On this day: 20 November
Events, births and deaths on 20 November. Every date is checked against Wikidata.
Years ago today
1 year ago2025
Nothing recorded for that year.
10 years ago2016
- Deaths · Konstantinos Stephanopoulos
- Deaths · William Trevor
- Deaths · Gabriel Badilla
100 years ago1926
- Births · John Gardner
- Births · Miroslav Tichý
- Births · Édouard Leclerc
1000 years ago1026
Within 100 years of that
- 996 · Deaths · Richard I of Normandy
- 939 · Births · Emperor Taizong of Song
- 1008 · Deaths · Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany
Events · 20
- 1815Treaty of Paris — 1815 treaty to close the napoleonoc wars
- 1845Battle of Vuelta de Obligado — 1845 naval battle of the Anglo-French blockade of the Rio de la Plata
- 1910Mexican Revolution — nationwide armed struggle in Mexico (1910–1920)
- 1917Battle of Cambrai — 1917 World War I battle
- 1943Battle of Tarawa — battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II, at the Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands
- 1945Nuremberg trials — series of military tribunals after World War II, held 1945-1946
- 1946Battle of Margarana — a battle between the Netherlands Indies Civil Administration (NICA) and the Ciung Wanara Battalion in Marga, Bali, Indonesia.
- 1947wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten — November 1947 wedding of British heir presumptive Princess Elizabeth and former Greek prince Philip Mountbatten
- 1967Enjoy Yourself Tonight — Hong Kong television series
- 1968Farmington Mine disaster — 1968 coal mine explosion in West Virginia, US
- 1974Lufthansa Flight 540 — aviation accident
- 1979Grand Mosque Seizure — islamists' terrorist action, 1979
- 1985Windows 1.0 — first version of Microsoft Windows desktop operating system by Microsoft released on November 20, 1985
- 19911991 Azerbaijani Mil Mi-8 shootdown — aviation accident
- 1993Avioimpex Flight 110 — aviation accident
- 1996Garley Building fire — 1996 fire in Hong Kong
- 1998International Space Station — modular space station in low Earth orbit
- 2007ASEAN Charter — charter of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
- 20152015 Bamako hotel attack — terrorist attack in Radisson Blu, Bamako
- 20222022 FIFA World Cup — 22nd FIFA World Cup
Births · 60
- 270(Julian date)Maximinus Daza — Roman emperor from 310 to 313
- 939(Julian date)Emperor Taizong of Song — 2nd emperor of the Song Dynasty
- 1602(Julian date)Otto von Guericke — German scientist, inventor, and politician (1602-1686)
- 1620Avvakum — Russian protopope
- 1625Paulus Potter — Dutch painter (1625-1654)
- 1629(Julian date)Ernest Augustus, Elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg — German prince (1629-1698)
- 1751Tipu Sultan — Ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore from 1782 to 1799
- 1752Thomas Chatterton — English poet and forger (1752-1770)
- 1753Luis Alejandro Berthier — Marshal and Vice-Constable of France (1753-1815)
- 1761Pius VIII — Pope of the Catholic Church from 1829 to 1830
- 1794Eduard Rüppell — German naturalist and explorer (1794-1884)
- 1813Franz Miklosich — Austrian member of Empire parliament (Austria empire), lawyer and university educator (1813-1891)
- 1841Wilfrid Laurier — 7th prime minister of Canada (1841-1919)
- 1841Victor D'Hondt — Belgian jurist (1841-1901)
- 1851Margherita of Savoy — Queen of Italy from 1878 to 1900
- 1853Oskar Potiorek — Austro-Hungarian general (1853-1933)
- 1858Selma Lagerlöf — Swedish writer (1858–1940)
- 1862Edvard Westermarck — Finnish academic (1862–1939)
- 1886Karl von Frisch — German-Austrian ethologist (1886-1982)
- 1889Edwin Hubble — American astronomer (1889–1953)
- 1902Gianpiero Combi — Italian association football player (1902-1956)
- 1907Henri-Georges Clouzot — French film director, screenwriter and producer (1907–1977)
- 1912Otto von Habsburg — Head of the House of Habsburg and German politician
- 1915Hu Yaobang — Chinese politician (1915-1989), former General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party
- 1916Evelyn Keyes — American film actress (1916-2008)
Deaths · 60
- 869(Julian date)Edmund the Martyr — King of East Anglia from about 855 until 869
- 996(Julian date)Richard I of Normandy — 10th-century duke of Normandy
- 1008(Julian date)Geoffrey I, Duke of Brittany — French noble
- 1314Albert II — Margrave of Meissen, Landgrave of Thuringia and Count Palatine of Saxony (1240-1314)
- 1316(Julian date)John I of France — King of France in 1316
- 1518(Julian date)Pierre de la Rue — Franco-Flemish Renaissance singer, composer
- 1662Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria — Austrian archduke (1614-1662)
- 1678Karel Dujardin — Dutch painter (1622-1678)
- 1695Zumbi — leader of the Quilombo dos Palmares
- 1704Charles Plumier — French botanist (1646-1704)
- 1737Caroline of Ansbach — Queen consort of Great Britain and Ireland from 1727 to 1737
- 1750Maurice de Saxe — Marshal General of France (1696-1750)
- 1764Christian Goldbach — German mathematician
- 1856Farkas Bolyai — Hungarian mathematician
- 1863James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin — British nobleman, politician and diplomat (1811–1863)
- 1880Léon Cogniet — French painter (1794-1880)
- 1882Henry Draper — American physician and astronomer (1837–1882)
- 1889August Ahlqvist — Finnish poet, scholar, author and literary critic (1826-1889)
- 1907Paula Modersohn-Becker — German expressionist painter (1876–1907)
- 1908Georgy Voronoy — Ukrainian mathematician from Russian empire
- 1910Leo Tolstoy — Russian author (1828–1910)
- 1918John Bauer — Swedish painter and illustrator (1882-1918)
- 1924Ebenezer Cobb Morley — English sportsman (1831-1924)
- 1925Alexandra of Denmark — Queen consort of the United Kingdom from 1901 to 1910
- 1934Willem de Sitter — Dutch cosmologist (*1872 – †1934)
Dates verified against Wikidata (CC0). Titles and descriptions come from Wikidata.