Historical Events on Sunday, 31st August

31/08/2025

A landslide in the Darfur region of Sudan kills over 1000 people. 26

On 31 August 2025, a landslide destroyed the village of Tarasin in the Marrah Mountains in Central Darfur, western Sudan, killing between 375 and 1,500 people.

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An earthquake in eastern Afghanistan kills over 1400 people. 25

On 31 August 2025, at 23:47 AFT, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 on the moment magnitude scale (Mw ) struck eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. The epicenter of the quake was located in Nurgal District, Kunar Province. It had a hypocenter 8 kilometres beneath the surface, and the shaking had a maximum Modified Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent) in Nurgal. Several geological and structural factors led to a heavy impact for the earthquake's relatively moderate size, with at least 2,200 deaths, 4,000 injuries and 8,000 collapsed homes; almost all of the casualties and destruction occurred in five districts of Kunar Province, where most buildings were damaged or destroyed, with nearby provinces also suffering damage and casualties. It was the deadliest earthquake to affect Afghanistan since 1998.

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31/08/2024

A helicopter crashes in Kamchatka Krai in the Russian Far East, killing all 22 occupants.

On 31 August 2024, a Mil Mi-8 helicopter operating a scheduled charter flight crashed in Kamchatka Krai, Russia, killing all 22 people on board. The aircraft, which was operated by Vityaz-Aero on a sightseeing tour over the Vachkazhets volcano, crashed in poor weather shortly after take-off.

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31/08/2016

Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff is impeached and removed from office.

Dilma Vana Rousseff known mononymously as Dilma, is a Brazilian socialite, economist and politician who served as the 36th president of Brazil from 2011 until her impeachment and removal from office on 31 August 2016. She is the only woman to have held the Brazilian presidency to date. Since March 2023, she has been the chair of the New Development Bank. She also served in the cabinet of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva during his first presidency—first as Minister of Mines and Energy, from 2003 to 2005, then as Chief of Staff from 2005 to 2010.

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31/08/2006

Edvard Munch's famous painting, The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.

Edvard Munch was a Norwegian painter. His 1893 work The Scream has become one of the most iconic and acclaimed images in all of Western art.

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31/08/2005

The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 953 people.

The Al-Aimmah Bridge disaster occurred on August 31, 2005 when 965 people died following a panic, and subsequent crowd crush, on the Al-Aaimmah Bridge, which crosses the Tigris river in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

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31/08/2002

Typhoon Rusa, the most powerful typhoon to hit South Korea in 43 years, made landfall, killing at least 236 people.

Typhoon Rusa was a deadly and destructive typhoon that severely affected South Korea in 2002. The twenty-first tropical depression, the fifteenth named storm, and the tenth typhoon of the 2002 Pacific typhoon season, Rusa developed on August 22 from a monsoon trough in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, to the southeast of Japan. For several days, Rusa moved northwestward, eventually intensifying into a powerful typhoon. On August 26, the storm moved across the Amami Islands, where it left 20,000 people without power and caused two fatalities. The typhoon dropped torrential rainfall across Japan, peaking at 902 mm (35.5 in) in Tokushima Prefecture.

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31/08/1999

The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.

In September 1999, a series of explosions hit four apartment blocks in the Russian cities of Buynaksk, Moscow, and Volgodonsk, killing more than 300, injuring more than 1,000, and spreading a wave of fear across the country. The bombings, together with the 1999 war of Dagestan, triggered the Second Chechen War. The handling of the crisis by Vladimir Putin, who was prime minister at the time, boosted his popularity greatly and helped him attain the presidency within a few months.

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A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground.

Líneas Aéreas Privadas Argentinas, more commonly known by the acronym LAPA, was an airline based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. At its heyday, the carrier operated international services to the United States and Uruguay, as well as an extensive domestic network within Argentina. Additionally, the company also operated charter services. Domestic and regional flights were operated from downtown's Aeroparque Jorge Newbery, whereas an international service to Atlanta was operated from Ministro Pistarini International Airport. LAPA was the first carrier to break a monopolistic market controlled by Aerolíneas Argentinas and its sister company Austral Líneas Aéreas, offering competitive prices.

