On This Day in History for July 20

Events 1 - 100 of 163

• 514 St Hormisdas elected as Pope succeeding Pope Sympowerus
• 1031 Henry I succeeds father Robert II as King of the Franks (1031-60)
• 1304 Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle - King Edward I of England takes the last rebel stronghold of the war
• 1402 Battle at Ancyra/Angora/Ankara: Timur' beats Sultan Bajezid I's Ottoman forces
• 1495 French viceroy of Naples Montpensier surrenders
• 1498 Emperor Maximilian names Albrecht governor of Netherlands
• 1553 John Dudley, Lord President of the Council under Edward VI, captured in Cambridge
• 1609 Emperor Rudolf II grants Silezische protestants freedom of religion
• 1619 Gerardus Vossius resigns as Dutch regent States college leader
• 1627 English fleet under George Villiers reaches La Rochelle [OS=June 10]
• 1654 Anglo-Portuguese treaty, Portugal comes under English control
• 1712 The Riot Act takes effect in Great Britain.
• 1738 North America: French explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de la Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan
• 1749 Earl of Chesterfield says "Idleness is only refuge of weak minds"
• 1773 Scottish settlers arrive at Pictou, Nova Scotia (Canada)
• 1801 Elisha Brown Jr presses a 1,235 pound cheese ball at his farm

• 1810 Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada (now Colombia), declare independence from Spain

• 1847 German astronomer Theodor discovers Comet Brorsen-Metcalf
• 1849 Start of 1st Lancashire-Yorkshire clash at Hyde Park, Sheffield
• 1855 1st train from Rotterdam to Utrecht in Netherlands
• 1858 Gathering of Plombieres - Napoleon III meets Cavour
• 1861 Confederate states' congress began holding sessions in Richmond, Virginia
• 1862 Guerrilla campaign in Georgia (Porter's & Poindexter's) [->SEP 20]
• 1864 Battle at Stephenson's Depot, Virginia: 200 killed or injured
• 1864 Battle of Peachtree Creek-Atlanta Campaign
• 1866 Sea battle of Lissa-Austria vs Italy
• 1868 1st use of tax stamps on cigarettes
• 1871 British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
• 1876 1st US intercollegiate track meet held, Saratoga, NY; Princeton wins
• 1877 Military shoots on stopped railroad workers in Baltimore, kills 9
• 1878 1st telephone introduced in Hawaii

• 1890 "Gibbons Stamp Monthly" begins publishing
• 1890 Snow and hail in Calais, Maine
• 1894 2000 fed troops recalled from Chicago, having ended Pullman strike
• 1901 Morocco signs an agreement with France fixing Morocco's frontier with Algeria, a French colony
• 1903 Giuseppe Sarto elected Pope Pius X, known as the 'pope of the poor and humble'
• 1906 Bkln Dodger Mal Eason no-hits St Louis Cards, 2-0
• 1907 A train wreck on the Pere Marquette Railroad near Salem, Michigan kills thirty and injures seventy more


• 1910 Former Dutch premier Abraham Kuyper acquitted of corruption
• 1911 Generals Henry Wilson/Auguste Dubail sign plan for British Expeditionary army in case of war with Germany
• 1913 Turkish troops take Adrianopel & Erdine from Bulgaria
• 1914 Armed resistance against British rule begins in Ulster
• 1917 Pact of Corfu signed: Serbs, Croats & Slovenes form Yugoslavia
• 1917 WW I draft lottery held; #258 is 1st drawn

• 1922 French and British Togoland made seperate mandates within League of Nations
• 1923 Yanks hit into a triple-play but beat A's 9-2
• 1924 Federation Internationale des Echecs (FIDE) forms in Paris
• 1924 Tehran, Persia comes under martial law after the American vice consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people
• 1925 Beirut sultan Pasja al-Atrasj calls Druzen for holy war against France
• 1925 Italian-Serbian/Croatian/Slav treaty about Dalmatie
• 1926 A convention of the Methodist Church votes to allow women to become priests.
• 1928 The government of Hungary issues a decree ordering Gypsies to end their nomadic ways, settle permanently in one place, subject themselves to the same laws and taxes as other Hungarians
• 1930 106°F (41°C), Washington, D.C. (district record)
• 1932 In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force who attempt to march to the White House
• 1932 Franz von Papen launches a coup against the Prussian government

