August 22

Events
Up to 1900
392 Arbogast is elected Roman Emperor.
476 Odoacer is proclaimed, by West Roman mercenaries, as Rex Italiae, King of Italy.
1138 Battle of the Standard between Scotland and England near Northallerton, Yorkshire.
1485 The Battle of Bosworth Field decisively ends the Wars of the Roses. Richard III of England dies, and Henry VII of England takes over, starting the period with the Tudor Dynasty ruling England, lasting until 1603.
1559 Bartholome de Carranza, Spanish archbishop, is arrested for heresy.
1639 Madras (now Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) is founded by the British East India Company.
1642 Charles I calls the English Parliament traitors. Beginning of the English Civil War
1654 Jacob Barsimson arrives in New Amsterdam. He is the first Jewish immigrant to what is later the United States
1717 Spanish troops land on Sardinia
1770 James Cook's expedition lands on the east coast of Australia
1775 King George III declares the American colonies to be in open rebellion
1777 American Revolutionary War: British forces abandon the Siege of Fort Stanwix, after hearing rumors of Continental Army reinforcements.
1780 James Cook's ship Resolution returns to England (Cook having been killed on Hawaii during the voyage)
1791 Beginning of the Haitian Slave Revolution
1827 Jose de la Mar becomes President of Peru.
1832 Dressed as an Arab, Swiss Jean Louis Burckhardt reaches Petra, the famous rock city in Jordan. In Europe, it had until then only been rumored to exist.
1848 The United States annexes New Mexico.
1851 Gold is discovered in Australia.
1851 The first America's Cup is won by the yacht America.
1864 Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention. The Red Cross is formed.
1875 The Treaty of Saint Petersburg is ratified between Russia and Japan, providing for exchange between Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands.
From 1901
1902 Cadillac Motor Company is founded
1902 Theodore Roosevelt became the first President of the United States to ride in an automobile
1910 Japan annexes Korea.
1911 The theft of the Mona Lisa is discovered, after being stolen in the night from August 21.
1914 In Belgium, British and German troops meet for the first time in World War I
1922 Michael Collins, Commander-in-Chief of the Irish Free State Army is shot dead during an anti-treaty ambush at Beal na mBlath, County Cork during the Irish Civil War.
1926 Gold is discovered in Johannesburg, South Africa.
1930 Peruvian President Augusto B. Leguia y Salcedo is deposed in a coup led by General Luis Miguel Sanchez Cerro.
1932 The BBC experiments with television broadcasting.
1934 Australian Bill Woodfull becomes the first cricket captain to regain The Ashes twice. The Ashes is a series of fives matches played between Australia and England.
1941 German troops reach Leningrad, leading to the Siege of Leningrad
1942 Brazil declares war on the Axis powers (Germany, Italy and Japan)
1944 Last transport of French Jews to concentration camps in Germany
1944 32 Spaniards and 4 Frenchmen tackle a German column (1,300 men in 60 lorries, with six tanks and two self-propelled guns), at La Madeleine, France. Three Maquis wounded, 110 Germans killed, 200 wounded.
1950 Althea Gibson becomes the first black competitor in international tennis.
1952 France permanently closes the Devil's Island penal colony off French Guiana. French convicts were often sent there.
1961 Ida Siekmann falls to her death in an attempt to cross the Berlin Wall.
1962 An attempt to assassinate French president Charles de Gaulle fails
1962 The Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered ship, completes its maiden voyage
1968 Pope Paul VI arrives in Bogota, Colombia. It is the first visit of a pope to Latin America.
1971 Hugo Banzer takes power in Bolivia.
1972 Rhodesia is expelled by the International Olympic Committee for its racist policies.
1973 United States Secretary of State William P. Rogers resigns. Henry Kissinger succeeds him.
1975 An attempt to assassinate US President Gerald Ford fails.
1978 The Sandinista Liberation Front occupies the national palace in Managua, Nicaragua.
1981 The Voyager 2 space probe photographs Saturn's moon Iapetus.
1985 The Manchester Air Disaster occurs when 55 people are killed after a fire breaks out on a commercial aircraft at Manchester International Airport.
1988 The Australian koala, the first platinum coin, is issued.
1989 The first ring of Neptune is discovered
1989 Nolan Ryan strikes out Rickey Henderson to become the first Major League Baseball pitcher to record 5000 strikeouts.
1992 FBI HRT sniper Lon Horiuchi shot and killed Vicki Weaver during an 11-day siege at her home at Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
1996 US President Bill Clinton signs welfare reform into law.
2001 The Trojan Room coffee pot is switched off for the last time.
2004 The Scream and The Madonna by Edvard Munch is stolen at gunpoint from a museum in Oslo, Norway.
2006 Pulkovo Aviation Enterprise Flight 612 crashes in eastern Ukraine, killing 170 people.
2007 Major League Baseball: The Texas Rangers defeat the Baltimore Orioles 30-3.
2011 2011 Libyan civil war: Rebel forces advance on Tripoli, as the war enters its final phase.
