Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/August 13

Skip to table of contents

This is the talk page for making suggestions or discussing improvements to Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/August 13.

To report an error when this list is currently on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Before making a suggestion, please read the selected anniversaries guidelines. Please remember that this list usually defers to supporting pages when there is disagreement, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
To discuss improvements to the corresponding August 13 article, see Talk:August 13 instead.

Frequently asked questions

Q1: Why is [Insert event here], an event that is "more important and significant" than all the others that are currently listed, not posted?: A1: Relative article quality along with the mix of topics already listed are often deciding factors in what gets posted. Any given day of the year can have a great many important or significant historical events. The problem is that there is generally only room on the Main Page to list about 5 events at a time, so not everything can be posted.

As stated on Wikipedia:FAQ/Main Page, the items and events posted on the Main Page are chosen based more on how well they are written, not based on how much important or significant their subjects are. It is easier for admins to select a well-written, cited, verifiable article over a poor one versus trying to determine objectively how much a subject is important or significant.

Keep in mind that the quality requirements only apply to the selected bolded article, not the other links. Thus, an event may qualify for multiple dates in a year if there is an article written in a summary style and an article providing detailed content; if one of those pages have cleanup issues, the other page can be bolded as an alternate.

Another criterion is to maintain some variety of topics, and not exhibit, just for example, tech-centrism, or the belief that the world stops at the edge of the English-speaking world. Many days have a large pool of potential articles, so they will rotate in and out every year to give each one some Main Page exposure. In addition, an event is not posted if it is also the subject of this year's scheduled featured article or featured picture.

Q2: There are way too many 20th-century events listed. Why aren't there more events from the 19th century and before?

A2: The short, basic reason is the systemic bias of Wikipedia. There are not enough good, well-written articles on 19th-century and earlier events for all 365 days in the year. Currently, a majority of users seem to be generally more interested in writing articles about recent events. If you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q3: This page seems to be biased toward events based in [Insert country or region here]. What can be done about it?

A3: This again is attributed to the systemic bias of Wikipedia. Many users are generally more interested in working on good, well-written articles pertaining to their home country. Since this is the English Wikipedia, there will be more English-speaking users, and thus more articles pertaining to English-speaking countries. And if there are more users who are from the United States, there will probably be more well-written articles about events based in the United States. Again, if you would like to further help mitigate the systemic bias in Wikipedia, see Wikipedia:WikiProject Countering systemic bias.

Q4: Why is the birthday/death anniversary of [Insert name here] not listed?

A4: There are only four slots available for birth and death anniversaries. As with the events, article quality and diversity in time period, geography, and reason for notability are all contributing factors in whether an article gets selected for inclusion.

Q5: Are the holidays/observances listed in any particular order?

A5: Yes, there is a specified order: International observances first, then alphabetically by where observed.

Q6: Some of the holidays/observances that are listed have dates in parentheses beside them. What do they mean?

A6: There are two reasons that some holidays/observances have dates next to them:

Non-Gregorian-based holidays/observances are marked with the current year as a reminder to others that their dates do in fact vary from year to year.
National Days, Independence Days, and other holidays celebrating the nationhood of a country are generally marked by the year of the significant historic date being observed.

Today's featured article for August 13, 2025
Wikipedia:Today's featured article/August 13, 2025 create – talk – watch
Picture of the day for August 13, 2025
The featured picture for this day has not yet been chosen. In general, pictures of the day are scheduled in order of promotion to featured status. See Wikipedia:Picture of the day/Guidelines for full guidelines. create

← Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/August 12 * Wikipedia talk:Selected anniversaries/August 14 →

Roman Empire - Vertumnalias in honor of Vertumnus
1521 - Tenochtitlan (present day Mexico City) falls to conquistador Hernán Cortés
1704 - War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Blenheim - English and Austrians victorious over French and Bavarians.
1923 - First major sea-going ship arrives at Gdynia, newly constructed Polish seaport.
1940 - World War II: Battle of Britain begins - The Luftwaffe launches a series of attacks on British fighter bases and radar installations.
1942 - Walt Disney's animated cartoon Bambi premiers.
1960 - Central African Republic declares independence from France
1960 - Chad declares independence from France
1961 - German Democratic Republic closes the border between the eastern and western sectors of Berlin, to frustrate its inhabitants' attempts to escape to the West.

