On This Day — 21 August

2017

A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.

Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017

2013

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

Ghouta chemical attack

2000

American 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.

Tiger Woods

1995

Atlantic 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 29 people on board.

Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529

1994

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

Royal Air Maroc Flight 630

1993

NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

NASA

1991

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

Latvia

1991

Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

1991 Soviet coup attempt

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.

1988 Nepal earthquake

1986

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

Volcano

1983

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

Ninoy Aquino

1982

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

Lebanese Civil War

1971

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

Liberal Party (Philippines)

1968

Cold 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.

Cold War

1968

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

James Anderson Jr.

1965

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

Socialist Republic of Romania

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.

Xá Lợi Pagoda raids

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.

President of the United States

1957

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

Soviet Union

1945

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

Harry Daghlian

1944

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

Dumbarton Oaks Conference

1944

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

Operation Tractable

1942

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

World War II

1918

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

Second Battle of the Somme

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.

World War I

1911

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

Mona Lisa

1901

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

Thomasites

1888

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

Adding machine

1883

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

1883 Rochester tornado

1879

The 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.

Knock, County Mayo

1878

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

American Bar Association

1863

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

Lawrence, Kansas

1862

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

Stadtpark, Vienna

1858

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

Lincoln–Douglas debates

1852

Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.

Tlingit

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 and about twice that number of blacks.

Nat Turner

1821

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

Jarvis Island

1810

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

Charles XIV John

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.

Battle of Vimeiro

1791

Enslaved 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.

Saint-Domingue

1778

American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.

American Revolutionary War

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.

Gustav III

1770

James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

James Cook

1716

Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The arrival of naval reinforcements and the news of the Battle of Petrovaradin force the Ottomans to abandon the Siege of Corfu, thus preserving the Ionian Islands under Venetian rule.

Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718)

1689

The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.

Battle of Dunkeld

1680

Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.

Pueblo peoples

1415

Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Conquest of Ceuta.

Prince Henry the Navigator

1331

King Stefan Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stefan Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia.

Stefan Dečanski

1192

Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Sei-i Taishōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: the 12th day of the seventh month in the third year of the Kenkyū (建久) era).

Minamoto no Yoritomo

1169

Battle of the Blacks: Uprising by the black African forces of the Fatimid army, along with a number of Egyptian emirs and commoners, against Saladin.

Battle of the Blacks

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.

Song dynasty

959

Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.

Eraclus