August 21

### Up to 1900

- 1140 – China: Song Dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin Dynasty general Wanyan Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin-Song Wars.
- 1192 – Minamoto Yoritomo becomes de facto ruler of Japan.
- 1526 – Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar reaches the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
- 1680 – Pueblo Native Americans capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
- 1689 – The Battle of Dunkeld takes place in Scotland.
- 1728 – Vitus Bering discovers Saint Lawrence Island in the now–named Bering Sea.
- 1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
- 1772 – Half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden is ended when King Gustav III adopts a new constitution.
- 1778 – American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost of Pondicherry in India.
- 1810 – The Swedish parliament elects Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte as crown prince.
- 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.
- 1842 – The city of Hobart, capital of Tasmania, is founded.
- 1852 – Tlingits destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon.
- 1858 – In the United States, the first in a series of debates takes place between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas.
- 1863 – Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by Confederate troops.
- 1883 – A Force 5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota.
- 1888 – The first successful adding machine in the US is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
- 1891 – Chilean Civil War: The Battle of Concon takes place.
- 1897 – Oldsmobile, a brand of American automobiles, is founded.

### 1901 – 2000

- 1911 – In the night to August 22, Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting, the Mona Lisa, is stolen from the Louvre in Paris. It is recovered two years later.
- 1914 – World War I: Battle of Charleroi – a successful German attack across the River Sambre.
- 1918 – World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
- 1940 – Former Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky dies in Mexico City, one day after being wounded with an ice–ax.
- 1942 – World War II Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack from Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of Tenaru.
- 1942 – World War II: The flag of Nazi Germany is put on top of Mount Elbrus, the highest point in the Caucasus mountains.
- 1944 – World War II: The Dumbarton Oaks Conference begins, on the way to creating the UN.
- 1944 – World War II: Canadian and Polish units capture the strategic town of Falaise, Calvados, France.
- 1957 – The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long–range test flight of the R–7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.
- 1959 – Hawaii becomes the 50th State of the United States.
- 1961 – Motown releases what would become its first Number One hit, Please, Mr. Postman by the Marvelettes.
- 1963 – The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngo Dinh Nhu, brother of Ngo Dinh Diem, vandalizes Buddhist pagodas, arresting thousands and leaving an estimated hundreds dead.
- 1968 – The Prague Spring uprising in Czechoslovakia is brutally crushed by Warsaw Pact forces.
- 1969 – An Australian, Denis Michael Rohan, sets the Al-Aqsa Mosque on fire.
- 1971 – A bomb explodes at a Liberal Party campaign rally in Manila, Philippines, injuring several anti–Ferdinand Marcos candidates.
- 1979 – Soviet dancer Alexander Godunov defects to the United States.
- 1982 – Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestinian Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.
- 1983 – Filipino opposition leader Benigno Aquino, Jr. is murdered at Manila International Airport, on his return from exile.
- 1986 – Carbon dioxide gas erupts from the volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people, within a 20 km range, as they slept.
- 1987 – Dirty Dancing has its first showing in the United States.
- 1991 – Latvia declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
- 1991 – The August Coup, a coup against Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, fails.
- 1993 – NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

### From 2001

- 2001 – NATO decides to send a peacekeeping force to the Republic of Macedonia.
- 2001 – The International Red Cross announces that Tajikistan is being struck by a famine, and calls for aid to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
- 2007 – Hurricane Dean makes landfall in Costa Maya, Mexico, as a category 5 hurricane.
- 2010 – Australia's 2010 General Election is the closest in years with little to separate Julia Gillard of the Australian Labor Party and Tony Abbott of the Conservative Liberal Party of Australia. Through the support of independent MPs, Julia Gillard is allowed to stay on as Prime Minister of Australia.
- 2013 – Chemical attacks are carried out in Ghouta, Syria, during the Syrian Civil War, killing hundreds of people.
- 2016 – The 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, end.
- 2017 – American naval ship "USS John S. McCain" collides with a merchant vessel near Singapore, killing 11 sailors.
- 2017 – A total solar eclipse is seen across several states of the United States, from Oregon to South Carolina, with partial eclipses seen over several other countries and the North Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
- 2019 – Brazil's Institute for Space Research reports a record number of fires burning in the Amazon rainforest, with 36,000 in the year up to this date, and smoke reaching as far south as Sao Paulo.

