August 21 in History

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.

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