AD 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.
911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
1189 – Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy.
1225 – Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations.
1398 – The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O’Byrnes and O’Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster.
1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara: Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.
1592 – During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it.
1715 – Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice’s “Kingdom of the Morea”, thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea.
1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
1807 – Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world’s first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France.
1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
1831 – Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.
1848 – The first Women’s Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.
1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
1866 – Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association.
1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.
1917 – World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
1920 – The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks.
1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
1932 – In the Preußenschlag (“Prussian coup”), German President Paul von Hindenburg dissolves the government of Prussia
1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven.
1934 – West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
1936 – The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.
1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany’s secret service, defects to East Germany.
1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world’s first elected female head of government.
1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).
1968 – The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11’s crew successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the “Football War”.
1974 – Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d’état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.
1977 – The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.
1982 – Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent’s Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
1989 – Burma’s ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
1999 – The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
2005 – The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.
2012 – James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
2013 – Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
2015 – A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.
2015 – The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.
2017 – O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.
Births on July 20
356 BC – Alexander the Great, Macedonian king (d. 323 BC)
647 – Yazid I, Arabian caliph (d. 683)
682 – Taichō, Japanese monk and scholar (d. 767)
1304 – Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (d. 1374)
1313 – John Tiptoft, 2nd Baron Tibetot (d. 1367)
1346 – Margaret, Countess of Pembroke, daughter of King Edward III of England (d. 1361)
1470 – John Bourchier, 1st Earl of Bath, English noble (d. 1539)
1519 – Pope Innocent IX (d. 1591)
1537 – Arnaud d’Ossat, French cardinal (d. 1604)
1583 – Alban Roe, English Benedictine martyr (d. 1642)
1591 – Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (d. 1643)
1592 – Johan Björnsson Printz, governor of New Sweden (d. 1663)
1601 – Robert Wallop, English politician (d. 1667)
1620 – Nikolaes Heinsius the Elder, Dutch poet and scholar (d. 1681)
1649 – William Bentinck, 1st Earl of Portland (d. 1709)
1754 – Antoine Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher and academic (d. 1836)
1757 – Garsevan Chavchavadze, Georgian politician and diplomat (d. 1811)
1762 – Jakob Haibel, Austrian tenor and composer (d. 1826)
1774 – Auguste de Marmont, French general (d. 1852)
1789 – Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (d. 1839)
1804 – Richard Owen, English biologist, anatomist, and paleontologist (d. 1892)
1822 – Gregor Mendel, Austro-German monk, geneticist and botanist (d. 1884)
1838 – Augustin Daly, American playwright and manager (d. 1899)
1838 – William Paine Lord, American lawyer and politician, 9th Governor of Oregon (d. 1911)
1838 – Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, English civil servant and politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (d. 1928)
1847 – Max Liebermann, German painter and academic (d. 1935)