Berlin Wall - 50 years anniversary not included .... WTF

It's 50 years today since the GDR started to build the Berlin wall ... and that's not included in OTD ...? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Michael Zimmermann (talk • contribs) 08:51, 13 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The Berlin Wall article contains several sections that have no references and per the rules at WP:OTD is therefore ineligible. howcheng {chat} 17:28, 13 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

International Left Handers' Day

Why no mention of this on OTD??? Kiwibeca (talk) 16:16, 13 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The International Lefthanders Day article is a stub and per the rules at WP:OTD is therefore ineligible. howcheng {chat} 17:28, 13 August 2011 (UTC)[reply]

2012 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Battle of Lewisham (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Blenheim; Battle of Manila (1898); Manhattan Project; Qaumī Tarāna; Metz Accord
Included: Fall of Tenochtitlan (first appearance); 1868 Arica earthquake (first appearance); Brownsville Affair (first appearance); Hurricane Charley (2nd appearance, last in 2010); MV Sun Sea incident (first appearance)

—howcheng {chat} 11:36, 12 August 2012 (UTC)[reply]

2013 notes

Omitted: 1868 Arica earthquake; Brownsville Affair; Manhattan Project; Hurricane Charley
Included: Battle of Blenheim (9th appearance, last in 2011); Battle of Manila (1898) (2nd appearance, last in 2011); Qaumī Tarāna (3rd appearance, last in 2011)
Repeats: Fall of Tenochtitlan (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); MV Sun Sea incident (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:03, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

2014 notes

Omitted: Fall of Tenochtitlan; Battle of Blenheim; Battle of Manila (1898); MV Sun Sea incident
Included: Cardinal Richelieu (first appearance); Penobscot Expedition (first appearance); 1868 Arica earthquake (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Hurricane Charley (3rd appearance, last in 2012; rescued from Ineligible; 10th anniversary)
Repeats: Qaumi Taranah (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total; 60th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 05:36, 12 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Addendum: Penobscot Expedition removed for Main Page balance. —howcheng {chat} 17:11, 13 August 2014 (UTC)[reply]

2015 notes

Omitted: 1868 Arica earthquake; Qaumi Taranah; Hurricane Charley
Included: Battle of Blenheim (10th appearance, last in 2013); Battle of Manila (1898) (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Manhattan Project (7th appearance, last in 2012); Marc Dutroux (first appearance)
Repeats: Cardinal Richelieu (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 02:08, 12 August 2015 (UTC)[reply]

2016 notes

New articles (ineligible): Battle of Mišar (maintenance)
Moved to Ineligible: Qaumi Taranah (maintenance); MV Sun Sea incident (maintenance)
Omitted: Battle of Blenheim; Battle of Manila (1898); Manhattan Project
Included: Fall of Tenochtitlan (3rd appearance, last in 2013); Brownsville Affair (2nd appearance, last in 2012); Battle of Shanghai (6th appearance, last in 2010; rescued from Ineligible)
Repeats: Cardinal Richelieu (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total); Marc Dutroux (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total; 20th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 11:45, 12 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Howcheng: IMO this a better crop of Philippe de Champaigne's portrait of Richelieu: File:Cardinal de Richelieu (detail).jpg. Would you consider changing it? Ham II (talk) 07:02, 13 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Ham II: I think current picture has better colors. The one you suggest is fairly muted. Of course, I have no idea which is a more accurate representation of the real painting. —howcheng {chat} 07:24, 13 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

@Howcheng: The alternative crop is taken from this featured picture and is closer to the colours of the real painting; cf. the National Gallery's website. Ham II (talk) 07:30, 13 August 2016 (UTC)[reply]

2017 notes

Omitted: Fall of Tenochtitlan; Brownsville Affair; Battle of Shanghai (maintenance); Marc Dutroux
Included: Liberius (praetorian prefect) (first appearance); 1868 Arica earthquake (3rd appearance, last in 2014); Battle of Manila (1898) (4th appearance, last in 2015); Manhattan Project (8th appearance, last in 2015; 75th anniversary); Maximus the Confessor (first appearance); George Grove (first appearance); Tigran Petrosian (first appearance)
Repeats: Cardinal Richelieu (4th consecutive appearance, 4 total)

—howcheng {chat} 07:48, 13 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

2018 notes

New articles (unused): Maurice (emperor) (appearing on DYK)
Omitted: Cardinal Richelieu; Battle of Manila (1898); Manhattan Project; Maximus the Confessor; Tigran Petrosian
Included: Battle of Blenheim (11th appearance, last in 2015); Opha May Johnson (first appearance; 100th anniversary); Battle of Lewisham (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible); Al-Muktafi (first appearance); Jules Massenet (first appearance)
Repeats: Liberius (praetorian prefect) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); 1868 Arica earthquake (2nd consecutive appearance, 4 total; 150th anniversary); George Grove (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 15:50, 13 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

