On This Day — 29 August

2022

Russo-Ukrainian war: Ukraine begins its southern counteroffensive in the Kherson Oblast, eventually culminating in the liberation of the city of Kherson.

Russo-Ukrainian war

2020

2020 Women's FA Community Shield.

2020 Women's FA Community Shield

2012

At least 26 Chinese miners are killed and 21 missing after a blast in the Xiaojiawan coal mine, located at Panzhihua, Sichuan Province.

Xiaojiawan coal mine disaster

2012

The XIV Paralympic Games open in London, England, United Kingdom.

2012 Summer Paralympics

2005

Hurricane Katrina devastates much of the U.S. Gulf Coast from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, killing up to 1,392 people and causing $125 billion in damage.

Hurricane Katrina

2003

Sayed Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the Shia Muslim leader in Iraq, is assassinated in a terrorist bombing, along with nearly 100 worshippers as they leave a mosque in Najaf.

Sayyid

2001

Four people are killed when Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261 crashes into the N-340 highway near Málaga Airport.

Binter Mediterráneo Flight 8261

1998

Eighty people are killed when Cubana de Aviación Flight 389 crashes during a rejected takeoff from the Old Mariscal Sucre International Airport in Quito, Ecuador.

Cubana de Aviación Flight 389

1997

Netflix is launched as an internet DVD rental service.

Netflix

1997

At least 98 villagers are killed by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria.

Armed Islamic Group of Algeria

1996

Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801, a Tupolev Tu-154, crashes into a mountain on the Arctic island of Spitsbergen, killing all 141 aboard.

Vnukovo Airlines Flight 2801

1991

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union suspends all activities of the Soviet Communist Party.

Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union

1991

Libero Grassi, an Italian businessman from Palermo, is killed by the Sicilian Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands.

Libero Grassi

1987

Odaeyang mass suicide: Thirty-three individuals linked to a religious cult are found dead in the attic of a cafeteria in Yongin, South Korea. Investigators attribute their deaths to a murder-suicide pact.

Evangelical Baptist Church of Korea

1982

Meitnerium, a synthetic chemical element with the atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.

Meitnerium

1975

El Tacnazo: Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Peruvian Prime Minister carries out a coup d'état in the city of Tacna, forcing the sitting President of Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado, to resign and assuming his place as the new President.

Tacnazo

1970

Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Rubén Salazar.

Chicano Moratorium

1966

The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

The Beatles

1966

Leading Egyptian thinker Sayyid Qutb is executed for plotting the assassination of President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

Sayyid Qutb

1965

The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Gemini 5

1960

Air France Flight 343 crashes on approach to Yoff Airport in Senegal, killing all 63 aboard.

Air France Flight 343

1958

United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

United States Air Force Academy

1952

American experimental composer John Cage's 4’33” premieres at Maverick Concert Hall, played by American pianist David Tudor.

Experimental music

1949

Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

Soviet atomic bomb project

1948

Northwest Airlines Flight 421 crashes in Fountain City, Wisconsin, killing all 37 aboard.

Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 421

1944

World War II: Slovak National Uprising takes place as 60,000 Slovak troops turn against the Nazis.

Slovak National Uprising

1943

World War II: German-occupied Denmark scuttles most of its navy; Germany dissolves the Danish government.

Denmark in World War II

1941

World War II: Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is occupied by Nazi Germany following an occupation by the Soviet Union.

World War II

1930

The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.

St Kilda, Scotland

1918

World War I: Bapaume taken by the New Zealand Division in the Hundred Days Offensive.

Bapaume

1916

The United States passes the Philippine Autonomy Act.

Jones Law (Philippines)

1915

US Navy salvage divers raise F-4, the first U.S. submarine sunk in an accident.

USS F-4

1914

World War I: Start of the Battle of St. Quentin in which the French Fifth Army counter-attacked the invading Germans at Saint-Quentin, Aisne.

World War I

1912

A typhoon strikes China, killing at least 50,000 people.

1912 China typhoon

1911

Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.

Ishi

1911

The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.

Royal Canadian Navy

1910

The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, becomes effective, officially starting the period of Japanese rule in Korea.

Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910

1907

The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.

Quebec Bridge

1903

The Slava, the last of the five Borodino-class battleships, is launched.

