Calendar date · August
What happened on August 21
On August 21, 959: Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.
Events
52
across history
Notable births
50
Notable deaths
50
Zodiac
Leo
Featured moment · 959
Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.
Eraclus, alternatively Eraclius or Evraclus, was the 25th bishop of Liège (959–971).
People
Born on August 21
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People
Died on August 21
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Timeline
Every August 21 on record
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959 Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège. 10th-century Bishop of Liège
Eraclus, alternatively Eraclius or Evraclus, was the 25th bishop of Liège (959–971).
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1140 Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars. Imperial dynasty of China (960–1279)
The Song dynasty was an imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Ten Kingdoms, ending the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. The Song often came into conflict with the contemporaneous Liao, Western Xia, and Jin dynasties in northern China.
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1169 Battle of the Blacks: Uprising by the black African forces of the Fatimid army, along with a number of Egyptian emirs and commoners, against Saladin. 1169 battle between Saladin and Fatimids
The Battle of the Blacks or Battle of the Slaves was a conflict in Cairo that occurred during the Rise of Saladin in Egypt, on 21–23 August 1169, between the black African units of the Fatimid army and other pro-Fatimid elements, and Sunni Syrian troops loyal to the Fatimid vizier, Saladin. Saladin's rise to the vizierate, and his sidelining of the Fatimid caliph, al-Adid, antagonized the traditional Fatimid elites, including the army regiments, as Saladin relied chiefly on the Kurdish and Turkish cavalry that had come with him from Syria. According to the medieval sources, which are biased towards Saladin, this conflict led to an attempt by the palace majordomo, Mu'tamin al-Khilafa, to enter into an agreement with the Crusaders and jointly attack Saladin's forces to get rid of him.
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1192 Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Sei-i Taishōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: the 12th day of the seventh month in the third year of the Kenkyū (建久) era). Japanese Samurai, Daimyo and Military ruler of Japan from 1192 to 1199
Minamoto no Yoritomo was a samurai, daimyo and the founder and the first shogun of the Kamakura shogunate, ruling from 1192 until 1199, also the first shogun in the history of Japan to hold de-facto power over Japan. He was married to Hōjō Masako, who acted as regent (shikken) after his death. The early 11th-century text Mutsu Waki 陸奥話記 says Yoritomo is an incarnation of the god of the north Bishamonten.
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1331 King Stefan Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stefan Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia. King of Serbia from 1322 to 1331
Stefan Uroš III, was King of Serbia from 6 January 1322 to 8 September 1331. Dečanski was the son of King Stefan Milutin. He defeated two other contenders to the Serbian throne.
- 1415 Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Conquest of Ceuta.
- 1680 Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.
- 1689 The Battle of Dunkeld in Scotland.
- 1716 Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The arrival of naval reinforcements and the news of the Battle of Petrovaradin force the Ottomans to abandon the Siege of Corfu, thus preserving the Ionian Islands under Venetian rule.
- 1770 James Cook formally claims eastern Australia for Great Britain, naming it New South Wales.
- 1772 King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.
- 1778 American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.
- 1791 Enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, led by Dutty Boukman, held a Vodou ceremony that became a pivotal act of resistance. This gathering sparked a mass uprising against slavery, marking the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.
- 1808 Battle of Vimeiro: British and Portuguese forces led by General Arthur Wellesley defeat French force under Major-General Jean-Andoche Junot near the village of Vimeiro, Portugal, the first Anglo-Portuguese victory of the Peninsular War.
- 1810 Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.
Show 15 earlier entries from August 21
- 1821 Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.
- 1831 Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites and about twice that number of blacks.
- 1852 Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.
- 1858 The first of the Lincoln–Douglas debates is held in Ottawa, Illinois.
- 1862 The Stadtpark, the first public park in Vienna, opens to the public.
- 1863 Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by pro-Confederate guerrillas known as Quantrill's Raiders.
- 1878 The American Bar Association is founded in Saratoga Springs, New York.
- 1879 The locals of Knock, County Mayo, Ireland report their having seen an apparition of the Virgin Mary. The apparition is later named "Our Lady of Knock" and the spot transformed into a Catholic pilgrimage site.
- 1883 An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.
- 1888 The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.
- 1901 Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.
- 1911 The Mona Lisa is stolen by Vincenzo Peruggia, a Louvre employee.
- 1914 World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.
- 1918 World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.
- 1942 World War II: The Guadalcanal campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.
Around the world
Holidays on August 21
- Christian Feast Day: Abraham of Smolensk (Eastern Orthodox Church)
- Christian Feast Day: Euprepius of Verona
- Christian Feast Day: Maximilian of Antioch
- Christian Feast Day: Our Lady of Knock
- Christian Feast Day: Pope Pius X
- Christian Feast Day: Sidonius Apollinaris
- Christian Feast Day: August 21 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
- Ninoy Aquino Day (Philippines)
- Youth Day (Morocco)
- World Senior Citizen's Day
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