August 27 is the 239th day of the year (240th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 126 days remaining until the end of the year.
Today in history
479 BC – Greco-Persian Wars: Persian forces led by Mardonius are routed by Pausanias, the Spartan commander of the Greek army in the Battle of Plataea.
410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.
663 – Remnants of the Korean Baekje Kingdom and their Yamato Japanese allies engage the combined naval forces of the Tang Chinese and Silla Koreans on the Geum River in Korea.
1172 – Henry the Young King and Margaret of France are crowned as junior king and queen of England.
1232 – The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated by Regent Hōjō Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 1232)
1689 – The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing empire.
1776 – The Battle of Long Island: in what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
1789 – The French National Assembly adopts the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, proclaiming that "men are born and remain free and equal in rights".
1793 – French counter-revolution: the port of Toulon revolts and admits the British fleet, which lands troops and seizes the port leading to Siege of Toulon.
1798 – Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connaught.
1813 – French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
1828 – Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by Great Britain between Brazil and Argentina during the Argentina-Brazil War.
1859 – Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.
1861 – Union (Northern) forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
Krakatoa explosions and tsunamis 1883
1883 – Krakatoa, an Indonesian volcano, enters the final stage of its eruption.
1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1916 – Romania declares war against Austria-Hungary, entering World War I as one of the Allied nations.
1921 – The British install the son of Sharif Hussein bin Ali (leader of the Arab Revolt of 1916 against the Ottoman Empire) as King Faisal I of Iraq.
1922 – The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Greeks.
1928 – The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by the first fifteen nations to do so. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.
1943 – Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
1952 – West Germany and Israel conclude reparation negotiations in Luxembourg; West Germany agrees to pay 3 billion Deutsch Marks.
1957 – The Constitution of Malaysia comes into force.
1962 – The Mariner 2 unmanned space mission is launched to Venus by America's NASA.
1969 – Israeli commando force penetrates deep into Egyptian territory to stage mortar attack on regional Egyptian Army headquarters in the Nile Valley of Upper Egypt.
1971 – A coup attempt fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations.
1975 – The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.
1979 – An IRA bomb kills British World War II admiral Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and 3 others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another bomb near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.
1982 – Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altikat is shot and killed in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's capital. Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide claim responsibility, saying they are avenging the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
1985 – The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
1991 – The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1991 – Moldova declares independence from the USSR.
1993 – The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.
2000 – 540-metre (1,772 ft)-tall Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.
2003 – Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
2006 – Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
