31
August
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August 31 in History
2006
Stolen on August 22, 2004, Edvard Munch's famous painting ''The Scream'' is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police.
2005
A stampede on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad kills 1,199 people.
1999
A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including 2 on the ground.
The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others.
1998
North Korea reportedly launches ''Kwangmyŏngsŏng'', its first satellite.
1997
Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris.
1994
The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire.
1993
{{HMS|Mercury|shore establishment|6}} closes after 52 years in commission.
1992
Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo .
1991
Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union.
1986
The Soviet passenger liner {{Ship||Admiral Nakhimov|ship|6}} sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier ''Pyotr Vasev'', killing 423.
Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground.
1980
Zimbabwe establishes diplomatic relations with Algeria.
1978
William and Emily Harris, founders of the Symbionese Liberation Army, plead guilty to the 1974 kidnapping of newspaper heiress Patty Hearst.
1965
The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy aircraft makes its first flight.
1963
Sarawak, North Borneo and Singapore achieve technical Independance pending accension to the Federation of Malaysia
1962
Trinidad and Tobago becomes independent.
1958
A parcel bomb sent by Ngo Dinh Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem, fails to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.
1957
The Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) gains its independence from the United Kingdom.
1949
The retreat of the Democratic Army of Greece in Albania after its defeat on Gramos mountain marks the end of the Greek Civil War.
1948
Actor Robert Mitchum is arrested in a Hollywood drug raid. He would later be found guilty of criminal conspiracy to possess marijuana and sentenced to 60 days in prison.
1945
The Liberal Party of Australia is founded by Robert Menzies.
1943
The {{USS|Harmon|DE-678|6}}, the first U.S. Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.
1940
Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19 crashes near Lovettsville, Virginia. The CAB investigation of the accident was the first investigation to be conducted under the Bureau of Air Commerce act of 1938.
1939
Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day thus starting World War II in Europe.
1920
The first radio news program is broadcast by 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.
Polish-Bolshevik War: a decisive Polish victory in the Battle of Komarów.
1907
Count Alexander Izvolsky and Sir Arthur Nicolson sign the St. Petersburg Convention, which results in the Triple Entente alliance.
1897
Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.
1888
Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims.
1886
An earthquake kills 100 in Charleston, South Carolina.
1876
Ottoman sultan Murat V is deposed and succeeded by his brother Abd-ul-Hamid II.
1864
During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.
1813
At the final stage of the Peninsular War British-Portuguese troops capture the town of Donostia (now San Sebastián), resulting in a rampage and eventual destruction of the town.
1803
Lewis and Clark start their expedition to the west by leaving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 11 in the morning.
1422
Henry VI becomes King of England at the age of 9 months.
King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France.
1314
King Håkon V Magnusson moves the capital of Norway from Bergen to Oslo.
1218
Al-Kamil becomes Sultan of Egypt, Syria and northern Mesopotamia on the death of his father Al-Adil.
1056
Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill, dying suddenly a few days later without children to succeed the throne, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty.