August 15

636 – The armies of the Byzantine Emperor Heraclius and Rashidun Caliphate engage in their first battle near the Yarmouk river, east of the Sea of Galilee.

717 – An army of the Umayyad Caliphate under Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik finally encircles Constantinople beginning a – literally – year long, second siege of the city.

718 – The Second Arab Siege of Constantinople ends after desertions in the blockading fleet and attacks by Bulgarian forces from the north allow the city to be resupplied.

778 – In retaliation for destroying the city walls of their capital, Pamplona, the army of Charlemagne is attacked by Basque forces at Roncevaux Pass in the Pyrenees mountains and forced to withdraw. The rear guard including its commander, Roland, is killed while covering the retreat.

927 – The Saracens conquer and destroy Taranto, Italy, enslaving and deporting to North Africa all the survivors

982 – The army of Holy Roman Emperor Otto II is defeated by the Saracens at Capo Colonna, Italy.

1096 – Pope Urban II declares the start of the First Crusade.

1237 – During the Reconquista, the army of the Kingdom of Aragon, under Bernat Guillem I d’Entença, is victorious over the army of the Taifa of Valencia under Zayyan ibn Mardanishat near El Puig Spain.

1248 – The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid.

1281 – The Mongolian/Chinese fleet of Kublai Khan is destroyed by a “divine wind” -the Kamikaze- in Hakata Bay, Japan.

1461 – The Empire of Trebizond, the last remaining part of the Byzantine Empire,  surrenders to the forces of Sultan Mehmed II.

1483 – Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

1824 – The Marquis de Lafayette returns to the U.S. to begin a tour of the 24 states.

1914 – The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship SS Ancon.

1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft, a Lockheed Orion Explorer, develops engine problems and crashes during takeoff in Barrow, Alaska.

1939 – The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California.

1944 – The U.S. Army’s VI Corps lands on the beaches of the Côte d’Azur to begin the invasion of southern France

1945 – Even after the Commander of the First Imperial Guards Division, Lieutenant General Takeshi Mori, is killed for refusing to join the conspirators, who then issue false orders in his name, an attempted coup d’état against the Japanese government fails by early morning, when the vast majority of the Imperial Guards remain loyal to Emperor Hirohito.
The leaders of the failed coup commit suicide.
After signing the surrender document the previous night, the Imperial War Minister, General Korechika Anami commits suicide by seppuku.
The recording of Hirohito’s surrender announcement –The Jewel Voice Broadcast– is aired as scheduled.

1947 – India gains Independence from British rule and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.

1948 – The Republic of South Korea is established south of the 38th parallel north.

1969 – The Woodstock Music & Art Fair opens in upstate New York

1971 – President Nixon ends convertibility of the United States dollar into gold

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.

1995 – Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel Military College of South Carolina, but drops out less than a week later.

2013 – The Smithsonian announces the discovery of the Olinguito (Bassaricyon neblina), a new species of the raccoon family,  living in mountain forests in the Andes of western Colombia and Ecuador.

2021 – Kabul falls into the hands of the Taliban as Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flees the country, along with local residents and foreign nationals,  effectively reestablishing the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.