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This day in history

This day in history: 20 January

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day206 · 104

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Key facts

351 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 20 January.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2018: A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.

Holidays and observances

Armed Forces Day (Mali)

Army Day (Laos)

Christian feast day: Abadios

Christian feast day: Blessed Basil Moreau

Christian feast day: Eustochia Smeralda Calafato

Christian feast day: Euthymius the Great

Christian feast day: Fabian

Christian feast day: January 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Manchán of Lemanaghan

Christian feast day: Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception Brando

Christian feast day: Richard Rolle (Church of England)

Christian feast day: Sebastian

Events

2018A group of four or five gunmen attack The Inter-Continental Hotel in Kabul, Afghanistan, sparking a 12-hour battle. The attack kills 40 people and injures many others.

2018Syrian civil war: The Government of Turkey announces the initiation of the Afrin offensive and begins shelling Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions in Afrin Region.

2009A protest movement in Iceland culminates as the 2009 Icelandic financial crisis protests start.

2001President of the Philippines Joseph Estrada is ousted in a nonviolent four-day revolution, and is succeeded by Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

1992Air Inter Flight 148, an Airbus A320-111, crashes into a mountain near Strasbourg, France, killing 87 of the 96 people on board.

1991Sudan's government imposes Islamic law nationwide, worsening the civil war between the country's Muslim north and Christian south.

1990Protests in Azerbaijan, part of the Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

1986In the United States, Martin Luther King Jr. Day is celebrated as a federal holiday for the first time.

1986Leabua Jonathan, Prime Minister of Lesotho, is ousted from power in a coup d'état led by General Justin Lekhanya.

1981Twenty minutes after Ronald Reagan is inaugurated as the 40th President of the United States of America, Iran releases 52 American hostages.

1974China gains control over all the Paracel Islands after a military engagement between the naval forces of China and South Vietnam.

1973Amílcar Cabral, leader of the independence movement in Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde, is assassinated in Conakry, Guinea.

1972Pakistan launches its nuclear weapons program, a few weeks after its defeat in the Bangladesh Liberation War, as well as the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

1954In the United States, the National Negro Network is established with 40 charter member radio stations.

1945World War II: Germany begins the evacuation of 1.8 million people from East Prussia, a task which will take nearly two months.

1945World War II: The provisional government of Béla Miklós in Hungary agrees to an armistice with the Allies.

1942World War II: At the Wannsee Conference held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee, senior Nazi German officials discuss the implementation of the "Final Solution to the Jewish question".

1941A German officer is killed in Bucharest, Romania, sparking a rebellion and pogrom by the Iron Guard, killing 125 Jews and 30 soldiers.

1923During the Irish Civil War the Irish Free State Army executes 10 members of the anti-treaty Irish Republican Army

1921The British K-class submarine HMS K5 sinks in the English Channel; all 56 on board die.

1921The first Constitution of Turkey is adopted, making fundamental changes in the source and exercise of sovereignty by consecrating the principle of national sovereignty.

1909Newly formed automaker General Motors (GM) buys into the Oakland Motor Car Company, which later becomes GM's long-running Pontiac division.

1887The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl Harbor as a naval base.

1877The last day of the Constantinople Conference results in agreement for political reforms in the Balkans.

1874The Treaty of Pangkor is signed between the British and Sultan Abdullah of Perak, paving the way for further British colonization of Malaya.

1841Hong Kong Island is occupied by the British during the First Opium War.

1839In the Battle of Yungay, Chile defeats an alliance between Peru and Bolivia.

1788The third and main part of First Fleet arrives at Botany Bay, beginning the British colonization of Australia. Arthur Phillip decides that Port Jackson is a more suitable location for a colony.

1785Invading Siamese forces attempt to exploit the political chaos in Vietnam, but are ambushed and annihilated at the Mekong river by the Tây Sơn in the Battle of Rạch Gầm-Xoài Mút.

1783The Kingdom of Great Britain signs preliminary articles of peace with the Kingdom of France, setting the stage for the official end of hostilities in the American Revolutionary War later that year.

1726J. S. Bach leads the first performance of his cantata Meine Seufzer, meine Tränen (My sighs, my tears), BWV 13, for the second Sunday after Epiphany.

1649The High Court of Justice for the trial of Charles I begins its proceedings.

1576The Mexican city of León is founded by order of the viceroy Don Martín Enríquez de Almanza.

1567Battle of Rio de Janeiro: Portuguese forces under the command of Estácio de Sá definitively drive the French out of Rio de Janeiro.

1523Christian II is forced to abdicate as King of Denmark and Norway.

1401The Taula de canvi (Catalan: "Table of change"), described as Europe's first-ever public bank, began operations inside Barcelona's Llotja de Mar.

