August 20
August 20 is the 232nd day of the year (233rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of the year.
Events
- 20 AD – Agrippa Postumus, adoptive-son of the late Roman Emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards while in exile under mysterious circumstances
- 636 – Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of Syria and Palestine away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
- 917 – Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.
- 1000 – The foundation of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen. Today celebrated as a National Day in Hungary.
- 1083 – Canonization of the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen and his son Saint Emeric.
- 1308 – Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
- 1391 – Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order.
- 1672 – Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.
- 1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: a multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg defeats the Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay in the Battle of Saragossa.
- 1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
- 1794 – Battle of Fallen Timbers – American troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat.
- 1858 – Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.
- 1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
- 1882 – Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.
- 1910 – The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup or the Big Burn) occurred in northeast Washington, northern Idaho (the panhandle), and western Montana, burning approximately 3 million acres (12,000 km2).
- 1914 – World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
- 1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1920 – The National Football League, (NFL), is founded in the United States.
- 1926 – Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
- 1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam – a record that still stands.
- 1940 – In Mexico City exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramon Mercader. He dies the next day.
- 1940 – British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".
- 1944 – World War II: 168 captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being "terror fliers", arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp.
- 1944 – World War II: the Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet offensive.
- 1950 – Korean War: United Nations repel an offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to cross the Naktong River and assault the city of Taegu.
- 1955 – In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
- 1960 – Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
- 1975 – Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
- 1977 – Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
- 1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
- 1988 – "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
- 1988 – Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
- 1988 – Iran–Iraq War: a cease-fire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
- 1988 – The Troubles: Eight British Army soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by a Provisional Irish Republican Army roadside bomb in Northern Ireland (see Ballygawley bus bombing).
- 1989 – The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision, 51 people are killed.
- 1989 – The O-Bahn in Adelaide, the world's longest guided busway, opens.
- 1991 – Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
- 1991 – Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of her pre-World War II statehood.
- 1993 – After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.
- 1997 – Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.
- 1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
- 1998 – U.S. embassy bombings: the United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaida camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
- 2002 – A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
- 2008 – Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. 146 people are killed in the crash, and 8 more die later. Only 18 people survive.
Births
- 1517 – Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French church leader (d. 1586)
- 1561 – Jacopo Peri, Italian composer (d. 1633)
- 1625 – Thomas Corneille, French dramatist (d. 1709)
- 1632 – Louis Bourdaloue, French Jesuit preacher (d. 1704)
- 1710 – Thomas Simpson, British mathematician (d. 1761)
- 1719 – Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec, French soldier and diplomat (d. 1791)
- 1719 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer (d. 1783)
- 1778 – Bernardo O'Higgins, South American revolutionary (d. 1842)
- 1779 – Jöns Jakob Berzelius, Swedish chemist (d. 1848)
- 1833 – Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901)
- 1845 – St. Albert Chmielowski, Polish Catholic Saint (d. 1916)
- 1847 – Andrew Greenwood, England cricketer (d. 1889)
- 1847 – Bolesław Prus, Polish writer (d. 1912)
- 1856 – Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, Sorbian writer (d. 1909)
- 1860 – Raymond Poincaré, French statesman (d. 1934)
- 1865 – Bernard Tancred, South African cricketer (d. 1911)
- 1868 – Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (d. 1954)
- 1873 – Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1950)
- 1881 – Edgar Guest, English poet (d. 1959)
- 1885 – Dino Campana, Italian poet (d. 1932)
- 1886 – Paul Tillich, German-American theologian (d. 1965)
- 1887 – Phan Khoi, Vietnamese intellectual (d. 1959)
- 1890 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (d. 1937)
