On this day: August 31

Events on August 31

• 1314 King Haakon V moves the capital of Norway from Bergen to Oslo. Wikipedia
• 1420 The 8.8–9.4 Caldera earthquake shakes Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunami in Chile, Hawaii, and Japan. Wikipedia
• 1795 War of the First Coalition: The British capture Trincomalee (present-day Sri Lanka) from the Dutch in order to keep it out of French hands. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: The Battle of Jonesborough, the culmination of the Atlanta campaign, begins as Union forces under General William T. Sherman clash with Confederate troops under General William J. Hardee south of Atlanta. Wikipedia
• 1876 Sultan Murad V of the Ottoman Empire was deposed after a reign of 93 days on grounds of mental illness.* 1888 – The body of Mary Ann Nichols, the alleged first victim of an unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, was found in Buck's Row, London. Wikipedia
• 1897 Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a precursor to the modern movie projector. Wikipedia
• 1897 Thomas Edison was granted a patent for the Kinetoscope, a precursor to the modern movie projector. Wikipedia
• 1918 World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive. Wikipedia
• 1933 The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage. Wikipedia
• 1940 Second World War: Two Royal navy destroyers were lost to mines and two other vessels damaged off Texel, Netherlands, killing around 300 men. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: A detachment of Chetniks captured the town of Loznica in German-occupied Serbia. Wikipedia
• 1941 World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica. Wikipedia
• 1949 The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece into Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War. Wikipedia
• 1957 The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom. Wikipedia
• 1959 A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia. Wikipedia
• 1962 Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent. Wikipedia
• 1969 On the final day of the Isle of Wight Festival 1969, attended by approximately 150,000 people over three days, Bob Dylan appeared in his first gig in three years. Wikipedia
• 1986 The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423. Wikipedia
• 1991 Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union. Wikipedia
• 1993 Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania. Wikipedia
• 1994 Argentina abolishes conscription after months of social backlash over the murder of a conscript. Wikipedia
• 1994 Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia. Wikipedia
• 1999 A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground. Wikipedia
• 2005 The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 953 people. Wikipedia
• 2025 An earthquake in eastern Afghanistan kills over 1400 people. Wikipedia
• 2025 A landslide in the Darfur region of Sudan kills over 1000 people. Wikipedia

Born on August 31

• 12 Caligula, Roman emperor (died 41) Wikipedia
• 161 Commodus, Roman emperor (died 192) Wikipedia
• 1569 Jahangir, Mughal emperor (died 1627) Wikipedia
• 1811 Théophile Gautier, French poet and critic (died 1872) Wikipedia
• 1821 Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist (died 1894) Wikipedia
• 1843 Georg von Hertling, German academic and politician, 7th Chancellor of the German Empire (died 1919) Wikipedia
• 1870 Maria Montessori, Italian physician and educator (died 1952) Wikipedia
• 1879 Taishō, Emperor of Japan (died 1926) Wikipedia
• 1880 Wilhelmina, queen of the Netherlands (died 1962) Wikipedia
• 1900 Gino Lucetti, Italian anarchist, attempted assassin of Benito Mussolini (died 1943) Wikipedia
• 1908 William Saroyan, American novelist, playwright, and short story writer (died 1981) Wikipedia
• 1928 James Coburn, American actor (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1949 Hugh David Politzer, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate Wikipedia
• 1949 Richard Gere, American actor and producer Wikipedia
• 1956 Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwanese politician and the President of the Republic of China Wikipedia
• 1960 Hassan Nasrallah, Lebanese politician, 3rd Secretary-General of Hezbollah (died 2024) Wikipedia
• 1970 Queen Rania of Jordan Wikipedia
• 1970 Nikola Gruevski, Macedonian economist and politician, 6th Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia Wikipedia
• 1971 Chris Tucker, American comedian and actor Wikipedia
• 1979 Yuvan Shankar Raja, Indian Tamil singer-songwriter and producer Wikipedia
• 1982 Pepe Reina, Spanish footballer Wikipedia
• 1985 Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Wikipedia

Died on August 31

• 1056 Theodora, Empress of the Byzantine Empire (born 981) Wikipedia
• 1422 Henry V of England (born 1386) Wikipedia
• 1688 John Bunyan, English preacher, theologian, and author (born 1628) Wikipedia
• 1867 Charles Baudelaire, French poet and critic (born 1821) Wikipedia
• 1920 Wilhelm Wundt, German physician, psychologist, and philosopher (born 1832) Wikipedia
• 1941 Marina Tsvetaeva, Russian poet and author (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1945 Stefan Banach, Polish mathematician (born 1892) Wikipedia
• 1963 Georges Braque, French painter and sculptor (born 1882) Wikipedia
• 1973 John Ford, American actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1985 Frank Macfarlane Burnet, Australian virologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1899) Wikipedia
• 1997 Diana, Princess of Wales (born 1961) Wikipedia
• 2002 George Porter, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1920) Wikipedia
• 2005 Joseph Rotblat, Polish-English physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1908) Wikipedia
• 2020 Pranab Mukherjee, Former President of India (born 1935) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Baloch-Pakhtun Unity Day (Balochs and Pashtuns, International observance) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aidan of Lindisfarne Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Aristides of Athens Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Cuthburh Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Joseph of Arimathea Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Nicodemus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Paulinus of Trier Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Raymond Nonnatus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Wala of Corbie Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: August 31 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Day of Solidarity and Freedom (Poland) Wikipedia
• Departure Day, celebrates the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Kyrgyzstan from the Soviet Union in 1991. Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Malaya from the United Kingdom in 1957. Wikipedia
• Independence Day, celebrates the independence of Trinidad and Tobago from the United Kingdom in 1962. Wikipedia
• Romanian Language Day (Romania, Moldova, Ukraine) Wikipedia
• Sabah Day (Sabah, Borneo) Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “August 31” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.