Russian battleship Slava

1898

The Goodyear tire company is founded in Akron, Ohio.

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company

1885

Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle with an internal combustion engine, the Reitwagen.

Gottlieb Daimler

1871

Emperor Meiji orders the abolition of the han system and the establishment of prefectures as local centers of administration. (Traditional Japanese date: July 14, 1871).

Emperor Meiji

1869

The Mount Washington Cog Railway opens, making it the world's first mountain-climbing rack railway.

Mount Washington Cog Railway

1861

American Civil War: The Battle of Hatteras Inlet Batteries gives Federal forces control of Pamlico Sound.

American Civil War

1842

Treaty of Nanking signing ends the First Opium War.

Treaty of Nanking

1831

Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction.

Michael Faraday

1825

Portuguese and Brazilian diplomats sign the Treaty of Rio de Janeiro, which has Portugal recognise Brazilian independence, formally ending the Brazilian War of Independence. The treaty will be ratified by the King of Portugal three months later.

Kingdom of Portugal

1807

British troops under Sir Arthur Wellesley defeat a Danish militia outside Copenhagen in the Battle of Køge.

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

1786

Shays' Rebellion, an armed uprising of Massachusetts farmers, begins in response to high debt and tax burdens.

Shays's Rebellion

1779

American Revolutionary War: American forces battle and defeat the British and Iroquois forces at the Battle of Newtown.

Haudenosaunee

1778

American Revolutionary War: British and American forces battle indecisively at the Battle of Rhode Island.

American Revolutionary War

1758

The Treaty of Easton establishes the first American Indian reservation, at Indian Mills, New Jersey, for the Lenape.

Treaty of Easton

1756

Frederick the Great attacks Saxony, beginning the Seven Years' War in Europe.

Frederick the Great

1741

The eruption of Oshima–Ōshima and the Kampo tsunami: At least 2,000 people along the Japanese coast drown in a tsunami caused by the eruption of Oshima.

1741 eruption of Oshima–Ōshima and the Kampo tsunami

1728

The city of Nuuk in Greenland is founded as the fort of Godt-Haab by the royal governor Claus Paarss.

Nuuk

1604

The Guru Granth Sahib is fully compiled and completed by Guru Arjan.

Guru Granth Sahib

1588

Toyotomi Hideyoshi issues a nationwide sword hunting ordinance, disarming the peasantry so as to firmly separate the samurai and commoner classes, prevent peasant uprisings, and further centralise his own power.

Toyotomi Hideyoshi

1541

The Ottoman Turks capture Buda, the capital of the Hungarian Kingdom.

Ottoman Turks

1526

Battle of Mohács: The Ottoman Turks led by Suleiman the Magnificent defeat and kill the last Jagiellonian king of Hungary and Bohemia.

Battle of Mohács

1521

The Ottoman Turks capture Nándorfehérvár (Belgrade).

Ottoman Turks

1498

Vasco da Gama decides to depart Calicut and return to the Kingdom of Portugal.

Vasco da Gama

1484

Pope Innocent VIII succeeds Pope Sixtus IV.

Pope Innocent VIII

1475

Hundred Years' War: The Treaty of Picquigny formally ends the war between the kingdoms of France and England.

Hundred Years' War

1350

Battle of Winchelsea (or Les Espagnols sur Mer): The English naval fleet under King Edward III defeats a Castilian fleet of 40 ships.

Battle of Winchelsea

1315

Battle of Montecatini: The army of the Republic of Pisa, commanded by Uguccione della Faggiuola, wins a decisive victory against the joint forces of the Kingdom of Naples and the Republic of Florence despite being outnumbered.

Battle of Montecatini

1261

Pope Urban IV succeeds Pope Alexander IV, becoming the 182nd pope.

Pope Urban IV

1219

The Battle of Fariskur occurs during the Fifth Crusade.

Battle of Fariskur (1219)

1009

Mainz Cathedral suffers extensive damage from a fire, which destroys the building on the day of its inauguration.

Mainz Cathedral

870

The city of Melite surrenders to an Aghlabid army following a siege, putting an end to Byzantine Malta.

Melite (ancient city)

708

Copper coins are minted in Japan for the first time (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 708).

Wadōkaichin