- 1897 – Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian writer (d. 1970)
- 1898 – Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish author and historian (d. 1973)
- 1901 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
- 1905 – Jean Gebser, German-born author, linguist, and poet (d. 1973)
- 1905 – Jack Teagarden, American musician (d. 1964)
- 1906 – Charles Arnt, American actor d. 1990
- 1907 – Alan Reed, original voice of Fred Flintstone. (d. 1977)
- 1908 – Al Lopez, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
- 1909 – Alby Roberts, New Zealand cricketer (d. 1978)
- 1910 – Eero Saarinen, Finnish architect (d. 1961)
- 1913 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neurobiologist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1994)
- 1916 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–German chess player (d. 1984)
- 1918 – Jacqueline Susann, American novelist (d. 1974)
- 1919 – Walter Bernstein, American screenwriter
- 1921 – Jack Wilson, Australian cricketer (d. 1985)
- 1923 – Jim Reeves, US country music singer (d. 1964)
- 1924 – George Zuverink, American baseball player
- 1926 – Nobby Wirkowski, American and Canadian football player and coach
- 1927 – Geriatric1927, English video blogger
- 1927 – Yootha Joyce, English actress (d. 1980)
- 1929 – Kevin Heffernan, Gaelic footballer
- 1930 – Mario Bernardi, Canadian conductor
- 1930 – Peter Randall, British George Medal recipient (d. 2007)
- 1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter
- 1932 – Anthony Ainley, British actor (d. 2004)
- 1932 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian novelist (d. 2009)
- 1932 – Atholl McKinnon, South African cricketer (d. 1983)
- 1933 – George J. Mitchell, former United States Senator
- 1934 – Armi Kuusela, Finnish beauty queen
- 1934 – Tom Mangold, British journalist and author
- 1935 – Ron Paul, US Congressman, 1988, 2008, and 2012 presidential candidate
- 1936 – Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate
- 1937 – Jim Bowen, English comedian
- 1937 – El Fary, Spanish singer and actor (d. 2007)
- 1937 – Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian film director
- 1937 – Stelvio Cipriani, Italian composer
- 1938 – Alain Vivien, French politician
- 1939 – Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor and politician (d. 2004)
- 1940 – Rubén Hinojosa, American politician
- 1940 – Rex Sellers, Australian cricketer
- 1941 – Dave Brock, British musician and founder of Hawkwind
- 1941 – Rich Brooks, American football coach
- 1941 – Slobodan Milošević, President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (d. 2006)
- 1941 – Robin Oakley, British journalist
- 1941 – Jo Ramirez, Mexican motor racing team manager and author
- 1942 – Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (d. 2008)
- 1942 – Fred Norman, American baseball player
- 1943 – Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
- 1944 – Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minister of India (d. 1991)
- 1944 – Graig Nettles, American baseball player
- 1946 – Connie Chung, American journalist
- 1946 – Ralf Hütter, German musician (Kraftwerk)
- 1946 – N.R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman
- 1947 – Alan Lee, English conceptual artist
- 1948 – John Noble, Australian actor
- 1948 – Robert Plant, British Musician (Led Zeppelin)
- 1949 – Nikolas Asimos, Greek composer and singer (d. 1988)
- 1949 – Katiana Balanika, Greek actress and singer
- 1949 – Norman Featherstone, South African cricketer
- 1949 – Alan Hardwick, English TV presenter
- 1949 – Patrick Kilpatrick, American actor
- 1949 – Phil Lynott, Irish musician (d. 1986)
- 1951 – Greg Bear, American author
- 1952 – John Emburey, English cricketer
- 1952 – Doug Fieger, American musician (The Knack) (d. 2010)
- 1952 – John Hiatt, American musician
- 1953 – Gerry Bertier, American wheelchair Olympian (d. 1981)
- 1954 – Quinn Buckner, American basketball player and coach
- 1954 – Tawn Mastrey, American disc jockey (d. 2007)
- 1954 – Al Roker, American television personality
- 1954 – Don Stark, American actor
- 1955 – Agnes Chan, Hong Kong singer and writer
- 1956 – Joan Allen, American actress
- 1956 – Alvin Greenidge, West Indian cricketer
- 1957 – Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby player
- 1958 – Patricia Rozema, Canadian film director and screenwriter
- 1958 – John Stehr, American journalist
- 1961 – Greg Egan, Australian author
- 1961 – Joe Pasquale, English comedian
- 1962 – Sophie Aldred, English actress
- 1962 – James Marsters, American actor
- 1962 – Dong-Wook Song, South Korean tennis player
- 1963 – Uwe Bialon, German footballer
- 1965 – KRS-One, American rapper
- 1966 – David Rees Snell, American actor (The Shield)
- 1966 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist (Pantera and Damageplan) (d. 2004)
- 1967 – Andy Benes, American baseball player
- 1967 – Colin Cunningham, American actor
- 1967 – Terri Poch, American yogini and professional wrestler
- 1968 – Klas Ingesson, Swedish footballer
- 1968 – Yuri Shiratori, Japanese voice actress and singer
- 1969 – Billy Gardell, American actor and comedian
- 1970 – Els Callens, Belgian tennis player
- 1970 – John D. Carmack, American computer game programmer
- 1970 – Fred Durst, American singer (Limp Bizkit)
- 1971 – Jonathan Ke Quan, Vietnamese/American actor
- 1971 – Steve Stone, English footballer
- 1971 – David Walliams, British comedian
- 1972 – Chaney Kley, American actor (d. 2007)
- 1973 – Todd Helton, American baseball player
- 1974 – Amy Adams, American actress
- 1974 – Big Moe, American rapper (d. 2007)
- 1974 – Szabolcs Sáfár, Hungarian footballer
