August 16 in History

The French Revolution was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the Coup of 18 Brumaire on 9 November 1799. Many of the revolution's ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values remain central to modern French political discourse. It was caused by a combination of social, political, and economic factors which the existing regime proved unable to manage.

The Peterloo Massacre took place at St Peter's Field, Manchester, England, on Monday 16 August 1819. Eighteen people were killed and 400–700 were injured when the cavalry of the Yeomen charged into a crowd of around 60,000 people who had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation.

The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.

James Buchanan Jr. was the 15th president of the United States, serving from 1857 to 1861. He also served as the 17th United States secretary of state from 1845 to 1849 and represented Pennsylvania in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Buchanan was an advocate for states' rights, particularly regarding slavery, and argued for limiting the role of the federal government preceding the American Civil War.

The Dominican Restoration War or the Dominican War of Restoration, called War of Santo Domingo in Spain, was a guerrilla war between 1863 and 1865 in the Dominican Republic between Dominican nationalists and Spain, the latter of which had recolonized the country 17 years after its independence. It ended with the withdrawal of Spanish forces from the island.

The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to reassert its dominant position in continental Europe, which appeared in question following the decisive Prussian victory over Austria in 1866.

The Minor Basilica and Parish of Saint Sebastian, also known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Mount Carmel of Saint Sebastian and commonly known as San Sebastian Church or San Sebastian Basilica, is a minor basilica of the Roman Catholic Church in Manila, Philippines. It is under the jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Manila.

The Battle of Elands River was an engagement of the Second Boer War that took place between 4 and 16 August 1900 in western Transvaal. The battle was fought at Brakfontein Drift near the Elands River between a force of 2,000 to 3,000 Boers and a garrison of 500 Australian, Rhodesian, Canadian and British soldiers, which was stationed there to protect a British supply dump that had been established along the route between Mafeking and Pretoria. The Boer force, which consisted of several commandos under the overall leadership of Koos de la Rey, was in desperate need of provisions after earlier fighting had cut it off from its support base. As a result, it was decided to attack the garrison along the Elands River in an effort to capture the supplies located there.

Tohoku University is a public research university in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. It is colloquially referred to as Tohokudai or Tonpei .

The Migratory Bird Treaty or Convention is an environmental treaty between Canada and the United States. It was originally signed on 16 August 1916 by the United States and the United Kingdom, entered into force on 6 December 1916 and has since been amended several times.Whereas, many species of birds in the course of their annual migrations traverse certain parts of the Dominion of Canada and the United States; and Whereas, many of these species are of great value as a source of food or in destroying insects which are injurious to forests and forage plants on the public domain, as well as to agricultural crops, in both Canada and the United States, but are nevertheless in danger of extermination through lack of adequate protection during the nesting season or while on their way to and from their breeding grounds; His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British dominions beyond the seas, Emperor of India, and the United States of America, being desirous of saving from indiscriminate slaughter and of insuring the preservation of such migratory birds as are either useful to man or are harmless, have resolved to adopt some uniform system of protection which shall effectively accomplish such objects ...

Raymond Johnson Chapman was an American baseball player. He spent his entire career as a shortstop for the Cleveland Indians of the American League.

The Polish–Soviet War was fought primarily between the Second Polish Republic and the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, following World War I and the Russian Revolution.

The Dole Air Race, also known as the Dole Derby, was a tragic air race across the Pacific Ocean from northern California to the Territory of Hawaii in August 1927. Of the 18 official and unofficial entrants, fifteen drew for starting positions; of those fifteen, two were disqualified, two withdrew, and three aircraft crashed before the race, resulting in three deaths. Eight aircraft eventually participated in the start of the race, with only two successfully landed in Hawaii; of the other six, two crashed on takeoff, two were forced to return for repairs, and two went missing during the race. One of the aircraft forced to return for repairs took off again to search for the missing aircraft several days later and also vanished over the sea. In all, before, during, and after the race, ten lives were lost and six airplanes were lost or damaged beyond repair.

A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images intended for satire, caricature, or humor; or a motion picture that relies on a sequence of illustrations for its animation. Someone who creates cartoons in the first sense is called a cartoonist, and in the second sense they are usually called an animator.

