On this day in History - Aug. 20

• 0535 - Mochta of Louth dies. Disciple of St. Patrick.
• 0636 - Battle of Yarmuk: Arab forces led by Khalid bin 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.
• 0917 - Battle of Anchialus: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria invades Thrace and drives the Byzantines out.
• 0984 - Pope John XIV dies.
• 1000 - The foundation of the Hungarian state, Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by Stephen I of Hungary.
• 1153 - São Bernardo morre no mosteiro cistercense de Claraval, de que era abade desde 1115.
• 1384 - Geert Groote dies (b. 1340). Dutch founder of the Brethren of the Common Life.
• 1391 - Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order.
• 1517 - Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle was born (d. 1586). French church leader.
• 1561 - Jacopo Peri was born (d. 1633). Italian composer.
• 1572 - Miguel López de Legazpi dies (b. 1502). Spanish conquistador.
• 1580 - Jeronymo Osorio dies in Tavira (b. 1506). Portuguese historian.
• 1611 - Tomás Luis de Victoria dies (b. 1548). Spanish composer.
• 1625 - Thomas Corneille was born (d. 1709). French dramatist.
• 1632 - Louis Bourdaloue was born (d. 1704). French Jesuit preacher.
• 1639 - Martin Opitz von Boberfeld dies (b. 1597). German poet.
• 1643 - Anne Hutchinson dies (b. 1591). English Puritan preacher.
• 1644 - (P.) Manuel Bernardes was born in Lisbon (d. 1710). Portuguese writer.
• 1648 - Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury dies (b. 1583). English diplomat, poet, and philosopher.
• 1672 - Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.
• 1672 - Cornelis de Witt dies (b. 1623). Dutch politician.
• 1672 - Johan de Witt dies (b. 1625). Dutch politician.
• 1680 - William Bedloe dies (b. 1650). English informer.
• 1701 - Charles Sedley dies (b. 1639). English playwright.
• 1707 - Nicolas Gigault dies (b. 1627). French organist and composer.
• 1710 - French Army of Napoleon Bonaparte is defeated by the Austrians at the Battle of Saragossa.
• 1710 - Thomas Simpson was born (d. 1761). British mathematician.
• 1719 - Christian Mayer was born (d. 1783). Czech astronomer.
  1719 - Charles-François de Broglie, marquis de Ruffec was born (d. 1791). French soldier and diplomat.
• 1741 - Alaska is discovered by Danish explorer Vitus Bering.
• 1773 - Enrique Florez dies (b. 1701). Spanish historian.
• 1775 - The Spanish establish a presidio (fort) in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
• 1776 - Bernardo O'Higgins was born (d. 1842). South American revolutionary, leader of Chile's Independence.
  
• 1779 - Jöns Jakob Berzelius was born (d. 1848). Swedish chemist.
• 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.
• 1804 - Lewis and Clark Expedition: The "Corps of Discovery", exploring the Louisiana Purchase, suffers its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.
• 1811 - Louis Antoine de Bougainville dies (b. 1729). French explorer.
• 1817 - João Manuel Pereira da Silva was born. Brazilian writer and historian.
• 1823 - Pope Pius VII dies (b. 1740).
• 1825 - William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock dies (b. 1753). Governor of Newfoundland.
• 1830 - Luis de Eguílaz was born. Spanish writer.
• 1833 - Nat Turner leads his revolt against the Southern plantation owners of Southampton County, Virginia.
• 1833 - Benjamin Harrison was born (d. 1901). 23rd President of the United States.
• 1845 - St. Albert Chmielowski was born (d. 1916). Polish Catholic Saint.
• 1847 - Andrew Greenwood was born (d. 1889). England cricketer.
• 1847 - Bolesław Prus was born (d. 1912). Polish writer.
• 1856 - Jakub Bart-Ćišinski was born (d. 1909). Serbian writer.
• 1858 - Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.
• 1860 - Raymond Poincaré was born (d. 1934). French statesman.
• 1865 - Bernard Tancred was born (d. 1911). South African cricketer.
• 1866 - President Andrew Johnson formally declared the U.S. Civil War over.
• 1868 - Ellen Roosevelt was born (d. 1954). American tennis player.
• 1873 - Gottlieb Eliel Saarinen was born (d. 1950). Finnish architect.
• 1881 - Edgar Guest was born (d. 1959). English poet.
• 1882 - Piotr Ilyitch Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.
• 1885 - Matias de Lima was born. Portuguese poet.
• 1886 - Paul Tillich was born (d. 1965). German-American theologian.
• 1887 - Jules Laforgue dies (b. 1860). French poet.
• 1888 - Mutineers imprison Emin Pasha at Dufile.
• 1889 - Cora Carolina ( Ana Lins dos Guimarães Peixoto) was born (d. 1985), Brazilian writer and poet.
• 1890 - H. P. Lovecraft was born (d. 1937). American writer (At the Mountains of Madness).
• 1897 - Tarjei Vesaas was born (d. 1970). Norwegian writer.
• 1898 - Vilhelm Moberg was born (d. 1973). Swedish author and historian.
• 1900 - Japan's primary school law is amended to provide for four years of mandatory schooling.
• 1901 - Salvatore Quasimodo was born (d. 1968). Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1904 - René Waldeck-Rousseau dies (b. 1846). French statesman.
• 1905 - Jack Teagarden was born (d. 1964). American jazz musician.
• 1905 - Jean Gebser was born (d. 1973). German-born author, linguist and poet.
• 1905 - Adolphe William Bouguereau dies. French painter.
• 1907 - Alan Reed was born (d. 1977). Original voice of Fred Flintstone.
  
