Date·Lore

On This Day · The 219th day of the year

August 7

August 7 carries 10 recorded events spanning between 1461 and 1999. The Ming dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor.

♌ZodiacLeo ◈BirthstonePeridot ❀Birth flowerGladiolus

Compiled & reviewed by · Last reviewed July 13, 2026

What happened on August 7?

August 7 is the 219th day of the year. It marks 10 notable events in history, dated between 1461 and 1999. Famous people born on August 7 include Jimmy Wales, David Cairns (politician born 1966) and Louis Leakey.

The shape of the day

This year marks the 100th anniversary of British Grand Prix — August 7 carries the weight of round numbers. Its center of gravity is the 20th century, and conflict is a recurring thread.

Leo is the sign for August 7 — read more on the Leo page, or see August's birthstone & birth flower.

Released on August 7

Movies, games, albums & shows

2025

  • Game Is This Seat Taken?
  • Game Mafia: The Old Country
  • Game Ritual of Raven
  • Game Tiny Bookshop

2024

  • Game Five Nights at Freddy's: Into the Pit
  • Game Creatures of Ava

2023

  • Game Dark and Darker

Release data from TMDB & IGDB.

Events

10 notable moments
  1. 1461

    Ming dynasty

    The Ming dynasty Chinese military general Cao Qin stages a coup against the Tianshun Emperor.

  2. 1782

    George Washington

    George Washington orders the creation of the Badge of Military Merit to honor soldiers wounded in battle. It is later renamed to the more poetic Purple Heart.

  3. 1819

    Simón Bolívar

    Simón Bolívar triumphs over Spain in the Battle of Boyacá.

  4. 1909

    Alice Huyler Ramsey

    Alice Huyler Ramsey and three friends become the first women to complete a transcontinental auto trip, taking 59 days to travel from New York, New York to San Francisco, California.

  5. 1926

    British Grand Prix

    The first British Grand Prix was held at Brooklands.

  6. 1942

    World War II

    World War II: The Battle of Guadalcanal begins as the United States Marines initiate the first American offensive of the war with landings on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in the Solomon Islands.

  7. 1944

    IBM

    IBM dedicates the first program-controlled calculator, the Automatic Sequence Controlled Calculator (known best as the Harvard Mark I).

  8. 1960

    Ivory Coast

    Ivory Coast becomes independent from France.

  9. 1998

    1998 United States embassy bombings

    Bombings at United States embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and Nairobi, Kenya kill approximately 212 people.

  10. 1999

    Chechnya

    The Chechnya-based Islamic International Brigade invades neighboring Dagestan.

Famous birthday twins

Born on August 7

Jimmy Wales

b. 1966

American-British entrepreneur, co-founder of Wikipedia

David Cairns (politician born 1966)

b. 1966

Scottish laicised priest and politician, Minister of State for Scotland

Louis Leakey

b. 1903

Kenyan-English palaeontologist and archaeologist

Jean-Luc Dehaene

b. 1940

French-Belgian lawyer and politician, 63rd Prime Minister of Belgium

Carl Ritter

b. 1779

German geographer and academic

Michael Shannon

b. 1974

American actor

Sofia Rotaru

b. 1947

Ukrainian singer-songwriter, producer, and actress

Constantius II

b. 317

Roman emperor

Deaths

  • 2023William Friedkin
  • 1970Jonathan P. Jackson
  • 1941Rabindranath Tagore
  • 1938Konstantin Stanislavski
  • 1900Wilhelm Liebknecht

Holidays & observances

  • —Assyrian Martyrs Day (Assyrian community)
  • —Battle of Boyacá Day (Colombia)
  • —Christian feast day: Albert of Trapani
  • —Christian feast day: Cajetan of Thienna
  • —Christian feast day: Carpophorus and companions
  • —Christian feast day: Dometius of Persia
  • —Christian feast day: Donatus of Arezzo
  • —Christian feast day: Donatus of Besançon

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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