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31/08/1997

Diana, Princess of Wales, her partner, Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.

Diana, Princess of Wales was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her activism and glamour made her an international icon and earned her enduring popularity.

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31/08/1996

Saddam Hussein's troops seized Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK.

Saddam Hussein was an Iraqi politician and revolutionary who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 1979 until his overthrow in 2003 during the United States-led invasion of Iraq. He previously served as the vice president from 1968 to 1979 and also as the prime minister from 1979 to 1991 and later from 1994 to 2003. A leading member of the Ba'ath Party, he was a proponent of Ba'athism, a mix of Arab nationalism and Arab socialism. The policies and ideologies he championed are collectively known as Saddamism, a right-wing variant of Ba'athism.

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31/08/1994

Russia completes removing its troops from Estonia.

Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Russia. The territory of Estonia consists of the mainland, the larger islands of Saaremaa and Hiiumaa, and over 2,300 other islands and islets on the east coast of the Baltic Sea. Its capital city of Tallinn, along with the city of Tartu, are the country's two largest urban areas. The Estonian language, of the Finnic family, is the official language and the first language of the majority of nearly 1.4 million people. Estonia is one of the least populous member states of the European Union.

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31/08/1993

Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania.

Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, and the Russian semi-exclave of Kaliningrad Oblast to the southwest, with a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Lithuania covers an area of 65,300 km2 (25,200 sq mi), and has a population of 2.9 million. Its capital and largest city is Vilnius; other major cities include Kaunas, Klaipėda, Šiauliai and Panevėžys. Lithuanians are the titular nation, belong to the ethnolinguistic group of Balts, and speak Lithuanian.

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31/08/1991

Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.

Kyrgyzstan, officially the Kyrgyz Republic, formerly known as Kirghizia, is a landlocked country in the eastern regions of Central Asia, lying in the Tian Shan and Pamir mountain ranges. It is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and China to the east and southeast. Kyrgyzstan's capital and largest city is Bishkek which lies on the northern border with Kazakhstan. Ethnic Kyrgyz make up the majority of the country's over 7.4 million people, followed by significant minorities of Uzbeks and Russians.

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31/08/1988

Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 crashes during takeoff from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, killing 14.

Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Dallas Fort Worth International Airport, Texas, and Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah. On August 31, 1988, the flight, operated by a Boeing 727-200 series aircraft, crashed during takeoff at DFW, resulting in 14 deaths and 76 injuries among the 108 on board. The cause of the crash was the crew's failure to configure the airplane's flaps or slats for takeoff. The aircraft's take-off warning system (TOWS) also malfunctioned and failed to warn the crew of the problem. Recordings from the cockpit voice recorder revealed that the crew had improperly engaged in casual conversation on various matters unrelated to the operation of the flight, which may have distracted them from properly performing their duties. The recordings, which were broadcast repeatedly by the press, proved so embarrassing that a law was subsequently passed to prohibit the release of cockpit voice recordings. Since the passage of that law, only written transcripts have been released rather than the voice recordings themselves.

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CAAC Flight 301 overshoots the runway at Kai Tak Airport and crashes into Kowloon Bay, killing seven people.

CAAC Flight 301, a Hawker Siddeley Trident operated by CAAC Guangzhou Regional Administration from Guangzhou Baiyun to Hong Kong Kai Tak, ran off the runway in Hong Kong on 31 August 1988 after clipping approach lights. Six crew members and one passenger perished in the accident. The crash shut down Kai Tak Airport for more than six hours after the accident.

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31/08/1987

Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard.

