August 31Birthdays & History

On this day: August 31 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 1056After a sudden gastric illness, Byzantine Empress Theodora dies childless, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty.Europe
2. 1218Al-Kamil becomes sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty.Middle East
3. 1302Frederick III of Aragon and Charles, Count of Valois sign the Peace of Caltabellotta, which ends the War of the Sicilian Vespers and divides the old Kingdom of Sicily into an island portion and a peninsular portion.Europe
4. 1314King Haakon V moves the capital of Norway from Bergen to Oslo.Europe
5. 1420The 8.8–9.4 Caldera earthquake shakes Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunami in Chile, Hawaii, and Japan.Latin AmericaNorth AmericaAsia
6. 1422King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France and his son, Henry VI, becomes king at the age of nine months.Europe
7. 1483Under the influence of the Ottoman government, patriarch Symeon I convenes a synod of the Eastern Orthodox Churches in Constantinople which defines the ritual for admitting Catholics to the Eastern Orthodox Churches and condemns the church union of Ferrara-Florence.Middle EastEurope
8. 1776William Livingston, the first Governor of New Jersey, begins serving his first term.North America
9. 1795War of the First Coalition: The British capture Trincomalee (present-day Sri Lanka) from the Dutch in order to keep it out of French hands.EuropeAsia
10. 1798Irish Rebellion: Irish rebels, with French assistance, establish the short-lived Republic of Connacht.Europe
11. 1813Peninsular War: Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial.Europe
12. 1864American Civil War: The Battle of Jonesborough, the culmination of the Atlanta campaign, begins as Union forces under General William T. Sherman clash with Confederate troops under General William J. Hardee south of Atlanta.North America
13. 1876Ottoman Sultan Murad V is deposed and succeeded by his brother, Abdul Hamid II.Middle East
14. 1886The 7.0 Mw Charleston earthquake strikes southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 60 people and causing damage worth an estimated at $5 to $6 million.North America
15. 1888Mary Ann Nichols, the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims, is murdered.Europe
16. 1895German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon.Europe
17. 1907Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Anglo-Russian Convention, by which the UK recognizes Russian preeminence in northern Persia, while Russia recognizes British preeminence in southeastern Persia and Afghanistan. Both powers pledge not to interfere in Tibet.EuropeMiddle EastAsia
18. 1918World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive.Oceania
19. 1920Polish–Soviet War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.Europe
20. 1933The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage.Europe
21. 1935In an attempt to stay out of the growing tensions concerning Germany and Japan, the United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts.EuropeAsiaNorth America
22. 1936Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air.Europe
23. 1939Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.Europe
24. 1940Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.North America
25. 1941World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica.Europe
26. 1943USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.North America
27. 1949The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece into Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War.Europe
28. 1950TWA Flight 903 crashes near Itay El Barud, Egypt, killing all 55 aboard.Middle East
29. 1957The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.AsiaEurope
30. 1959A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.Asia
31. 1962Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.Latin America
32. 1963Crown Colony of North Borneo (now Sabah) achieves self-governance.Asia
33. 1968Start of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses.North America
34. 1972Aeroflot Flight 558 crashes in the Abzelilovsky District in Bashkortostan, Russia (then the Soviet Union), killing all 102 people aboard.Europe
35. 1986Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.North America
36. 1986The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.Europe
37. 1987Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard.Asia
38. 1988Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crashes during takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, killing 14.North America
39. 1988CAAC Flight 301 overshoots the runway at Kai Tak Airport and crashes into Kowloon Bay, killing seven people.Asia
40. 1991Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.AsiaEurope
41. 1993Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania.Europe
42. 1994Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia.Europe
43. 1994Argentina abolishes conscription after months of social backlash over the murder of a conscript.Latin America
44. 1996Saddam Hussein's troops seize Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.Middle East
45. 1997Diana, Princess of Wales, her partner, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.Europe
46. 1999The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.Europe
47. 1999A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground.Latin America
48. 2002Typhoon Rusa, the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in 43 years, makes landfall, killing at least 236 people.Asia
49. 2005The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 953 people.Middle East
50. 2006Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.Europe
51. 2016Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office.Latin America
52. 2019A sightseeing helicopter crashes in the mountains of Skoddevarre in Alta, Norway, killing all six people on board.Europe
53. 2024A helicopter crashes in Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East, killing all 22 occupants.Europe
54. 2025An earthquake in eastern Afghanistan kills over 1400 people.Asia
55. 2025A landslide in the Darfur region of Sudan kills over 1000 people.Africa

Source: Wikipedia "August 31" / CC BY-SA 4.0