• 1933 In London, 500,000 march against anti-Semitism
• 1933 Germany: Two-hundred Jewish merchants are arrested in Nuremberg and paraded through the streets
• 1934 118°F (48°C), Keokuk, Iowa (state record)
• 1935 Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen
• 1940 Germany occupiers forbid Dutch Communist Party (CPN) in Netherlands
• 1940 Nazi collaborator Rost of Tonningen appointed director of Marxist
• 1941 Yanks beat Tigers 12-6 in 17
• 1942 1st detachment of Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, begin basic training
• 1942 Barbados dismiss Trinidad for 16 in 69 minutes, Derek Sealy 8-8
• 1942 Legion of Merit Medal authorized by US congress

• 1944 British and Canadian troops occupy Hill 67/Ifs/Bras/Frenouville, Normandy
• 1944 Canadian Cameron Highlanders conquer St Andre
• 1944 Death March of 1,200 Jews from Lipcani Moldavia begins
• 1944 Fieldmarshal von Kluge consults with German commandant at Caen
• 1944 Flying Fortresses of US 8th Air Force attack Leipzig/Dessau

• 1944 Heavy storm hampers British offensive at Caen
• 1944 Japanese aircraft carrier Hijo sunk by US air attack
• 1944 Liberators of US 8th Air Force attack Gotha Russelsheim/Eisenach

• 1944 US 15th Air Force attacks Friedrichshaven Memmingen
• 1944 US 9th Air Force bombs railroad at Chaulnes Sable-sur-Sarthe/Dreux
• 1944 US invades Japanese-occupied Guam
• 1944 Violent battles in Verrieres-hill (Normandy)
• 1944 Fifty are hurt in rioting in front of the presidential palace in Mexico City
• 1944 Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German army officer Claus Von Stauffenberg
• 1947 1st political action of Netherlands Army on Java and Sumatra
• 1948 Lou Thesz beats Bill Longson, to become NWA wrestling champion

• 1948 US Communist Party chairman William Forster arrested
• 1949 Israel's 19 month war of independence ends
• 1949 Vasil Kolarov elected Premier of Bulgaria
• 1951 King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem
• 1953 USSR/Israel recover diplomatic relations
• 1953 The United Nations Economic and Social Council votes to make UNICEF a permanent agency
• 1954 Armistice for Indo-China signed, Vietnam separates into North and South
• 1954 West German secret service head Otto John defects to German DR
• 1956 France recognizes Tunisian independence
• 1956 Great Britain refuses to lend Egypt money to build Aswan Dam

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Birthdays 1 - 100 of 106

• 1304 Francesco Petrarch, Italian poet (Italia Mia), born Arezzo, Tuscany (d. 1374)
• 1513 Gaspar Schetz, Dutch treasurer-general, born in Antwerp (d. 1580)
• 1519 Pope Innocent IX [Giovanni Antonio Facchinetti], 230th Catholic pope (1591), born in Bologna, Papal States (d. 1591)
• 1537 Arnaud d'Ossat, French diplomat and writer , born in Larroque-Magnoac, France (d. 1604)
• 1659 Hyacinthe Rigaud, French painter, born in Perpignan, France (d. 1743)
• 1663 Pierre Drevet, French engraver, born in Loire-sur-Rhône, Lyon (d. 1738)
• 1709 James Harris, English philosopher, born in Salisbury, Wiltshire (d. 1780)
• 1754 Antoine Destutt de Tracy, French Enlightenment philosopher, born in Paris (d. 1836)
• 1757 Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian diplomat and politician, born in Georgia (d. 1811)
• 1766 Thomas Bruce, 7th earl of Elgin & Kincardine, British diplomat, born in Broomhall, Fife, Scotland (d. 1841)
• 1774 Auguste Marmont, French marshal, born in Châtillon-sur-Seine, France (d. 1852)
• 1785 Mahmud II, Sultan of Turkey (1808-39), born in Topkapı Palace, Istanbul, Turkey (d. 1839)
• 1797 Paweł Edmund Strzelecki, Polish explorer and geologist, born in Glausche, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1873)
• 1804 Richard Owen, English zoologist (Dinosauria), born in Lancaster, England (d. 1892)
• 1806 John Sterling, Scottish writer, born in Isle of Bute, United Kingdom (d. 1844)
• 1811 James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin & Kincardine and Governor (Jamaica), born in London (d. 1863)
• 1816 William Bowman, English anatomist, born in Nantwich, Cheshire (d. 1892)

