A complete timeline of historical events, famous births, notable deaths, and holidays that occurred on August 16 throughout history.
96
Events
6
Births
1
Deaths
Battle of the Spurs at Guinegate (now Enguinegatte): King Henry VIII of England and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I defeat French forces, capturing the town and routing the French cavalry
Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs US President James Buchanan for the first time via transatlantic telegraph cable; he replies, "It is a triumph more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle"
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon in northwestern Canada, between 1896 and 1899.
The 1930 British Empire Games were the inaugural edition of what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, and was held in Hamilton, Ontario, from 16 to 23 August 1930.
The last Chinese Emperor and ruler of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo, Puyi, is captured by Soviet troops while preparing to board a plane to escape to Japan
Direct Action Day: Widespread riots erupt in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state, killing over 4,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless
Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks.
The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974.
Champion of England titleholder Jack Broughton publishes "Rules of the Ring," the earliest boxing code
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt sets a new world record of 9.69 seconds to win the 100 m gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
Mary of Hungary (1257 – 25 March 1323), of the Árpád dynasty, was Queen of Naples and Queen of Albania by marriage to King Charles II.
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, weds Mary of Burgundy, the heiress to the Duchy of Burgundy in Ghent, Belgium
Italian "The Barber of Seville" opera composer Gioachino Rossini (54) marries 2nd wife, French model Olympe Pélissier (47) in Paris, France
Singer and actor Frank Sinatra and 3rd wife actress Mia Farrow divorce after 2 years of marriage
Hesam Asghari is an American model, actor, fitness model and fitness trainer. He has appeared on the television shows Black Monday, Hacks, The Family Business, and The Traitors, as well as in several...
Yorktown is a town in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682.
Dutch East Indiaman The Geldermalsen sails to the East Indies
American militiamen defeat British forces at the Battle of Bennington near Vermont, during the American Revolutionary War
The Battle of Waxhaws (also known as the Waxhaws Massacre, Buford's Massacre, and Battle of Waxhaw Creek) was a military engagement which took place near Lancaster, South Carolina on May 29, 1780,...
Turkey declares war on Russia (Russo-Turkish War 1787-92)
Ignác Martinovics (Serbo-Croatian: Ignjat Martinović, Игњат Мартиновић; 20 July 1755 – 20 May 1795) was a Hungarian scholar, chemist, philosopher, writer, secret agent, Freemason and a leader of the...
Comet C/1797 P1 (Bouvard-Herschel) approaches 0.0879 AU of Earth
Peterloo Massacre, Manchester, England: cavalry charges demonstrators, 15 people killed and 400–700 injured
Chang Bunker and Eng Bunker (May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874) were Siamese-American conjoined twin brothers whose fame propelled the expression "Siamese twins" to become synonymous for conjoined...
Skirmishes in Fredericktown/Kirkville, Missouri
Georgia was one of the original seven slave states that formed the Confederate States of America in February 1861, triggering the U.S. Civil War. The state governor, Democrat Joseph E.
Federal assault on 4th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Virginia
Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after four years of fighting against the Spanish annexation
Fred Goldsmith demonstrates that the curveball is not an optical illusion
The Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt by the British Mediterranean Fleet took place on 11–13 July 1882.
Dordrecht, historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, pronounced [dɔrt] ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of...
Alexander G. Clark (February 25, 1826 – May 31, 1891) was an African-American businessman and activist who served as United States Ambassador to Liberia in 1890–1891, where he died in office.
Indian chiefs from the Sioux and Onondaga tribes meet to urge their people to renounce Christianity and return to their traditional faith
Edwin Prescott patents the first vertical loop-the-loop roller coaster
Mbunga Rebellion occupies German post Ifakara, East Africa
The 1906 Valparaíso earthquake hit Valparaíso, Chile, on August 16 at 19:55 local time. Its epicenter was offshore from the Valparaíso Region, and its magnitude was estimated at 8.2 Mw.
Mulay Hafid is proclaimed Sultan of Morocco by supporters, leading to civil war; Mulay is supported by Germany, while France supports the existing Sultan
Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern-day Tōhoku University) admits its first female students
The 1915 Kansas City Packers finished in 4th place the Federal League, 5½ games behind the Chicago Whales. After the season, both the team and the league folded.
