Events on August 27 44
Year 1172
King Henry II of England crowns his heirs, Henry the Young King and Queen Margaret, but gives them no actual authority.
Year 1689
The Treaty of Nerchinsk is signed by Russia and the Qing Empire (Julian calendar).
Year 1776
Battle of Long Island: In what is now Brooklyn, New York, British forces under General William Howe defeat Americans under General George Washington.
Year 1793
French Revolutionary Wars: The city of Toulon revolts against the French Republic and admits the British and Spanish fleets to seize its port, leading to the Siege of Toulon by French Revolutionary forces.
Year 1798
Wolfe Tone's United Irish and French forces clash with the British Army in the Battle of Castlebar, part of the Irish Rebellion of 1798, resulting in the creation of the French puppet Republic of Connacht.
Year 1810
Napoleonic Wars: The French Navy defeats the British Royal Navy, preventing them from taking the harbour of Grand Port on Île de France.
Year 1813
French Emperor Napoleon I defeats a larger force of Austrians, Russians, and Prussians at the Battle of Dresden.
Year 1828
Uruguay is formally proclaimed independent at preliminary peace talks brokered by the United Kingdom between Brazil and Argentina during the Cisplatine War.
Year 1832
Black Hawk, leader of the Sauk tribe of Native Americans, surrenders to U.S. authorities, ending the Black Hawk War.
Year 1859
Petroleum is discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania leading to the world's first commercially successful oil well.
Year 1881
The Georgia hurricane makes landfall near Savannah, Georgia, resulting in an estimated 700 deaths.
Year 1883
Eruption of Krakatoa: Four enormous explosions destroy the island of Krakatoa and cause years of climate change.
Year 1893
The Sea Islands hurricane strikes the United States near Savannah, Georgia, killing between 1,000-2,000 people.
Year 1896
Anglo-Zanzibar War: The shortest war in world history (09:00 to 09:45), between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
Year 1914
Battle of Étreux: A British rearguard action by the Royal Munster Fusiliers during the Great Retreat.
Year 1916
The Kingdom of Romania declares war on Austria-Hungary, entering World War I as one of the Allied nations.
Year 1918
Mexican Revolution: Battle of Ambos Nogales: U.S. Army forces skirmish against Mexican Carrancistas in the only battle of World War I fought on American soil.
Year 1922
Greco-Turkish War: The Turkish army takes the Aegean city of Afyonkarahisar from the Kingdom of Greece.
Year 1927
Five Canadian women file a petition to the Supreme Court of Canada, asking, "Does the word 'Persons' in Section 24 of the British North America Act, 1867, include female persons?"
Year 1928
The Kellogg-Briand Pact outlawing war is signed by fifteen nations. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
Year 1933
The first Afrikaans Bible is introduced during a Bible Festival in Bloemfontein.
Year 1939
First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world's first jet aircraft.
Year 1943
World War II: Japanese forces evacuate New Georgia Island in the Pacific Theater of Operations during World War II.
Year 1943
World War II: Aerial bombardment by the Luftwaffe razes to the ground the village of Vorizia in Crete.
Year 1956
The nuclear power station at Calder Hall in the United Kingdom was connected to the national power grid becoming the world's first commercial nuclear power station to generate electricity on an industrial scale.
Year 1964
South Vietnamese junta leader Nguyễn Khánh enters into a triumvirate power-sharing arrangement with rival generals Trần Thiện Khiêm and Dương Văn Minh, who had both been involved in plots to unseat Khánh.
Year 1971
An attempted coup d'état fails in the African nation of Chad. The Government of Chad accuses Egypt of playing a role in the attempt and breaks off diplomatic relations.
Year 1975
The Governor of Portuguese Timor abandons its capital, Dili, and flees to Atauro Island, leaving control to a rebel group.
Year 1979
A Provisional Irish Republican Army bomb kills British retired admiral Lord Mountbatten and three others while they are boating on holiday in Sligo, Republic of Ireland. Shortly after, 18 British Army soldiers are killed in an ambush near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland.
Year 1980
A massive bomb planted by extortionist John Birges explodes at Harvey's Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada after a failed disarming attempt by the FBI. Although the hotel is damaged, no one is injured.
Year 1982
Turkish military diplomat Colonel Atilla Altıkat is shot and killed in Ottawa. Justice Commandos of the Armenian Genocide claim to be avenging the massacre of 1.5 million Armenians in the 1915 Armenian Genocide.
Year 1985
The Nigerian government is peacefully overthrown by Army Chief of Staff Major General Ibrahim Babangida.
Year 1991
The European Community recognizes the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
Year 2003
Mars makes its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
Year 2003
The first six-party talks, involving South and North Korea, the United States, China, Japan and Russia, convene to find a peaceful resolution to the security concerns of the North Korean nuclear weapons program.
Year 2006
Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky bound for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Atlanta. Of the passengers and crew, 49 of 50 are confirmed dead in the hours following the crash.
Year 2009
Internal conflict in Burma: The Burmese military junta and ethnic armies begin three days of violent clashes in the Kokang Special Region.
Year 2011
Hurricane Irene strikes the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.