• 1824 Alexander Schimmelfennig, Prussian-American political revolutionary and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Bromberg, Kingdom of Prussia (d. 1865)
• 1836 Thomas Allbutt, English physiologist (Diseases of the Heart), born in Dewsbury, Yorkshire (d. 1925)
• 1838 Augustin Daly, American playwright and theatrical manager, born in Plymouth, North Carolina (d. 1899)
• 1838 George Otto Trevelyan, British statesman and biographer (d. 1928)
• 1847 Max Liebermann, German impressionist painter
• 1849 Robert Anderson Van Wyck, Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
• 1852 Theodorus Heemskerk Jzn, lawyer/Dutch premier (AR, 1908-13) [or 1/20]=
• 1853 Geo[rge] Poggenbeek, Dutch water colors painter
• 1858 Ivan Vucetic, Croatian anthropologist (d. 1925)
• 1860 Johannes Walter, German geologist (Denudation of the Wilderness)
• 1864 Erik Karlfeldt, Swedish poet (Nobel 1918-refused; 1931-posthumous)
• 1868 Miron Cristea, 1st Patriarch of All Romania (d. 1939)
• 1870 Vladimir D Nabokov, Russian jurist/minister of Justice (1918-19)
• 1873 Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian aviator (d. 1932)
• 1876 Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician (d. 1944)
• 1880 Hermann earl Keyserling, German philosopher/writer
• 1881 Leon de Smet, Flemish painter
• 1885 Gustave Charlier, Belgian literature historian/critic
• 1887 Willem H Drucker, Dutch lawyer
• 1890 George II, King of Greece (1922-1924, and 1935-1947), born in Tatoi, Greece (d. 1947)
• 1893 Alexander, King of Greece (1917-20), born at Tatoi Palace, Greece (d. 1920)
• 1893 Richard Billinger, Austria poet/writer (From Where I Came)
• 1895 László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
• 1897 Tadeusz Reichstein, Swiss chemist (Nobel 1950)
• 1900 Gottfried von Haberler, Austrian economist
• 1900 Maurice Gilliams, Flemish writer/poet/essayist (Maria's Life)
• 1901 Vehbi Koc, indistrialist/philanthropist
• 1902 Dilys Powell, English writer (Descent from Parnassus)
• 1903 Jef van de Wiele, Belgian politician
• 1905 Molly Mary Nesta Keane, writer

• 1909 Jean Focas, Greco-French astronomer (d. 1969)
• 1910 Cicely Veronica Wedgwood, British historian (William the Silent)
• 1912 Frederick Ferrari, crazy Gang Member
• 1912 John Dacie, hematologist
• 1912 Thijmen Kuijt, resistance fighter/co-found newspaper (The Typhoon)
• 1912 George Johnston, Australian journalist and novelist (d. 1970)

• 1920 Elliot L Richardson, Attorney General (1973)/Sec of Defense (1973)
• 1920 Jack Harman, British general
• 1920 Jeffrey Petersen, British diplomat
• 1922 Alan Stephenson Boyd, American politician
• 1923 Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d. 2005)
• 1924 Hans Lodeizen, [Johannes A Frederik], Dutch poet (Inner Self)
• 1924 Thomas Berger, American novelist (Vital Parts, Little Big Man), born in Cincinnati, Ohio, (d. 2014)
• 1925 Jacques Delors, French economist/chairman European Committee (1985-95)
• 1925 Frantz Fanon, West Indian psychiatrist and philosopher (The Wretched of the Earth), born in Martinique, France (d. 1961)
• 1927 Anthony Cavendish, British MI 6 agent/banker
• 1928 Jan Meyers, (Rep-R-Kansas, 1985- )
• 1928 Pavel Kohout, Czech and Austrian writer (Poor Murderer) and dissident, born in Prague
• 1928 Charles David Ganao, Djambala, French Equatorial Africa, Prime Minister of the Republic of the Congo (1996-1997), (d. 2012)
• 1930 Arthur U Spronken, sculptor
• 1930 Yuri Petrovich Artyukin, USSR, cosmonaut (Soyuz 14)

