Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
August 20
| 917 | A Byzantine counter-offensive is routed by Syeon at Anchialus, Bulgaria. | |
| 1619 | The first group of twenty Africans is brought to Jamestown, Virginia. | |
| 1667 | John Milton publishes Paradise Lost, an epic poem about the fall of Adam and Eve. | |
| 1741 | Danish navigator Vitus Jonas Bering, commisioned by Peter the Great of Russia to find land connecting Asia and North America, discovers America. | |
| 1794 | American General "Mad Anthony" Wayne defeats the Ohio Indians at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in the Northwest territory, ending Indian resistance in the area. | |
| 1847 | General Winfield Scott wins the battle of Churubusco on his drive to Mexico City. | |
| 1904 | Dublin's Abbey Theatre is founded, an outgrowth of the Irish Literary Theatre founded in 1899 by William Butler Yeats and Lady Gregory. | |
| 1908 | The American Great White Fleet arrives in Sydney, Australia, to a warm welcome. | |
| 1913 | 700 feet above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegond becomes the first person to jump from an airplane and land safely. | |
| 1914 | Russia wins an early victory over Germany at Gumbinnen. | |
| 1940 | After a previous machine gun attack failed, exiled Russian Leon Trotsky is assassinated in Mexico City, with an alpine ax to the back of the head. | |
| 1940 | Radar is used for the first time, by the British during the Battle of Britain. Also on this day, in a radio broadcast, Winston Churchill makes his famous homage to the Royal Air Force: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few." | |
| 1941 | Adolf Hitler authorizes the development of the V-2 missile. | |
| 1944 | United States and British forces close the pincers on German units in the Falaise-Argentan pocket in France. | |
| 1971 | The Cambodian military launches a series of operations against the Khmer Rouge. | |
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Born on August 20 |
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| 1833 | Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States and grandson of President William Henry Harrison. | |
| 1886 | Paul Tillich, theologian and philosopher who wrote Systematic Theology. | |
| 1890 | H.P. Lovecraft, author of horror tales. | |
| 1905 | Jack Teagarden, jazz trombonist. | |
| 1944 | Rajiv Gandhi, Prime Minster of India. | |
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