✦ DateLore

On This Day · The 233rd day of the year

August 21

A look at August 21 through the almanac — historic events, famous birthdays including Usain Bolt and Augustin-Louis Cauchy, and the day's notable deaths and observances.

♌ZodiacLeo ◈BirthstonePeridot ❀Birth flowerGladiolus
Advertisement 728 × 90 leaderboard

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 2000

    Tiger Woods

    American golfer Tiger Woods wins the 82nd PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a calendar year.

    American professional golfer (born
  2. 1991

    Latvia

    Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.

    Country in Northern Europe
  3. 1986

    Volcano

    Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometre (12 mi) range.

    Rupture in a planet's
  4. 1968

    Cold War

    Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

    1947–1991 geopolitical rivalry between
  5. 1945

    Harry Daghlian

    Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at Los Alamos National Laboratory.

    American physicist (1921–1945)
  6. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: The Guadalcanal campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.

    1939–1945 global conflict
  7. 1914

    World War I

    World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.

    1914–1918 global conflict
  8. 1770

    James Cook

    James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.

    British explorer and naval
  9. 1716

    Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718)

    Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The arrival of naval reinforcements and the news of the Battle of Petrovaradin force the Ottomans to abandon the Siege of Corfu, thus preserving the Ionian Islands under Venetian rule.

    Part of the Ottoman–Venetian
  10. 1140

    Song dynasty

    Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars.

    Imperial dynasty of China
Advertisement Responsive in-content unit

Famous birthday twins

Born on August 21

Usain Bolt

b. 1986

Jamaican sprinter

Augustin-Louis Cauchy

b. 1789

French mathematician and academic

Philip II of France

b. 1165

King of France from 1180 to 1223

Charlison Benschop

b. 1989

Dutch footballer

Peter Weir

b. 1944

Australian director, producer, and screenwriter

Mohammed VI of Morocco

b. 1963

King of Morocco

Perry Christie

b. 1944

Bahamian politician, third Prime Minister of the Bahamas

Carl Gegenbaur

b. 1826

German anatomist and academic

Deaths

  • 2012Georg Leber, German soldier and politician, Federal Minister of Defence for Germany
  • 2005Marcus Schmuck, Austrian mountaineer
  • 1940Leon Trotsky, Russian theorist and politician, founded the Red Army
  • 1905Alexander von Oettingen, Estonian theologian and statistician
  • 1814Benjamin Thompson, American-English physicist and colonel
  • 1131Baldwin II of Jerusalem, King of Jerusalem from 1118 to 1131

Holidays & observances

  • —Christian Feast Day: Abraham of Smolensk (Eastern Orthodox Church)
  • —Christian Feast Day: Euprepius of Verona
  • —Christian Feast Day: Maximilian of Antioch
  • —Christian Feast Day: Our Lady of Knock
  • —Christian Feast Day: Pope Pius X
  • —Christian Feast Day: Sidonius Apollinaris
  • —Christian Feast Day: August 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
  • —Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)

Born on this day?

Make your birthday card.

Drop in your birth year and we'll work out your exact age, the day of the week you were born, your Chinese zodiac, your generation, and the countdown to your next candle.