### Up to 1900

- 1165 – King Philip II of France (d. 1223)
- 1535 – Shimazu Yoshihiro, Japanese samurai and warlord (d. 1619)
- 1567 – Francis de Sales, French mystic and church teacher (d. 1622)
- 1597 – Roger Twysden, English historian and politician (d. 1672)
- 1643 – King Afonso VI of Portugal (d. 1683)
- 1660 – Hubert Gautier, French scientist and civil engineer (d. 1737)
- 1665 – Giacomo F. Maraldi, Italian–French astronomer and mathematician (d. 1729)
- 1725 – Jean-Baptiste Greuze, French painter (d. 1805)
- 1754 – William Murdoch, Scottish inventor (d. 1839)
- 1765 – King William IV of the United Kingdom (d. 1837)
- 1773 – Jens Christian Djurhuus, Faroese farmer and poet (d. 1853)
- 1789 – Augustin Louis Cauchy, French mathematician (d. 1857)
- 1798 – Jules Michelet, French historian (d. 1874)
- 1800 – Hiram Walden, American politician (d. 1880)
- 1805 – August Bournonville, Danish dancer and choreographer (d. 1879)
- 1813 – Jean Stas, Belgian chemist (d. 1891)
- 1821 – Andrew Kim Taegon, South Korean priest (d. 1846)
- 1823 – Nathaniel Everett Green, English painter, educator and astronomer (d. 1899)
- 1826 – Karl Gegenbaur, German anatomist (d. 1903)
- 1845 – William Healey Dall, American naturalist, palaeontologist and explorer (d. 1927)
- 1858 – Rudolf, Crown Prince of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria (d. 1889)
- 1862 – Emilio Salgari, Italian writer (d. 1911)
- 1869 – William Henry Ogilvie, Scottish–Australian poet (d. 1963)
- 1872 – Aubrey Beardsley, English illustrator (d. 1898)
- 1878 – Richard Girulaitis, German football manager (d. 1963)
- 1884 – Chandler Egan, American golfer (d. 1936)
- 1887 – James Paul Moody, Sixth officer of the RMS Titanic (d. 1912)
- 1891 – Emiliano Mercado del Toro, Puerto Rican supercentenarian (d. 2007)
- 1892 – Charles Vanel, French actor and director (d. 1989)
- 1893 – Lili Boulanger, French composer (d. 1918)