• 1908 - Al Lopez was born (d. 2005). American baseball player and manager.
• 1909 - Alby Roberts was born (d. 1978). New Zealand cricketer.
• 1910 - Eero Saarinen was born (d. 1961). Finnish architect.
• 1912 - William Booth dies (b. 1829). Founder and first general of The Salvation Army.
• 1913 - Roger Wolcott Sperry was born (d. 17 Apr 1994). American psycologist and biologist who was 1981 Nobel Prize in Medicine laureate.
• 1914 - World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.
• 1914 - Pope Pius X (1903 -1914) dies (b. 1835).
• 1915 - Paul Ehrlich dies (b. 1854). German biochemist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1908.
• 1916 - Paul Felix Schmidt was born (d. 1984). Estonian–German chess player.
• 1917 - Adolf von Baeyer dies (b. 1835). German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate in 1905.
• 1918 - Jacqueline Susann was born (d. 1974). American novelist.
• 1919 – Greg MacGregor dies (b. 1869). England cricketer.
• 1920 - The first commercial radio station, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
• 1921 - Jack Wilson was born (d. 1985). Australian cricketer.
• 1923 - Jim Reeves was born (d. 1964). American singer.
• 1924 - George Zuverink was born. American baseball player.
• 1926 - Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai(NHK) is established.
• 1926 - Nobby Wirkowski was born. American and Canadian football player and coach.
• 1927 - Décio Pignatari was born. Brazilian writer and sociologist.
• 1927 – Geriatric1927 was born. English video blogger.
• 1927 – Yootha Joyce was born (d. 1980). English actress.
  
• 1930 - Mario Bernardi was born. Canadian conductor.
• 1930 - Charles Bannerman dies (b. 1851). Australian cricketer.
• 1931 - Don King was born. American boxing promoter.
• 1932 - Anthony Ainley was born (d. 2004). British actor.
• 1932 – Atholl McKinnon was born (d. 1983). South African cricketer.
  
• 1932 – Vasily Aksyonov was born (d. 2009). Russian novelist.
  
• 1933 - George J. Mitchell was born. Former United States Senator.
• 1934 - Armi Kuusela was born. Finnish beauty queen.
• 1935 - Ron Paul was born. US Congressman, 1988 and 2008 presidential candidate.
• 1936 - Hideki Shirakawa was born. Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1937 – Andrei Konchalovsky was born. Russian film director.
• 1937 – El Fary was born (d. 2007). Spanish singer and actor.
  
• 1937 - Jim Bowen was born. English comedian.
• 1938 - Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam – a record that still stands.
• 1938 - Alain Vivien was born. French politician.
• 1939 - Fernando Poe Jr. was born (d. 2004). Filipino actor and politician.
• 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 – Rex Sellers was born. Australian cricketer.
• 1940 - Rubén Hinojosa was born. American politician.
• 1941 - Rich Brooks was born. American football coach.
• 1941 - Robin Oakley was born. British journalist.
• 1941 - Slobodan Milošević was born (d. 2006). President of Serbia and Yugoslavia.
• 1942 - Fred Norman was born. American baseball player.
• 1942 - Isaac Hayes was born. American singer, songwriter, and actor.
• 1943 - Sylvester McCoy was born. Scottish actor.
• 1944 - The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet offensive.
• 1944 – Graig Nettles was born. American baseball player.
  