1650 – Coldstream Guards

I see in the history of the main page errors page that the Coldstream Guards item was moved to this SA date but it's at August 23. --184.207.0.92 (talk) 06:39, 23 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Oh. I just checked the history of SA for August 23; it was moved here because August 13 the correct date. --184.207.0.92 (talk) 06:50, 23 August 2018 (UTC)[reply]

2019 notes

New articles (unused): Yana Kasova
Omitted: Liberius (praetorian prefect); Battle of Blenheim; 1868 Arica earthquake; Opha May Johnson; Battle of Lewisham; Al-Muktafi; George Grove; Jules Massenet
Included: Maurice (emperor) (first appearance); Coldstream Guards (2nd appearance, last in 2015); Battle of Manila (1898) (5th appearance, last in 2017); Act on National Flag and Anthem (first appearance; 20th anniversary); Hurricane Charley (4th appearance, last in 2014); Maximus the Confessor (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Tigran Petrosian (2nd appearance, last in 2017); Tim Richmond (first appearance; 30th anniversary)

—howcheng {chat} 22:49, 20 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

2020 notes

Moved to Ineligible: Liberius (praetorian prefect) (maintenance); Cardinal Richelieu (maintenance); Battle of Lewisham (maintenance); Marc Dutroux (maintenance)
New articles (ineligible): 1940 Canberra air disaster (maintenance); Bobby Clarke (maintenance); Alan Shearer (maintenance)
New articles (unused): Alfred Hitchcock
Omitted: Battle of Manila (1898); Act on National Flag and Anthem; Hurricane Charley; Maximus the Confessor; Tigran Petrosian; Tim Richmond
Included: Central African Republic (rescued from Ineligible); Battle of Blenheim (12th appearance, last in 2018); 1868 Arica earthquake (5th appearance, last in 2018); Brownsville affair (3rd appearance, last in 2016); Nawrūz (Mongol emir) (first appearance); George Grove (3rd appearance, last in 2018; 200th birthday); Frederick Sanger (first appearance)
Repeats: Maurice (emperor) (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total); Coldstream Guards (2nd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

—howcheng {chat} 06:29, 15 August 2020 (UTC)[reply]

2021 notes

Rescued from Ineligible (unused): Bobby Clarke
New articles (unused): José Ramón Guizado
Omitted: Coldstream Guards; Battle of Blenheim (ineligible—TFA for 2021); 1868 Arica earthquake; Brownsville affair; Nawrūz (Mongol emir); George Grove; Frederick Sanger
Included: Siege of Havana (first appearance); Opha May Johnson (2nd appearance, last in 2018); Barbed Wire Sunday (first appearance; rescued from Ineligible; blurb previously featured Berlin Wall, which remains ineligible and is making its 5th appearance, last in 2007); MV Sun Sea incident (3rd appearance, last in 2013; rescued from Ineligible); Gerard David (first appearance); Alfred Hitchcock (first appearance); Yana Kasova (first appearance; 40th birthday)
Repeats: Maurice (emperor) (3rd consecutive appearance, 3 total)

2022 notes

Omitted: Opha May Johnson Barbed Wire Sunday (ineligible—maintenance); MV Sun Sea incident; Gerard David; Alfred Hitchcock; Yana Kasova
Included: Cosima Wagner (3rd appearance, last in 2021; normally appears on December 24, her birth anniversary); Act on National Flag and Anthem (2nd appearance, last in 2019); Hurricane Charley/Tropical Storm Bonnie (2004) (Charley: 5th appearance, last in 2019; Bonnie: first appearance); Jules Massenet (2nd appearance, last in 2018; 100th anniversary); Frederick Sanger (2nd appearance, last in 2020); Tigran Petrosian (3rd appearance, last in 2019)
Repeats: Maurice (emperor) (4th consecutive appearance, 4 total); Siege of Havana (2nd consecutive appearance, 2 total)

—howcheng {chat} 17:59, 16 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

2023 rationale

The 1779 fact has multiple {cn} tags so I avoided adding it.
There is an overwhelming number of sea-related facts.
I chose the 2010 fact over Opha May Johnson, due to both being about marines and another sea incident.
Good mix of b/d with anniversaries!

Heart ^(talk) 15:49, 1 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]