Thai Airways Flight 365 was a Thai Airways Company Boeing 737-2P5 with the registration number HS-TBC. On 31 August 1987, the plane crashed during a scheduled flight from Hat Yai International Airport to Phuket International Airport, killing all 83 people on board: 74 passengers and 9 crew. It was the deadliest aviation accident in Thailand at the time, before being surpassed four years later by the crash of Lauda Air Flight 004. Concerned by another aircraft in their vicinity, the crew reduced their approach speed while attempting to land, and failed to recover from an aerodynamic stall. In addition to pilot error, the air traffic controller was blamed for failing to keep Flight 365 and the other aircraft adequately separated.

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31/08/1986

Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.

Aeroméxico Flight 498 was a scheduled commercial flight from Mexico City, Mexico, to Los Angeles, California, United States, with several intermediate stops. On Sunday, August 31, 1986, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the flight was clipped in the tail section by N4891F, a Piper PA-28 Cherokee owned by the Kramer family, and crashed into the Los Angeles suburb of Cerritos, killing all 64 on the DC-9, all 3 in the Piper, and an additional 15 people on the ground. Eight on the ground also sustained minor injuries. Blame was assessed equally on the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the pilot of the Cherokee. No fault was found with the DC-9 or the actions of its crew.

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The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423.

The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), also known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until its dissolution in 1991. It was the world's third-most populous country, largest by area, and bordered twelve countries. A diverse multinational state, it was organized as a federal union of national republics, the largest and most populous being the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In practice, its government and economy were highly centralized. As a one-party state governed by the Communist Party, it was the flagship communist state. Its capital and largest city was Moscow.

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31/08/1972

Aeroflot Flight 558 crashes in the Abzelilovsky District in Bashkortostan, Russia (then the Soviet Union), killing all 102 people aboard.

Aeroflot Flight 558 was a scheduled Ilyushin Il-18V domestic passenger flight from Karaganda to Moscow that crashed into a field in the Abzelilovsky District on August 31st 1972 as a result of a fire stemming from exploded passenger baggage, killing all 102 people on board.

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31/08/1968

Start of the Congress of Carrara, one of the major 20th century anarchist congresses.

The Congress of Carrara, held from 31 August to 5 September 1968, in the eponymous city, is one of the major anarchist congresses of the 20th century. Led by anarchist federations from 31 countries—primarily European—the congress aimed to coordinate anarchists on an international scale and founded the International of Anarchist Federations (IAF), one of the main anarchist organizations to this day.

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31/08/1963

Crown Colony of North Borneo (now Sabah) achieves self governance.

The Crown Colony of North Borneo was a Crown colony on the island of Borneo established in 1946 shortly after the dissolution of the British Military Administration. The Crown Colony of Labuan joined the new Crown colony during its formation. It was succeeded as the state of Sabah through the formation of the Federation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963.

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31/08/1962

Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.

Trinidad and Tobago, officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean, comprising the main islands of Trinidad and Tobago, along with several smaller islets. The capital city is Port of Spain, while its largest and most populous municipality is Tunapuna/Piarco. Trinidad and Tobago comprises the southern most islands of the Caribbean eastern islands chain, and it is close to the continent of South America, being north to northeast of Venezuela and northwest of Guyana.

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31/08/1959

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.

A letter bomb is an explosive device sent via the postal service, and designed with the intention to injure or kill the recipient when opened. They have been used in terrorist attacks such as those of the Unabomber. Some countries have agencies whose duties include the interdiction of letter bombs and the investigation of letter bombings. The letter bomb may have been in use for nearly as long as the common postal service has been in existence, as far back as 1764.

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31/08/1957

The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.

Malaya, officially the Federation of Malaya, was a country in Southeast Asia from 1948 to 1963. It succeeded the Malayan Union and, before that, British Malaya. It comprised eleven states – nine Malay states and two of the Straits Settlements, Penang and Malacca. It was established on 1 February 1948.

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31/08/1950

TWA Flight 903 crashes near Itay El Barud, Egypt, killing all 55 aboard.

