About August 20
August 20, 2023 is the 232nd day of the year 2023 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Sunday.
You can browse the full year calendar in case you need it.
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Leo is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Peridot is the modern birthstone for this month. Diamond is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.
According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 174 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.
What Happened On August 20
- 636 –Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-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.
- 1000 –The foundation of the Hungarian state by Saint Stephen. Today celebrated as a National Day in Hungary.
- 1391 –Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order.
- 1672 –Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.
- 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.
- 1910 –The Great Fire of 1910 (also commonly referred to as the Big Blowup or the Big Burn) occurred in northeast Washington, northern Idaho (the panhandle), and western Montana, burning approximately 3 e6acre.
- 1920 –The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
- 1926 –Japan’s public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
- 1944 –World War II: the Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet offensive.
- 1955 –In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
- 1977 –Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
- 1986 –In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
- 1988 –“Black Saturday” of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
- 1989 –The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision, 51 people are killed.
- 1991 –Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union’s parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.
- 1993 –After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Peace Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.
- 1997 –Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.
- 1998 –U.S. embassy bombings: the United States 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.
- 2002 –A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.
- 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, and 8 more die later. Only 18 people survive.
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