Births
1407 – Ashikaga Yoshikazu, Japanese shogun (d. 1425)
1471 – George, Duke of Saxony (d. 1539)
1487 – Anna of Brandenburg, queen of Denmark (d. 1514)
1637 – Charles Calvert, 3rd Baron Baltimore, Governor of the Province of Maryland (d. 1715)
1665 – John Hervey, 1st Earl of Bristol, English politician (d. 1751)
1669 – Anne Marie of Orléans, queen of Italy (d. 1728)
1698 – Baal Shem Tov, Founder of the Chasiddic movement (d. 1760)
1677 – Otto Ferdinand von Abensberg und Traun, Austrian field marshal (d. 1748)
1724 – John Joachim Zubly, Swiss-born Continental Congressman (d. 1781)
1730 – Johann Georg Hamann, German philosopher (d. 1788)
1770 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher (d. 1831)
1803 – Edward Beecher, American theologian (d. 1895)
1809 – Hannibal Hamlin, Vice President of the United States of America (d. 1891)
1858 – Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician (d. 1932)
1865 – James Henry Breasted, American Egyptologist (d. 1935)
1865 – Charles G. Dawes, 30th Vice President of the United States and Nobel Peace Prize laureate (d. 1951)
1868 – Hong Beom-do, Korean independence activist (d. 1943)
1870 – Amado Nervo, Mexican poet (d. 1919)
1871 – Theodore Dreiser, American author (d. 1945)
1874 – Carl Bosch, German chemist Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1940)
1875 – Katharine McCormick, American women's rights activist (d. 1967)
1877 – Charles Rolls, British co-founder of Rolls-Royce (d. 1910)
1877 – Ernst Wetter, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1963)
1882 – Samuel Goldwyn, Polish-born Hollywood film producer (d. 1974)
1884 – Vincent Auriol, French President (d. 1966)
1886 – Rebecca Helferich Clarke, English composer and violist (d. 1979)
1886 – Eric Coates, English composer (d. 1957)
1890 – Man Ray, American photographer and artist (d. 1976)
1896 – Faina Ranevskaya, Russian actress (d. 1984)
1898 – Gaspard Fauteux, French Canadian parliamentarian (d. 1963)
1899 – C. S. Forester, British author (d. 1966)
1899 – Byron Foulger, American actor (d. 1970)
1904 – Norah Lofts, British author (d. 1983)
1904 – John Hay Whitney, American financier (d. 1982)
1906 – Ed Gein, American serial killer (d. 1984)
1908 – Don Bradman, Australian cricketer (d. 2001)
1908 – Lyndon B. Johnson, 36th President of the United States (d. 1973)
1908 – Kurt Wegner, German artist (d. 1985)
1909 – Sylvère Maes, Belgian cyclist (d. 1966)
1909 – Lester Young, American musician (d. 1959)
1911 – Kay Walsh, British actress (d. 2005)
1912 – Gloria Guinness, Mexican socialite and writer(d. 1980)
1913 – Nina Schenk von Stauffenberg, Russian-born wife of Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg (d. 2006)
1915 – Norman F. Ramsey, American physicist Nobel Prize laureate
1916 – Martha Raye, American actress (d. 1994)
1916 – Tony Harris, South African cricketer (d. 1993)
1917 – Peanuts Lowrey, American baseball player (d. 1986)
1918 – Jelle Zijlstra, Dutch Prime Minister (d. 2001)
1919 – Murray Grand, American songwriter and cabaret singer (d. 2007)
1921 – Georg Alexander, Duke of Mecklenburg, head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (d. 1996)
1921 – Leo Penn, American film director (d. 1998)
1924 – David Rowbotham, Australian poet
1925 – Darry Cowl, French actor (d. 2006)
1926 – Pat Coombs, English actress (d. 2002)
1926 – Kristen Nygaard, Norwegian mathematician (d. 2002)
1927 – Jimmy C. Newman, American singer
1928 – Mangosuthu Buthelezi, South African politician
1929 – Ira Levin, American author (d. 2007)
1931 – Sri Chinmoy, Indian guru (d. 2007)
1931 – Joe Cunningham, American baseball player
1932 – Antonia Fraser, British author
1935 – Ernie Broglio, American baseball player
1935 – Frank Yablans, American film producer
1936 – Joel Kovel, American politician
1937 – Alice Coltrane, American jazz musician (d. 2007)
1937 – Tommy Sands, American actor and singer
1939 – William Least Heat-Moon, American author
1940 – Sonny Sharrock, American jazz guitarist (d. 1994)
