.
747
Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, renounces his position as majordomo and retires to a monastery near Rome. His brother Pepin the Short becomes the sole ruler (de facto) of the Frankish Kingdom.
778
The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, at which Roland is killed.
805
Noble Erchana of Dahauua grants the Bavarian town of Dachau to the Diocese of Freising
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.
1038
King Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, dies; his nephew, Peter Orseolo, succeeds him.
1057
King Macbeth is killed at the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada.
1070
The Pavian-born Benedictine Lanfranc is appointed as the new Archbishop of Canterbury in England.
1185
The cave city of Vardzia is consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia.
1237
The Battle of the Puig takes place in the context of the Spanish Reconquista pitting the forces of the Taifa of Valencia against the Kingdom of Aragon. The battle resulted in an Aragonese victory.
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 Palaiologos is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.
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.
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 Mehmed 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 Malacca Sultanate.
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
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 Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: 22 July 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.
1760
Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz: Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon.
1824
The Marquis de Lafayette, the last surviving French general of the American Revolutionary War, arrives in New York and begins a tour of 24 states.
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).
1893
Ibadan area becomes 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, the first African-American Orthodox priest, "Priest-Apostolic" to America and the West Indies.
1914
A servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright murders seven people and sets fire to the living quarters of Wright's Wisconsin home, Taliesin.
1914
The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.
1914
World War I: The First Russian Army, led by Paul von Rennenkampf, enters East Prussia.
1914
World War I: Beginning of the Battle of Cer, the first Allied victory of World War I.
1915
A story in New York World newspaper reveals that the Imperial German government had purchased excess phenol from Thomas Edison that could be used to make explosives for the war effort and diverted it to Bayer for aspirin production.
1920
Polish-Soviet War: 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
Thirteen Stukas dive into the ground during a disastrous air-practice at Neuhammer. There are no survivors.
1939
The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.
1940
An Italian submarine torpedoes and sinks the Greek cruiser Elli at Tinos harbor 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 07:12, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower for espionage.
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.
1943
World War II: Battle of Trahili: Superior German forces surround Cretan partisans, who manage to escape against all odds.
1944
World War II: Operation Dragoon: Allied forces land in southern France.
1945
Jewel Voice Broadcast by the Emperor Showa following effective surrender of Japan in the World War II, Korea gains Independence from the Empire of Japan.
1947
India gains Independence from British rule after near 190 years of Crown rule 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
Border guard Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
1962
James Joseph Dresnok defects to North Korea after running across the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Dresnok died in 2016.
1963
Execution of Henry John Burnett, the last man to be hanged in Scotland.
1963
President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of the 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, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.
1969
The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in upstate New York, featuring some of the top rock musicians of the era.
1970
Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play professionally in an American football game.
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 Park Chung-hee.
1975
Bangladeshi leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman is killed along with most members of his family during a military coup.
1975
Takeo Miki 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 Kurdistan Workers' Party 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
Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.
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.
2005
The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.
2007
An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.
2013
At 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.
2013
The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the olinguito, the first new carnivorous species found in the Americas in 35 years.
2015
North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time, 8½ hours ahead of UTC.
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