The Christie Pits riot occurred on 16 August 1933 at the Christie Pits playground in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The riot took place in the context of the Great Depression, antisemitism, "Swastika Clubs" and parades and resentment of "foreigners" in Toronto, and the rise of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis in Germany in 1933.

The Massacre of Kommeno was a Nazi war crime perpetrated by members of the Wehrmacht in the village of Kommeno, Greece, in 1943, during the German occupation of Greece in World War II.

The National Assembly of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the unicameral supreme state organ of power of Vietnam. It is the only branch of government in Vietnam and, in accordance with the principle of unified power, all state organs are subservient to it.

The All Hyderabad Trade Union Congress (AHTUC) was a trade union centre in the Hyderabad State. Affiliated to the All India Trade Union Congress, it claimed a membership of around 72,000. The trade union centre, which was aligned with the Communist Party of India, was one of the organisations that took part in the Telangana Rebellion against the Nizam regime.

Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, located off the coast of the Levant mainland in West Asia. Its capital and largest city is Nicosia. The northeast portion of the island is occupied by Turkey, and the United Nations Buffer Zone separates it from the area controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. In the south of the island are the British sovereign military bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia. Cyprus is the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean, after Sicily and Sardinia.

The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while South Vietnam was supported by the United States and other anti-communist nations. The conflict was the second of the Indochina wars and a proxy war of the Cold War between the Soviet Union and US. The Vietnam War was one of the postcolonial wars of national liberation, a theater in the Cold War, and a civil war, with civil warfare a defining feature from the outset. Direct US military involvement escalated from 1965 until US forces were withdrawn in 1973. The fighting spilled into the Laotian and Cambodian civil wars, which ended with all three countries becoming communist in 1975.

A coup d'état, or simply a coup, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent person or leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to power through legal means, tries to stay in power through illegal means.

Sudan Airways is the national airline of Sudan, headquartered in Khartoum. Since 2012, the company has been fully owned by the Government of Sudan.

A solar particle event (SPE), also known as a solar energetic particle event or solar radiation storm, is a solar phenomenon that occurs when particles emitted by the Sun, mostly protons, become accelerated either in the Sun's atmosphere during a solar flare or in interplanetary space by a coronal mass ejection shock. Other nuclei such as helium and HZE ions may also be accelerated. These particles can penetrate the Earth's magnetic field and cause partial ionization of the ionosphere. Energetic protons are a significant radiation hazard to spacecraft and astronauts.

West Caribbean Airways Flight 708 was a charter flight that crashed in northwest Venezuela in the early hours of 16 August 2005, killing all 160 passengers and crew on board. The plane, a McDonnell Douglas MD-82, registration HK-4374X, was en route from Tocumen International Airport (PTY) in Panama City, Panama, to Martinique Aimé Césaire International Airport in Fort-de-France, Martinique, French West Indies. While flying at 33,000 ft (10,000 m), the aircraft's speed gradually decreased until it entered an aerodynamic stall. The crew, probably under the mistaken belief that the aircraft had suffered a double engine flameout, did not take the necessary actions to recover from the stall. The confusion and lack of action resulted in the crash.

AIRES Flight 8250 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight that on 16 August 2010 crashed on landing at night in poor weather on the Colombian island of San Andrés, killing two of the 131 people on board. The aircraft, an AIRES-operated Boeing 737-700, was arriving from the Colombian capital Bogotá when it heavily touched down short of the runway, breaking up in three sections.

MV St. Thomas Aquinas was a Philippine-registered passenger ferry operated by 2GO Travel. On 16 August 2013, the vessel collided with a cargo ship named MV Sulpicio Express Siete of Philippine Span Asia Carrier Corporation and sank. As of 3 September 2013, there were 108 dead and 29 missing with 733 rescued as a result of the accident. The ship now rests at the bottom of the Mactan Channel.

Trigana Air Flight 267 was a scheduled passenger flight from Sentani to Oksibil in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua. On 16 August 2015, the ATR 42 turboprop operating the service crashed on approach in the Bintang highlands region of Oksibil, killing all 49 passengers and 5 crew members.