Events for August 15
1096 – Starting date of the First Crusade as set by Pope Urban II.
1684 – Emperor Leopold I and French king Louis XIV agree to an armistice in the truce of Ratisbon.
1534 – Ignatius of Loyola and six classmates take initial vows, leading to the creation of the Society of Jesus in September 1540.
1461 – The Empire of Trebizond surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II. This is regarded by some historians as the real end of the Byzantine Empire. Emperor David is exiled and later murdered.
1952 – A flash flood devastates the town of Lynmouth, England, killing 34 people.
717 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik begins the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, which will last for nearly a year.
1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz: Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon.
1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw, so-called Miracle at the Vistula.
2005 – Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.
838 – The Arabs under Caliph al-Mu'tasim storm and sack the city of Amorium, killing half the population and enslaving the other.
1965 – The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, an event later regarded as the birth of stadium rock.
1977 – The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project.
1989 – China Eastern Airlines Flight 5510 crashes after takeoff from Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport, killing 34 of the 40 people on board.
718 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The Arabs abandond the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople due to failure to secure enough supplies, defeat of their relief army by the Byzantines and an outbreak of plague in the camp.
1954 – Alfredo Stroessner begins his dictatorship in Paraguay.
1914 – World War I: The First Russian Army, led by Paul von Rennenkampf, enters East Prussia.
1645 – A Royalist army under the Marquess of Montrose defeats a Covenanter army in the battle of Kilsyth.
1976 – SAETA Flight 011 crashes into the Chimborazo volcano in Ecuador, killing all 59 people on board; the wreckage is not discovered until 2002.
1998 – Northern Ireland: Omagh bombing takes place; 29 people (including a woman pregnant with twins) killed and some 220 others injured.
1973 – Vietnam War: The US Air Force bombing of Cambodia ends.
1519 – Panama City, Panama is founded.
636 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The Battle of Yarmouk between the Byzantine Empire and the Rashidun Caliphate begins.
1843 – Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.
1209 – Albigensian Crusade: The Cathar stronghold of Carcassonne falls to the crusaders.
Notable Births & Deaths for August 15
2020 – Robert Trump, American real-estate developer, business executive (born 1948)
1991 – Petja Piiroinen, Finnish snowboarder
2013 – August Schellenberg, Canadian actor (born 1936)
1988 – Boban Marjanović, Serbian basketball player
1990 – Jennifer Lawrence, American actress and producer
2015 – Hamid Gul, Pakistani general (born 1936)
1995 – Chief Keef, American rapper
1999 – Paola Reis, BMX rider
2012 – Altamiro Carrilho, Brazilian flute player and composer (born 1924)
2017 – Gunnar Birkerts, Latvian-American architect (born 1925)
2007 – Sam Pollock, Canadian businessman (born 1925)
1984 – Emily Kinney, American actress and singer-songwriter
2003 – Juanlu Sánchez, Spanish footballer
2007 – Geoffrey Orbell, New Zealand physician (born 1908)
1993 – Clinton N'Jie, Cameroonian footballer
1989 – Ryan McGowan, Australian footballer
2012 – Harry Harrison, American author and illustrator (born 1925)
2007 – Richard Bradshaw, English conductor and director (born 1944)
2013 – Rosalía Mera, Spanish businesswoman, co-founded Inditex and Zara (born 1944)
1989 – Jordan Rapana, New Zealand rugby league player
2009 – Mary Catherine Lamb, American textile artist (born 1949)
1992 – Matthew Judon, American football player
2006 – Rick Bourke, Australian rugby league player (born 1955)
2006 – Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer and manager (born 1923)
2013 – Marich Man Singh Shrestha, Nepali politician, 28th Prime Minister of Nepal (born 1942)
1987 – Sean McAllister, English footballer
1994 – Lasse Vigen Christensen, Danish footballer
2011 – Rick Rypien, Canadian ice hockey player (born 1984)
2021 – Gerd Müller, German footballer (born 1945)
1985 – Nipsey Hussle, American rapper (died 2019)
2024 – Peter Marshall, American game show host, performer, and singer (born 1926)
1988 – Oussama Assaidi, Moroccan footballer
2008 – Vic Toweel, South African-Australian boxer (born 1929)
1989 – Carlos PenaVega, American actor and singer
2013 – Sławomir Mrożek, Polish-French author and playwright (born 1930)
1995 – Setyana Mapasa, Indonesian-Australian badminton player
1993 – Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, English footballer
1992 – Baskaran Adhiban, Indian chess player
2015 – Julian Bond, American academic, leader of the civil rights movement, and politician (born 1940)
1987 – Ryan D'Imperio, American football player
1984 – Jarrod Dyson, American baseball player
2008 – Jerry Wexler, American journalist and producer (born 1917)
1994 – Kosuke Hagino, Japanese swimmer
1987 – Michel Kreder, Dutch cyclist
2014 – Licia Albanese, Italian-American soprano and actress (born 1909)
2007 – John Gofman, American biologist, chemist, and physicist (born 1918)
Quick Start
Our API is incredibly easy to use, check out the code samples below to get started:
Fetch Historical Events
All you need to do is send a request to https://today.zenquotes.io/api/[month]/[day]/[key] in order to generate a JSON array of historical events, including notable births and deaths. API data pulled from WikiPedia.
*[key] not required but recommended.
Sample Requests
https://today.zenquotes.io/api - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for current server time (UTC).
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/1/1 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for January 1.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/5/5 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for May 5.
https://today.zenquotes.io/api/12/25 - Generate notable events, births, and deaths for December 25.
Response
The result data is formatted as a JSON array, grouped by event type.
{ "info":"OnThisDay API", "date":"April_20", "updated":"1615972324",
"data":{
"Events":[
{
"text":"1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.[1]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1303\" title=\"1303\">1303</a> – The <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Sapienza_University_of_Rome\" title=\"Sapienza University of Rome\">Sapienza University of Rome</a> is instituted by a <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Papal_bull\" title=\"Papal bull\">bull</a> of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Boniface_VIII\" title=\"Pope Boniface VIII\">Pope Boniface VIII</a>."
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Births":[
{
"text":"1494 – Johannes Agricola, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)[8]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/1494\" title=\"1494\">1494</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Agricola\" title=\"Johannes Agricola\">Johannes Agricola</a>, German theologian and reformer (d. 1566)"
},
//.. MORE DATA ..//
],
"Deaths":[
{
"text":"689 – Cædwalla, king of Wessex (b. 659)[21]",
"html":"<a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/689\" title=\"689\">689</a> – <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A6dwalla_of_Wessex\" title=\"Cædwalla of Wessex\">Cædwalla</a>, king of <a href=\"https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Wessex\" title=\"Wessex\">Wessex</a> (b. 659)" },
//.. MORE DATA ..//
}
]
} }Usage Limits and Attribution
Requests are restricted to 5 per 30 second period, an API key or registered IP is required for unlimited access and to enable Access-Control-Allow-Origin headers. We require that you show attribution with a link back to https://today.zenquotes.io/ when using the free version of this API. Contact support@zenquotes.io to chat with our friendly dev team and get registered.
Historical event data provided by <a href="https://today.zenquotes.io/" target="_blank">ZenQuotes.io</a>