1849 – Robert Anderson Van Wyck, American lawyer and politician, 91st Mayor of New York City (d. 1918)
1852 – Theo Heemskerk, Dutch lawyer and politician, Prime Minister of the Netherlands (d. 1932)
1854 – Philomène Belliveau, Canadian artist (d. 1940)
1864 – Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
1864 – Ruggero Oddi, Italian physiologist and anatomist (d. 1913)
1868 – Miron Cristea, Romanian cleric and politician, 38th Prime Minister of Romania (d. 1939)
1873 – Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian pilot (d. 1932)
1876 – Otto Blumenthal, German mathematician and academic (d. 1944)
1877 – Tom Crean, Irish sailor and explorer (d. 1938)
1882 – Olga Hahn-Neurath, Austrian mathematician and philosopher (d. 1937)
1889 – John Reith, 1st Baron Reith, Scottish broadcaster, co-founded BBC (d. 1971)
1890 – Verna Felton, American actress (d. 1966)
1890 – Julie Vinter Hansen, Danish-Swiss astronomer and academic (d. 1960)
1890 – Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (d. 1964)
1893 – George Llewelyn Davies, English soldier (d. 1915)
1895 – László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (d. 1946)
1897 – Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1996)
1900 – Maurice Leyland, English cricketer and coach (d. 1967)
1901 – Vehbi Koç, Turkish businessman and philanthropist, founded Koç Holding (d. 1996)
1901 – Eugenio Lopez Sr., Filipino businessman and founder of the Lopez Group of Companies (d. 1975)
1901 – Heinie Manush, American baseball player and manager (d. 1971)
1902 – Leonidas Berry, American gastroenterologist (d. 1995)
1905 – Joseph Levis, American foil fencer (d. 2005)
1909 – Eric Rowan, South African cricketer (d. 1993)
1910 – Vilém Tauský, Czech-English conductor and composer (d. 2004)
1911 – Baqa Jilani, Indian cricketer (d. 1941)
1911 – José Zabala-Santos, Filipino author and illustrator (d. 1985)
1912 – George Johnston, Australian journalist and author (d. 1970)
1914 – Dobri Dobrev, Bulgarian philanthropist (d. 2018)
1914 – Charilaos Florakis, Greek politician (d. 2005)
1914 – Ersilio Tonini, Italian cardinal (d. 2013)
1918 – Cindy Walker, American singer-songwriter and dancer (d. 2006)
1919 – Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (d. 2008)
1919 – Jacquemine Charrott Lodwidge, English writer (d. 2012)
1920 – Elliot Richardson, American lieutenant and politician, 11th United States Secretary of Defense (d. 1999)
1921 – Henri Alleg, English-French journalist and author (d. 2013)
1922 – Alan Stephenson Boyd, American lawyer and politician, 1st United States Secretary of Transportation
1923 – Stanisław Albinowski, Polish economist and journalist (d. 2005)
1924 – Lola Albright, American actress and singer (d. 2017)
1924 – Thomas Berger, American author and playwright (d. 2014)
1924 – Mort Garson, Canadian-American songwriter and composer (d. 2008)
1925 – Jacques Delors, French economist and politician, 8th President of the European Commission
1925 – Frantz Fanon, French–Algerian psychiatrist and philosopher (d. 1961)
1927 – Barbara Bergmann, American economist and academic (d. 2015)
1927 – Heather Chasen, English actress (d. 2020)
1927 – Michael Gielen, Austrian conductor and composer (d. 2019)
1927 – Ian P. Howard, English-Canadian psychologist and academic (d. 2013)
1928 – Józef Czyrek, Polish economist and politician, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 2013)
1928 – Belaid Abdessalam, Prime Minister of Algeria
1929 – Hazel Hawke, Australian social worker and pianist, 23rd Spouse of the Prime Minister of Australia (d. 2013)
1929 – Mike Ilitch, American businessman, co-founded Little Caesars (d. 2017)
1929 – Rajendra Kumar, Pakistani-Indian actor and producer (d. 1999)
1929 – David Tonkin, Australian politician, 38th Premier of South Australia (d. 2000)
1930 – Giannis Agouris, Greek journalist and author (d. 2006)
1930 – Chuck Daly, American basketball player and coach (d. 2009)
1930 – William H. Goetzmann, American historian and author (d. 2010)
1930 – Sally Ann Howes, English-American singer and actress
1931 – Tony Marsh, English race car driver (d. 2009)
1932 – Nam June Paik, American artist (d. 2006)
1932 – Otto Schily, German lawyer and politician, German Minister of the Interior
1933 – Buddy Knox, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1999)
1933 – Cormac McCarthy, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter
1933 – Rex Williams, English snooker player
1935 – Peter Palumbo, Baron Palumbo, English businessman and art collector
1935 – Sleepy LaBeef, American rockabilly singer and musician (d. 2019)
1936 – Alistair MacLeod, Canadian novelist and short story writer (d. 2014)
1936 – Barbara Mikulski, American social worker and politician
1938 – Deniz Baykal, Turkish lawyer and politician, Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey
