1914, 27 August - World War I
German Togo is occupied by British and French troops.
1919, 27 August
Louis Botha, Boer War hero and first prime minister of the Union of South Africa, dies.
1963, 27 August
William Edward Burghardt du Bois, the American sociologist and writer, dies in Accra, Ghana, where he had settled two years earlier. Du Bois had recently become a citizen of Ghana and is to be buried in his new homeland.
1969, 27 August
Dr Christiaan Barnard successfully implants artificial arteries for the first time.
1975, 27 August
Haile Selassie, last Emperor of Ethiopia, dies.
1986, 27 August
When a crowd of over 500 marched to council offices in Soweto, demonstrating against evictions which have been carried out after an 11-week rent boycott, South African Police open fire with tear gas. In the ensuing over-night riot, 12 people are killed and at least 60 wounded.
