What happened on August 27 ?

479 BC - Greco-Persian Wars: Persian forces led by Mardonius are routed by Pausanias, the Spartan commander of the Greek army in the Battle of Plataea. Along the with the Greek victory on the same day in the Battle of Mycale, the Persian invasion of Greece ended.

55 BC - Julius Caesar lands in Britain for the first time.

410 - Visigoth sack of Rome ends after three days.

1232 - The Formulary of Adjudications is promulgated by Regent Hojo Yasutoki. (Traditional Japanese date: August 10, 1232)

1776 - Battle of Long Island, in present day Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington

1798 - Battle of Castlebar

1813 - Napoleon defeats the Austrians, Russians and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden

1828 - The Russians defeat the Turks at the Battle of Akhalzic.

1859 - Petroleum discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania. World's first successful oil well.

1861 - Union forces attack Cape Hatteras, North Carolina

1883 - Krakatoa, an Indonesian volcano, erupts. It is one of the most violent volcanic events in modern times.

1896 - Anglo-Zanzibar War: the shortest war in world history (9:02 to 9:40) between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.

1900 - British defeat Boer commandos at Bergendal

1920 - Radio Argentina begins regularly scheduled transmissions from the Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires, considered the world's first public broadcast station.

1928 - Kellogg-Briand Pact, outlawing war, signed by sixty nations

1937 - The automobile division of Toyoda Automatic Loom Works is spun off into the Toyota Motor Corporation.

1939 - First jet aircraft flight

1952 - Reparation negotiations between West Germany and Israel end in Luxembourg; West Germany to pay 3 billion Deutschmarks.

1957 - The Malayan Constitution came into force.

1962 - Mariner 2 launched

1969 - The first installment of the Otoko wa Tsurai yo (It's Tough Being a Man) movies is released in Japan. Director and screenplay writer Yoji Yamada went on to make 48 installments of the series, which is recognized in the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest running movie series.

1979 - An IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten and 3 others on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Another near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland kills 18 British soldiers.

1985 - The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Ibrahim Babangida.

1990 - The British Broadcasting Corporation launches BBC Radio Five Live at 9am GMT with a mixture of sports, news, and children's programming. The station broadcasts for eighteen hours per day.

1991 - The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

1991 - Moldova declares independence from the USSR.

1993 - The Florida DOT decides to cease producing its distinctive colored U.S. Highway shields so that it can make use of Federal funds for those signs.

1993 - The Rainbow Bridge, connecting Tokyo's Shibaura and the island of Odaiba, is completed.

2000 - Ostankino Tower in Moscow catches fire, three people are killed.

2003 - Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing approximately 34,646,416 miles (55,758,006 kilometers) from Earth.