Today in History in 1939 The Wizard of Oz movie premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.

Our on this day in history archives contain over 200,000 events, birthdays and deaths from 6,000 years of history. Here is a roundup of a few of them:

August 15 is the 227th day of the year (228th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 138 days remaining until the end of the year.

EVENTS

29 BC – Octavian is celebrated as conqueror of Egypt and takes over the ruling of the Roman Empire, later changing his name to Augustus.

927 – The Saracens conquer and destroy Taranto.

982 – Otto II, Holy Roman Emperor is defeated by the Saracens in the Battle of Cape Colonna, in Calabria.

1040 – King Duncan I of Scotland is killed in a battle he fought against his first cousin, and rival, Macbeth.

1057 – King Macbeth is killed in battle.

1185 – The cave city of Vardzia is founded in Georgia, by Queen Tamar of Georgia.

1237 – The Battle of the Puig takes place during the Spanish Reconquista. The Kingdom of Aragon defeats the Tarifa of Valencia.

1248 – The foundation stone of Cologne Cathedral is laid.

1271 – Philip III of France is crowned King.

1281 – Attempted Mongol invasions of Japan: A Mongolian fleet led by Kublai Khan is destroyed by a "Divine Wind" for the second time in the Battle of Koan.

1430 – Francesco Sforza, Lord of Milan, conquers Lucca.

1483 – Pope Sixtus IV consecrates the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

1511 – The city of Baracoa, Cuba, is founded by Diego Velazquez de Cuellar.

1519 – Panama City is founded.

1537 – The city of Asuncion in present-day Paraguay is founded, named after the religious feast day of the Assumption of Mary.

1540 – The city of Arequipa in present-day Peru is founded.

1549 – Jesuit priest Saint Francis Xavier comes ashore at Kagoshima, Japan.

1695 – French forces end the bombardment of Brussels, leaving a third of the city's buildings in ruins.

1760 – Seven Years' War: Battle of Liegnitz - Frederick the Great's victory over the Austrians under Ernst Gideon von Laudon.

1769 – Napoleon, French general and emperor, is born on the island of Corsica.

1824 – Freed African-American slaves found Liberia.

1843 – The Tivoli Gardens theme park in Copenhagen, Denmark, opens.

1843 – The Cathedral of Our Lady of Peace in Honolulu, Hawaii is dedicated. It is now the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the city.

1869 – The Meiji Government in Japan establishes six new ministries, including one for Shinto.

1901 – 2000

1912 – Eduardo Schaerer becomes President of Paraguay.

1914 – The Panama Canal opens.

1935 – Will Rogers and Wiley Post are killed after their aircraft develops engine problems during take-off from Barrow, Alaska.

1939 – The Wizard of Oz movie premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, California.

1941 – Corporal Josef Jakobs is executed by firing squad in the Tower of London, being the last person executed there for treason.

1945 – Japan surrenders, ending World War II.

1945 – World War II: Liberation of Korea.

1947 – India becomes independent (separate) from the United Kingdom from the formal Transfer of Power as the Empire is partitioned and adopts the name Bharat, while the new mainly Islamic state of Pakistan is created.

1947 – Muhammad Ali Jinnah becomes Governor-General of Pakistan.

1948 – The Republic of Korea (South Korea) is founded south of the 38th parallel.

1950 – Assam is struck by a major earthquake.

1952 – The village of Lynmouth in Devon, England, is hit by a flash flood.

1954 – In Paraguay, the dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner begins.

1960 – The Republic of the Congo becomes independent, with Fulbert Youlou as president. Exactly three years later, he is removed from office in a military coup.

1961 – Conrad Schumann flees from East Germany while on duty guarding the building of the Berlin Wall.

1963 – Henry John Burnett is executed, becoming the last man to be hanged in Scotland.

1963 – President Fulbert Youlou is overthrown in the Republic of the Congo, after a three-day uprising in the capital Brazzaville.

1965 – The Beatles play to nearly 60,000 in New York City, an event later considered to be the birth of stadium rock.

1968 – An earthquake strikes the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

1969 – The Woodstock music festival takes place in the State of New York.

1970 – Patricia Palinkas becomes the first woman to play a professional game of American football.

1971 – Bahrain becomes independent from the United Kingdom.

1973 – US bombing of Cambodia ends.

1974 – The Seoul metro is opened, becoming the first metro in South Korea.

1974 – Toronto Zoo is opened.

1975 – Along with members of his family, Bangladeshi political leader Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, is killed in a coup.

1989 – F. W. de Klerk becomes President of South Africa.

1993 – Juan Carlos Wasmosy becomes President of Paraguay.

1998 – The Omagh bombing is carried out by the IRA in Northern Ireland, killing 29 people.

1999 – The Beni Ounif massacre in Algeria kills 29 people at a false roadblock near the Moroccan border.

2004 – Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, gives his official royal duties over to his son, Alois, but remains as Head of State.

2005 – Israel's unilateral disengagement plan to evict all Israelis from the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements begins.

2007 – A magnitude 8 earthquake centred off Peru's Pacific coast, devastates Ica province, killing 514 people, and injuring over 1000.

2008 – Fernando Lugo becomes President of Paraguay.

2013 – Horacio Cartes becomes President of Paraguay.

2013 – The discovery of a species of mammal in northwestern South America is announced. It is named Olinguito.

2018 – A bomb attack on an education centre in Kabul, Afghanistan, kills 34 people; on the same day, an attack in the country's Baghlan Province kills 9 police officers and 35 soldiers.

2018 – Mario Abdo Benítez becomes President of Paraguay.