US troops overrun at Archangelsk by Bolshevik troops
Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in the head by NY Yankees pitcher Carl Mays and dies the next day in the only MLB game-related fatality
Members of the Dáil (parliament) swear allegiance to the Irish Republic at their first meeting, held at Dublin's Mansion House
AT&T radio station WBAY becomes WEAF (NYC)
Conference on German recovery payments opens in London
Belgian cyclist Georges Ronsse wins men's road race at UCI Road World Championships in Budapest, Hungary
US explorer William Beebe descends 3,028 feet (923 meters) in a Bathysphere off the coast of Bermuda
The Berlin Olympic equestrian competition concludes with Germany winning all 6 gold medals in an unprecedented team achievement
Forty-five German aircraft are shot down over England
HMS Mercury, the Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School, opens at Leydene near Petersfield, England
2nd Canadian Division occupies Falaise, Normandy, during Operation Intractable
Arabs blow up the Latrun pumping station in Jerusalem
West Indies complete historic 3-1 series victory over England
KTAL TV channel 6 in Shreveport-Texarkana, LA (NBC) begins broadcasting
pilgrims drown in Farahzad, Iran, during a flood caused by a rainstorm
Fiat Motors orders the first private atomic reactor
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965.
MLB Cleveland Indians' Rocky Colavito hits his first grand slam, Cleveland 5, Tigers 4
USSR introduces installment buying
British Cyprus was the island of Cyprus under the dominion of the British Empire, administered sequentially from 1878 to 1914 as a British protectorate, from 1914 to 1925 as a unilaterally annexed...
,000 West Berliners demonstrate against the division of Berlin
Independence is restored to the Dominican Republic
Mildred Sampson of New Zealand runs the female world marathon record of 3:19:33 in Auckland, New Zealand
St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood gets eight straight hits in a doubleheader split against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
WFIQ TV channel 36 in Florence, AL (PBS) begins broadcasting
Over 8,000 workers go on strike in Derry, Northern Ireland, in protest against the introduction of internment, which allows suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial
St. Louis Cardinals beat San Diego Chargers 20-10 in Tokyo, Japan (NFL Expo)
The Nevada National Security Sites (N2S2 or NNSS), popularized as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a reservation of the United States Department of Energy located in the southeastern portion...
British rock keyboardist Jools Holland quits band Squeeze to pursue a solo career
American swimmer Mary T. Meagher breaks her own world women's 100 m butterfly record (57.93) in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, and holds the 100/200 m double world record
John Zachary DeLorean ( də-LOR-ee-ən; January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry.
The Harmonic Convergence was the world's first synchronized global peace meditation, coinciding with an exceptional alignment of Solar System planets on August 16–17, 1987.
The history of artificial intelligence (AI) began in antiquity, with myths, stories, and rumors of artificial beings endowed with intelligence or consciousness by master craftsmen.
A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects microchips, leading to a halt in all trading on Toronto's stock exchange
China performs a nuclear test at Lop Nur, PRC
Belgian census shows 10,000,963 inhabitants
Walvis Bay (Afrikaans: Walvisbaai; German: Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies.
Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance wins a closely fought parliamentary election in Sri Lanka, securing 105 seats
For only the second time, the Stanley Cup leaves North America and heads to Russia
"Hanging by a Moment" is a song by American alternative rock band Lifehouse. It was the first single released from their debut studio album, No Name Face (2000), issued through DreamWorks Records.
The Women's Peace Train has traditionally been used by women's groups as a means of protesting war, militarization, and the impact of violence on women and children.
Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe wins the men's 200 m freestyle in an Olympic record time of 1:44.71, achieving the 200/400 m freestyle double at the Athens Olympics
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing all 160 aboard
World Youth Day 2011, organized by the Catholic Church, begins in Madrid
people are killed and over 200 wounded in a series of attacks across Iraq
61 people die after the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas sinks in the Philippines
"Batman" Samaritan Lenny B. Robinson is killed in a car accident in Maryland
Sandra Elkasević is a Croatian discus thrower. She is a two-time Olympic (2012 London, 2016 Rio) and world (2013, 2017) champion and a record seven-time European champion (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016,...
The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017.
Brandt Snedeker shoots 10th sub-60 round in PGA history with an 11-under par 59 in the opening round of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina
Brooke Raboutou wins a gold medal in lead climbing at the IFSC Youth World Championships in Moscow, Russia
Huge fire in Chalantika slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, destroys 1,200 houses and leaves up to 10,000 people homeless
Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, or Jorawar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia.