• 1932 Otto Schily, German politician
• 1933 Cormac McCarthy, American author
• 1934 Ralph C RInzler, folklorist (Greenbriar Boys)
• 1934 Uwe Johnson, German writer
• 1935 Lord Peter Palumbo, English real estate developer/multi-millionaire
• 1936 Barbara A Mikulski, (Rep-D-MD, 1977-86/Sen-D-MD, 1986- )
• 1938 Jo Ann Campbell, Lawrence Welk's champagne lady, born in Jacksonville, Florida
• 1939 Judy Chicago [Judith Cohen], American artist (Dinner Party), born in Chicago, Illinois
• 1939 Jeanne Bice, American entrepreneur (Quacker Factory clothes), born in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin (d. 2011)
• 1940 Tony Oliva, ball player, batting champ (AL Rookie of Year 1964)
• 1941 Vladimir Afanasiyevich Lyakhov, cosmonaut (Soyuz 32/34, T-9, TM-6)
• 1942 Ron Bowden, Australian politician
• 1944 Wim Van Drimmelen, Dutch sect Science Council of Government policy
• 1945 Larry E Craig, (Rep-R-Idaho, 1981- )
• 1945 Viscount Petersham, English large landowner
• 1945 Paul Valéry [Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry], French author, philosopher and poet (La Jeune Parque), born in Sète, Hérault (d. 1945)
• 1947 Gerd Binnig, Frankfurt, physicist (tunneling microscope-Nobel 1986)
• 1948 Richard H Lehman, (Rep-D-CA, 1983- )
• 1953 Thomas Friedman, American journalist
• 1956 Jim Prentice, Canadian politician
• 1960 Katie Rabbet, Prince Andrew's former girlfriend, born in London, England
• 1964 Terri Irwin, American naturalist; widow of Steve Irwin
• 1966 Enrique Peña Nieto, President of Mexico (2012-), born in Atlacomulco, State of Mexico
• 1968 Robert Rodriguez, director (El Mariachi, Desperado)
• 1971 DJ Screw, American hiphop DJ (d. 2000)
• 1972 Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician
• 1973 Haakon Magnus, Crown Prince of Norway

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• 1608 Reynier van Oldenbarnevelt marries Anna Weytzen in Delft

• 1991 Kirk Cameron marries Growing Pains co-star Chelsea Noble in upstate NY
• 2013 "Modern Family" actor Jesse Tyler Ferguson (37) weds lawyer Justin Mikita in NYC, New York

• 1993 Joe Petruzzi files for divorce from Annabella Sciorra (Jungle Fever)

• 833 Ansegis/Ansegius, French abbot of Fontenelle/author, dies at about 63
• 985 Antipope Boniface VII (974, 984–985)
• 1031 Robert II of France [the Pious, the Wise], King of the Franks (996-1031), dies during a civil war at 59
• 1156 Emperor Toba of Japan (b. 1103)
• 1160 Peter Lombard, French theologian
• 1201 Agnes of France, queen of France, dies [or 7/18]
• 1320 King Oshin of Armenia (b. 1282)
• 1322 Frederik II van Sierck, bishop of Utrecht (1317-22), dies
• 1351 Margaretha Ebner, German visionary (b. 1291)
• 1387 Robert IV of Artois, Count of Eu (poisoned) (b. 1356)
• 1398 Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March, heir to the throne of England, dies at 24
• 1453 Enguerrand de Monstrelet, French chronicler
• 1454 Johan II, King of Castile, dies at 49
• 1524 Claude of France, Duchess of Brittany and wife of Francis I of France, dies at 24
• 1573 Lancelot of Brederode, water beggar, beheaded
• 1597 Franciscus Raphelengius [French of Ravelingen], Neth publisher, dies
• 1607 Paulus Merula, Dutch lawyer and historian (Historia Belgica), dies at 48
• 1609 Federico Zuccari, Italian Mannerist painter, dies at about 69
• 1616 Hugh O'Neill, 3rd Earl of Tyrone, Irish soldier
• 1636 John Oldham, trader in Mass, murdered by indians
• 1704 Peregrine White, First English child born in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, dies at 83
• 1766 Isabelle Farnese, queen of Spain, dies
• 1816 Gavrila Romanovich Derzhavin, Russian poet (b. 1743)
• 1819 John Playfair, Scottish geologist/mathematician, dies
• 1824 Joan M Kemper, lawyer (layed-out Civil Code), dies
• 1859 Hans E Schack, Danish politician/writer (Fantasy), dies
• 1866 Faa di Bruno, Italian captain (Er d'italia, Lissa), commits suicide
• 1866 G F Berhard Riemann, German mathematician (zeta-function), dies
• 1881 Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, English 1st baron of Hesketh, dies
• 1888 Henri Braekeleer, Flemish painter, dies at 48
• 1897 Jean Ingelow, English poet (b. 1820)
• 1897 Philip Dale Roddey, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), dies at 71
• 1901 William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (b. 1840)
• 1903 Leo XIII, [Vincenzo G Pecci], Pope (1878-1903), dies at 93
• 1912 Andrew Lang, Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and anthropologist (Andrew Lang's Fairy Books), dies at 68
• 1922 Andrey Markov, Russian mathematician (b. 1856)
• 1923 Pancho Villa [José Doroteo Arango Arámbula], Mexican revolutionary general and guerrilla leader, , murdered at 55
• 1926 Felix Dzerzhinsky [Iron Felix, Bloody Felix], Soviet statesman, established and developed Soviet secret police (Cheka, forerunner to the KGB), dies at 48
• 1927 Ferdinand I VAM, King of Romania (1914-27), dies at 61
• 1928 Kostas Karyotakis, Greek poet (b. 1896)
• 1932 René Bazin, French novelist (b. 1853)
• 1936 Jose Sanjurjo, Spanish general (Morocco) and high director, dies at 64