### 1901 – 1950

- 1902 – Angel Karaliychev, Bulgarian writer (d. 1972)
- 1904 – Count Basie, American musician, bandleader and composer (d. 1984)
- 1906 – Friz Freleng, American animator (d. 1995)
- 1908 – M. M. Kaye, British writer (d. 2004)
- 1909 – Nikolay Bogolyubov, Russian physicist (d. 1992)
- 1909 – C. Douglas Dillon, American politician (d. 2003)
- 1909 – Ethel Caterham, English supercentenarian
- 1917 – Leonid Hurwicz, Polish–born American economist (d. 2008)
- 1918 – Billy Reay, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2004)
- 1920 – Christopher Robin Milne, inspiration for Winnie the Pooh stories (d. 1996)
- 1921 – Reuven Feuerstein, Israeli psychologist (d. 2014)
- 1923 – Keith Allen, Canadian ice hockey player and coach (d. 2014)
- 1924 – Arthur Janov, American psychologist, psychotherapist and writer (d. 2017)
- 1926 – Marian Jaworski, Polish–Ukrainian cardinal
- 1927 – Wilhelm Killmayer, German composer and conductor (d. 2017)
- 1927 – Thomas S. Monson, American Mormon Church leader (d. 2018)
- 1928 – Chris Brasher, British athlete (d. 2003)
- 1928 – Marie Severin, American comic book artist (d. 2018)
- 1929 – Herman Badillo, American politician (d. 2014)
- 1929 – Ahmed Kathrada, South African political activist (d. 2017)
- 1930 – Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, member of the British royal family (d. 2002)
- 1930 – Frank Perry, American movie director (d. 1995)
- 1932 – Menashe Kadishman, Israeli sculptor and painter (d. 2015)
- 1932 – Melvin Van Peebles, American actor and screenwriter
- 1933 – Michael Dacher, German mountaineer (d. 1994)
- 1933 – Janet Baker, English mezzo–soprano
- 1933 – Barry Norman, English movie critic (d. 2017)
- 1934 – John L. Hall, American physicist
- 1934 – Sudhakarrao Naik, Indian politician, 13th Chief Minister of Maharashtra (d. 2001)
- 1935 – Bernhard Eckstein, German track cyclist (d. 2017)
- 1935 – Anatoly Gladilin, Russian writer (d. 2018)
- 1936 – Radish Tordia, Georgian painter
- 1936 – Wilt Chamberlain, American basketball player (d. 1999)
- 1936 – Booth Gardner, former Governor of Washington (d. 2013)
- 1937 – Donald Dewar, Scottish politician, 1st First Minister of Scotland (d. 2000)
- 1937 – Gustavo Noboa, former President of Ecuador
- 1937 – Robert Stone, American novelist (d. 2015)
- 1938 – Nicolás Ardito Barletta Vallarino, former President of Panama
- 1938 – Steve Cowper, former Governor of Alaska
- 1938 – Kenny Rogers, American singer (d. 2020)
- 1939 – Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana
- 1939 – James Burton, American guitarist
- 1943 – Gary Friedrich, American comic book writer (d. 2018)
- 1943 – Clarence Williams III, American actor
- 1943 – Jonathan Schell, American author (d. 2014)
- 1943 – Lucius Shepard, American writer (d. 2014)
- 1943 – Hugh Wilson, American film and television director (d. 2018)
- 1944 – Peter Weir, Australian movie director
- 1944 – Perry Christie, former Prime Minister of the Bahamas
- 1945 – Patty McCormack, American actress
- 1945 – Basil Poledouris, American movie score composer (d. 2006)
- 1946 – Margaret Chan, former Director–General of the World Health Organization
- 1949 – Loretta Devine, American actress
- 1950 – Arthur Bremer, American criminal
- 1950 – Patrick Juvet, Swiss singer

### 1951 – 1975

- 1951 – Karekin II, head of the Armenian Apostolic Church
- 1951 – Eric Goles, Chilean mathematician and computer scientist
- 1952 – Jiri Paroubek, 6th Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
- 1952 – Glenn Hughes, British musician
- 1952 – Joe Strummer, British musician and singer (d. 2002)
- 1954 – Archie Griffin, American football player
- 1954 – Chip Coffey, American psychic, medium and television personality
- 1956 – Kim Cattrall, British–born actress
- 1956 – Laura Morante, Italian actress
- 1956 – Jon Tester, United States Senator
- 1957 – Budgie, English musician
- 1957 – Tignous, French cartoonist (d. 2015)
- 1961 – V. B. Chandrasekhar, Indian cricketer (d. 2019)
- 1961 – Stephen Hillenburg, American marine biologist, animator, writer and director, creator of SpongeBob SquarePants (d. 2018)
- 1962 – Tsutomu Miyazaki, Japanese serial killer (d. 2008)
- 1963 – King Mohammed VI of Morocco
- 1965 – Nigel Pearson, English football manager
- 1967 – Charb, French cartoonist and journalist, Editor of Charlie Hebdo (d. 2015)
- 1967 – Serj Tankian, Armenian–American singer (System of a Down)
- 1967 – Carrie-Anne Moss, Canadian actress
- 1967 – Noel Francisco, 47th Solicitor General of the United States
- 1967 – Darren Bewick, Australian footballer
- 1968 – Antonio Benarrivo, Italian footballer
- 1968 – Laura Trevelyan, British broadcaster
- 1969 – Julie Etchingham, British journalist and news presenter
- 1971 – Mamadou Diallo, Senegalese footballer
- 1971 – Liam Howlett, English musician
- 1973 – Steve McKenna, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1973 – Sergey Brin, Russian–born co–founder of Google
- 1973 – Nikolai Valuev, Russian boxer
- 1975 – Alicia Witt, American actress