First Marvel film with an Asian superhero, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," starring Simu Liu, premieres in Los Angeles
British Museum reveals a staff member has been dismissed for stealing about 2,000 objects, including jewelry and semi-precious stones [1]
US President Joe Biden designates the site of the 1908 two-day race riot in Springfield, Illinois, as a national monument, intended to be a solemn reminder of the events which sparked the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [1]
Buddy Guy tops Billboard's Blues Albums chart with his "Ain't Done With the Blues", released on his recent 89th birthday
George Galloway, British politician, broadcaster, and writer, known for british politician, broadcaster, and writer, was born on 1955-08-16.
James Cameron, Canadian filmmaker and deep-sea explorer, known for canadian filmmaker and deep-sea explorer, was born on 1955-08-16.
Madonna, American singer and actress, known for american singer and actress, was born on 1959-08-16. Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress.
Steve Carell, American actor and comedian, known for american actor and comedian, was born on 1963-08-16. Steven John Carell is an American actor and comedian.
Taika Waititi, New Zealand zealand filmmaker and actor, known for new zealand filmmaker and actor, was born on 1976-08-16.
Tony Trabert, American athlete, known for american tennis player, was born on 1930-08-16. Marion Anthony Trabert (August 16, 1930 – February 3, 2021) was an American amateur world No.
Mary of Hungary (1257 – 25 March 1323), of the Árpád dynasty, was Queen of Naples and Queen of Albania by marriage to King Charles II.
Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, weds Mary of Burgundy, the heiress to the Duchy of Burgundy in Ghent, Belgium
Battle of the Spurs at Guinegate (now Enguinegatte): King Henry VIII of England and Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian I defeat French forces, capturing the town and routing the French cavalry
Yorktown is a town in York County, Virginia, United States. It is the county seat of York County, one of the eight original shires formed in colonial Virginia in 1682.
Champion of England titleholder Jack Broughton publishes "Rules of the Ring," the earliest boxing code
Dutch East Indiaman The Geldermalsen sails to the East Indies
American militiamen defeat British forces at the Battle of Bennington near Vermont, during the American Revolutionary War
The Battle of Waxhaws (also known as the Waxhaws Massacre, Buford's Massacre, and Battle of Waxhaw Creek) was a military engagement which took place near Lancaster, South Carolina on May 29, 1780,...
Turkey declares war on Russia (Russo-Turkish War 1787-92)
Ignác Martinovics (Serbo-Croatian: Ignjat Martinović, Игњат Мартиновић; 20 July 1755 – 20 May 1795) was a Hungarian scholar, chemist, philosopher, writer, secret agent, Freemason and a leader of the...
Comet C/1797 P1 (Bouvard-Herschel) approaches 0.0879 AU of Earth
Peterloo Massacre, Manchester, England: cavalry charges demonstrators, 15 people killed and 400–700 injured
Chang Bunker and Eng Bunker (May 11, 1811 – January 17, 1874) were Siamese-American conjoined twin brothers whose fame propelled the expression "Siamese twins" to become synonymous for conjoined...
Italian "The Barber of Seville" opera composer Gioachino Rossini (54) marries 2nd wife, French model Olympe Pélissier (47) in Paris, France
Britain's Queen Victoria telegraphs US President James Buchanan for the first time via transatlantic telegraph cable; he replies, "It is a triumph more glorious, because far more useful to mankind, than was ever won by conqueror on the field of battle"
Skirmishes in Fredericktown/Kirkville, Missouri
Georgia was one of the original seven slave states that formed the Confederate States of America in February 1861, triggering the U.S. Civil War. The state governor, Democrat Joseph E.
Federal assault on 4th day of battle at Deep Bottom Run, Virginia
Restoration Day in the Dominican Republic: The Dominican Republic regains its independence after four years of fighting against the Spanish annexation
Fred Goldsmith demonstrates that the curveball is not an optical illusion
The Bombardment of Alexandria in Egypt by the British Mediterranean Fleet took place on 11–13 July 1882.
Dordrecht, historically known in English as Dordt (still colloquially used in Dutch, pronounced [dɔrt] ) or Dort, is a city and municipality in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of...
Alexander G. Clark (February 25, 1826 – May 31, 1891) was an African-American businessman and activist who served as United States Ambassador to Liberia in 1890–1891, where he died in office.
