What are the important events that happened on August 15? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 15: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 15 is the 227^th day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 138 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Friday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 2, 2025 – a Friday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 29,253,600 minutes has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectaicosaheptagon’ day.

Leo is the zodiac sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 186 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,620 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

August 15 Historical Events

• 1248 –
  The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, is laid. (Construction is eventually completed in 1880.)
• 1519 –
  Panama City, Panama, is founded.
• 1695 –
  French forces end the Bombardment of Brussels, leaving a third of the buildings in the city in ruins.
• 1914 –
  A male servant of American architect Frank Lloyd Wright sets fire to the living quarters of the architect’s Wisconsin home, Taliesin, murders seven people and burns the living quarters to the ground.
• 1947 –
  India gains Independence from the British Indian Empire and joins the Commonwealth of Nations.
• 1961 –
  Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the construction of the Berlin Wall.
• 1974 –
  Yuk Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea, is killed during an apparent assassination attempt upon President of South Korea, Park Chung-hee.
• 1999 –
  Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria; some 29 people are killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.
• 2005 –
  Israel’s unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and from four settlements in the northern West Bank begins.
• 2007 –
  An 8.0-magnitude earthquake off the Pacific coast devastates Ica and various regions of Peru killing 514 and injuring 1,090.

Who were born on August 15?

• 1769 –
  Napoleon Bonaparte, Corsican-born French military officer and Emperor of France (d. 1821)
• 1798 –
  Sangolli Rayanna, a prominent freedom fighter from Karnataka, India (d. 1831)
• 1856 –
  Ivan Franko, Ukrainian writer (d. 1916)
• 1876 –
  Stylianos Gonatas, Greek military officer and politician (d. 1966)
• 1896 –
  Leon Theremin, Russian inventor (d. 1993)
• 1912 –
  Dame Wendy Hiller, English actress (d. 2003)
• 1940 –
  Rita Shane, American soprano
• 1961 –
  Gary Kubiak, American football coach
• 1972 –
  Chris Morrissey, American film director/actor
• 1974 –
  Tomasz Suwary, Polish footballer

Who died on August 15?

• 778 –
  Roland, Frankish commander
• 1917 –
  Thomas J. Higgins, American Union Army soldier (b. 1831)
• 1935 –
  Will Rogers, American humorist and actor (b. 1879)
• 1951 –
  Artur Schnabel, Polish pianist (b. 1882)
• 1971 –
  Paul Lukas, Hungarian-born actor (b. 1887)
• 2003 –
  Gösta Sundqvist, Finnish songwriter and singer (heart attack) (b. 1957)
• 2005 –
  Bendapudi Venkata Satyanarayana, Indian dermatologist (b. 1927)
• 2006 –
  Faas Wilkes, Dutch footballer (b. 1923)
• 2007 –
  Geoffrey Orbell, New Zealand bush walker (b. 1908)
• 2007 –
  Sam Pollock, Canadian sports executive (b. 1925)