1941 – Harrison Page, American actor
1942 – Daryl Dragon, American keyboardist (Captain & Tennille)
1942 – Brian Peckford, Canadian politician
1943 – Tuesday Weld, American actress
1945 – G. W. Bailey, American actor
1946 – Tony Howard, West Indian cricketer
1947 – Barbara Bach, American actress
1947 – Harry Reems, American actor
1947 – John Morrison, New Zealand cricketer
1947 – Gavin Pfuhl, South African cricketer (d. 2002)
1948 – Pavlos Sidiropoulos, Greek musician (d. 1990)
1948 – Sgt. Slaughter, American professional wrestler
1949 – Jeff Cook, vocals, guitar, keyboards, bass, fiddle, banjo and mandolin for Alabama
1950 – Charles Fleischer, American actor
1951 – Buddy Bell, American baseball player-manager
1951 – Mack Brown, American University of Texas Head Football Coach
1952 – Paul Reubens (aka Pee-wee Herman), American actor
1953 – Alex Lifeson, Canadian guitarist (Rush)
1953 – Peter Stormare, Swedish-born actor
1954 – John Lloyd, British tennis player
1954 – Derek Warwick, British race car driver
1955 – Laura Fygi, Dutch singer
1955 – Robert Richardson, American cinematographer
1955 – Diana Scarwid, American actress
1957 – Bernhard Langer, German golfer and two-time Masters champion
1958 – Normand Brathwaite, Canadian comedian and television and radio host
1958 – Sergei Krikalev, Russian cosmonaut
1958 – Tom Lanoye, Belgian author
1959 – Gerhard Berger, Austrian race car driver and F1 team co-owner (Scuderia Toro Rosso)
1959 – Juan Fernando Cobo, Colombian artist
1959 – Downtown Julie Brown, Welsh TV personality and MTV VJ
1961 – Yolanda Adams, American gospel singer
1961 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer
1962 – Adam Oates, Canadian ice hockey player
1964 – Frankie Thorn, American actress
1965 – Wayne James, Zimbabwean cricketer
1966 – Juhan Parts, Prime Minister of Estonia
1967 – Bob Nastanovich, American musician (Pavement, Silver Jews)
1967 – Ogie Alcasid, Filipino singer and actor
1969 – Reece Shearsmith, British actor and comedian
1969 – Mark Ealham, England cricketer
1969 – Cesar Millan, professional dog trainer
1969 – Chandra Wilson, American actress
1969 – Alan Doyle, MDA President
1970 – Peter Ebdon, English snooker player
1970 – Tony Kanal, English-born musician (No Doubt)
1970 – Jeff Kenna, Irish footballer
1970 – Jim Thome, American baseball player
1970 – Andy Bichel, Australian cricketer
1970 – Mark Ilott, England cricketer
1971 – Julian Cheung, Hong Kong actor and singer
1971 – Ernest Faber, Dutch footballer and footballcoach
1972 – Jimmy Pop, American musician, lead singer of The Bloodhound Gang
1972 – Jaap-Derk Buma, Dutch hockey-international
1972 – Denise Lewis, English heptathlete
1972 – Dalip Singh, Indian professional wrestler
1972 – Mike Smith, Canadian actor
1973 – Carlene Begnaud, American professional wrestler
1973 – Danny Coyne, Welsh footballer
1973 – Dietmar Hamann, German footballer
1973 – Johan Norberg, Swedish author
1973 – Burak Kut, Turkish pop singer
1974 – José Vidro, Puerto Rican baseball player
1974 – Mohammad Yousuf, Pakistani cricketer
1974 – Michael Mason, New Zealand cricketer
1975 – Jonny Moseley, American skier
1975 – Björn Gelotte, Swedish singer/songwriter
1975 – Mark Rudan, Australian footballer
1976 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress
1976 – Carlos Moyà, Spanish tennis player
1976 – Milano Collection Akihito Terui, Japanese professional wrestler
1976 – Mark Webber, Australian race car driver
1977 – Deco, Portuguese footballer
1977 – Mase, American rapper
1979 – Giovanni Capitello, American filmmaker/actor
1979 – Tian Liang, Chinese diver
1979 – Sarah Neufeld, Canadian musician (Arcade Fire)
1979 – Rusty Smith, American shorttracker
1980 – Neha Dhupia, Indian Model and Actress
1983 – Wilson Chen, Taiwanese actor
1984 – David Bentley, English footballer
1984 – Sulley Ali Muntari, Ghanaian footballer
1985 – Alexandra Nechita, Romanian/American artist
1986 – Mario, American R&B singer
1987 – Darren McFadden, American football player
