Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 31
This is a list of selected August 31 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
| ← August 30 | September 1 → |
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Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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Henry VI of England -
Sultan Abdul Hamid II -
Sultan Abdul Hamid II -
Pont de l'Alma road tunnel -
An 1888 Punch cartoon depicting Jack the Ripper as a phantom stalking Whitechapel -
1925 photo of the Admiral Nakhimov sailing under her original name Berlin III
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| and Kyrgyzstan (1991) | section summary too long |
| 1422 – As the only heir to the throne, Henry VI became King of England at the age of eight months following the death of his father Henry V. | refimprove |
| 1876 – Abdul Hamid II became Sultan of the Ottoman Empire when his brother Murad V was deposed. | unreferenced section |
| 1907 – The Great Game: Russia and the United Kingdom signed the Anglo-Russian Entente, defining their respective spheres of interest in Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet. | no footnotes, inappropriate tone |
| 1920 – Polish–Soviet War: Polish forces, led by their cavalry, defeated the Bolshevik Red Army in the Battle of Komarów. | tagged with {{refimprove}} |
| 1986 – After a collision with a freighter, the Soviet ocean liner Admiral Nakhimov sank in the Tsemes Bay area of the Black Sea within seven minutes, killing more than 400 people on board. | refimprove |
| 1992 – The one-party Marxist rule in the Republic of the Congo officially ended when Pascal Lissouba was inaugurated as its president after a multi-party election. | date not in article |
| 1999 – The first of a series of bombings in Moscow killed one person and wounded 40 others. | intro too long |
| 2005 – Up to 1,000 people died following a stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad, the biggest loss of life in Iraq in one day since the 2003 invasion. | unreferenced section |
| 2010 – The last episode of The Bill, the longest-running police drama in British television history, was broadcast. | already featured on October 16 |
Eligible
- 1056 – After a sudden illness a few days prior, Byzantine Empress Theodora died without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty.
- 1888 – Mary Ann Nichols' body was found on the ground in front of a gated stable entrance in Buck's Row, London, allegedly the first victim of the unidentified serial killer known as Jack the Ripper (depiction pictured).
- 1959 – A parcel bomb sent by Ngo Dinh Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, failed to kill Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
- 1982 – Anti-government demonstrations were held in 66 Polish cities to commemorate the second anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement, which allowed the Solidarity trade union to be established.
- 1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 collided with a privately owned Piper PA-28 Cherokee aircraft over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
- 1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed, and their driver Henri Paul were killed in a high speed car accident in the Pont de l'Alma road tunnel in Paris.
Notes
- Invasion of Poland appears on September 1, so Gleiwtiz incident should not appear in the same year
August 31: Ghost Festival (Chinese calendar, 2012); Independence Day in Malaysia (1957), Trinidad and Tobago (1962)
- 1798 – Irish Rebellion of 1798: Irish rebels, with French assistance, established the short-lived Republic of Connaught.
- 1813 – Peninsular War: At the Battle of San Marcial, the Spanish Army of Galicia under Manuel Alberto Freire turned back Nicolas Soult's last major offensive against Arthur Wellesley's allied army.
- 1939 – Nazi forces, posing as Poles, staged an attack against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany, creating an excuse to invade Poland the next day.
- 1965 – The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy (pictured), a large, wide-bodied cargo aircraft used for ferrying outsized cargo components, made its first flight.
- 1998 – North Korea claimed to have successfully launched Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, its first satellite, although no objects were ever tracked in orbit from the launch.