August 15 in History

In August 1947, India ceased to be a British colony and emerged as an independent nation, ending nearly two centuries of growing British control. The same moment divided the subcontinent into two new states, India and Pakistan. Independence inspired people across the colonized world, but partition brought mass violence and displacement that left a lasting mark on South Asia.

In August 1971, President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer exchange dollars for gold at a fixed price for foreign governments and central banks. The step, often called the "Nixon Shock," effectively ended the Bretton Woods system of fixed exchange rates that had governed international finance since the end of the Second World War. It opened the era of floating currencies that still shapes the global economy today.