TWA Flight 903 was a regularly scheduled flight from Bombay International Airport, India to New York-Idlewild Airport, via Cairo-King Farouk Airport and Rome-Ciampino Airport. On 31 August 1950, the flight crashed in Egypt due to engine failure.

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31/08/1949

The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece into Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War.

The Democratic Army of Greece was the army founded by the Communist Party of Greece (KKE), on 28 October 1946, as the General Headquarters of Partisans, which was renamed to Democratic Army of Greece on 27 December 1946. It served as the army of the Provisional Democratic Government during the Greek Civil War (1946–1949). At its height, it had a strength of around 50,000 men and women. The DSE was backed by the Popular Civil Guard, the KKE's security police force.

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31/08/1943

USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.

USS Harmon (DE-678) was a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the United States Navy. USS Harmon was named after Mess Attendant Leonard Roy Harmon, who was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his actions on the cruiser USS San Francisco during the Battle of Guadalcanal. USS Harmon was the first warship to be named after an African-American.

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31/08/1941

World War II: Serbian paramilitary forces defeat Germans in the Battle of Loznica.

World War II, or the Second World War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Axis powers. Nearly all of the world's countries participated. Tanks and aircraft played major roles, the latter enabling the strategic bombing of cities and delivery of the only nuclear weapons used in war. World War II was the deadliest conflict in history, causing the death of 60 to 75 million people. Millions died as a result of massacres, starvation, disease, and genocides including the Holocaust. After the Allied victory, Germany, Austria, Japan, and Korea were occupied, and German and Japanese leaders were tried for war crimes.

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31/08/1940

Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident is the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.

On August 31, 1940, Pennsylvania Central Airlines Flight 19, a new Douglas DC-3, was flying from Washington, D.C. to Detroit with a stopover in Pittsburgh. While the aircraft was flying near Lovettsville, Virginia at 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and approaching the West Virginia border, Flight 19 encountered an intense thunderstorm. Numerous witnesses reported seeing a large flash of lightning shortly before it nosed over and plunged to earth in an alfalfa field. With limited accident investigation tools at the time, it was at first believed that the most likely cause was the plane flying into windshear, but the Civil Aeronautics Board report concluded that the probable cause was a lightning strike. U.S. Senator Ernest Lundeen was among the 21 passengers and 4 crew members killed. Also on board were "a Special Agent of the FBI, a second FBI employee, and a prosecutor from the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice." At the time of the crash, the FBI was investigating Sen. Lundeen's ties to George Sylvester Viereck, a top German agent working in the U.S. to spread pro-Nazi and antisemitic propaganda.

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31/08/1939

Nazi Germany mounts a false flag attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day, thus starting World War II in Europe.

Nazi Germany, officially the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. The Third Reich, meaning "Third Realm" or "Third Empire", referred to the Nazi claim that Nazi Germany was the successor to the Holy Roman Empire (800–1806) and the German Empire (1871–1918). The Third Reich, which the Nazis referred to as the Thousand-Year Reich, ended in May 1945, after 12 years, when the Allies defeated Germany and entered the capital, Berlin, ending World War II in Europe.

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31/08/1936

Radio Prague, now the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic, goes on the air.

Radio Prague International is the official international broadcasting station of the Czech Republic. Broadcasting first began on 31 August 1936 near the spa town of Poděbrady. Radio Prague broadcasts in six languages: English, German, French, Spanish, Czech and Russian. It broadcasts programmes about the Czech Republic on satellite and on the Internet.

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31/08/1935

In an attempt to stay out of the growing tensions concerning Germany and Japan, the United States passes the first of its Neutrality Acts.

The Neutrality Acts were a series of acts passed by the US Congress in 1935, 1936, 1937, and 1939 in response to the growing threats and wars that led to World War II. They were spurred by the growth in isolationism and non-interventionism in the US following the US joining World War I, and they sought to ensure that the US would not become entangled again in foreign conflicts.

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31/08/1933

The Integral Nationalist Group wins the 1933 Andorran parliamentary election, the first election in Andorra held with universal male suffrage.

