What are the important events that happened on August 20? Here are historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

August 20: Facts & Myths About This Day

August 20 is the 232^nd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 133 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday.

Under the Julian calendar, this day is August 7, 2025 – a Wednesday. Both day of the week are the same but did you notice the difference with the Gregorian calendar?

When this day started, 487,680 hours has elapsed since midnight of January 1, 1970 – the Unix epoch.

Strange as it may, if we name this day after a polygon then it will be called ‘dihectatriacontadigon’ day.

Leo is the zodiac 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 181 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

The ancient Maya civilization believes that the end of the world will happen on December 21, 2012. There are now 4,625 days since this fabled cataclysmic event.

August 20 Historical Events

• 20 –
  Agrippa Postumus, adoptive-son of the late Roman Emperor Augustus, is executed by his guards while in exile under mysterious circumstances
• 1391 –
  Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order.
• 1866 –
  President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
• 1882 –
  Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.
• 1950 –
  Korean War: United Nations repel an offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to cross the Naktong River and assault the city of Taegu.
• 1955 –
  In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
• 1960 –
  Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
• 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.
• 1998 –
  The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.
• 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.

Who were born on August 20?

• 1901 –
  Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
• 1905 –
  Jack Teagarden, American musician (d. 1964)
• 1926 –
  Nobby Wirkowski, American and Canadian football player and coach
• 1940 –
  Rex Sellers, Australian cricketer
• 1952 –
  Doug Fieger, American musician (The Knack) (d. 2010)
• 1954 –
  Quinn Buckner, American basketball player and coach
• 1962 –
  Dong-Wook Song, South Korean tennis player
• 1981 –
  Bernard Mendy, French footballer
• 1982 –
  Barney Rogers, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1984 –
  Tsokye Karchung, Bhutanese beauty queen, Miss Bhutan 2008

Who died on August 20?

• 1773 –
  Enrique Florez, Spanish historian (b. 1701)
• 1823 –
  Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
• 1961 –
  Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (b. 1882)
• 1971 –
  Rashid Minhas, Pakistani Air Force pilot (b. 1951)
• 1979 –
  Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and writer (b. 1922)
• 1989 –
  George Adamson, India-born English game warden and lion expert (b. 1906)
• 1996 –
  Rio Reiser, German rock musician and singer (b. 1950)
• 2005 –
  Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish drummer (b. 1970)
• 2006 –
  Claude Blanchard, French-Canadian singer, comedian and actor (b. 1932)
• 2006 –
  Cpl Bryan Budd VC, British soldier (b. 1977)