Browse Historical Events by Month: What Happened in August?

The mythical start date of the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar. A a non-repeating base-20 and base-18 calendar used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican cultures, most notably the Maya. The Long Count calendar identifies a day by counting the number of days passed since the mythical creation date of August 11, 3114 BCE in the proleptic Gregorian calendar or September 6 on the Julian calendar. The Long Count calendar was widely used on monuments. More

Alexander the Great completes his conquest of the Achaemenid Empire, including the capture of the Persian capital of Persepolis.

The Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (Pompey the Great) captures Jerusalem, bringing it under Roman control. 

The decisive Battle of Pharsalus during Caesar's Civil War takes place Pharsalus in Central Greece. Julius Caesar and his allies fought against the army of the Roman Republic under the command of Pompey who had the backing of a majority of Roman senators and his army significantly outnumbered the veteran Caesarian legions but Pompey suffered an overwhelming defeat, fled the camp and made his way to Egypt where he was assassinated on September 28, 48 BC at the order of Ptolemy XIII the Pharaoh of Egypt.

Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Ptolemaic Egypt, kills herself on either 10 or 12 August, in Alexandria, when she was 39 years old, following the defeat of her forces against Octavian, the future first emperor of Rome. According to popular belief, she died by allowing an Egyptian cobra to bite her, but others believe she either poisoned herself or was murdered.  Expand +

Octavian (later known as Augustus) celebrates three days of triumph in Rome, marking the end of the Final War of the Roman Republic.

Emperor Augustus, also known as Octavian, the first Roman Emperor and founder of the Roman Empire, dies in Nola, Italy. Augustus played a crucial role in transitioning Rome from a Republic to an Empire during the Pax Romana, a period of stability and prosperity. He was succeeded by his stepson Tiberius. 

Jerusalem falls to Roman forces, marking the collapse of the Jewish state.

Vesuvius, an active volcano in southern Italy, erupts and destroys the cities of Pompeii, Stabiae, Oplontis and Herculaneum and several other settlements. Although exact toll is unknown, more than 1,000 people are thought to have died in the eruption. The eruption ejected a cloud of stones, ashes and volcanic gases to a height of 21 miles (33 km).  Expand +

The First Council of Nicaea ends. The Council was a meeting of Christian bishops convened in the Bithynian city of Nicaea (now İznik, Turkey) by the Roman Emperor Constantine I. It was specifically called to make a decision about Arianism; Expand +

The Visigoths defeat a large Roman army led by Valens, the Roman emperor of the East, at the Battle of Adrianople (also known as the Battle of Hadrianopolis), in present-day Turkey. The battle was an overwhelming victory for the Visigoths ending with two-thirds of the Roman army being overran and slaughtered, including Emperor Valens. More

The Visigoths, a Germanic people, led by King Alaric, sack the city of Rome, marking the first time in almost 800 years that the city falls to an enemy force. and the sack was a major shock to contemporaries, friends and foes of the Empire alike.

Byzantine forces led by Emperor Constantine VII defeat the Bulgarian army at the Battle of Achelous, securing Byzantine control over the Balkans.

Otto I the Great, leads the East Frankish (German) forces to victory against the Hungarian Magyars led by Harka Bulcsú in the Battle of Lechfeld. A series of military engagements over the course of three days also known as the Second Battle of Lechfeld. The German victory ended further invasions by the Magyars into Latin Europe.

Malcolm Canmore slains King Macbeth of Scotland at the Battle of Lumphananand. His father, King Duncan I, had been murdered by Macbeth 17 years earlier. Following the battle Macbeth's stepson, Lulach, was crowned King, before being killed by Malcolm who then recovered the Scottish throne as Malcolm III. All the kings of Scotland since Malcolm himself and all the kings of England since the accession of Henry II descend from Malcolm and his English wife Margaret, the grandchild of Edmund Ironside. More

Louis VI is crowned as the King of France in the cathedral of Orléans. He succeeded his father, Philip I, who died on July 29, 1108. 

Pope Innocent III calls for a new crusade to reclaim Jerusalem. The Fourth Crusade plan was to invade the Holy Land through Egypt, as it was the center of Ayyubid power.

The Massacre at Béziers takes place during the Albigensian Crusade, where the Catholic Crusaders sack the city of Béziers in southern France.

The Battle of Bouvines, the concluding battle of the Anglo-French War of 1213–1214 took place on near the town of Bouvines in the County of Flanders. The French army commanded by King Philip Augustus routed a larger allied army led by Holy Roman Emperor Otto IV in one of the rare pitched battles of the High Middle Ages and one of the most decisive medieval engagements.

Louis VIII of France is crowned King of France at the traditional site for French royal coronations, the Reims Cathedral. He had succeeded his father, Philip II, who died on July 14, 1223 but his coronation did not take place until August 6.