Parliamentary elections were held in Andorra on 31 August 1933, the first held under universal male suffrage. The extension of the franchise to all men over 21 followed social unrest referred to as the Andorran Revolution. As political parties were not legalised until 1993, all candidates ran as independents.

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31/08/1920

Polish–Soviet War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.

The Polish–Soviet War was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution.

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31/08/1918

World War I: Start of the Battle of Mont Saint-Quentin, a successful assault by the Australian Corps during the Hundred Days Offensive.

World War I, or the First World War, also known as The Great War, was a global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies and the Central Powers. Major areas of conflict included Europe and the Middle East, as well as parts of Africa and the Asia-Pacific. The war saw important developments in weaponry including tanks, aircraft, artillery, machine guns, and chemical weapons. One of the deadliest conflicts in history, it resulted in an estimated 15 to 22 million military and civilian casualties and genocide. The movement of large numbers of people was a major factor in the deadly Spanish flu pandemic.

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31/08/1907

Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Anglo-Russian Convention, by which the UK recognizes Russian preeminence in northern Persia, while Russia recognizes British preeminence in southeastern Persia and Afghanistan. Both powers pledge not to interfere in Tibet.

The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 was a treaty signed between United Kingdom and the Russian Empire on 31 August 1907 in Saint Petersburg. It marked the end of the "Great Game" in Central Asia, where a longstanding rivalry had ensued between the two European colonial empires. The treaty also furthered the Anglo-Russian interest to outflank the German Empire, which was threatening to establish a railroad from Berlin to Baghdad and align with the weakened Ottoman Empire.

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31/08/1895

German Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin patents his navigable balloon.

Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin was a German general and later inventor of the Zeppelin rigid airships. His name became synonymous with airships and dominated long-distance flight until the 1930s. He founded the company Luftschiffbau Zeppelin.

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31/08/1888

Mary Ann Nichols, the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims, is murdered.

Mary Ann Nichols, known as Polly Nichols, was the first canonical victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, who is believed to have murdered and mutilated at least five women in and around the Whitechapel district of London between late August and early November 1888.

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31/08/1886

The 7.0 Mw  Charleston earthquake strikes southeastern South Carolina with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (Extreme), killing 60 people and causing damage worth an estimated at $5 to $6 million.

The 1886 Charleston earthquake in South Carolina occurred about 9:50 p.m. local time August 31. It caused 60 deaths and $5–6 million in damage to 2,000 buildings in the Southeastern United States. It is one of the most powerful and damaging earthquakes to hit the East Coast of the United States.

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31/08/1876

Ottoman Sultan Murad V is deposed and succeeded by his brother, Abdul Hamid II.

The sultans of the Ottoman Empire, who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty, ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its height, the Ottoman Empire spanned an area from Hungary in the north to Yemen in the south and from Algeria in the west to Iraq in the east. Administered at first from the city of Söğüt since before 1280 and then from the city of Bursa since 1323 or 1324, the empire's capital was moved to Adrianople in 1363 following its conquest by Murad I and then to Constantinople in 1453 following its conquest by Mehmed II.

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31/08/1864

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.

The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy, which was formed in 1861 by states that had seceded from the Union to preserve slavery in the United States, which they saw as threatened because of the election of Abraham Lincoln and the growing abolitionist movement in the North. The war lasted a little over four years, ending with Union victory, the dissolution of the Confederacy and the abolition of slavery, freeing four million African Americans.

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31/08/1813

Peninsular War: Spanish troops repel a French attack in the Battle of San Marcial.

The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by the Iberian nations Spain and Portugal, along with the United Kingdom, against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, it is considered to overlap with the Spanish War of Independence. It overlapped with the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) and the War of the Sixth Coalition (1812–1814).

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31/08/1798

Irish Rebellion: Irish rebels, with French assistance, establish the short-lived Republic of Connacht.

