Date·Lore

On This Day · The 227th day of the year

August 15

August 15 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1018 and 2005. Byzantine general Eustathios Daphnomeles blinds and captures Ibatzes of Bulgaria by a ruse, thereby ending Bulgarian resistance against Emperor Basil II's conquest of Bulgaria.

♌ZodiacLeo ◈BirthstonePeridot ❀Birth flowerGladiolus

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on August 15?

August 15 is the 227th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1018 and 2005. Famous people born on August 15 include Napoleon, Siobhan Chamberlain and Stephen Breyer.

The shape of the day

From 1018 to 2005, August 15 gathers 987 years of history. Most of the weight falls in the 20th century, where conflict is a recurring thread.

Leo is the sign for August 15 — read more on the Leo page, or see August's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on August 15

Movies, games, albums & shows

2025

  • Game RavenQuest

2024

  • Game Intravenous 2
  • Game Phantom Spark
  • TV Sword of Coming

2023

  • Game Astronaut: The Best
  • Game Black Skylands
  • Game Moving Out 2

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1018

    Eustathios Daphnomeles

    Byzantine general Eustathios Daphnomeles blinds and captures Ibatzes of Bulgaria by a ruse, thereby ending Bulgarian resistance against Emperor Basil II's conquest of Bulgaria.

  2. 1038

    Stephen I of Hungary

    King Stephen I, the first king of Hungary, dies; his nephew, Peter Orseolo, succeeds him.

  3. 1261

    Michael VIII Palaiologos

    Michael VIII Palaiologos is crowned as the first Byzantine emperor in fifty-seven years.

  4. 1814

    War of 1812

    War of 1812: British forces launch a costly and unsuccessful night attack against American defenders during the siege of Fort Erie.

  5. 1941

    Josef Jakobs

    Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad for espionage at the Tower of London at 07:12, making him the last person to be executed at the Tower.

  6. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: Operation Pedestal: The oil tanker SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island's defenses.

  7. 1963

    Fulbert Youlou

    President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of the Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital.

  8. 1977

    Ohio State University Radio Observatory

    The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.

  9. 1998

    Northern Ireland

    Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.

  10. 2005

    Free Aceh Movement

    The Helsinki Agreement between the Free Aceh Movement and the Government of Indonesia was signed, ending almost three decades of fighting.

Famous birthday twins

Born on August 15

Napoleon

b. 1769

Bonaparte, French general and emperor

Siobhan Chamberlain

b. 1983

English association football goalkeeper

Stephen Breyer

b. 1938

American lawyer and jurist, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States

Carlos PenaVega

b. 1989

American actor and singer

Robert Bolt

b. 1924

English playwright and screenwriter

Nicolas Roeg

b. 1928

English director and cinematographer

Alejandro González Iñárritu

b. 1963

Mexican director, producer, and screenwriter

Wolfgang Hohlbein

b. 1953

German author

Deaths

  • 1967René Magritte
  • 1936Grazia Deledda
  • 1758Pierre Bouguer
  • 1328Yesün Temür (Yuan dynasty)
  • 1038Stephen I of Hungary
  • 873Emperor Yizong of Tang

Holidays & observances

  • —Armed Forces Day (Poland)
  • —Christian feast day: Altfrid
  • —Christian feast day: Alypius of Thagaste
  • —Christian feast day: Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation (a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu); and its related observances: Feast of the Dormition of the Theotokos (Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox and Eastern Catholic Churches)
  • —Christian feast day: Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation (a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu); and its related observances: Ferragosto (Italy)
  • —Christian feast day: Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation (a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu); and its related observances: Māras (Latvia)
  • —Christian feast day: Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation (a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu); and its related observances: Mother's Day (Antwerp and Costa Rica)
  • —Christian feast day: Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, one of the Catholic holy days of obligation (a public holiday in Austria, Belgium, Benin, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, France, some states in Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Italy, Ivory Coast, Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Togo, and Vanuatu); and its related observances: National Acadian Day (Acadians)

Historical facts, event summaries, and biographical lines above are adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) license. DateLore adds curation, structure, and original editorial commentary. DateLore is not affiliated with the Wikimedia Foundation.

About the author

Roman Tailor compiles and reviews every date on DateLore. He's the writer and editor behind the site's editorial essays and the day-by-day almanac. Corrections and questions are welcome — read more about DateLore or get in touch.

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