1938 – Roger Hunt, English footballer
1938 – Tony Oliva, Cuban-American baseball player and coach
1938 – Diana Rigg, English actress
1938 – Natalie Wood, American actress (d. 1981)
1939 – Judy Chicago, American painter and sculptor
1941 – Don Chuy, American football player (d. 2014)
1941 – Periklis Korovesis, Greek author and journalist
1941 – Kurt Raab, German actor, screenwriter, and production designer (d. 1988)
1942 – Pete Hamilton, American race car driver
1943 – Chris Amon, New Zealand race car driver (d. 2016)
1943 – Bob McNab, English footballer
1943 – Adrian Păunescu, Romanian poet, journalist, and politician (d. 2010)
1943 – Wendy Richard, English actress (d. 2009)
1944 – Mel Daniels, American basketball player and coach (d. 2015)
1944 – W. Cary Edwards, American politician (d. 2010)
1944 – Olivier de Kersauson, French sailor
1944 – T. G. Sheppard, American country music singer-songwriter
1945 – Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter
1945 – Larry Craig, American soldier and politician
1945 – John Lodge, English singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer
1945 – Bo Rein, American football player and coach (d. 1980)
1946 – Randal Kleiser, American actor, director, and producer
1947 – Gerd Binnig, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
1947 – Carlos Santana, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1948 – Muse Watson, American actor and producer
1950 – Edward Leigh, English lawyer and politician
1950 – Lucille Lemay, Canadian archer
1951 – Jeff Rawle, English actor and screenwriter
1953 – Dave Evans, Welsh-Australian singer-songwriter
1953 – Thomas Friedman, American journalist and author
1953 – Marcia Hines, American-Australian singer and actress
1954 – Moira Harris, American actress
1954 – Jay Jay French, American guitarist and producer
1955 – Desmond Douglas, Jamaican-English table tennis player
1955 – René-Daniel Dubois, Canadian actor and playwright
1955 – Jem Finer, English banjo player and songwriter
1956 – Paul Cook, English drummer
1956 – Thomas N’Kono, Cameroonian footballer
1956 – Jim Prentice, Canadian lawyer and politician, 16th Premier of Alberta (d. 2016)
1958 – Mick MacNeil, Scottish keyboard player and songwriter
1959 – Radney Foster, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer
1960 – Claudio Langes, Italian race car driver
1960 – Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher
1960 – Sudesh Berry, Indian actor
1961 – Óscar Elías Biscet, Cuban physician and activist, founded the Lawton Foundation
1962 – Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter
1962 – Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver
1962 – Julie Bindel, English journalist, author, and academic
1963 – Frank Whaley, American actor, director, and screenwriter
1964 – Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2017)
1964 – Terri Irwin, American-Australian zoologist and author
1964 – Sebastiano Rossi, Italian footballer
1964 – Bernd Schneider, German race car driver
1965 – Jess Walter, American journalist and author
1966 – Stone Gossard, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1966 – Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico
1967 – Courtney Taylor-Taylor, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
1968 – Jimmy Carson, American ice hockey player
1968 – Hami Mandıralı, Turkish footballer and manager
1968 – Kool G Rap, American hip-hop artist
1969 – Josh Holloway, American actor
1969 – Kreso Kovacec, Croatian-German footballer
1969 – Giovanni Lombardi, Italian cyclist
1969 – Joon Park, South Korean-American singer
1969 – Tobi Vail, American singer and guitarist
1971 – Charles Johnson, American baseball player
1971 – Sandra Oh, Canadian actress
1972 – Jamie Ainscough, Australian rugby league player
1972 – Jozef Stümpel, Slovak ice hockey player
1972 – Erik Ullenhag, Swedish jurist and politician
1972 – Vitamin C, American singer-songwriter
1973 – Omar Epps, American actor
1973 – Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway
1973 – Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager
1973 – Nixon McLean, Caribbean cricketer
1973 – Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer
1973 – Claudio Reyna, American soccer player
1975 – Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor
1975 – Judy Greer, American actress and producer
1975 – Erik Hagen, Norwegian footballer
1975 – Birgitta Ohlsson, Swedish journalist and politician, 5th Swedish Minister for European Union Affairs
1975 – Jason Raize, American singer and actor
1975 – Yusuf Şimşek, Turkish footballer and manager
1976 – Erica Hill, American journalist
1976 – Debashish Mohanty, Indian cricketer and coach
1976 – Andrew Stockdale, Australian singer-songwriter and guitarist