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 was a popular insurrection against the British Crown in what was then the separate, but subordinate, Kingdom of Ireland. The main organising force was the Society of United Irishmen. First formed in Belfast by Presbyterians opposed to the landed Anglican establishment, the Society, despairing of reform, sought to secure a republic through a revolutionary union with the country's Catholic majority. The grievances of a rack-rented tenantry drove recruitment.

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31/08/1795

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.

The War of the First Coalition was a set of wars between a coalition of several European powers and France fought between 1792 and 1797. The coalition was only loosely allied and fought without much coordination; each power wanted to annex a different part of France should they defeat the French, something that never occurred.

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31/08/1776

William Livingston, the first Governor of New Jersey, begins serving his first term.

William Livingston was an American politician and lawyer who served as the first governor of New Jersey (1776–1790) during the American Revolutionary War. As a New Jersey representative in the Continental Congress, he signed the Continental Association and the United States Constitution. He is one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a founding father of New Jersey.

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31/08/1483

Under the influence of the Ottoman government, patriarch Symeon I convenes a synod of the Eastern Orthodox Churches in Constantinople which defines the ritual for admitting Catholics to the Eastern Orthodox Churches and condemns the church union of Ferrara-Florence.

Symeon I of Constantinople was Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople three times: for a short time in 1466, from 1471 to 1475 and from 1482 to 1486. In 1484 he presided over the Synod of Constantinople of 1484 which repudiated the Council of Florence.

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31/08/1422

King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France and his son, Henry VI, becomes king at the age of nine months.

Henry V, also called Henry of Monmouth, was King of England from 1413 until his death in 1422. Despite his relatively short reign, Henry's outstanding military successes in the Hundred Years' War against France made England one of the strongest military powers in Europe. Immortalised in Shakespeare's Henriad plays, Henry is known and celebrated as one of the greatest warrior-kings of medieval England.

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31/08/1420

The 8.8–9.4 Caldera earthquake shakes Chile's Atacama Region causing tsunami in Chile, Hawaii, and Japan.

The 1420 Caldera earthquake was a pre-Columbian earthquake that shook the southern portion of Atacama Desert in the early morning of 31 August 1420 and caused tsunamis in Chile as well as Hawaii and the towns of Japan. The earthquake is thought to have had a size of 8.8–9.4 Mw. Historical records of the tsunami exist for the Japanese harbours of Kawarago and Aiga where confused residents saw the water recede in the morning of 1 September, without any sign of an earthquake. In Chile, rockfalls occurred along the coast as well, producing blocks of up to 40 tons that are now found inland. This is also consistent with the identification of a possible tsunami deposit in Mejillones Bay that has been dated to the range 1409 to 1449. Deposits found by coring of recent sediments in a wetland near Tongoy Bay have also been linked to the 1420 tsunami.

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31/08/1314

King Haakon V moves the capital of Norway from Bergen to Oslo.

Haakon V Magnusson was King of Norway from 1299 until 1319.

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31/08/1218

Al-Kamil becomes sultan of the Ayyubid dynasty.

Al-Malik al-Kamil Nasir ad-Din Muhammad, titled Abu al-Maʽali, was an Egyptian ruler and the fourth Ayyubid sultan of Egypt. During his tenure as sultan, the Ayyubids defeated the Fifth Crusade. He was known to the Frankish crusaders as Meledin, a name by which he is referred to in some older western sources. As a result of the Sixth Crusade, he ceded West Jerusalem to the Christians and is known to have met with Saint Francis.

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31/08/1056

After a sudden gastric illness, Byzantine Empress Theodora dies childless, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty.

The term Roman empress usually refers to the consorts of the Roman emperors, the rulers of the Roman Empire. The duties, power and influence of empresses varied depending on the time period, contemporary politics and the personalities of their husband and themselves. Empresses were typically highly regarded and respected, and many wielded great influence over imperial affairs. Several empresses served as regents on behalf of their husbands or sons and a handful ruled as empresses regnant, governing in their own right without a husband.

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