• 1939 Joseph Mendes da Costa, sculptor, dies
• 1940 Y G Van de Peat, Dutch director of employment, commits suicide
• 1941 Lew Fields, American vaudeville performer (b. 1867)
• 1942 Patric Cobb, British sea officer, dies in battle
• 1944 Arthur J Treadwell, English mayor of Stoke Newington, dies at about 71
• 1944 Brandt, col/German staff chief, dies in bombing
• 1944 Claus Schenk von Stauffenberg, count/German antifascist colonel, dies
• 1944 Friedrich Olbricht, German general (July 20th plotter), executed
• 1944 Korten, chef gen of Germany Luftwaffe, dies in bomb explosion
• 1944 Ludwig Beck, German general (July 20th plot), dies at 64
• 1944 Mertz, German colonel (July 20th plotter), executed
• 1944 Rudolf Schmundt, German general /Hitler's Army adjunct, dies from wounds in attempt to assassinate Hitler at 48
• 1944 Werner von Haeffen, German lieutenant (July 20th plotter), executed
• 1945 Paul Valéry [Ambroise Paul Toussaint Jules Valéry], French author, philosopher and poet (La Jeune Parque), dies at 73
• 1951 Abdullah Ibn Hussein, Jordan's King (1946-51), killed in Jerusalem
• 1951 Mustafa Shuqri Ashu, tailor/murderer of king Abdullah, shot to death
• 1951 Friedrich Wilhelm Hohenzollern, Crown Prince of Germany (b. 1882)
• 1953 Dumarsaid Estime, President of Haiti (b. 1900)
• 1953 Jan Struther, British author (b. 1901)
• 1954 Blair Moody, (Sen-Mich), dies at 52
• 1956 James Alexander Calder, Canadian politician (b. 1868)
• 1962 Andre Renard, Belgium worker's union leader (MSU), dies at 51
• 1962 George MacAulay Trevelyan, English royal historian, dies at 86
• 1964 Anna Vyrubova, Russian lady-in-waiting, the best friend and confidante of Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna, dies at 80
• 1970 Iain Macleod, Conservative Party Politician and Chancellor of Exchequer at time of his death (b. 1913)
• 1973 Robert Smithson, American land artist (b. 1938)
• 1976 Samuel Mutendi, founder of the Zimbabwean Zion Christian Church, dies
• 1982 Okot p'Bitek, Ugandan poet (b. 1931)
• 1984 Jim Fixx, American jogger and writer (Jim Fixx on Running), dies at 52
• 1989 Marie-Madeleine Fourcade, commander (French resistance), dies
• 1990 Herbert Jenkins, Atlanta's longest serving police chief (b. 1907)
• 1993 Vince Foster, American lawyer and Deputy White House Counsel commits suicide aged 48
• 1994 Paul Delvaux, Belgian surrealist painter, dies at 96
• 1994 Reginald Hall, endocrinologist, dies at 83
• 1994 Ernest Mandel, Belgian philosopher and economist (Marxist), dies at 72
• 1995 Helmut Erich Robert Gernsheim, photographer/collector, dies at 82
• 1996 Colin Campbell Mitchell, soldier, dies at 70
• 1996 Peter Malcolm Gordon Raleigh, journalist, dies at 77
• 2000 Gregory Hill (also known as Malaclypse the Younger,) American writer (Principia Discordia), dies at 59
• 2001 Carlo Giuliani, Italian anarchist (b. 1978)
• 2003 Nicolas Freeling, English writer (b. 1927)
• 2004 Adi Lady Lala Mara, Fiji chieftainess, wife of Kamisese Mara (b. 1931)
• 2005 Finn Gustavsen, Norwegian politician (b. 1926)
• 2006 Ted Grant, British Trotskyist (b. 1913)
• 2007 Tammy Faye Messner (Bakker), American televangelist (b. 1942)
• 2011 Lucian Freud, German-British artist (Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, Boy With a Rat), dies at 88
• 2015 Elio Fiorucci, Italian fashion designer, dies at 80

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