20 July on the globe: what happened in the world on this day, and who was born

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.

Consecration of pope Hormisdas following the death of pope Symmachus the previous day.

Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.

Rollo lays siege to Chartres.

Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy.

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.

Second War of Scottish Inde­pen­dence: The Scottish-held town of Berwick-upon-Tweed surrendered to English forces, ending a siege led by King Edward III.

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.

During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it.

Wars of the Three Kingdoms: After crossing the Firth of Forth, English Commonwealth forces defeated a Scottish army at the Battle of Inverkeithing, opening the rest of the country to occupation.

A fire in Oulu, Finland almost completely destroyed the fourth district, which covered the southern part of the city and was by far the largest of the city districts.

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.

Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.

Scottish explorer Alexander Mackenzie reached the Pacific coast at Bella Coola, British Columbia, completing the first recorded transcontinental crossing of North America north of Mexico.

Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.

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.

Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.

Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.

The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.

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.

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.

The United States Congress established the Indian Peace Commission to seek peace treaties with a number of Native American tribes.

British Columbia joins the Canadian Confederation.

The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association.

The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.

In Finland, a new electoral law is ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women are the first in Europe to receive the right to vote.

George V reviewed more than 200 Royal Navy vessels at Spithead, England.

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.

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.

The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.

In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government.

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.

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.

Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.

The July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona is defeated by anarchist militias and Republican loyalists, beginning the Spanish Revolution of 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.

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.

California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

Denmark leaves the League of Nations.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.

World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's Air Force was destroyed by anti-communist forces.

Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.

King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.

Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.

The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.

French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.

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).

The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.

A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War".

Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human 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.

Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organized by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.

The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.

Aeroflot Flight B-2 crashes after takeoff from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic, killing 39.

The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.

The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.

Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people.

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.

The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.

Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes during takeoff from Tbilisi International Airport, killing all 24 aboard and four more people on the ground.

Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.

The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.

The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.

Twenty-three-year-old Italian anti-globalist Carlo Giuliani was shot dead by a police officer while protesting outside the 27th G8 summit held in Genoa, Italy.

The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.

James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.

Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance.

Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.

Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG).

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.

The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.

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.

Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.

Petrarch, Italian poet and scholar (died 1374)

Edmund Hillary, New Zealand mountaineer and explorer (died 2008)

Gregor Mendel, Austro-German monk, geneticist and botanist (died 1884)

Carlos Alazraqui, American actor, producer, and screenwriter

Gisele Bündchen, Brazilian model, fashionista, and businesswoman

Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1931)

Enrique Peña Nieto, Mexican lawyer and politician, 57th President of Mexico

Mahmud II, Ottoman sultan (died 1839)

Carlos Santana, Mexican-American singer-songwriter and guitarist

Pope Innocent IX (died 1591)

Haakon VIII of Norway

Frantz Fanon, French–Algerian psychiatrist and philosopher (died 1961)

Natalie Wood, American actress (died 1981)

Gerd Binnig, German physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate

Cormac McCarthy, American novelist, playwright, and screenwriter (died 2023)

Tadeusz Reichstein, Polish-Swiss chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1996)

Diana Rigg, English actress (died 2020)

Richard Owen, English biologist, anatomist, and paleontologist (died 1892)

Jacques Delors, French economist and politician, 8th President of the European Commission (died 2023)

Chris Cornell, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2017)

Alberto Santos-Dumont, Brazilian pilot (died 1932)

Alessandro Santos, Brazilian-Japanese footballer

Max Liebermann, German painter and academic (died 1935)

Sandra Oh, Canadian actress

László Moholy-Nagy, Hungarian painter, photographer, and sculptor (died 1946)

Josh Holloway, American actor

Ray Allen, American basketball player and actor

Thomas Friedman, American journalist and author

Auguste de Marmont, French general (died 1852)

Omar Epps, American actor

Álex Baena, Spanish footballer

Judy Greer, American actress and producer

Miklós Fehér, Hungarian footballer (died 2004)

Giorgio Morandi, Italian painter (died 1964)

Roger Hunt, English footballer (died 2021)

Judy Chicago, American feminist artist

Lola Albright, American actress and singer (died 2017)

Kim Carnes, American singer-songwriter

Billy Mays, American salesman (died 2009)

Anne Hutchinson, English Puritan preacher (died 1643)

John Francis Daley, American actor and screenwriter

Nam June Paik, American artist (died 2006)

Thomas N'Kono, Cameroonian footballer

Julianne Hough, American singer-songwriter, actress, and dancer

Antoine Destutt de Tracy, French philosopher and academic (died 1836)

Pop Smoke, American rapper and singer (died 2020)

Claudio Reyna, American soccer player

Simon Rex, American actor and rapper

Alycia Debnam-Carey, Australian actress

Steven Adams, New Zealand basketball player

Ben Simmons, Australian basketball player

Barbara Mikulski, American social worker and politician

Prvoslav Vujčić, Serbian-Canadian poet and philosopher

Giovanna Amati, Italian race car driver

Peter Forsberg, Swedish ice hockey player and manager

Chris Amon, New Zealand race car driver (died 2016)

Larry Craig, American soldier and politician

Roberto Orci, Mexican-American screenwriter and producer (died 2025)

Pavel Datsyuk, Russian ice hockey player

Niall McGinn, Irish footballer