• 1944 - Rajiv Gandhi was born (d. 1991). Prime Minister of India.
• 1945 - José Wilker was born. Brazilian actor.
• 1946 - Connie Chung was born. American journalist.
• 1946 - N.R. Narayana Murthy was born. Indian businessman.
• 1946 – Ralf Hütter was born. German musician (Kraftwerk).
• 1947 - Alan Lee was born. English conceptual artist.
• 1948 - John Noble was born. Australian actor.
• 1948 - Robert Plant was born. English singer (Led Zeppelin).
• 1949 – Alan Hardwick was born. English TV presenter.
• 1949 - Nikolas Asimos was born (d. 1988). Greek composer and singer.
• 1949 – Norman Featherstone was born. South African cricketer.
• 1949 - Phil Lynott was born (d. 1986). Irish musician.
• 1951 - Greg Bear was born. American science fiction author.
• 1952 – Doug Fieger was born. American musician (The Knack).
• 1952 - John Emburey was born. English cricketer.
• 1952 - John Hiatt was born. American musician.
• 1953 - The Soviet Union publicly acknowledged it had tested a hydrogen bomb.
• 1954 - Al Roker was born. American television broadcaster.
• 1954 - Don Stark was born. American actor.
• 1954 – Tawn Mastrey was born (d. 2007). American disc jockey.
• 1955 - In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria, raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
• 1955 - Agnes Chan was born. Hong-Kong singer, professor of education, essayist.
• 1956 – Alvin Greenidge was born. West Indian cricketer.
• 1956 - Joan Allen was born. American actress.
• 1957 - Finlay Calder was born. Scottish rugby player.
• 1958 – John Stehr was born. American journalist.
• 1958 - Patricia Rozema was born. Canadian film director and screenwriter.
• 1959 – William Halsey, Jr dies (b. 1882). American admiral.
• 1960 - Senegal breaks from the Mali federation, declaring independence.
• 1961 - Greg Egan was born. Australian author.
• 1961 – Joe Pasquale was born. English comedian.
• 1961 - Percy Williams Bridgman dies (b. 1882). American physicist, Nobel Prize laureate.
• 1962 - Dong-Wook Song was born. South Korean tennis player.
• 1962 - James Marsters was born. American actor.
• 1962 - Sophie Aldred was born. English actress.
• 1963 – Joan Voûte dies (b. 1879). Dutch astronomer.
• 1965 - KRS-One (Lawrence Krisna Parker) was born. American rapper.
• 1965 - Jonathan Myrick Daniels dies (b. 1939). Civil Rights Martyr.
• 1966 - Dimebag Darrell was born (d. 2004). American guitarist (Pantera/Damageplan).
• 1967 - Andy Benes was born. American baseball player.
• 1967 – Colin Cunningham was born. American actor.
• 1967 – Terri Poch was born. American yogini and former professional wrestler.
• 1968 - 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia to end the "Prague Spring" of political liberalization.
• 1968 – Klas Ingesson was born. Swedish footballer.
• 1968 - Yuri Shiratori was born. Japanese voice actress and singer.
• 1969 - All four Beatles were together in the recording studio for the final time as they finished the Abbey Road LP.
• 1969 - Duke Droese was born. American professional wrestler.
• 1970 – Els Callens was born. Belgian tennis player.
• 1970 - John Carmack was born. American computer game programmer.
• 1971 – David Walliams was born. British comedian
• 1971 - Fred Durst was born. American singer (Limp Bizkit).
• 1971 - Jonathan Ke Quan was born. Vietnamese American actor.
• 1971 - Steve Stone was born. English footballer.
• 1971 - Rashid Minhas dies (b. 1951). Pakistani Air Force pilot.
• 1972 – Chaney Kley was born. American actor.
• 1972 - Juan Manuel Gálvez dies. President of Honduras (1949-1954).
• 1973 - Todd Helton was born. American baseball player.
• 1974 - Congress votes to reduce aid to South Vietnam from $1 Billion to $700 Million. Majority.
• 1974 – Amy Adams was born. American actress.
• 1974 – Andy Strachan was born. Australian musician (The Living End).
• 1974 – Big Moe was born (d. 2007). American rapper.
• 1974 - Maxim Vengerov was born. Russian violinist.
• 1974 – Szabolcs Sáfár was born. Hungarian footballer.
• 1975 - Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
• 1975 – Marcus Mastin was born. American author.
• 1976 - Chris Drury was born. American hockey player.
• 1977 - Voyager program: The United States launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
• 1977 - Felipe Contepomi was born. Argentine rugby player.
• 1977 – Ivar Ingimarsson was born. Icelandic footballer.
• 1977 – James Ormond was born. England cricketer
• 1977 - Manuel Contepomi was born. Argentine rugby player.
• 1977 - Mayra Veronica was born. Cuban model and actress.
• 1979 - The East Coast Main Line rail route between England and Scotland is restored when the Penmanshiel Diversion opens.
• 1979 - Cory Sullivan was born. American baseball player.
• 1979 – Haha was born. South Korean entertainer.
• 1980 - Italian climber Reinhold Messner makes the first successful solo ascent of Mount Everest.
• 1980 – Corey Carrier was born. American actor.