1356Edward Balliol surrenders his claim to the Scottish throne to Edward III in exchange for an English pension.

1320Duke Wladyslaw Lokietek becomes king of Poland.

1265The first English parliament to include not only Lords but also representatives of the major towns holds its first meeting in the Palace of Westminster, now commonly known as the "Houses of Parliament".

1156Finnish peasant Lalli kills English clergyman Henry, the Bishop of Turku, on the ice of Lake Köyliö.

Born on this day

2003Antonia Ružić, Croatian tennis player

2003J. J. McCarthy, American football player

2002Arnaud Kalimuendo, French footballer

2000Tyler Herro, American basketball player

1995Calum Chambers, English footballer

1995Joey Badass, American rapper and actor

1995José María Giménez, Uruguayan footballer

1995Kim So-hee, South Korean singer

1995Sergi Samper, Spanish footballer

1994Hampus Lindholm, Swedish ice hockey player

1994Lucas Piazon, Brazilian footballer

1994Seán Kavanagh, Irish footballer

1993Cat Janice, American singer-songwriter (died 2024)

1993DeVante Parker, American football player

1993Lorenzo Crisetig, Italian footballer

1991Ciara Hanna, American actress and model

1991Jumpol Adulkittiporn, Thai actor

1991Polona Hercog, Slovenian tennis player

1991Tom Cairney, Scottish footballer

1989Alex Grant, Canadian ice hockey player

1989Jared Waerea-Hargreaves, New Zealand rugby league player

1989Nick Foles, American football player

1988Jan Muršak, Slovenian ice hockey player

1988Uwa Elderson Echiéjilé, Nigerian footballer

1987Evan Peters, American actor

1986Kevin Parker, Australian singer, songwriter, musician, and producer

1985Nabil Boukili, Belgian politician

1984Bonnie McKee, American singer-songwriter

1984Toni Gonzaga, Filipino singer and television personality

1983Geovany Soto, Puerto Rican baseball player

1982Fredrik Strømstad, Norwegian footballer

1982Ruchi Sanghvi, Indian computer engineer

1981Freddy Guzmán, Dominican baseball player

1981Jason Richardson, American basketball player

1981Owen Hargreaves, English footballer

1980Karl Anderson, American wrestler

1980Kim Jeong-hoon, South Korean singer and actor

1980Philippe Cousteau, Jr., American-French oceanographer and journalist

1980Philippe Gagnon, Canadian swimmer

1979Rob Bourdon, American musician and songwriter

Died on this day

2025Cecile Richards, American activist and former Planned Parenthood president (born 1957)

2025Lynn Ban, Singaporean jewelry designer (born 1972)

2024Norman Jewison, Canadian actor, director, and producer (born 1926)

2022Meat Loaf, American singer and actor (born 1947)

2021Mira Furlan, Croatian actress and singer (born 1955)

2021Sibusiso Moyo, Zimbabwean politician, army general (born 1960)

2020Jaroslav Kubera, Czech politician (born 1947)

2020Tom Fisher Railsback, American politician, member of the Illinois and U.S. House of Representatives (born 1932)

2018Naomi Parker Fraley, American naval machiner, considered the model for the "We Can Do It!" posters of World War II (born 1921)

2018Paul Bocuse, French chef (born 1926)

2016Edmonde Charles-Roux, French journalist and author (born 1920)

2016Mykolas Burokevičius, Lithuanian carpenter and politician (born 1927)

2014Claudio Abbado, Italian conductor (born 1933)

2014Jonas Trinkūnas, Lithuanian ethnologist and academic (born 1939)

2014Otis G. Pike, American judge and politician (born 1921)

2013Pavlos Matesis, Greek author and playwright (born 1933)

2013Toyo Shibata, Japanese poet and author (born 1911)

2012Alejandro Rodriguez, Venezuelan-American pediatrician and psychiatrist (born 1918)

2012Etta James, American singer-songwriter (born 1938)

2012Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Greek politician, Greek Minister of the Interior (born 1933)

2012John Levy, American bassist and manager (born 1912)

2009Stéphanos II Ghattas, Egyptian patriarch (born 1920)

2005Jan Nowak-Jeziorański, Polish journalist and politician (born 1914)

2005Miriam Rothschild, English zoologist, entomologist, and author (born 1908)

2005Per Borten, Norwegian lawyer and politician, 18th Prime Minister of Norway (born 1913)

2004Alan Brown, English racing driver (born 1919)

2004T. Nadaraja, Sri Lankan lawyer and academic (born 1917)

2003Al Hirschfeld, American painter and illustrator (born 1903)

2003Nedra Volz, American actress (born 1908)

2002Carrie Hamilton, American actress and singer (born 1963)

Quote of the day

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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