### From 1976

- 1976 – Jeff Cunningham, Jamaican–American soccer player
- 1978 – Jason Marquis, American baseball player
- 1979 – Joel Griffiths, Australian footballer
- 1979 – Kelis, American singer
- 1980 – Joanne Froggatt, English actress
- 1981 – Cameron Winklevoss, American rower and businessman
- 1981 – Tyler Winklevoss, American rower and businessman
- 1983 – Scott McDonald, Australian footballer
- 1983 – Josh Harrington, American BMX rider
- 1983 – Chantelle Houghton, British television personality
- 1983 – Brody Jenner, American actor
- 1984 – Alizée, French singer
- 1984 – Eve Torres, American dancer, model and wrestler
- 1985 – Aleksandra Kiryashova, Russian pole vaulter
- 1985 – Nicolás Almagro, Spanish tennis player
- 1986 – Wout Brama, Dutch footballer
- 1986 – Usain Bolt, Jamaican sprinter
- 1987 – Kim Kibum, South Korean singer and actor
- 1988 – Robert Lewandowski, Polish footballer
- 1988 – Kacey Musgraves, American country music singer
- 1989 – Judd Trump, British snooker player
- 1989 – Rob Knox, British actor (d. 2008)
- 1989 – Hayden Panettiere, American actress, model and singer
- 1990 – Jared Staal, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1990 – Bo Burnham, American comedian, singer-songwriter, musician and actor
- 1990 – Omar El Kaddouri, Belgian footballer
- 1992 – Brad Kavanagh, English songwriter and actor
- 1992 – RJ Mitte, American actor
- 1996 – Jamia Simone Nash, American singer and actress

### Up to 1900

- 1131 – Baldwin of Jerusalem (b. 1060)
- 1157 – Alfonso VII of Leon and Castile (b. 1104)
- 1271 – Alphonse, Count of Poitiers, son of Louis VIII of France (b. 1220)
- 1581 – Sakuma Nobumori, Japanese retainer and samurai (b. 1527)
- 1614 – Elizabeth Bathory, Hungarian countess and serial killer (b. 1560)
- 1627 – Jacques Mauduit, French composer (b. 1557)
- 1762 – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English writer (b. 1689)
- 1763 – Charles Wyndham, 2nd Earl of Egremont, British statesman (b. 1710)
- 1775 – Daher el-Omar, Arab ruler of Galilee (b. 1690)
- 1796 – John McKinly, American physician and President of Delaware (b. 1721)
- 1814 – Benjamin Thompson, American physicist and inventor (b. 1753)
- 1836 – Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist (b. 1785)
- 1838 – Adelbert von Chamisso, German poet and botanist (b. 1781)
- 1854 – Thomas Clayton, American lawyer and politician (b. 1777)
- 1870 – Ma Xinyi, Chinese Viceroy of Liangjing and statesman (b. 1821)

