What Happened Today in History on August 15

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

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

The Seventh Crusade, led by King Louis IX of France, reaches Egypt and begins the siege of Damietta.

The foundation stone for the current Cologne Cathedral in Germany was laid on August 15, 1248, by Archbishop Konrad von Hochstaden marking the beginning of its construction. The ambitious Gothic cathedral project, built to house the relics of the Three Wise Men, would take over 600 years to complete with construction finally concluding in 1880. The High Cathedral Church, belonging to the Catholic Church. It is Germany's most visited landmark. Expand +

The Byzantine Empire recaptures the city of Constantinople from the Latin Empire, marking the end of the Fourth Crusade.

The Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty of China successfully repels a second invasion attempt by the Japanese forces in the Battle of Kōan.

The Sistine Chapel in the Vatican is consecrated and inaugurated by Pope Sixtus IV, on August 15, 1483. The completed ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo were revealed to the public during a solemn Mass celebrated by Pope Julius II on November 1, 1512

Japan issues an ultimatum to Germany demanding the withdraw of its warships from Chinese and Japanese waters and to hand over Tsingtao. This was refused and on August 23, 1914 Japan declared war on Germany. More

The Panama Canal had its inaugural passage when the U.S. vessel USS Ancon, passed through its gates and it opened to traffic, In the 1880s, the French attempted to build the canal to connect the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. the project was halted because of poor planning, a breakout of disease among the crew, and financial problems that drove the contractor’s company to bankruptcy in 1889. More

American Aviator Wiley Post and American humorist Will Rogers were killed when Post's aircraft crashed on takeoff from a lagoon near Point Barrow in the Territory of Alaska. Post was piloting a modified Lockheed Orion/Explorer, and the engine failed shortly after takeoff from a lagoon. More

South Korea and North Korea celebrate this day as their National Liberation Day as the Korean peninsula was freed from Japanese rule.

India, officially the Republic of India achieves its independence from Britain. India is a country in South Asia bordered by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the southwest, and the Bay of Bengal on the southeast. Neighboring countries include Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, China, Nepal, and Pakistan. It is the seventh-largest country by area with an estimated 2023 population of over1.4 B. India is near Sri Lanka and the Maldives; its Andaman and Nicobar Islands share a maritime border with Myanmar, Thailand, and Indonesia. 

Republic of the Congo Independence Day - Effective date of the agreement with France signed on 12 July. The Republic of the Congo, also known as Congo-Brazzaville, the Congo Republic or simply the Congo - Not to be confused with its neighbor, The Democratic Republic of the Congo - (DRC), is a country located on the western coast of Central Africa to the west of the Congo River. It is bordered to the west by Gabon, to the northwest by Cameroon, to the northeast by the Central African Republic, to the southeast by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south by the Angolan exclave of Cabinda, and to the southwest by the Atlantic Ocean. It has a 2023 population of more than 2.2 Million.

In a television address, President Richard Nixon announces the end of the convertibility of the United States dollar into gold.

An Air France Concorde flight originating in New York circles the globe in a record-breaking 31 hours, 27 minutes, and 49 seconds, achieving nearly twice the speed of sound. The flight, with refueling stops in several cities, broke both westbound and eastbound world records for round-the-world flights on the Concorde.