August 21

Events
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.
Births
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)
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 Nicolas 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 Alizee, French singer
1984 Eve Torres, American dancer, model and wrestler
1985 Aleksandra Kiryashova, Russian pole vaulter
1985 Nicolas 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
Deaths
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 Otavio 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 Pina, Mexican singer and musician (b. 1953)
Observances
Admission Day (Hawaii)
Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)
Youth Day (Morocco)
Regaining of Independence (Latvia)
Days of the year