2015 A plane at an airshow in Shoreham, Southern England, crashes onto a motorway, killing 11 people.
Births
Up to 1900
1412 Frederick II, Elector of Saxony (d. 1464)
1485 Beatus Rhenanus, German humanist (d. 1547)
1601 Georges de Scudery, French writer (d. 1667)
1647 Denis Papin, French inventor (pressure cooker) (d. around 1712)
1724 Jens Schielderup Sneedorff, Danish author and professor of political science (d. 1764)
1760 Pope Leo XII (d. 1829)
1764 Charles Percier, French architect (d. 1838)
1771 Henry Maudslay, inventor and tool-maker (d. 1831)
1773 Aime Bonpland, French explorer (d. 1858)
1778 James Kirke Paulding, American politician, 11th United States Secretary of the Navy (d. 1860)
1800 William S. Harney, American general (d. 1889)
1800 Edward Bouverie, English theologian (d. 1882)
1818 Carlo Pisacane, Italian politician, guerrilla and writer (d. 1857)
1820 Manolache Costache Epureanu, Romanian politician (d. 1880)
1822 Virginia Clemm Poe, wife of Edgar Allan Poe (d. 1847)
1834 Samuel Pierpoint Langley, American astronomer (d. 1906)
1845 William Lewis Douglas, 42nd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1924)
1846 Amalie Skram, Norwegian-Danish writer and Women's Rights activist (d. 1905)
1847 John Forrest, Australian explorer and politician, 1st Premier of Western Australia (d. 1918)
1854 King Milan I of Serbia (d. 1901)
1857 Ned Hanlon, American baseball player and manager (d. 1937)
1860 Paul Nipkow, German inventor and television pioneer (d. 1940)
1860 Eleonore Reuss of Koestritz, Tsaritsa of Bulgaria (d. 1917)
1860 Gustaf Froding, Swedish poet (d. 1911)
1862 Claude Debussy, French composer (d. 1918)
1867 Maximilian Bircher-Benner, Swiss physician and nutritionist (d. 1939)
1873 Alexander Bogdanov, Russian philosopher and physician (d. 1928)
1874 Max Scheler, philosopher (d. 1928)
1880 George Herriman, cartoonist (d. 1944)
1882 Raymonde de Laroche, French pilot (d. 1919)
1884 Panait Istrati, Romanian writer (d. 1935)
1885 Thomas Cooke, American soccer player (d. 1964)
1887 Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1977)
1888 Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach, German general (d. 1976)
1893 Dorothy Parker, American writer (d. 1967)
1893 Wilfred Kitching, 7th General of the Salvation Army (d. 1977)
1896 Frank Loomis, American athlete (d. 1971)
1900 Sergei Ozhegov, Russian lexicographer (d. 1964)
1901 1950
1902 Leni Riefenstahl, German movie director (d. 2003)
1903 Francis Birch, English geophysicist (d. 1992)
1904 Deng Xiaoping, leader of the People's Republic of China (d. 1997)
1906 Stig Wennerstrom, Swedish spy (d. 2006)
1908 Henri Cartier-Bresson, French photographer (d. 2004)
1909 Mel Hein, American football player (d. 1992)
1909 Julius J. Epstein, American screenwriter (d. 2000)
1911 John J. Hickey, Governor of Wyoming (d. 1970)
1913 Bruno Pontecorvo, Italian physicist (d. 1992)
1915 Hugh Paddick, British actor (d. 2000)
1915 Edward Szczepanik, Polish Prime Minister (d. 2005)
1915 James Hiller, Canadian-American scientist (d. 2007)
1917 John Lee Hooker, American blues guitarist and singer (d. 2001)
1917 Oscar E. Huber, American politician (d. 2017)
1918 Said Mohamed Djohar, President of the Comoros (d. 2006)
1920 Ray Bradbury, American writer (d. 2012)
1920 Doctor Denton Cooley, American heart surgeon (d. 2016)
1924 James Kirkwood Jr., novelist (d. 1989)
1924 Ada Jafri, Pakistani poet and author (d. 2015)
1925 Honor Blackman, British actress
1928 Karlheinz Stockhausen, German composer (d. 2007)
1928 Tinga Seisay, Sierra Leonean diplomat and activist
1930 Gylmar dos Santos Neves, Brazilian footballer (d. 2013)
1932 Gerald P. Carr, American astronaut
1933 Sylva Koscina, Croatian-Italian actress
1933 Michael von Albrecht, German classical scholar
1934 Norman Schwarzkopf, American general (d. 2012)
1935 E. Annie Proulx, Canadian Pulitzer Prize-winning writer
1936 Petar Mladenov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria (d. 2000)
1937 Francesco Musso, Italian boxer
1938 Paul Maguire, American football player
