On this day: 21 August

Eraclus becomes the 25th bishop of Liège.

Song dynasty general Yue Fei defeats an army led by Jin dynasty general Wuzhu at the Battle of Yancheng during the Jin–Song Wars.

Battle of the Blacks: Uprising by the black African forces of the Fatimid army, along with a number of Egyptian emirs and commoners, against Saladin.

Minamoto no Yoritomo becomes Sei-i Taishōgun and the de facto ruler of Japan. (Traditional Japanese date: the 12th day of the seventh month in the third year of the Kenkyū (建久) era).

King Stefan Uroš III, after months of anarchy, surrenders to his son and rival Stefan Dušan, who succeeds as King of Serbia.

Henry the Navigator leads Portuguese forces to victory over the Marinids at the Conquest of Ceuta.

Pueblo Indians capture Santa Fe from the Spanish during the Pueblo Revolt.

Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: Ottoman forces suddenly abandoned their siege of Corfu, allowing the Republic of Venice to preserve its rule over the Ionian Islands.

Austro-Turkish War: Austrian troops under Prince Eugene of Savoy captured the strategically important city of Belgrade from the Ottoman Empire.

King Gustav III completes his coup d'état by adopting a new Constitution, ending half a century of parliamentary rule in Sweden and installing himself as an enlightened despot.

The national colours of Italy first appeared on a tricolour cockade in Genoa.

Enslaved Africans in Saint-Domingue, led by Dutty Boukman, held a Vodou ceremony that became a pivotal act of resistance. This gathering sparked a mass uprising against slavery, marking the beginning of the Haitian Revolution.

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte, Marshal of France, is elected Crown Prince of Sweden by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates.

Jarvis Island is discovered by the crew of the ship, Eliza Frances.

Nat Turner leads black slaves and free blacks in a rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, which will claim the lives of 55 to 65 whites and about twice that number of blacks.

Tlingit Indians destroy Fort Selkirk, Yukon Territory.

The first of the Lincoln–Douglas debates is held in Ottawa, Illinois.

The Stadtpark, the first public park in Vienna, opens to the public.

The American Bar Association is founded in Saratoga Springs, New York.

An F5 tornado strikes Rochester, Minnesota, leading to the creation of the Mayo Clinic.

The first successful adding machine in the United States is patented by William Seward Burroughs.

Six hundred American school teachers, Thomasites, arrived in Manila on the USAT Thomas.

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.

World War I: The Second Battle of the Somme begins.

World War II: The Imperial Japanese Army lost the Battle of the Tenaru, the first of its three major land offensives during the Guadalcanal campaign.

World War II: A combined Canadian–Polish force captured the town of Falaise, France, in the final offensive of the Battle of Normandy.

Dumbarton Oaks Conference, prelude to the United Nations, begins.

The Soviet Union successfully conducts a long-range test flight of the R-7 Semyorka, the first intercontinental ballistic missile.

United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state of the union. Hawaii's admission is currently commemorated by Hawaii Admission Day.

The Socialist Republic of Romania is proclaimed, following the adoption of a new constitution.

Cold War: Nicolae Ceaușescu, leader of the Socialist Republic of Romania, publicly condemns the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, encouraging the Romanian population to arm itself against possible Soviet reprisals.

James Anderson Jr. posthumously receives the first Medal of Honor to be awarded to an African American U.S. Marine.

Lebanese Civil War: The first troops of a multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the Palestine Liberation Organization's withdrawal from Lebanon.

Latvia declares renewal of its full independence after its occupation by the Soviet Union since 1940.

Coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev collapses.

NASA loses contact with the Mars Observer spacecraft.

American golfer Tiger Woods wins the 82nd PGA Championship and becomes the first golfer since Ben Hogan in 1953 to win three majors in a calendar year.

BioShock was released in North America, becoming a critical success and a demonstration of video games as an art form.

A solar eclipse traverses the continental United States.