August 31 is the 243rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (244th in leap years), with 122 days remaining.
Events
* 1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora dies suddenly without children to succeed the throne, ending the Macedonian dynasty
* 1864 - American Civil War: Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
* 1876 - Ottoman sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II.
* 1886 - Earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina
* 1888 - Mary Ann Nicholls is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's known victims
* 1895 - John Brallier is paid US$10 plus expenses to play football for the Latrobe, Pennsylvania YMCA, making him the first professional football player.
* 1897 - Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
* 1907 - England, Russia and France form the Triple Entente alliance.
* 1914 - Ecuador becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
* 1915 - Brazil becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
* 1920 - Polish-Bolshevik War: A decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.
* 1920 - First news radio program broadcast in Detroit, Michigan.
* 1939 - Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on Gleiwitz radio station, giving them an excuse to attack Poland the following day, starting World War II in Europe.
* 1943 - The USS Harmon, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named for a black person, is commissioned.
* 1945 - The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies.
* 1957 - The Federation of Malaya gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
* 1962 - Trinidad and Tobago become independent.
* 1965 - The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy Aircraft makes its first flight.
* 1978 - William and Emily Harris, founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army, plead guilty to the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.
* 1980 - The Solidarity trade union is formed in Poland.
* 1986 - An Aeroméxico Douglas DC-9 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
* 1986 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 398.
* 1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
* 1992 - Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo after a multiparty presidential election, ending a long history of one-party oppressive rule under the Congolese Workers Party.
* 1994 - The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
* 1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, dies in a car crash in Paris.
* 1998 - North Korea reportedly launchs Kwangmyongsong, its first satellite.
* 1999 - The first of a series of Russian Apartment Bombings in Moscow, killing one person and wounding 40 others.
* 2005 - A stampede on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills 1,199 people.
Births
* 12 - Gaius Caligula, Roman Emperor (d. 41)
* 161 - Commodus, Roman Emperor (d. 192)
* 1569 - Jahangir, Mughal Emperor of India (d. 1627)
* 1663 - Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (d. 1705)
* 1721 - George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, British statesman (d. 1775)
* 1811 - Theophile Gautier, French poet and novelist (d. 1872)
* 1821 - Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician (d. 1894)
* 1834 - Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer (d. 1886)
* 1843 - Georg von Hertling, Chancellor of Germany (d. 1919)
* 1870 - Maria Montessori, Italian educator (d. 1952)
* 1871 - James E. Ferguson, Texan governer
* 1878 - Frank Jarvis, American athlete (d. 1933)
* 1879 - Alma Mahler, wife of Gustav Mahler, Walter Gropius, and Franz Werfel (d. 1964)
* 1880 - Queen Wilhelmina I of the Netherlands (d. 1962)
* 1885 - DuBose Heyward, American playwright (d. 1940)
* 1897 - Fredric March, American actor (d. 1975)
* 1903 - Arthur Godfrey, American television host (d. 1983)
* 1907 - Ramon Magsaysay, President of the Philippines (d. 1957)
* 1907 - William Shawn, American editor (d. 1992)
* 1908 - William Saroyan, American novelist and playwright (d. 1981)
* 1913 - Sir Bernard Lovell, British radio astronomer
* 1914 - Richard Basehart, American actor (d. 1984)
* 1916 - Daniel Schorr, American journalist
* 1918 - Alan Jay Lerner, American composer (d. 1986)
* 1924 - Buddy Hackett, American actor and comedian (d. 2003)
* 1928 - James Coburn, American actor (d. 2002)
* 1931 - Noble Willingham, American actor (d. 2004)
* 1935 - Frank Robinson, baseball player and manager
* 1935 - Eldridge Cleaver, American political activist (d. 1998)
* 1938 - Martin Bell, British journalist and politician
* 1944 - Roger Dean, British contemporary artist and album cover designer
* 1945 - Van Morrison, Irish musician
* 1945 - Itzhak Perlman, Israeli violinist
* 1948 - Lowell Ganz, American screenwriter
* 1948 - Rudolf Schenker, German guitarist (Scorpions)
* 1949 - Richard Gere, American actor
* 1949 - H. David Politzer, American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate
* 1953 - György Károly, Hungarian author
* 1955 - Edwin Moses, American athlete
* 1956 - Masashi Tashiro, Japanese television performer
* 1961 - Anri, Japanese singer
* 1968 - Todd Carty, British actor
* 1970 - Deborah Gibson, American singer
* 1970 - Queen Rania, Queen of Jordan and wife of King Abdullah II
* 1972 - Chris Tucker, American actor
* 1977 - Jeff Hardy, American professional wrestler
* 1977 - Ian Harte, Irish Professional Footballer
* 1977 - Craig Nicholls, Australian singer, songwriter, and guitarist (The Vines)
* 1980 - Joe Budden, American rapper
* 1982 - Jose Reina, Spanish footballer