This Week in History
(August 15th – August 21st)
August 15th
636 – The Battle of Yarmouk between Byzantine and
Rashidun Caliphate begins.
August 19th
1612 – The "Samlesbury witches", three women from the
Lancashire village of Samlesbury, England, are put on
trial, accused of practicing witchcraft, one of the most
1057 – King Macbeth is killed at the Battle of Lumphanan famous witch trials in British history.
by the forces of Máel Coluim mac Donnchada.
2003 – A Hamas planned suicide
1998 – Omagh bombing in
attack on a bus in Jerusalem, Israel
Northern Ireland, the worst terrorist
kills 23 Israelis, 7 of them children
incident of The Troubles
in the Shmuel HaNavi bus
bombing.
th
August 16
August 20th
1819 – Peterloo Massacre: Seventeen people die and
1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of
over 600 are injured in cavalry charges at a public
evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the
meeting at St. Peter's Field, Manchester, England.
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside
Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.
1960 – Cyprus gains its independence from the United
Kingdom.
1940 – In Mexico City, Mexico exiled
Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is
2012 – South African police
fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón
fatally shoot 34 miners and
Mercader. He dies the next day.
wound 78 more during an
industrial dispute near
1988 – Iran–Iraq War: a ceasefire is agreed after almost
Rustenburg.
eight years of war.
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August 17
August 21st
1915 – Jewish American Leo Frank is
1770 – James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for
lynched for the alleged murder of a
Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
13-year-old girl in Marietta, Georgia,
United States.
1911 – The Mona Lisa is stolen by a
Louvre employee.
1945 – Sukarno and Mohammad Hatta proclaim the
independence of Indonesia, igniting the Indonesian
1983 – Philippine opposition leader
National Revolution against the Dutch Empire.
Benigno Aquino, Jr. is assassinated
at the Manila International Airport
1950 – Hill 303 massacre: American POWs were
(now renamed Ninoy Aquino
massacred by the North Korean Army.
International Airport).
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August 18
Birthdays
1966 – Vietnam War: the Battle of Long Tan ensues after Aug 15, 1769 – Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsican-French
a patrol from the 6th Battalion, Royal Australian
military officer and political leader (d. 1821)
Regiment clashes with a Viet Cong force in Phuoc Tuy
Aug 16, 1888 – T. E. Lawrence, English writer and
province.
soldier (d. 1935)
Aug 17, 1943 – Robert De Niro, American actor
1977 – Steve Biko is arrested at a
Aug 18, 1933 – Roman Polanski, French-Polish director,
police roadblock under the Terrorism
producer, writer, and actor
Act No 83 of 1967 in King William's
Aug 19, 1883 – Coco Chanel, French fashion designer,
Town, South Africa. He would later
founded the Chanel Company (d. 1971)
die of the injuries sustained during
Aug 20, 1951 – Mohamed Morsi, Egyptian politician, 5th
this arrest bringing attention to South
President of Egypt
Africa's apartheid policies.
Aug 21,1944 – Peter Weir, Australian director