1939 George Reinholt, actor
1939 Carl Yastrzemski, American Baseball Hall of Famer
1939 Valerie Harper, American actress (d. 2019)
1941 Bill Parcells, American football coach
1942 Kathy Lennon, American singer
1942 Ugur Mumcu, Turkish journalist and writer (d. 1993)
1942 Joe Klein, American baseball executive (d. 2017)
1943 Alun Michael, Welsh politician
1943 Masatoshi Shima, Japanese computer scientist
1945 David Chase, American screenwriter, director and producer
1945 Ron Dante, American singer-songwriter and producer
1947 Robert E. Cramer, American politician
1947 Donna Godchaux, American singer (Grateful Dead)
1947 Cindy Williams, actress
1948 David Marks, American songwriter and musician
1950 Lewis Libby, American White House counsel
1951 1975
1951 Chandra Prakash Mainali, Nepalese politician
1953 Paul Ellering, American weightlifter, wrestler and manager
1955 Will Shetterly, writer
1956 Paul Molitor, American Baseball Hall of Famer
1957 Steve Davis, English snooker player
1958 Colm Feore, American-Canadian actor
1958 Vernon Reid, musician (Living Colour)
1959 Pia Gjellerup, Danish politician
1959 Mark Williams, English actor and screenwriter
1960 Collin Raye, American country music singer and songwriter
1960 Regina Taylor, American actress
1961 Debbi Peterson, drummer (The Bangles)
1961 Roland Orzabal, singer and guitarist (Tears for Fears)
1961 Andres Calamaro, Argentine musician and composer
1961 Thomas Hoeren, German law professor
1962 Viktor Bryzhin, Ukrainian sprinter
1962 Ilkka Laitinen, Finnish military officer and politician (d. 2019)
1963 Tori Amos, American singer, songwriter, and pianist
1964 Mats Wilander, Swedish tennis player
1964 Andrew Wilson, American actor
1966 Paul Ereng, Kenyan athlete
1966 Rob Witschge, Dutch footballer
1967 Yukiko Okada, Japanese singer (d. 1986)
1967 Layne Staley, American musician (Alice in Chains) (d. 2002)
1967 Ty Burrell, American actor and comedian
1967 Adewode Akinnouye-Agbaje, British actor
1968 Elisabeth Murdoch, Australian businesswoman
1969 Paola Epifani, Italian artist
1970 Giada De Laurentiis, Italian-American chef and author
1971 Richard Armitage, British actor
1972 Paul Doucette, American singer-songwriter, guitarist and drummer
1972 Steve Kline, American baseball player and coach
1973 Howie Dorough, American singer-songwriter, dancer and actor (Backstreet Boys)
1973 Kristin Wiig, American actress and comedienne
1975 Rodrigo Santoro, Brazilian actor
From 1976
1977 Heidar Helguson, Icelandic footballer
1977 Jenna Leigh Green, American actress and singer
1978 Jeff Stinco, Canadian musician (Simple Plan)
1978 James Corden, English actor and television personality
1979 Jennifer Finnigan, Canadian actress
1979 Mia Audina, Indonesian-Dutch badminton player
1980 Aya Sumika, American actress
1981 Alex Holmes, American Football player
1982 Marco Wolfli, Swiss footballer
1983 Laura Breckenridge, American actress
1983 Theo Bos, Dutch motorcycle racer
1984 Lawrence Quaye, Ghanaian-Qatari footballer
1986 Keiko Kitagawa, Japanese actress
1986 Monsieur Adi, French musician, record producer and DJ
1986 Janis Vahter, Estonian basketball player
1987 Mischa Zverev, Russian-German tennis player
1991 Federico Macheda, Italian footballer
1991 Brayden Schenn, Canadian ice hockey player
1994 Olli Maatta, Finnish ice hockey player
1995 Dua Lipa, English singer and songwriter
1999 Dakota Goyo, Canadian actor
Deaths
Up to 1900
408 Stilicho, Roman general (b. 359)
1155 Emperor Konoe of Japan (b. 1139)
1188 Ferdinand II of Leon (b. 1137)
1241 Pope Gregory IX
1280 Pope Nicholas III (b. 1216)
1304 John II, Count of Holland (b. 1247)
1350 King Philip VI of France (b. 1293)
1358 Isabella, Queen of England (b. 1295)
1456 Vladislav II of Wallachia
1485 King Richard III of England (b. 1452)
1532 William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury (b. 1450)
1553 John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland (b. 1504)
1554 Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, Spanish conquistador (b. 1510)
