This is a list of selected July 20 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.
Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.
To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.
Staging area
Images
Use only ONE image at a time
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The Battle of Inverkeithing -
USS Constitution -
Map of the Japanese capture of Pyongyang and the Korean and Chinese counter-attacks -
Japanese landing on Busan, Korea -
Buzz Aldrin on the Moon, with Neil Armstrong reflected in his helmet -
Wilhelm von Tegetthoff -
Viking 1 lander replica -
Destroyed 'Wolf's Lair' conference room -
Memorial plaque in Berlin -
The Niépce brothers' Pyréolophore -
Alexander Mackenzie -
Special Olympics athletes in 2013 -
Edward III at the siege of Berwick
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Ineligible
| Blurb | Reason |
|---|---|
| 1402 – Forces under Timur defeated the Ottomans in the Battle of Ankara and captured Sultan Bayezid I. | needs more footnotes |
| 1592 – During the Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. | unreferenced section |
| 1866 – Third Italian War of Independence: The Austrian Navy led by Wilhelm von Tegetthoff defeated a much larger Italian fleet at the Battle of Lissa on the Adriatic Sea near present-day Vis, Croatia. | needs more footnotes |
| 1922 – The German protectorate of Togoland was divided into the League of Nations mandates of French and British Togoland. | unreferenced section |
| 1927 – Five-year-old Michael became the last King of Romania upon the death of his grandfather Ferdinand. | featured on December 30 |
| 1936 – The Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits was signed in Montreux, Switzerland, allowing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and the Bosporus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. | refimprove section |
| 1944 – Adolf Hitler survived an assassination attempt by German Resistance member Claus von Stauffenberg, who hid a bomb inside a briefcase during a conference at the Wolf's Lair (Wolfsschanze) military headquarters in East Prussia. | refimprove section |
| 1951 – Abdullah I of Jordan was assassinated while visiting Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem by a Palestinian gunman who feared he might make peace with Israel. | appears on May 25 |
| 1987 – United Nations Security Council Resolution 598 was adopted, calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Iran–Iraq War. | short |
| 1992 – Czechoslovak president Václav Havel resigned, saying that he would not preside over the country's breakup. | refimprove sections |
| 2005 – The Civil Marriage Act received its royal assent, legalizing same-sex marriage in Canada. | refimprove section |
| * 1779 – Tekle Giyorgis I began the first of his six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. | Date not cited in article |
| * 1999 – The Chinese Communist Party launched a persecution campaign against the Falun Gong spiritual movement, beginning the arrests of thousands of practitioners nationwide. | Tagged for accuracy issues |
Eligible
- 1333 – 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.
- 1793 – 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.
- 1807 – French brothers Claude and Nicéphore Niépce received a patent for their Pyréolophore, one of the world's first internal combustion engines.
- 1950 – Korean War: After a month-long campaign, much of the North Korean air force was destroyed by United Nations forces.
- 1968 – The first games of the Special Olympics (athletes pictured), for athletes with intellectual disabilities, were held at Soldier Field in Chicago.
- 1976 – The Viking 1 lander became the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission.
- 1977 – Rain from a stalled thunderstorm caused six dams to fail, flooding Johnstown, Pennsylvania, resulting in 84 deaths and $340 in damages.
- 1982 – Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army detonated two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in London, killing eleven British Army personnel and seven horses.
- 1997 – USS Constitution, one of the United States Navy's original six frigates, sailed for the first time in 116 years after a full restoration.
- 2001 – The animated film Spirited Away, written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, was released, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japanese history until 2020.
- 2001 – 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.
- 2012 – A gunman carried out a mass shooting at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and injuring 58 others.
- 2015 – A suicide attack in Suruç, Turkey, for which Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility, killed 34 people and injured 104 others.
- Born/died this day: | Alexander the Great |b|356 BC| Ibn Muqla |d|940| Thomas Randolph, 1st Earl of Moray |d|1332| Robert Wallop |b|1601| Anne Hutchinson|baptised|1591| Peregrine White|d|1704| Gregor Mendel |b|1822| Clements Markham |b|1830| Patriarch Miron of Romania |b|1868|Tom Crean |b|1877| Wiley Rutledge|b|1894| Maurice Leyland|b|1900| Felix Dzerzhinsky|d|1926| Heather Chasen|b|1927| Panagiotis Kavvadias|d|1928| Anna Vyrubova|d|1964| Chris Cornell|b|1964| Amanda Clement|d|1971| Birgitta Ohlsson|b|1975| |Gisele Bündchen|b|1980|
Notes
- Neil Armstrong/Buzz Aldrin featured on July 21, so Apollo 11 should not be used in the same year
- Battle of Halidon Hill appears on July 19, so Siege of Berwick (1333) should not be used in the same year
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Buzz Aldrin's bootprint on the Moon
- 1651 – 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.
- 1867 – The United States Congress established the Indian Peace Commission to seek peace treaties with a number of Native American tribes.
- 1917 – Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić and Yugoslav Committee president Ante Trumbić signed the Corfu Declaration, agreeing to seek the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.
- 1969 – The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later (bootprint pictured).
- Clements Markham (b. 1830)
- Wiley Rutledge (b. 1894)
- Anna Vyrubova (d. 1964)
- Chris Cornell (b. 1964)