1988 – Alexa Vega, American actress
1993 – Sarah Hecken, German figure skater
Deaths
542 – Saint Caesarius of Arles
827 – Pope Eugene II
1312 – Arthur II, Duke of Brittany (b. 1262)
1394 – Chokei, Emperor of Japan (b. 1343)
1450 – Reginald West, 6th Baron De La Warr, English politician (b. 1395)
1521 – Josquin Des Prez, Flemish composer
1545 – Piotr Gamrat, Polish Catholic archbishop (b. 1487)
1572 – Claude Goudimel, French composer
1577 – Titian, Italian artist
1590 – Pope Sixtus V (b. 1521)
1635 – Félix Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and playwright (b. 1562)
1664 – Francisco Zurbarán, Spanish painter (b. 1598)
1748 – James Thomson, Scottish poet (b. 1700)
1773 – Friedrich Wilhelm von Seydlitz, Prussian general (b. 1721)
1857 – Rufus Wilmot Griswold, American literary critic and editor (b. 1815)
1865 – Thomas Chandler Haliburton, Canadian author (b. 1796)
1871 – William Whiting Boardman, American politician (b. 1794)
1875 – William Chapman Ralston, American banker (b. 1826)
1909 – Emil Christian Hansen, Danish fermentation physiologist (b. 1842)
1929 – Herman Potočnik Noordung, Slovenian rocket scientist (b. 1892)
1931 – Frank Harris, Irish author and editor (b. 1856)
1931 – Francis Marion Smith, American borax magnate (b. 1846)
1944 – Georg von Boeselager, German nobleman (b. 1915)
1948 – Charles Evans Hughes, U.S. Supreme Court justice (b. 1862)
1958 – Ernest Lawrence, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1901)
1963 – Garrett Morgan, American inventor (b. 1877)
1963 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American civil rights activist and scholar (b. 1868)
1963 – Allama Mashriqi, Pakistani scholar and politician (b. 1888)
1964 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedienne (b. 1895)
1965 – Le Corbusier, Swiss architect (b. 1887)
1967 – Brian Epstein, English manager of The Beatles (b. 1934)
1968 – Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (b. 1906)
1969 – Ivy Compton-Burnett, English novelist (b. 1884)
1969 – Erika Mann, German writer and daughter of Thomas Mann (b. 1905)
1971 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher and television personality (b. 1898)
1971 – Margaret Bourke-White, American photo-journalist (b. 1906)
1975 – Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1892)
1976 – Mukesh, Indian playback singer (b. 1923)
1979 – Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, British admiral and statesman (assassinated) (b. 1900)
1980 – Douglas Kenney, American humorist (b. 1947)
1981 – Valeri Kharlamov, Soviet ice hockey player (b. 1948)
1984 – Bernard Youens, English actor (b. 1914)
1987 – Scott La Rock, American DJ (Boogie Down Productions) (b. 1962)
1988 – William Sargant, British psychiatrist (b. 1907)
1988 – Mario Montenegro, Filipino actor (b. 1928)
1990 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American guitarist (b. 1954)
1996 – Greg Morris, American actor (b. 1933)
1999 – Hélder Câmara, Brazilian Roman Catholic archbishop (b. 1909)
2001 – Abu Ali Mustafa, leader of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (assassinated) (b. 1938)
2001 – Michael Dertouzos, Greek internet pioneer, Director of the M.I.T. Laboratory for Computer Science (b. 1936)
2002 – Dr. Edwin Louis Cole, "Father of the Modern Day Men's Movement," Founder of the Christian Men's Network (CMN)
2003 – Pierre Poujade, French politician (b. 1920)
2004 – Willie Crawford, American baseball player (b. 1946)
2005 – Seán Purcell, Gaelic footballer (b. 1929)
2006 – Hrishikesh Mukherjee, Indian film director (b. 1922)
2006 – María Capovilla, oldest living person from 2004–2006 (b. 1889)
2006 – Jesse Pintado, Mexican-born guitarist (Napalm Death) (b. 1969)
2007 – Emma Penella, Spanish actress (b. 1930)
2008 – Mark Priestley, Australian actor (b. 1970)
Holidays and observances
Roman Festivals – Volturnalia held in honor of Volturnus.
Moldova – Independence Day (from the USSR, 1991).
Texas – Lyndon Baines Johnson Day
