| 98851 | August 31 | Event | 1982 – Anti-government demonstrations are held in 66 Polish cities to commemorate the second anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement. |
| 98852 | August 31 | Event | 1986 – Aeroméxico Flight 498 collides with a Piper PA-28 Cherokee over Cerritos, California, killing 67 in the air and 15 on the ground. |
| 98853 | August 31 | Event | 1986 – The Soviet passenger liner Admiral Nakhimov sinks in the Black Sea after colliding with the bulk carrier Pyotr Vasev, killing 423. |
| 98854 | August 31 | Event | 1987 – Thai Airways Flight 365 crashes into the ocean near Ko Phuket, Thailand, killing all 83 aboard. |
| 98855 | August 31 | Event | 1991 – Kyrgyzstan declares its independence from the Soviet Union. |
| 98856 | August 31 | Event | 1992 – Pascal Lissouba is inaugurated as the President of the Republic of the Congo. |
| 98857 | August 31 | Event | 1993 – Russia completes removing its troops from Lithuania. |
| 98858 | August 31 | Event | 1994 – The Provisional Irish Republican Army declares a ceasefire. |
| 98859 | August 31 | Event | 1996 – Saddam Hussein's troops seized Irbil after the Kurdish Masoud Barzani appealed for help to defeat his Kurdish rival PUK. |
| 98860 | August 31 | Event | 1997 – Diana, Princess of Wales, her companion Dodi Fayed and driver Henri Paul die in a car crash in Paris. |
| 98861 | August 31 | Event | 1998 – North Korea reportedly launches Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, its first satellite. |
| 98862 | August 31 | Event | 1999 – The first of a series of bombings in Moscow kills one person and wounds 40 others. |
| 98863 | August 31 | Event | 1999 – A LAPA Boeing 737-200 crashes during takeoff from Jorge Newbury Airport in Buenos Aires, killing 65, including two on the ground. |
| 98864 | August 31 | Event | 2005 – The 2005 Al-Aaimmah bridge stampede in Baghdad kills 1,199 people. |
| 98865 | August 31 | Event | 2006 – Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream, stolen on August 22, 2004, is recovered in a raid by Norwegian police. |
| 98866 | August 31 | Event | 2012 – A 7.6-magnitude earthquake strikes the Philippine province of Eastern Samar. |
| 98867 | August 31 | Birth | 12 – Caligula, Roman emperor (d. 41) |
| 98868 | August 31 | Birth | 161 – Commodus, Roman emperor (d. 192) |
| 98869 | August 31 | Birth | 1602 – Amalia of Solms-Braunfels (d. 1675) |
| 98870 | August 31 | Birth | 1652 – Ferdinando Carlo Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua and Montferrat (d. 1708) |
| 98871 | August 31 | Birth | 1663 – Guillaume Amontons, French physicist and instrument maker (d. 1705) |
| 98872 | August 31 | Birth | 1721 – George Hervey, 2nd Earl of Bristol, English soldier and politician, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (d. 1775) |
| 98873 | August 31 | Birth | 1741 – Jean-Paul-Égide Martini, French composer and educator (d. 1816) |
| 98874 | August 31 | Birth | 1748 – Jean-Étienne Despréaux, French ballet dancer, choreographer, composer, and playwright (d. 1820) |
| 98875 | August 31 | Birth | 1767 – Henry Joy McCracken, Irish businessman and activist, founded the Society of United Irishmen (d. 1798) |
| 98876 | August 31 | Birth | 1775 – Agnes Bulmer, English poet and author (d. 1836) |
| 98877 | August 31 | Birth | 1802 – Husein Gradaščević, Ottoman general (d. 1834) |
| 98878 | August 31 | Birth | 1821 – Hermann von Helmholtz, German physician and physicist (d. 1894) |
| 98879 | August 31 | Birth | 1822 – Galusha A. Grow, American lawyer and politician, 28th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (d. 1907) |
| 98880 | August 31 | Birth | 1834 – Amilcare Ponchielli, Italian composer and educator (d. 1886) |