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Today in History, August 22nd

On August 22, 1485, Richard III died at Bosworth Field and the Tudor era began. Plus the first Geneva Convention and the Mona Lisa theft.

By Today in History Updated November 10, 2026 3 min read Sources checked

Published August 22, 2026 · Last updated November 10, 2026

August 22 is best known for 1485, when Henry Tudor defeated and killed King Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, launching the Tudor dynasty. The date also saw 12 nations adopt the first Geneva Convention in 1864 and the discovery that the Mona Lisa had been stolen in 1911.

The big story: Richard III falls at Bosworth Field (1485)

On August 22, 1485, two claimants to the English throne met in the fields about 12 miles west of Leicester. One was King Richard III, a Yorkist. The other was Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who carried the hopes of the Lancastrian side. The real wild card was the Stanley family. Lord Stanley had quietly promised to back Henry, and he held his men back while Richard waited for help that never came. When Richard charged toward Henry, Sir William Stanley, Lord Stanley’s brother, slammed into the king’s flank. Richard was knocked from his horse and killed in marshy ground. According to tradition, his crown was fished out of a bush and placed on Henry’s head. The victor became Henry VII. The next year he married Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV, joining the rival houses and closing the Wars of the Roses. The dynasty he founded ruled England until Elizabeth I died in 1603.

More events on August 22

Year	What happened
1776	British troops began landing on Long Island in their campaign to capture New York City.
1849	Austria attacked Venice with bomb-carrying balloons, often called the first remote aerial attack.
1851	The U.S. schooner America won a 53-mile race around England’s Isle of Wight, claiming the first America’s Cup. American yachts held it for 132 years.
1862	President Lincoln answered Horace Greeley’s editorial urging emancipation, writing that saving the Union was his first aim and that he would free all, some or none of the enslaved to do it.
1864	Twelve nations adopted the first Geneva Convention, pledging neutral care for wounded soldiers and introducing the red cross emblem.
1911	A painter setting up his easel at the Louvre discovered that the Mona Lisa was missing. A former Louvre worker, Vincenzo Peruggia, had walked out with it. It was recovered unharmed in 1913.
1922	Irish revolutionary Michael Collins, one of the architects of the 1921 treaty with Britain, was killed by Republican opponents in an ambush in County Cork.
1962	French President Charles de Gaulle survived an assassination attempt, helped by his sturdy Citroën DS.
1962	The N.S. Savannah, the world’s first nuclear-powered merchant ship, arrived in Savannah, Georgia, on its maiden voyage.
1989	Texas Rangers pitcher Nolan Ryan struck out Rickey Henderson to become the first pitcher with 5,000 career strikeouts.

Born on August 22

1862: Claude Debussy, French composer, born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye.
1893: Dorothy Parker, poet, short-story writer and famous wit, born Dorothy Rothschild in New Jersey.
1904: Deng Xiaoping, Chinese leader who opened the economy to free-market reforms, born in Sichuan province.
1920: Ray Bradbury, author of Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles, born in Waukegan, Illinois.