1572 Thomas Percy, 7th Earl of Northumberland (b. 1528)
1584 Jan Kochanowski, Polish poet (b. 1530)
1599 Luca Marenzio, Italian composer (b. 1553)
1652 Jacob de La Gardie, Swedish soldier and statesman (b. 1583)
1680 John George II, Elector of Saxony (b. 1613)
1701 John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath, English royalist statesman (b. 1628)
1752 William Whiston, English mathematician, historian and theologian (b. 1667)
1793 Louis de Noailles, Marshal of France (b. 1713)
1806 Jean-Honore Fragonard, French painter (b. 1732)
1818 Warren Hastings, English politician, 1st Governor of Bengal (b. 1732)
1850 Nikolaus Lenau, Austrian writer (b. 1802)
1861 Xianfeng, Chinese Emperor (b. 1830)
1890 Vasile Alecsandri, Romanian poet, writer and politician (b. 1821)
1891 Jan Neruda, Czech writer (b. 1834)
1901 2000
1903 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1830)
1922 Michael Collins, Irish political leader (b. 1890)
1940 Gerald Strickland, British statesman (b. 1861)
1940 Isidro Goma y Tomas, Spanish cardinal (b. 1869)
1942 Michel Fokine, Russian dancer and choreographer (b. 1880)
1944 Luigi Maglione, Italian cardinal (b. 1877)
1958 Roger Martin du Gard, French writer (b. 1881)
1961 Ida Siekmann, victim of the Berlin Wall (b. 1902)
1965 Ellen Church, American flight attendant (b. 1904)
1967 Gregory Goodwin Pincus, American biologist (b. 1903)
1976 Juscelino Kubitschek de Oliveira, President of Brazil (b. 1902)
1977 Sebastian Cabot, English-born actor (b. 1918)
1978 Jomo Kenyatta, President of Kenya (b. 1891)
1980 Alfred Neubauer, German racing team manager (b. 1891)
1986 Celal Bayar, 3rd President of Turkey (b. 1883)
1989 Alexander Sergeyevich Yakovlev, Russian engineer (b. 1906)
1989 Huey Newton, American activist (b. 1942)
1991 Boris Pugo, Soviet-Latvian politician (b. 1937)
1993 Kasdi Merbah, Algerian politician
2000 Abulfaz Elchibey, President of Azerbaijan (b. 1938)
From 2001
2003 Imperio Argentina, Argentine singer and actress (b. 1906)
2004 Angus Bethune, Premier of Tasmania (b. 1908)
2005 Luc Ferrari, French composer (b. 1929)
2010 Stjepan Bobek, Croatian footballer (b. 1923)
2011 Jack Layton, Canadian politician, leader of the New Democratic Party (b. 1950)
2011 Loriot, German humorist, cartoonist, actor and writer (b. 1923)
2011 Jerry Leiber, American songwriter (b. 1933)
2012 Paul Shan Kuo-hsi, Chinese cardinal and archbishop (b. 1923)
2013 Jetty Paerl, Dutch singer (b. 1921)
2014 U. R. Ananthamurthy, Indian writer and critic (b. 1932)
2014 Emmanuel Kriaras, Greek lexicographer and philologist (b. 1906)
2014 John S. Waugh, American chemist (b. 1929)
2014 Jack Harris, Australian golfer (b. 1922)
2015 Arthur Morris, Australian cricketer (b. 1922)
2015 Ieng Thirith, Cambodian politician (b. 1932)
2015 Merl Reagle, American crossword compiler (b. 1950)
2015 Jorg Schneider, Swiss actor and comedian (b. 1935)
2015 Mariem Hassan, Sahrawi singer (b. 1958)
2016 Sellapan Ramanathan, President of Singapore (b. 1924)
2016 Toots Thielemans, Belgian jazz musician (b. 1922)
2017 John Abercrombie, American jazz guitarist (b. 1944)
2017 Alain Berberian, Lebanese-born French film director and screenwriter (b. 1953)
2017 Tony deBrum, Marshallese politician (b. 1945)
2017 Rishang Keishing, Indian politician (b. 1920)
2017 Matthew Kia Yen-wen, Taiwanese archbishop (b. 1925)
2017 Tom Pritchard, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1917)
2017 Jim Whelan, American politician (b. 1948)
2017 Michael J. C. Gordon, British computer scientist (b. 1948)
2017 Pedro Pedrossian, Brazilian politician (b. 1928)
2018 Tullio Ilomets, Estonian chemist and science historian (b. 1921)
2018 Ed King, American guitarist (b. 1949)
2018 Lazy Lester, American blues guitarist (b. 1933)
2018 Richard Kadison, American mathematician (b. 1925)
2019 Junior Agogo, Ghanaian footballer (b. 1979)
2019 Gary Ray Bowles, American serial killer (b. 1962)
2019 Tim Fischer, Australian politician (b. 1946)
2019 Tom Nissalke, American basketball coach (b. 1932)
Observances
Flag Day (Russia)
Days of the year