On this day: August 27

Events on August 27

• 410 The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ended after three days. Wikipedia
• 1656 The Netherlands and the Ahanta people signed the Treaty of Butre, creating a Dutch protectorate over the country of Upper Ahanta in modern-day Ghana. Wikipedia
• 1689 The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing Empire (Julian calendar). Wikipedia
• 1776 British forces led by William Howe defeated the Continental Army under George Washington at the Battle of Long Island, the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War. Wikipedia
• 1791 French Revolution: Frederick William II of Prussia and Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor, issue the Declaration of Pillnitz, declaring the joint support of the Holy Roman Empire and Prussia for the French monarchy, agitating the French revolutionaries and contributing to the outbreak of the War of the First Coalition. Wikipedia
• 1793 French Revolutionary Wars: The city of Toulon revolts against the French Republic and admits the British and Spanish fleets to seize its port, leading to the Siege of Toulon by French Revolutionary forces. Wikipedia
• 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 Connacht. Wikipedia
• 1810 Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeated the Royal Navy, preventing them from capturing the harbour of Grand Port on Mauritius. Wikipedia
• 1832 Black Hawk, the leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrendered to U.S. authorities to end the Black Hawk War. Wikipedia
• 1859 Edwin Drake successfully drilled for oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania, resulting in the Pennsylvania oil rush, the first oil boom in the United States. Wikipedia
• 1883 Eruption of Krakatoa: Four enormous explosions almost completely destroy the island of Krakatoa, with a combination of tsunamis and pyroclastic flows killing more than 36,000. Climate effects are observed worldwide. Wikipedia
• 1895 Japanese invasion of Taiwan: Battle of Baguashan: The Empire of Japan decisively defeats a smaller Formosan army at Changhua, crippling the short-lived Republic of Formosa and leading to its surrender two months later. Wikipedia
• 1896 In the shortest recorded war in history, the Sultanate of Zanzibar surrendered to the United Kingdom after less than an hour of conflict. Wikipedia
• 1916 World War I: The Kingdom of Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, entering the war as one of the Allied nations. Wikipedia
• 1922 Greco-Turkish War: The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Kingdom of Greece. Wikipedia
• 1928 The Kellogg–Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by fifteen nations. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it. Wikipedia
• 1955 The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records was published. Wikipedia
• 1964 South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh entered into a triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, both of whom had been involved in plots to unseat Khánh. Wikipedia
• 1979 The Troubles: the IRA ambushed and killed 18 British soldiers near Warrenpoint, and assassinated Lord Mountbatten on his boat at Mullaghmore. Wikipedia
• 1990 American musician Stevie Ray Vaughan, one of the most influential guitarists in the revival of blues in the 1980s, was killed in a helicopter crash. Wikipedia
• 1991 The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Wikipedia
• 2003 Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant. Wikipedia
• 2006 Comair Flight 5191 crashed while inadvertently attempting to take off from the wrong runway at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49 of the 50 people on board, and causing the Federal Aviation Administration to modify air traffic control rules. Wikipedia
• 2009 The Myanmar military junta and ethnic armies began three days of violent clashes in the region of Kokang. Wikipedia
• 2011 Hurricane Irene strikes the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage. Wikipedia
• 2013 Religious violence between Hindus and Muslims erupted in Muzaffarnagar district, Uttar Pradesh, India, leaving 62 people dead. Wikipedia

