August 21 in History

Historical Events on August 21

1778 American Revolutionary War: British forces begin besieging the French outpost at Pondichéry.

1863 Lawrence, Kansas is destroyed by pro-Confederate guerrillas known as Quantrill's Raiders.

1914 World War I: The Battle of Charleroi, a successful German attack across the River Sambre that pre-empted a French offensive in the same area.

1942 World War II: The flag of Nazi Germany is planted atop Mount Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus mountain range.

1942 World War II: The Guadalcanal Campaign: American forces defeat an attack by Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in the Battle of the Tenaru.

1961 American country music singer Patsy Cline returns to record producer Owen Bradley's studio in Nashville, Tennessee to record her vocals to Willie Nelson's "Crazy", which would become her signature song.

1968 Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of Communist Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

1993 NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

2013 Hundreds of people are reported killed by chemical attacks in the Ghouta region of Syria.

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Famous Birthdays on August 21

1936 Wilt Chamberlain

1980 Paul Menard

1986 Usain Bolt

1988 Robert Lewandowski

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Famous Deaths on August 21

1131 Baldwin II of Jerusalem

1762 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu

1775 Zahir al-Umar

1940 Leon Trotsky

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