Browse events, births, deaths and holidays on August 21 throughout history.
A total solar eclipse, dubbed the "Great American Eclipse" by some media, occurred on August 21, 2017. It was visible within a band that spanned the contiguous United States from …
A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.
The Ghouta chemical attack was a chemical attack carried out by the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, in the early hours of 21 August 2013 in Ghouta, Syria during the Sy…
Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.
Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods is an American professional golfer. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest golfers of all time and as one of the most famous athletes in modern hi…
American golfer Tiger Woods wins the 82nd PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win…
On August 21, 1995, Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia flying from Atlanta, Georgia, to Gulfport, Mississippi, crashed in the community of Burwell…
Atlantic Southeast Airlines Flight 529, an Embraer EMB 120 Brasilia, attempts to divert to West Georgia Regional…
Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 was a passenger flight on 21 August 1994 which crashed approximately ten minutes after takeoff from Agadir–Al Massira Airport in Morocco. All 44 passeng…
Royal Air Maroc Flight 630 crashes in Douar Izounine, Morocco, killing all 44 people on board.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. federal government responsible for the United States' civil space program, as well as resear…
NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuani…
Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.
In August 1991, hardliners of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) attempted to forcibly seize control of the country from Mikhail Gorbachev, who was Soviet president an…
Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.
The 1988 Nepal earthquake occurred near the Nepal–India border on 20 August 1988 at 23:09:09 UTC. The epicenter was located in Udayapur District. Measuring Mw 6.9, it was the larg…
The 6.9 Mw Nepal earthquake shakes the Nepal–India border with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (Severe), leaving…
A volcano is a vent or fissure in the crust of a planetary-mass object that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, vo…
Carbon dioxide gas erupts from volcanic Lake Nyos in Cameroon, killing up to 1,800 people within a 20-kilometre…
Benigno Simeón "Ninoy" Aquino Jr., was a Filipino politician and journalist who served as a senator of the Philippines (1967–1972) and governor of the province of Tarlac (1963–196…
Philippine opposition leader Benigno Aquino Jr. is assassinated at Manila International Airport (now renamed Ninoy…
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted armed conflict fought in Lebanon from 1975 to 1990. It resulted in an estimated 120,000 deaths, displaced nearly one million people, and …
Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation…
The Liberal Party of the Philippines is a liberal political party in the Philippines.
A bomb exploded in the Liberal Party campaign rally in Plaza Miranda, Manila, Philippines with several anti-Marcos…
The Cold War was a period of international geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc…
Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact…
Private First Class James Anderson Jr. was a United States Marine who posthumously received the Medal of Honor for heroism while serving in Vietnam in February 1967. When his Meda…
James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.
The Socialist Republic of Romania was a communist state that existed from 1947 to the Romanian revolution in 1989. From 1947 to 1965, the state was known as the Romanian People's …
The Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed, following the adoption of a new constitution.
The Xá Lợi Pagoda raids were a series of synchronized attacks on a number of Buddhist pagodas in the major cities of South Vietnam shortly after midnight on 21 August 1963. The ra…
Xá Lợi Pagoda raids: The Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces loyal to Ngô Đình Nhu, brother of President…
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government a…
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union.…
The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from its formation in 1922 until its disso…
The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental…
Haroutune Krikor Daghlian Jr. was an American physicist with the Manhattan Project, which designed and produced the atomic bombs that were used in World War II. He accidentally ir…
Physicist Harry Daghlian is fatally irradiated in a criticality accident during an experiment with the Demon core at…