Born on August 27

• 865 Rhazes, Persian polymath (died 925) Wikipedia
• 1770 Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher and academic (died 1831) Wikipedia
• 1809 Hannibal Hamlin, American publisher and politician, 15th Vice President of the United States (died 1891) Wikipedia
• 1856 Ivan Franko, Ukrainian author and poet (died 1916) Wikipedia
• 1858 Giuseppe Peano, Italian mathematician and philosopher (died 1932) Wikipedia
• 1865 Charles G. Dawes, American general and politician, 30th Vice President of the United States, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1951) Wikipedia
• 1871 Theodore Dreiser, American novelist and journalist (died 1945) Wikipedia
• 1874 Carl Bosch, German chemist and engineer, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1940) Wikipedia
• 1878 Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, Russian general (died 1928) Wikipedia
• 1884 Vincent Auriol, French lawyer and politician, President of the French Republic (died 1966) Wikipedia
• 1890 Man Ray, American-French photographer and painter (died 1976) Wikipedia
• 1908 Lyndon B. Johnson, American commander and politician, 36th President of the United States (died 1973) Wikipedia
• 1908 Don Bradman, Australian cricketer and manager (died 2001) Wikipedia
• 1915 Norman Foster Ramsey Jr., American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1931 Sri Chinmoy, Indian-American guru and poet (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1941 Cesária Évora, Cape Verdean singer (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1952 Paul Reubens, American actor and comedian (died 2023) Wikipedia
• 1976 Mark Webber, Australian race car driver Wikipedia
• 1977 Deco, Brazilian-Portuguese footballer Wikipedia
• 1979 Aaron Paul, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1984 Sulley Muntari, Ghanaian footballer Wikipedia
• 1986 Sebastian Kurz, Austrian politician, 25th Chancellor of Austria Wikipedia

Died on August 27

• 827 Pope Eugene II Wikipedia
• 1576 Titian, Italian painter and educator (born 1488) Wikipedia
• 1590 Pope Sixtus V (born 1521) Wikipedia
• 1611 Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish composer (born c. 1548) Wikipedia
• 1635 Lope de Vega, Spanish poet and playwright (born 1562) Wikipedia
• 1664 Francisco de Zurbarán, Spanish painter and educator (born 1598) Wikipedia
• 1950 Cesare Pavese, Italian author, poet, and critic (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 1958 Ernest Lawrence, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1901) Wikipedia
• 1963 W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (born 1868) Wikipedia
• 1965 Le Corbusier, Swiss-French architect and urban planner, designed the Philips Pavilion (born 1887) Wikipedia
• 1975 Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1979 Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, English admiral and politician, 44th Governor-General of India (born 1900) Wikipedia
• 1990 Stevie Ray Vaughan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1954) Wikipedia
• 2026 Ratko Mladić, Bosnian Serb military officer and war criminal (born 1942) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Christian feast day: Baculus of Sorrento Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Caesarius of Arles Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: David Lewis Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Decuman Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Gebhard of Constance Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Euthalia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: John of Pavia Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Lycerius (or: Glycerius, Lizier) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Máel Ruba (or Rufus) (Scotland) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Margaret the Barefooted Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Monica of Hippo, mother of Augustine of Hippo Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Narnus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Our Lady of La Vang Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Phanourios of Rhodes Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Rufus and Carpophorus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Syagrius of Autun Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Thomas Gallaudet and Henry Winter Syle (Episcopal Church) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: August 27 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Independence Day (Republic of Moldova), celebrates the independence of Moldova from the USSR in 1991. Wikipedia
• Lyndon Baines Johnson Day (Texas, United States) Wikipedia

Sources

• Wikipedia — “August 27” — events, births, deaths and observances (text under CC BY-SA 4.0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikipedia — “Selected anniversaries/August 27” — the anniversaries editors chose for the date and the article each one is about (checked 2026-10-15)
• Wikidata — in how many language editions each entry's own article exists, used to fill the lists (CC0) (checked 2026-10-15)
• vacanza/holidays (open-source holiday rules, MIT licence) — holiday rules used to build the lists (checked 2026-10-15)

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “August 27” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-15 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. Every anniversary that Wikipedia's editors selected for August 27 stays on the list; the remaining places, up to 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths, go to the entries whose own article — about the event itself, or else the person or thing it is about — appears in the most language editions (counted from Wikidata); an article about a person or thing, which covers far more than one day, counts half. An entry with no article of its own counts, also at half, by the least covered article it links, and one that links only places counts for nothing. Each list runs by year, and the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures, audio and video.