On this day: 20 July
Events, births and deaths on 20 July. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
- Deaths · Malcolm-Jamal Warner
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Radu Beligan
100 years ago1926
- Deaths · Felix Dzerzhinsky
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 1031 · Deaths · Robert II of France
- 985 · Deaths · Boniface VII
Events · 20
- 911(Julian date)Siege of Chartres — 911 Viking invasion in Burgundy – repelled by Frankish forces
- 1230(Julian date)Treaty of San Germano — 1230 treaty between the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy
- 1402(Julian date)Battle of Ankara — battle near Ankara on 20 July 1402, between the Timurid Empire and the Ottoman Sultanate
- 1651Battle of Inverkeithing — battle during the Third English Civil War (1651)
- 1864Battle of Peachtree Creek — 1864 battle of the American Civil War
- 1866Battle of Lissa — 1866 naval battle where an Austrian fleet defeated an Italian fleet, also the first major sea battle between ironclads
- 1867Indian Peace Commission — 1867 US government body
- 1922Tanganyika Territory — former British mandate territory in East Africa
- 1932Preußenschlag — Prussian Coup. During the Weimar Republic the Free State of Prussia was overthrown.
- 194420 July plot — attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, 1944
- 1967Wuhan incident — 1967 armed conflict amid Cultural Revolution
- 1974Turkish invasion of Cyprus — 1974 military conflict on Cyprus Island
- 1977Aeroflot Flight 2 — Ilyushin Il-14 crash
- 1981Somali Airlines Flight 40 — Air disaster
- 1982Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings — Terror attack
- 2001Carlo Giuliani — Italian anti-globalization protester (1978-2001)
- 2005same-sex marriage in Canada — status of same-sex marriage recognition in Canada
- 20122012 Aurora shooting — mass shooting in a movie theater in the United States
- 20152015 Suruç bombing — 2015 suicide attack in Suruç, Turkey
- 2021Blue Origin NS-16 — sub-orbital spaceflight mission operated by Blue Origin which flew on 20 July 2021
Births · 60
- 356 BCE(Julian date)Alexander the Great — king of Macedonia and conqueror of Achaemenid Persia (356–323 BC)
- 1304(Julian date)Petrarch — Italian scholar and poet (1304-1374)
- 1519(Julian date)Innocent IX — pope of the Catholic Church in 1591 (1519–1591)
- 1754Antoine Destutt de Tracy — French philosopher (1754-1836)
- 1774Auguste de Marmont — French General, nobleman and Marshal of France (1774-1852)
- 1804Richard Owen — English biologist and paleontologist (1804–1892)
- 1822Gregor Mendel — Moravian scientist and Augustinian friar (1822–1884)
- 1847Max Liebermann — German painter (1847–1935)
- 1864Erik Axel Karlfeldt — Swedish poet (1864–1931)
- 1873Alberto Santos-Dumont — Brazilian aviation pioneer (1873-1932)
- 1890Giorgio Morandi — Italian painter and printmaker (1890–1964)
- 1895László Moholy-Nagy — Hungarian artist (1895–1946)
- 1919Edmund Hillary — New Zealand mountaineer and philanthropist (1919–2008)
- 1924Lola Albright — American actress and singer (1924–2017)
- 1925Frantz Fanon — French West Indian psychiatrist and philosopher (1925–1961)
- 1925Jacques Delors — French economist and politician (1925–2023)
- 1932Nam June Paik — American video art pioneer (1932–2006)
- 1933Cormac McCarthy — American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (1933–2023)
- 1936Barbara Mikulski — American politician
- 1938Natalie Wood — American actress (1938–1981)
- 1938Diana Rigg — English actress (1938–2020)
- 1938Roger Hunt — English associsation football player (1938-2021)
- 1939Judy Chicago — American artist, author, and teacher (born 1939)
- 1943Chris Amon — New Zealand racing driver
- 1945Kim Carnes — American singer and songwriter
Deaths · 60
- 985Boniface VII — antipope in 974, 984–985
- 1031(Julian date)Robert II of France — king of the Franks from 996 to 1031
- 1156(Julian date)Emperor Toba — Emperor of Japan
- 1320(Julian date)Oshin — King of Armenia
- 1398(Julian date)Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March — heir presumptive to Richard II of England between 1385 and 1398
- 1453(Julian date)Enguerrand de Monstrelet — French historian and writer
- 1514György Dózsa — Szekler leader of peasant revolt (1470-1514)
- 1524(Julian date)Claude of France — Duchess of Brittany; queen consort of France (1499-1524)
- 1616Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone — Irish earl and military leader
- 1752(Julian date)Johann Christoph Pepusch — German composer (1667–1752)
- 1816Gavrila Derzhavin — Russian poet (1743-1816)
- 1866Bernhard Riemann — German mathematician (1826–1866)
- 1883Iwakura Tomomi — Japanese politician (1825-1883)
- 1897Jean Ingelow — British writer (1820–1897)
- 1903Leo XIII — Pope of the Catholic Church from 1878 to 1903 (1810–1903)
- 1908Dimitrios Vikelas — Greek businessman and writer; president of the International Olympic Committee (1835-1908)
- 1922
- 1923
- 1926Felix Dzerzhinsky — Bolshevik revolutionary and founder of the first Soviet secret police organs (1877-1926)
- 1927Ferdinand I of Romania — king of Romania (1865–1927; ruled 1914–1927)
- 1937Guglielmo Marconi — Italian inventor and radio pioneer (1874–1937)
- 1941Lew Fields — American actor, comedian, vaudeville star, theatre manager, and producer (1867-1941)
- 1944Ludwig Beck — German general (1880–1944)
- 1944Mildred Harris — American actress (1901–1944)
- 1945Paul Valéry — French poet, essayist, and philosopher (1871–1945)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.