- 1974 – Andy Strachan, Australian musician (The Living End)
- 1974 – Maxim Vengerov, Russian violinist
- 1974 – Misha Collins, American actor and producer
- 1975 – Marcus Mastin, American author
- 1976 – Chris Drury, American hockey player
- 1977 – Felipe Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
- 1977 – Manuel Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
- 1977 – Ivar Ingimarsson, Icelandic footballer
- 1977 – Mayra Veronica, Cuban model and actress
- 1977 – James Ormond, England cricketer
- 1977 – Wayne Brown, English footballer
- 1979 – Jamie Cullum, British musician
- 1979 – Cory Sullivan, American baseball player
- 1979 – Haha, South Korean entertainer
- 1980 – Corey Carrier, American actor
- 1980 – Rochelle Gadd, British actress
- 1980 – Samuel Dumoulin, French cyclist
- 1980 – Langhorne Slim, American country singer
- 1981 – Ben Barnes, English actor
- 1981 – Bernard Mendy, French footballer
- 1982 – Cléber Luis Alberti, Brazilian footballer
- 1982 – Youssouf Hersi, Ethiopian footballer
- 1982 – Joshua Kennedy, Australian footballer
- 1982 – Barney Rogers, Zimbabwean cricketer
- 1983 – Brian Schaefering, American football player
- 1983 – Andrew Garfield, American actor
- 1983 – Yuri Zhirkov, Russian footballer
- 1984 – Mirai Moriyama, Japanese actor
- 1984 – Tsokye Karchung, Bhutanese beauty queen, Miss Bhutan 2008
- 1986 – Robert Clark, Canadian actor
- 1987 – Cătălina Ponor, Romanian gymnast
- 1987 – Kristína Peláková, Slovak singer
- 1988 – Jerryd Bayless, American basketball player
- 1990 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Dutch swimmer
- 1991 – Marko Đoković, Serbian tennis player
- 1992 – Demi Lovato, American actress and singer
- 1992 – Matej Delač, Croatian footballer
- 1995 – Liana Liberato, American actress
Deaths
- 20 AD – Agrippa Postumus, youngest son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa and Julia the Elder, grandson and adoptive-son of Roman Emperor Augustus (b. 12 BC)
- 535 – Mochta of Louth, disciple of St. Patrick
- 917 – Constantine Lips, Byzantine Admiral
- 984 – Pope John XIV
- 1384 – Geert Groote, Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life (b. 1340)
- 1572 – Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish conquistador (b. 1502)
- 1580 – Jeronymo Osorio, Portuguese historian (b. 1506)
- 1611 – Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish composer (b. 1548)
- 1639 – Martin Opitz von Boberfeld, German poet (b. 1597)
- 1643 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (b. 1591)
- 1648 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English diplomat, poet, and philosopher (b. 1583)
- 1672 – Johan de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1625)
- 1672 – Cornelis de Witt, Dutch politician (b. 1623)
- 1680 – William Bedloe, English informer (b. 1650)
- 1701 – Charles Sedley, English playwright (b. 1639)
- 1707 – Nicolas Gigault, French organist and composer (b. 1627)
- 1773 – Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (b. 1701)
- 1823 – Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
- 1825 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753)
- 1854 – Shiranui Dakuemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 8th Yokozuna (b. 1801)
- 1887 – Jules Laforgue, French poet (b. 1860)
- 1912 – William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829)
- 1914 – Pope Pius X (b. 1835)
- 1915 – Paul Ehrlich, German scientist, Nobel laureate (b. 1854)
- 1917 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1835)
- 1919 – Greg MacGregor, England cricketer (b. 1869)
- 1930 – Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer (b. 1851)
- 1961 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
- 1963 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (b. 1879)
- 1965 – Jonathan Myrick Daniels, American activist (b. 1939)
- 1971 – Rashid Minhas, Pakistani Air Force pilot (b. 1951)
- 1979 – Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and writer (b. 1922)
- 1980 – Joe Dassin, American singer (b. 1938)
- 1982 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (b. 1929)
- 1986 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet (b. 1923)
- 1989 – George Adamson, India-born English game warden and lion expert (b. 1906)
- 1993 – Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher (b. 1912)
- 1996 – Rio Reiser, German rock musician and singer (b. 1950)
- 1997 – Norris Bradbury, American physicist (b. 1909)
- 1997 – Léon Dion, French-Canadian political scientist (b. 1922)
- 2001 – Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and science fiction writer (b. 1915)
- 2001 – Kim Stanley, American actress (b. 1925)
- 2005 – Thomas Herrion, American football player (b. 1981)
- 2005 – Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish drummer (b. 1970)
- 2006 – Claude Blanchard, French-Canadian singer, comedian and actor (b. 1932)
- 2006 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (b. 1911)
- 2006 – Cpl Bryan Budd VC, British soldier (b. 1977)
- 2007 – Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920)
- 2007 – Larry Hartsell, American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto (b. 1942)
- 2008 – Hua Guofeng, Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (b. 1921)
- 2008 – Stephanie Tubbs Jones, American politician (b. 1949)
- 2008 – Gene Upshaw, American football player and union leader (b. 1945)
- 2008 – Ed "Too Tall" Freeman, former U.S. Army helicopter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1927)
- 2009 – Larry Knechtel, American keyboard player and bassist (b. 1940)
- 2010 – Michael Been, American musician (The Call) (b. 1950)
- 2010 – Dang Phong, Vietnamese historian (b. 1937)
Holidays and observances
External links