Indian chiefs from the Sioux and Onondaga tribes meet to urge their people to renounce Christianity and return to their traditional faith
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon in northwestern Canada, between 1896 and 1899.
Edwin Prescott patents the first vertical loop-the-loop roller coaster
Mbunga Rebellion occupies German post Ifakara, East Africa
The 1906 Valparaíso earthquake hit Valparaíso, Chile, on August 16 at 19:55 local time. Its epicenter was offshore from the Valparaíso Region, and its magnitude was estimated at 8.2 Mw.
Mulay Hafid is proclaimed Sultan of Morocco by supporters, leading to civil war; Mulay is supported by Germany, while France supports the existing Sultan
Tōhoku Imperial University of Japan (modern-day Tōhoku University) admits its first female students
The 1915 Kansas City Packers finished in 4th place the Federal League, 5½ games behind the Chicago Whales. After the season, both the team and the league folded.
US troops overrun at Archangelsk by Bolshevik troops
Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman is hit in the head by NY Yankees pitcher Carl Mays and dies the next day in the only MLB game-related fatality
Members of the Dáil (parliament) swear allegiance to the Irish Republic at their first meeting, held at Dublin's Mansion House
AT&T radio station WBAY becomes WEAF (NYC)
Conference on German recovery payments opens in London
Belgian cyclist Georges Ronsse wins men's road race at UCI Road World Championships in Budapest, Hungary
The 1930 British Empire Games were the inaugural edition of what is now known as the Commonwealth Games, and was held in Hamilton, Ontario, from 16 to 23 August 1930.
Flip the Frog is an animated cartoon character created by American animator Ub Iwerks.
Tony Trabert, American athlete, known for american tennis player, was born on 1930-08-16. Marion Anthony Trabert (August 16, 1930 – February 3, 2021) was an American amateur world No.
US explorer William Beebe descends 3,028 feet (923 meters) in a Bathysphere off the coast of Bermuda
The Berlin Olympic equestrian competition concludes with Germany winning all 6 gold medals in an unprecedented team achievement
Forty-five German aircraft are shot down over England
HMS Mercury, the Royal Navy Signals School and Combined Signals School, opens at Leydene near Petersfield, England
2nd Canadian Division occupies Falaise, Normandy, during Operation Intractable
The last Chinese Emperor and ruler of the Japanese puppet state Manchukuo, Puyi, is captured by Soviet troops while preparing to board a plane to escape to Japan
Direct Action Day: Widespread riots erupt in Calcutta between Muslims and Hindus over whether Pakistan should be a separate state, killing over 4,000 and leaving 100,000 homeless
Arabs blow up the Latrun pumping station in Jerusalem
Margaret Mitchell, American novelist and journalist, known for american novelist and journalist, died on 1949-08-16.
West Indies complete historic 3-1 series victory over England
KTAL TV channel 6 in Shreveport-Texarkana, LA (NBC) begins broadcasting
pilgrims drown in Farahzad, Iran, during a flood caused by a rainstorm
Fiat Motors orders the first private atomic reactor
George Galloway, British politician, broadcaster, and writer, known for british politician, broadcaster, and writer, was born on 1955-08-16.
James Cameron, Canadian filmmaker and deep-sea explorer, known for canadian filmmaker and deep-sea explorer, was born on 1955-08-16.
Adlai Ewing Stevenson II (February 5, 1900 – July 14, 1965) was an American politician and diplomat who was the United States ambassador to the United Nations from 1961 until his death in 1965.
MLB Cleveland Indians' Rocky Colavito hits his first grand slam, Cleveland 5, Tigers 4
USSR introduces installment buying
Madonna, American singer and actress, known for american singer and actress, was born on 1959-08-16. Madonna Louise Ciccone is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress.
British Cyprus was the island of Cyprus under the dominion of the British Empire, administered sequentially from 1878 to 1914 as a British protectorate, from 1914 to 1925 as a unilaterally annexed...
,000 West Berliners demonstrate against the division of Berlin
Independence is restored to the Dominican Republic
Steve Carell, American actor and comedian, known for american actor and comedian, was born on 1963-08-16. Steven John Carell is an American actor and comedian.
