THE DAY IN HISTORY · AUGUST 16

August 16 in history

What happened on August 16: 4 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1819, 1914, 1920 and 1959, each linked to the map that shows it.

1819 — Peterloo Massacre

16 Aug 1819 — At Manchester, cavalry charged a peaceful reform meeting of 60,000 people. Eighteen died. Britain’s road would run through reform bills rather than barricades, but opening that road had a cost.

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1914 — Battle of Liège

5-16 Aug 1914 — The Belgian ring fortress at Liège holds up the German right wing for ten days. Then 420mm siege howitzers, the largest guns yet fired in war, destroy the forts one by one. The delay damages the German timetable, but does not break it.

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1920

Piłsudski’s counterstroke from the Wieprz breaks the Red Army before Warsaw — the battle that drew Poland’s eastern border.

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1959 — Lushan Conference

2 Jul–16 Aug 1959 — At the mountain resort, Defense Minister Peng Dehuai privately warned Mao of “petty-bourgeois fanaticism” in the Leap. Mao circulated the letter, denounced Peng as leader of an “anti-Party clique” and had him dismissed. A campaign against “right opportunists” followed. As famine spread, the Leap was pushed harder.

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