August 15

• August 15 is the 227th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (228th in leap years), with 138 days remaining.

• 1517 - First European connection with China - seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernao Pires de Andrade met Chinese officials at Pearl River estuary.
• 1519 - Panama City, Panama founded
• 1535 - Asuncion, Paraguay founded
• 1620 - The Mayflower pulls out of Southampton, England
• 1877 - Thomas Edison makes the first-ever recording - "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
• 1914 - Panama Canal opens to traffic
• 1944 - Allied forces land in southern France (Operation Anvil)
• 1945 - VJ Day: Korea is liberated after Japan accepts the Allied terms of surrender in World War II
• 1947 - India gains independence from Britain.
• 1948 - Republic of Korea established south of 38th Parallel
• 1960 - Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) declares its independence from France
• 1961 - Construction begins on the Berlin Wall
• 1967 - UK introduces legislation to outlaw offshore pirate radio stations. All except Radio Caroline comply.
• 1969 - First day of Woodstock Music and Art Festival
• 1971 - President Richard Nixon ends convertibility of U.S. dollar into gold
• 1973 - The United States bombing of Cambodia ends
• 1975 - Military coup in Bangladesh
• 1994 - Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, the terrorist known as "Carlos", is captured
• 1998 - Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, becoming the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles

• 1769 - Napoleon Bonaparte, general and politician (d. 1821)
• 1785 - Thomas De Quincey, author (d. 1859)
• 1858 - E. Nesbit (Edith Nesbit), author (d. 1924)
• 1872 - Shri Aurobindo, writer, nationalist, philosphter and guru (d. 1950)
• 1879 - Ethel Barrymore, actress (d. 1959)
• 1887 - Edna Ferber, novelist (d. 1968)
• 1883 - Ivan Meštrović, Croatian sculptor (d. 1962)
• 1888 - Lawrence of Arabia
• 1896 - Leon Theremin, inventor of the theremin
• 1912 - Julia Child, cook, writer
• 1912 - Dame Wendy Hiller, actress
• 1919 - Huntz Hall, actor (d. 1999)
• 1923 - Rose Marie, actress
• 1924 - Robert Bolt, screenwriter (d. 1995)
• 1925 - Oscar Peterson, Canadian jazz pianist
• 1925 - Mike Connors, actor
• 1928 - Nicolas Roeg, director
• 1933 - Jim Lange, game show host
• 1935 - Vernon Jordan Jr., Presidential advisor
• 1938 - Janusz A. Zajdel, Polish science-fiction writer
• 1944 - Linda Ellerbee, journalist
• 1946 - Jimmy Webb, musician, composer
• 1949 - Richard Deacon, sculptor
• 1950 - Princess Anne of England
• 1968 - Debra Messing, actress
• 1972 - Ben Affleck, actor
• 1974 - Natasha Henstridge, actress

• 778 - Roland, Frankish commander
• 1057 - King Macbeth I of Scotland
• 1907 - Joseph Joachim, violinist
• 1935 - Wiley Post, pilot
• 1935 - Will Rogers, humorist, actor
• 1951 - Artur Schnabel, pianist
• 1959 - Blind Willie McTell, blues singer
• 1962 - Lei Feng, eminent PLA Soldier
• 1967 - René Magritte, Surrealist painter
• 1971 - Paul Lukas, Academy Award winning actor
• 1975 - Clay Shaw, John F. Kennedy assassination investigator
• 1975 - Sheikh Mujib, president of Bangladesh
• 1995 - John Cameron Swayze, journalist
• 1999 - Sir Hugh Casson, architect, artist

• Catholicism - Holy Day of Obligation Feast day of the Assumption of Mary, the mother of Jesus, Public Holiday in:
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cameroon
  • Croatia
  • Cyprus
  • France
  • Greece
  • Italy
  • Ivory Coast
  • Malta
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Slovenia
  • Spain
• Italy - "Ferragosto"
• Korea - Liberation Day
• India - Independence Day
• Ancient Latvia - Maras