What happened on August 15 ?

778 - The Battle of Roncevaux Pass, in which Roland is killed

927 - The Saracens conquered and destroyed Taranto

1057 - King Macbeth of Scotland is killed during the Battle of Lumphanan by the forces of King Malcolm III.

1185 - The cave city of Vardzia was consecrated by Queen Tamar of Georgia

1261 - Michael VIII Palaeologus is crowned Byzantine emperor in Constantinople.

1309 - The city of Rhodes surrenders to the forces of the Knights of St. John, completing their conquest of Rhodes. The knights establish their headquartes on the island, and rename themselves as the Knights of Rhodes.

1517 - Seven Portuguese armed vessels led by Fernao Pires de Andrade meet Chinese officials at the Pearl River estuary.

1519 - Panama City, Panama is founded

1534 - The Society of Jesus is founded by Ignatius of Loyola with Francis Xavier and other students

1535 - Asuncion, Paraguay is founded

1540 - Arequipa, Peru is founded

1549 - Jesuit priest Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima (Traditional Japanese date: July 22, 1549).

1599 - First Battle of Curlew Pass won by Irish forces.

1620 - The Mayflower departs Southampton, England.

1755 - The deportation of the Acadians takes place, where thousands of them are sent to Europe or Louisiana, with a few escaping and remaining in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.

1824 - Freed American slaves form Liberia.

1843 - The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. Now the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Honolulu, it is the oldest Roman Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States.

1843 - Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest still intact amusement parks in the world, opens in Copenhagen, Denmark.

1863 - The Satsuma war begins between the Satsuma clan and the United Kingdom (Traditional Japanese date: July 2, 1863).

1877 - Thomas Edison makes the first-ever recording - "Mary Had a Little Lamb"

1894 - Sante Jeronimo Caserio executed for the Marie Francois Sadi Carnot assesination

1914 - The Panama Canal opens to traffic with the transit of the cargo ship Ancon.

1920 - Polish-Soviet War: Battle of Warsaw - Poles defeat the Red Army.

1942 - World War II: Operation Pedestal - The SS Ohio reaches the island of Malta barely afloat carrying vital fuel supplies for the island defenses.

1944 - World War II: Operation Dragoon - Allied forces land in southern France.

1945 - World War II: Victory over Japan Day - Japan surrenders.

1945 - World War II: Korean Liberation Day

1947 - India gains independence from the United Kingdom. Jawaharlal Nehru takes office as the first Prime Minister of India

1948 - The Republic of Korea is established south of 38th Parallel

1960 - Republic of the Congo (Brazzaville) declares its independence from France

1961 - Construction begins on the Berlin Wall, Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany.

1965 - John Coltrane plays in Chicago, Illinois for the Downbeat Jazz Festival with Elvin Jones and McCoy Tyner.

1965 - The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City, marking the birth of stadium rock.

1969 - The Woodstock Music and Art Festival opens.

1971 - President Richard Nixon ends convertibility of U.S. dollar into gold

1973 - Vietnam War: The United States bombing of Cambodia ends

1974 - Yook Young-soo, First Lady of South Korea is killed amid an apparent assassination attempt upon President of the South Korea, Park Chung-hee, during the anniversarial ceremony of the Liberation day.

1975 - Military coup in Bangladesh

1975 - Miki Takeo makes the first official pilgrimage to Yasukuni Shrine by a sitting prime minister on the anniversary of the end of World War II.

1977 - The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by The Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" for notation made by a volunteer on the project.

1978 - Foundation of Mirapuri - The City of Peace and Future Man

1995 - In South Carolina, Shannon Faulkner becomes the first female cadet matriculated at The Citadel, but drops out in less than a week.

1998 - Omagh bomb in Northern Ireland, becoming the worst terrorist incident of The Troubles

1999 - Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria; some 29 people killed at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border, leading to temporary tensions with Morocco.

2001 - The movie [B] is created on Newgrounds, starting an internet revolution.