Mildred Sampson of New Zealand runs the female world marathon record of 3:19:33 in Auckland, New Zealand
St. Louis Cardinals center fielder Curt Flood gets eight straight hits in a doubleheader split against the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium
WFIQ TV channel 36 in Florence, AL (PBS) begins broadcasting
Singer and actor Frank Sinatra and 3rd wife actress Mia Farrow divorce after 2 years of marriage
Over 8,000 workers go on strike in Derry, Northern Ireland, in protest against the introduction of internment, which allows suspected terrorists to be indefinitely detained without trial
The Ramones were an American punk rock band formed in the New York City neighborhood Forest Hills, Queens in 1974.
St. Louis Cardinals beat San Diego Chargers 20-10 in Tokyo, Japan (NFL Expo)
Taika Waititi, New Zealand zealand filmmaker and actor, known for new zealand filmmaker and actor, was born on 1976-08-16.
The Nevada National Security Sites (N2S2 or NNSS), popularized as the Nevada Test Site (NTS) until 2010, is a reservation of the United States Department of Energy located in the southeastern portion...
British rock keyboardist Jools Holland quits band Squeeze to pursue a solo career
American swimmer Mary T. Meagher breaks her own world women's 100 m butterfly record (57.93) in Brown Deer, Wisconsin, and holds the 100/200 m double world record
John Zachary DeLorean ( də-LOR-ee-ən; January 6, 1925 – March 19, 2005) was an American engineer, inventor, and executive in the U.S. automobile industry.
The Harmonic Convergence was the world's first synchronized global peace meditation, coinciding with an exceptional alignment of Solar System planets on August 16–17, 1987.
The history of artificial intelligence (AI) began in antiquity, with myths, stories, and rumors of artificial beings endowed with intelligence or consciousness by master craftsmen.
A solar flare from the Sun creates a geomagnetic storm that affects microchips, leading to a halt in all trading on Toronto's stock exchange
China performs a nuclear test at Lop Nur, PRC
Belgian census shows 10,000,963 inhabitants
Walvis Bay (Afrikaans: Walvisbaai; German: Walfischbucht or Walfischbai) is a city in Namibia and the name of the bay on which it lies.
Chandrika Kumaratunga's People's Alliance wins a closely fought parliamentary election in Sri Lanka, securing 105 seats
For only the second time, the Stanley Cup leaves North America and heads to Russia
"Hanging by a Moment" is a song by American alternative rock band Lifehouse. It was the first single released from their debut studio album, No Name Face (2000), issued through DreamWorks Records.
The Women's Peace Train has traditionally been used by women's groups as a means of protesting war, militarization, and the impact of violence on women and children.
Australian swimmer Ian Thorpe wins the men's 200 m freestyle in an Olympic record time of 1:44.71, achieving the 200/400 m freestyle double at the Athens Olympics
West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 crashes near Machiques, Venezuela, killing all 160 aboard
Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt sets a new world record of 9.69 seconds to win the 100 m gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics
World Youth Day 2011, organized by the Catholic Church, begins in Madrid
people are killed and over 200 wounded in a series of attacks across Iraq
61 people die after the ferry MV Thomas Aquinas sinks in the Philippines
"Batman" Samaritan Lenny B. Robinson is killed in a car accident in Maryland
Sandra Elkasević is a Croatian discus thrower. She is a two-time Olympic (2012 London, 2016 Rio) and world (2013, 2017) champion and a record seven-time European champion (2010, 2012, 2014, 2016,...
The Unite the Right rally was a white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville, Virginia, from August 11 to 12, 2017.
Brandt Snedeker shoots 10th sub-60 round in PGA history with an 11-under par 59 in the opening round of the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina
Brooke Raboutou wins a gold medal in lead climbing at the IFSC Youth World Championships in Moscow, Russia
Huge fire in Chalantika slum in Dhaka, Bangladesh, destroys 1,200 houses and leaves up to 10,000 people homeless
Mogadishu, locally known as Xamar or Hamar, or Jorawar, is the capital and most populous city of Somalia.
First Marvel film with an Asian superhero, "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," starring Simu Liu, premieres in Los Angeles
Hesam Asghari is an American model, actor, fitness model and fitness trainer. He has appeared on the television shows Black Monday, Hacks, The Family Business, and The Traitors, as well as in several...
British Museum reveals a staff member has been dismissed for stealing about 2,000 objects, including jewelry and semi-precious stones [1]
US President Joe Biden designates the site of the 1908 two-day race riot in Springfield, Illinois, as a national monument, intended to be a solemn reminder of the events which sparked the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) [1]
Buddy Guy tops Billboard's Blues Albums chart with his "Ain't Done With the Blues", released on his recent 89th birthday