Félix Éboué in a contemporary World War II cartoonDuring World War II, Chad was the first French colony to rejoin the Allies ( August 26, 1940 ), after the defeat of France by Germany.

In August 1940, the territory responded, with the rest of the AEF, to the call from General Charles de Gaulle to fight for Free France.

Ernest Lawrence Thayer ( August 14, 1863 – August 21, 1940 ) was an American writer and poet who wrote " Casey at the Bat ".

The New York Times ' obituary of Thayer on August 22, 1940, p. 19 quotes comedian DeWolf Hopper, who helped make the poem famous:

He was mentioned in despatches on 9 August 1940 and 21 March 1941 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order in January 1941.

* Spouses: Ruth Doreen Crick, née Dodd ( b. 1913, m. 18 February 1940 – 8 May 1947 ), now Mrs. James Stewart Potter ; Odile Crick, née Speed ( b. 11 August 1920, m. 14 August 1949 – 28 July 2004, d. 5 July 2007 )

Provocations against Greece included the sinking of the light cruiser Elli on 15 August 1940.

Dean Ormsby Torrence ( born Los Angeles, California March 10, 1940 ), is the son of Natalie Ormsby Torrence ( born April 10, 1911 in California ; died August 10, 2008 in Los Angeles, California ) and Maurice Dean Torrence ( born December 5, 1907 in South Dakota ; died November 16, 1997 in Los Angeles, California ), a graduate of Stanford University, who was a sales manager at the Wilshire Oil Company.

In August 1940, Ribbentrop oversaw the Second Vienna Award, which saw about 40 % of Transylvania region of Romania returned to Hungary.

Nevertheless this civilian transport was adapted to the long-range reconnaissance and anti-shipping roles and, between August 1940 and February 1941, Fw 200s sank 85 vessels for a claimed total of 363, 000 Grt.

Leon Trotsky (, ; – 21 August 1940 ), born Lev Davidovich Bronshtein, was a Russian Marxist revolutionary and theorist, Soviet politician, and the founder and first leader of the Red Army.

* Kamerun was split on 20 July 1922 into British Cameroons ( under a Resident ) and French Cameroun ( under a Commissioner until 27 August 1940, then under a Governor ), on 13 December 1946 transformed into United Nations Trust Territories, again a British ( successively under senior district officers officiating as Resident, a Special Resident and Commissioners ) and a French Trust ( under a Haut Commissaire )

By August 1940, the War Office produced training instructions for the creation and use of Molotov cocktails.

It also extended trade regulation of the 1940 German – Soviet Commercial Agreement until August 1, 1942, increased deliveries above the levels of year one of that agreement, settled trading rights in the Baltics and Bessarabia, calculated the compensation for German property interests in the Baltic States now occupied by the Soviets and other issues.

Germany and the Soviet Union entered an intricate trade pact on February 11, 1940, that was over four times larger than the one the two countries had signed in August 1939.

In August 1940, the Soviet Union briefly suspended its deliveries under their commercial agreement after their relations were strained following disagreement over policy in Romania, the Soviet war with Finland, Germany falling behind in its deliveries of goods under the pact and with Stalin worried that Hitler's war with the West might end quickly after France signed an armistice.

In a letter to his friend Peter Baynes, dated 12 August 1940, Jung wrote a passage: "...

Beginning in August 1940, the German Luftwaffe began a series of concentrated aerial attacks ( designated Unternehmen Adlerangriff or Operation Eagle Attack ) on targets throughout the United Kingdom in an attempt to destroy the RAF ( Royal Air Force ) and establish air superiority over Great Britain.

The LWS was demonstrated to General Halder on 2 August 1940 by the Reinhardt Trials Staff on the island of Sylt and, though he was critical of its high silhouette on land, he recognised the overall usefulness of the design.

An August 1940 plebiscite endorsed Estigarribia's constitution, which remained in force until 1967.

In three days troops loyal to De Gaulle took control of Chad ( 26 August 1940 ), Cameroon ( 27 August ) and of Middle Congo ( the 28th of August ).

In the Southern Hemisphere, August is the seasonal equivalent of February in the Northern Hemisphere.

In response to escalating levels of violence across Northern Ireland, internment without trial was introduced on 9 August 1971.

As the 2012 Northern Hemisphere Summer started to draw to a close, NOAA stated that El Niño conditions are likely to develop in August or September.

In the Southern Hemisphere, February is the seasonal equivalent of August in the Northern Hemisphere.

In some English-speaking countries in the Northern Hemisphere, August 1 is Lammas Day ( Anglo-Saxon hlaf-mas, " loaf-mass "), the festival of the wheat harvest, and is the first harvest festival of the year.

On 30 August, Ribbentrop and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano issued the Second Vienna Award giving Northern Transylvania to Hungary.

The need for an alternative non-Russian source of naval stores is indicated by the information from the British Ambassador in Copenhagen, Hugh Elliott, who wrote to Foreign Secretary, Lord Carmarthen on 12 August 1788: “ There is no Topick so common in the Mouths of the Russian Ministers, as to insist on the Facility with which the Empress, when Mistress of the Baltic, either by Conquest, Influence, or Alliance with the other two Northern Powers, could keep England in a State of Dependence for its Baltic Commerce and Naval Stores ”.

This corresponds to the months of December, January and February in the Northern Hemisphere, and June, July and August in the Southern Hemisphere.

* August 6 – Alan Campbell, Northern Irish clergyman

* August 12 – Violence erupts after the Apprentice Boys of Derry march in Derry, Northern Ireland, resulting in a three-day communal riot known as the Battle of the Bogside.

* August 14 – British troops are deployed in Northern Ireland following the 3-day Battle of the Bogside.

* August 28 – September 2 – The solar storm of 1859, the largest geomagnetic solar storm on record, causes the Northern lights to be visible as far south as Cuba and knocks out telegraph communication.

* August 15 – Omagh bombing, A terrorist bombing carried out in Northern Ireland by the Real IRA.

* August 29 – The Northern Rugby Football Union ( now Rugby Football League ) is formed at a meeting of 21 rugby clubs in the George Hotel, Huddersfield, England.

* August 2 – Michael Hughes, Northern Irish footballer

* August 5 – David Healy, Northern Irish footballer

* August 9 – Samuel Ferguson, Northern Irish poet and artist ( b. 1810 )

* August 2 – Majorian is arrested near Tortona ( Northern Italy ) and deposed by Ricimer ( magister militum ) as puppet emperor.

In August 1969, Northern Ireland cities like Belfast and Derry erupted in major rioting and British troops were called in at the request of the Government of Northern Ireland ( see 1969 Northern Ireland Riots ).

In August 1971, internment was reintroduced to Northern Ireland under the Special Powers Act 1922.

* On 13 August 1989, two hot air balloons collided at Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia killing 13 people.

Charles John, as the Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Army, successfully defended the approaches to Berlin and was victorious in battle against Oudinot in August and against Ney in September at the Battles of Grossbeeren and Dennewitz ; but after the Battle of Leipzig he went his own way, determined at all hazards to cripple Denmark and to secure Norway, defeating the Danes at Bornhöved in December.