31st of August

It is the 243rd day of the year with 122 days remaining.

12 - Gaius Caligula is born on this date.  He is a Roman Emperor whose reputation pinned him as cruel, extravagant, and sexually perverse.

161 - Commodus, the Roman Emperor is born, and rules the empire from 180 to 192.   He is also recognized for his co-ruling with his father, the famous Marcus Aurelius.
 
1056 - Byzantine Empress Theodora becomes ill, dying suddenly a few days later without children to succeed the throne, thus ending the Macedonian dynasty.

1218 - Al-Kamil becomes the Sultan of Egypt, Syria, and northern Mesopotamia after the death of his father.

1422 - King Henry V of England dies of dysentery while in France.  Henry VI takes the throne at the age of 9 months old.

1803 - Meriwether Lewis and William Clark start their expedition to the west by leaving Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at 11 o'clock in the morning.

1864 - During the American Civil War, Union forces led by General William T. Sherman launch an assault on Atlanta, Georgia.

1888 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered.  She is the first of Jack the Ripper's confirmed victims.

1897 - Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector.

1907 - Count Alexander Izvolsky and Sir Arthur Nicolson sign the St. Petersburg Convention, which results in the Triple Entente Alliance.

1920 - The first radio news is broadcast by 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.

1935 - Frank Robinson, an African-American baseball outfielder is born.  He won the MVP award in both the National and American Leagues, won two World Series, and was a winner of the Triple crown in 1966 (most home runs, runs batted in, and batting average).

1939 - Nazi Germany mounts a staged attack on the Gleiwitz radio station, creating an excuse to attack Poland the following day.

1943 - The USS Harmon, the first Navy ship to be named after a black person, is commissioned.

1962 - Trinidad and Tobago declare their independence from the United Kingdom.

1965 - The Aero Spacelines Super Guppy aircraft makes its first flight.

1973 - Scott Niedermayer, Canadian ice hockey defenseman is born.  He is known for his career that lasted eighteen seasons, his skating stride, and his ability to both lead and join an offensive rush.

1986 - The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423 people.

1991 - Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the former Soviet Union.

1997 - Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Al-Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris, France.

1998 - North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyongsong-1, its first satellite.

2005 - A stampeded on Al-Aaimmah bridge in Baghdad, Iraq kills 1,199 people.