• 1980 – Rochelle Gadd was born. British actress.
• 1980 - Joe Dassin dies (b. 1938). American singer.
• 1981 – Benjamin Barnes was born. English actor (Prince Caspian).
• 1981 - Bernard Mendy was born. French footballer.
• 1982 - Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon.
• 1982 – Barney Rogers was born. Zimbabwean cricketer.
• 1982 – Cléber Luis Alberti was born. Brazilian footballer.
• 1982 - Joshua Kennedy was born. Australian footballer.
• 1982 - Youssouf Hersi was born. Ethiopian footballer.
• 1982 - Ulla Jacobsson dies (b. 1929). Swedish actress.
• 1984 – Golan Yosef was born. Dutch actor.
• 1984 - Mirai Moriyama was born. Japanese actor.
• 1986 - In Edmond, Oklahoma, US Postal employee Patrick Henry Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
• 1986 - Robert Clark was born. Canadian actor.
• 1986 - Milton Acorn dies (b. 1923). Canadian poet.
• 1987 - Cătălina Ponor was born. Romanian gymnast.
• 1988 - Peru becomes a member of the Berne Convention copyright treaty.
• 1988 - "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park.
• 1988 - Iran-Iraq War: A cease-fire is agreed to after almost eight years of war.
• 1988 – Jerryd Bayless was born. American basketball player.
• 1989 - In Beverly Hills, California, Lyle and Erik Menendez shoot and kill their wealthy parents.
• 1989 - In London, the pleasure cruiser Marchioness is hit by a dredger, the Bowbelle, on the River Thames - 51 people attending a party on the boat are killed.
• 1989 - George Adamson dies (b. 1906). India-born English game warden and lion expert.
• 1990 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo was born. Dutch swimmer.
• 1991 - Collapse of the Soviet Union: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev.
• 1991 - Estonia secedes from the Soviet Union.
• 1991 – Marko Đoković was born. Serbian tennis player.
• 1992 – Demi Lovato was born. American actress and singer.
• 1993 - After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords were signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington D.C. the next month.
• 1993 - Bernard Delfgaauw dies (b. 1912). Dutch philosopher.
• 1995 - At least 350 are killed on one of India's worst railway accidents when two trains - both heading for Delhi - collide at Firozobad approx 120 miles from the capital.
• 1995 - Hugo Pratt dies. Italian cartoonist (Corto Maltese).
• 1996 - Abílio Duarte dies. First President of Parliament of Cape Verth.
• 1997 - Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people killed, 15 kidnapped.
• 1997 – Léon Dion was born (d. 1922). French-Canadian political scientist.
• 1997 - Norris Bradbury dies (b. 1909). American physicist.
• 1998 - The Supreme Court of Canada states Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
• 1998 - 1998 U.S. embassy bombings: The United States military 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. The al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum is destroyed in the attack.
• 1998 - 229 people are killed when a Swissair plane crashes into the Atlantic near the coast of Nova Scotia en route from New York to Geneva.
• 1998 - António Assunção dies. Portuguese actor.
• 1998 - Raquel Rastenni dies (b. 1915). Danish singer.
• 1999 - World Championship in Athletism opens in Sevilla.
• 2001 - Sir Fred Hoyle dies (b. 1915). English astronomer and science fiction writer.
• 2001 - Kim Stanley dies (b. 1925). American actress.
• 2002 - A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein took over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and giving up.
• 2003 - Prince Gabriel of Belgium was born.
• 2004 - Talk show host Regis Philbin breaks the record for Most Hours on Camera, with 15,188.
• 2005 - Cheez TV airs its last episode.
• 2005 – Krzysztof Raczkowski dies (b. 1970). Polish drummer.
• 2005 - Thomas Herrion dies (b. 1981). American football player.
• 2006 - Joe Rosenthal dies (b. 1911). American photographer.
• 2006 - Claude Blanchard dies (b. 1932). Quebec singer, comedian and actor.
• 2006 – Joe Rosenthal dies (b. 1911). American photographer.
• 2007 – Larry Hartsell dies (b. 1942). American martial artist, bodyguard, trainer, student of Bruce Lee and Dan Inosanto.
• 2007 – Leona Helmsley dies (b. 1920). American hotel operator and real estate investor.
• 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, 8 more die afterwards. Only 18 people survive.
• 2008 – Gene Upshaw dies (b. 1945). American football player and union leader.
• 2008 – Hua Guofeng dies (b. 1921). Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party.
• 2008 – Stephanie Tubbs Jones dies (b. 1949). American politician.
• World Union – World Union Day.
• Estonia – Day of Restoration of Independence, celebrating the secession from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Hungary – St. Stephen's day, the main national holiday in Hungary.
• Bahá'í Faith - Feast of Asmá (Names) - First day of the ninth month of the Bahá'í Calendar.