THE DAY IN HISTORY · AUGUST 21

August 21 in history

What happened on August 21: 3 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1863, 1968 and 1991, each linked to the map that shows it.

1863 — Lawrence, Kansas

1856 & 21 Aug 1863 — Pro-slavery raiders sack Lawrence in 1856. Seven years later, Quantrill’s guerrillas attack the town and murder some 180 men and boys. The violence along the border had begun before the Civil War itself; in that region, a civil war was already underway.

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1968 — Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia

21 Aug 1968 — Half a million Warsaw Pact troops put an end to Czechoslovakia’s “socialism with a human face.” The resulting Brezhnev Doctrine says that fraternal states may never leave. In 1989, events reverse that principle exactly.

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1991 — August Coup

19–21 Aug 1991 — Hardliners seize Gorbachev and send tanks into Moscow. Outside parliament, Yeltsin climbs onto one of them. The army refuses to fire, and the coup dissolves in 60 hours, taking the union with it.

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