20 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

AD 14 – Agrippa Postumus, maternal grandson of the late Roman emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards under mysterious circumstances while in exile. 636 – Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of the Levant away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia. 917 – Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army. 1083 – Canonization […]

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19 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

295 BC – The first temple to Venus, the Roman goddess of love, beauty and fertility, is dedicated by Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges during the Third Samnite War. 43 BC – Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, later known as Augustus, compels the Roman Senate to elect him Consul. 947 – Abu Yazid, a Kharijite rebel leader, is defeated and killed in the Hodna Mountains in modern-day Algeria by Fatimid forces. 1153 – Baldwin III of Jerusalem takes […]

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18 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

684 – Battle of Marj Rahit:[1] Umayyad partisans defeat the supporters of Ibn al-Zubayr and cement Umayyad control of Syria. 1304 – The Battle of Mons-en-Pévèle is fought to a draw between the French army and the Flemish militias.[2] 1487 – The Siege of Málaga ends with the taking of the city by Castilian and Aragonese forces. 1572 – Marriage in Paris, France, of the Huguenot King Henry III of Navarre to Margaret of Valois, in a supposed attempt to reconcile Protestants and Catholics.[3] 1590 – John […]

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17 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

309/310 – Pope Eusebius is banished by the Emperor Maxentius to Sicily, where he dies, perhaps from a hunger strike. 682 – Pope Leo II begins his pontificate. 986 – Byzantine–Bulgarian wars: Battle of the Gates of Trajan: The Bulgarians under the Comitopuli Samuel and Aron defeat the Byzantine forces at the Gate of Trajan, with Byzantine Emperor Basil II barely escaping. 1186 – Georgenberg Pact: Ottokar IV, Duke of Styria and Leopold V, Duke of Austria sign a heritage agreement in which Ottokar gives his duchy to […]

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16 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

1 BC – Wang Mang consolidates his power and is declared marshal of state. Emperor Ai of Han, who had died the previous day, had no heirs. 942 – Start of the four-day Battle of al-Mada’in, between the Hamdanids of Mosul and the Baridis of Basra over control of the Abbasid capital, Baghdad.[1] 963 – Nikephoros II Phokas is crowned emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 1328 – The House of Gonzaga seizes power in the Duchy of Mantua, and will […]

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15 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

636 – Arab–Byzantine wars: The Battle of Yarmouk between Byzantine Empire and Rashidun Caliphate begins. 717 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Maslama ibn Abd al-Malik begins the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople, which will last for nearly a year. 718 – Arab–Byzantine wars: Raising of the Second Arab Siege of Constantinople. 747 – Carloman, mayor of the palace of Austrasia, renounces his position as majordomo and retires to a monastery near Rome. His brother Pepin the Short becomes the sole […]

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14 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

29 BC – Octavian holds the second of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes.[1] 1040 – King Duncan I is killed in battle against his first cousin and rival Macbeth. The latter succeeds him as King of Scotland.[2] 1183 – Taira no Munemori and the Taira clan take the young Emperor Antoku and the three sacred treasures and flee to western Japan to escape pursuit by the Minamoto clan (Traditional Japanese date: Twenty-fifth […]

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13 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

29 BC – Octavian holds the first of three consecutive triumphs in Rome to celebrate the victory over the Dalmatian tribes. 523 – John I becomes the new Pope after the death of Pope Hormisdas. 554 – Emperor Justinian I rewards Liberius for his long and distinguished service in the Pragmatic Sanction, granting him extensive estates in Italy. 582 – Maurice becomes Emperor of the Byzantine Empire. 900 – Count Reginar I of Hainault rises against Zwentibold of Lotharingia and slays him near present-day Susteren. 1099 – Raniero is elected as Pope Paschal […]

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12 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

1099 – First Crusade: Battle of Ascalon Crusaders under the command of Godfrey of Bouillon defeat Fatimid forces led by Al-Afdal Shahanshah. This is considered the last engagement of the First Crusade.[1] 1121 – Battle of Didgori: The Georgian army under King David IV wins a decisive victory over the famous Seljuk commander Ilghazi. 1164 – Battle of Harim: Nur ad-Din Zangi defeats the Crusader armies of the County of Tripoli and the Principality of Antioch.[2] 1323 – The Treaty of Nöteborg between Sweden and Novgorod […]

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11 AUGUST: WHAT HAPPENED ON THIS DAY?

3114 BC – The Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, used by several pre-Columbian Mesoamerican civilizations, notably the Maya, begins. 2492 BC – Traditional date of the defeat of Bel by Hayk, progenitor and founder of the Armenian nation. 106 – The south-western part of Dacia (modern Romania) becomes a Roman province: Roman Dacia. 355 – Claudius Silvanus, accused of treason, proclaims himself Roman Emperor against Constantius II. 490 – Battle of Adda: The Goths under Theodoric the Great and his ally Alaric II defeat the forces […]

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