A Brief History
This article presents a chronological list of notable events that happened on August 16th. For each date below, please click on the date to be taken to an article covering that date’s event.
Digging Deeper
On August 16, 1812, General William Hull of the U.S. Army surrendered Fort Detroit to an inferior English force.
On August 16, 1858, a date earlier than you may have thought, the advent of instant electronic communications between Europe and North America was inaugurated by President James Buchanan and Queen Victoria of the UK via the “Transatlantic Cable.”
On August 17, 1914, the World War I Battle of Stallupönen was fought between the Imperial German army and the Imperial Russian army near Nesterov, Russia.
On August 16, 1927, the Dole Air Race began, with 8 airplanes taking off from Oakland, California and heading to Honolulu, Hawaii.
On August 16, 1940, Flight Lieutenant Nicolson of the British Royal Air Force flew his Hawker Hurricane fighter into history during combat over England against the German Luftwaffe when he continued to fight an aerial battle despite his plane being on fire from four cannon shells and multiple machine gun bullets striking it from an enemy Me-110.
On August 16, 1942, while on routine anti-submarine patrol, the two man crew of US Navy Blimp L-8 disappeared without a trace.
On August 16, 1944, the Nazis flew the prototype of the Ju-287 for the first time.
On August 16, 1945, the last Emperor in China, Puyi of Manchuria, was captured by the Soviet Army.
From August 14 through 16, 2003, a widespread power outage affected millions of people living throughout parts of the Northeastern and Midwestern United States, and the Canadian province of Ontario.
On August 16, 2008, the Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, Illinois topped out and immediately became the tallest residence above ground level of any building in the world.
Psychological horror fans had their chance to be among the first in Cleveland, Ohio to see The Night House on Monday, August 16, 2021 at 7:30 PM at Cinemark At Valley View & XD in Valley View, Ohio!
On August 16, 2024, we rushed to our local theater to watch the newest edition of the Alien movie franchise, Alien: Romulus.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Andrews, John and Matt Baker. Timeline of World History. Thunder Bay Press, 2020.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.