### 1901 – 2000

- 1910 – Gustave Moynier, Swiss jurist (b. 1826)
- 1919 – Laurence Doherty, English tennis player (b. 1875)
- 1926 – Ugyen Wangchuck, King of Bhutan (b. 1862)
- 1935 – John Hartley, English tennis player (b. 1849)
- 1935 – Pavlos Kountouriotis, Greek politician (b. 1855)
- 1940 – Leon Trotsky, Ukrainian revolutionary and Marxist (b. 1879)
- 1940 – Hermann Obrecht, Swiss politician (b. 1882)
- 1940 – Ernest Thayer, American poet (b. 1863)
- 1943 – Henrik Pontoppidan, Danish writer (b. 1857)
- 1947 – Ettore Bugatti, Italian automobile manufacturer (b. 1881)
- 1947 – Theodore C. Bilbo, Governor of Mississippi (b. 1877)
- 1951 – Constant Lambert, British composer and conductor (b. 1905)
- 1957 – Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian oceanographer and professor (b. 1888)
- 1964 – Palmiro Togliatti, Italian politician (b. 1893)
- 1971 – George Jackson, American activist and author (b. 1941)
- 1978 – Charles Eames, American designer and architect (b. 1907)
- 1979 – Giuseppe Meazza, Italian footballer (b. 1910)
- 1981 – Michael Devine, Irish hunger striker (b. 1954)
- 1982 – Sobhuza II, King of Swaziland (b. 1899)
- 1983 – Benigno Aquino, Jr., Filipino politician (b. 1932)
- 1988 – Ray Eames, American designer, artist and architect (b. 1912)
- 1989 – Raul Seixas, Brazilian singer (b. 1945)
- 1991 – Wolfgang Hildesheimer, German writer (b. 1916)
- 1995 – Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Indian astrophysicist (b. 1910)
- 1997 – Misael Pastrana, President of Colombia (b. 1923)
- 2000 – Daniel Lusilo, Prime Minister of Zambia (b. 1930)
- 2000 – Andrzej Zawada, Polish mountaineer (b. 1928)
- 2000 – Bubi Scholz, German boxer (b. 1930)

### From 2001

- 2005 – Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Robert Moog, American pioneer of electronic music (b. 1934)
- 2005 – Martin Dillon, American opera singer (b. 1957)
- 2007 – Haley Paige, American pornographic actress (b. 1981)
- 2010 – Christoph Schlingensief, German director (b. 1960)
- 2012 – William Thurston, American mathematician (b. 1946)
- 2013 – C. Gordon Fullerton, American astronaut (b. 1936)
- 2013 – Sid Bernstein, American record producer (b. 1918)
- 2014 – Albert Reynolds, Irish Taoiseach (b. 1932)
- 2014 – Jean Redpath, Scottish folk singer (b. 1937)
- 2014 – Robert Hansen, American serial killer (b. 1939)
- 2014 – Gerry Anderson, Northern Irish broadcaster (b. 1944)
- 2014 – Raed al Atar, Palestinian military commander (b. 1974)
- 2014 – Steven R. Nagel, American astronaut (b. 1946)
- 2015 – Wang Dongxing, Chinese politician (b. 1916)
- 2015 – Anna Kashfi, British actress (b. 1934)
- 2015 – Gerry Steinberg, British politician (b. 1945)
- 2017 – James Joseph Dresnok, American Korean War military personnel and actor (b. 1942)
- 2017 – Greg Evers, American politician (b. 1955)
- 2017 – Roberto Gottardi, Italian architect (b. 1927)
- 2017 – Thomas Meehan, American playwright (b. 1929)
- 2017 – Abdur Razzak, Bangladeshi actor (b. 1942)
- 2017 – Bajram Rexhepi, Kosovar politician (b. 1954)
- 2017 – Boris Spremo, Yugoslavian–born Canadian photojournalist (b. 1935)
- 2017 – Perch Zeytuntsyan, Egyptian–Armenian playwright and screenwriter (b. 1938)
- 2018 – Barbara Harris, American actress (b. 1935)
- 2018 – Spencer P. Jones, New Zealand–Australian singer–songwriter and guitarist (b. 1958)
- 2018 – Villano III, Mexican  professional wrestler (b. 1952)
- 2018 – Stefan Karl Stefansson, Icelandic actor (b. 1975)
- 2018 – Otávio Frias Filho, Brazilian journalist (b. 1957)
- 2018 – Charles Gain, American police officer (b. 1923)
- 2019 – Dina bint Abdul-Hamid, Jordanian princess, former Queen Consort of Jordan (b. 1929)
- 2019 – Norma Croker, Australian athlete (b. 1934)
- 2019 – Babulal Gaur, Indian politician, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh (b. 1930)
- 2019 – Celso Piña, Mexican singer and musician (b. 1953)

## Observances

- Admission Day (Hawaii)
- Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)
- Youth Day (Morocco)
- Regaining of Independence (Latvia)