August 29 in history — What Happened Today in History

Libero Grassi, an Italian businessman from Palermo, is killed by the Sicilian Mafia after taking a solitary stand against their extortion demands.

Odaeyang mass suicide: Thirty-three individuals linked to a religious cult are found dead in the attic of a cafeteria in Yongin, South Korea. Investigators attribute their deaths to a murder–suicide pact.

Meitnerium, a synthetic chemical element with the atomic number 109, is first synthesized at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung in Darmstadt, Germany.

El Tacnazo: Francisco Morales Bermúdez, Peruvian Prime Minister carries out a coup d'état in the city of Tacna, forcing the sitting President of Peru, Juan Velasco Alvarado, to resign and assuming his place as the new President.

Chicano Moratorium against the Vietnam War, East Los Angeles, California. Police riot kills three people, including journalist Rubén Salazar.

The Beatles perform their last concert before paying fans at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Leading Egyptian thinker Sayyid Qutb is executed for plotting the assassination of President Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The Gemini V spacecraft returns to Earth, landing in the Atlantic Ocean.

Air France Flight 343 crashes on approach to Yoff Airport in Senegal, killing all 63 aboard.

United States Air Force Academy opens in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

American experimental composer John Cage's 4’33” premieres at Maverick Concert Hall, played by American pianist David Tudor.

Korean War: British Commonwealth Forces Korea arrives to bolster the US presence.

Soviet atomic bomb project: The Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb, known as First Lightning or Joe 1, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan.

Northwest Airlines Flight 421 crashes in Fountain City, Wisconsin, killing all 37 aboard.

World War II: Slovak National Uprising takes place as 60,000 Slovak troops turn against the Nazis.

World War II: German-occupied Denmark scuttles most of its navy; Germany dissolves the Danish government.

World War II: Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, is occupied by Nazi Germany following an occupation by the Soviet Union.

The last 36 remaining inhabitants of St Kilda are voluntarily evacuated to other parts of Scotland.

World War I: Bapaume taken by the New Zealand Division in the Hundred Days Offensive.

The United States passes the Philippine Autonomy Act.

US Navy salvage divers raise F-4, the first U.S. submarine sunk in an accident.

World War I: Start of the Battle of St. Quentin in which the French Fifth Army counter-attacked the invading Germans at Saint-Quentin, Aisne.

A typhoon strikes China, killing at least 50,000 people.

Ishi, considered the last Native American to make contact with European Americans, emerges from the wilderness of northeastern California.

The Canadian Naval Service becomes the Royal Canadian Navy.

The Japan–Korea Treaty of 1910, also known as the Japan–Korea Annexation Treaty, becomes effective, officially starting the period of Japanese rule in Korea.

The Quebec Bridge collapses during construction, killing 75 workers.

The Slava, the last of the five Borodino-class battleships, is launched.

Tony Kane, Northern Irish footballer

Hajime Isayama, Japanese illustrator

Lea Michele, American actress and singer

Jennifer Landon, American actress

Antti Niemi, Finnish ice hockey player

Anthony Recker, American baseball player

Ruhila Adatia-Sood, Kenyan journalist and radio host (died 2013)

Carlos Delfino, Argentine–Italian basketball player

Yakhouba Diawara, French basketball player

Vincent Enyeama, Nigerian footballer

Martin Erat, Czech ice hockey player

Geneviève Jeanson, Canadian cyclist

Chris Simms, American football player

Bruce C. Murray, American geologist and academic, co-founded The Planetary Society (born 1931)

Ruth Goldbloom, Canadian academic and philanthropist, co-founded Pier 21 (born 1923)

Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, English historian and author (born 1953)

Shoshichi Kobayashi, Japanese-American mathematician and academic (born 1932)

Anne McKnight, American soprano (born 1924)

Les Moss, American baseball player, coach, and manager (born 1925)

Sergei Ovchinnikov, Russian volleyball player and coach (born 1969)

Honeyboy Edwards, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (born 1915)

Junpei Takiguchi, Japanese voice actor (born 1931)

Geoffrey Perkins, English actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1953)

Michael Schoenberg, American geophysicist and theorist (born 1939)

James Muir Cameron Fletcher, New Zealand businessman (born 1914)

Richard Jewell, American police officer (born 1962)