Wikipedia defines history as the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. It came from the Greek word ‘historia’ – which means ‘inquiry, knowledge acquired by investigation’.

Today In HistoryThis website utilizes entries from Wikipedia to extract historical events from 3761 BC up to the present. There are 105,060 records in the database that include events, births and deaths of popular individuals. The present day Gregorian calendar was adopted to show dates of interest.

Let us begin with what happened today in history. You may also enter a specific day using the form on the right sidebar.

What happened on November 20? There are more than 280 events that were made this day in history. Here are the important historical events, facts, and some myths about this day.

Interesting Facts & Myths About November 20

November 20 is the 325th day of the year 2024. There are 41 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Wednesday. This day falls under the 47th week of the year 2024.

On this day in Atlanta, Georgia 30338 sunrise will occur at 07:13 AM and sunset will occur at 05:32 PM (local time).

The zodiac sign of a person born on this day is Scorpio. The modern birthstone for this month is Topaz while the mystical birthstone is Pearl.

According to the Chinese calendar, there are 70 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year (January 29, 2025).

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Historical Events For November 20

  • 284
    Diocletian is chosen as Roman Emperor.
  • 762
    During An Shi Rebellion, Tang Dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptured Luoyang from the rebels.
  • 1194
    Palermo is conquered by Emperor Henry VI.
  • 1407
    A truce between John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans is agreed under the auspices of John, Duke of Berry. Orléans would be assassinated three days later by Burgundy.
  • 1695
    Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed.
  • 1739
    Start of the Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins’ Ear.
  • 1789
    New Jersey becomes the first U.S. state to ratify the Bill of Rights.
  • 1820
    An 80-ton sperm whale attacks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 2,000 miles from the western coast of South America (Herman Melville’s 1851 novel Moby-Dick is in part inspired by this story).
  • 1845
    Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: Battle of Vuelta de Obligado.
  • 1861
    American Civil War: Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky’s Confederate government.
  • 1910
    Mexican Revolution: Francisco I. Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosi, denouncing President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.
  • 1917
    Ukraine is declared a republic.
  • 1917
    World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins – British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.
  • 1923
    Rentenmark replaces the Papiermark as the official currency of Germany at the exchange rate of one Rentenmark to One Trillion (One Billion on the long scale) Papiermark
  • 1936
    José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange, is killed by a republican execution squad.
  • 1940
    World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis Powers.
  • 1943
    World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins – United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
  • 1945
    Nuremberg Trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.
  • 1947
    The Princess Elizabeth marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten at Westminster Abbey in London.
  • 1952
    Slánský trials – a series of Stalinist and anti-Semitic show trials in Czechoslovakia.
  • 1962
    Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S. President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
  • 1969
    Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam.
  • 1974
    The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
  • 1977
    Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement.
  • 1979
    Grand Mosque Seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6000 hostages. The Saudi government receives help from French special forces to put down the uprising.
  • 1980
    Lake Peigneur drains into an underlying salt deposit. A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole. The resulting whirlpool sucked the drilling platform, several barges, houses and trees thousands of feet down to the bottom of the dissolving salt deposit.
  • 1985
    Microsoft Windows 1.0 is released.
  • 1989
    Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
  • 1991
    An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend district of Azerbaijan.
  • 1992
    In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
  • 1993
    Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his “dealings” with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
  • 1994
    The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war (localized fighting resumes the next year).
  • 1998
    A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden “a man without a sin” in regard to the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
  • 1998
    The first module of the International Space Station, Zarya, is launched.
  • 2001
    In Washington, D.C., U.S. President George W. Bush dedicates the United States Department of Justice headquarters building as the Robert F. Kennedy Justice Building, honoring the late Robert F. Kennedy on what would have been his 76th birthday.
  • 2003
    After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul Bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate.
  • 2008
    After critical failures in the US financial system began to build up after mid-September, the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaches its lowest level since 1997.

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Who Were Born On November 20?

  • 270
    Maximinus II, Roman Emperor (d. 313)
  • 1602
    Otto von Guericke, German physicist (d. 1686)
  • 1620
    Peregrine White, first English child born in the Plymouth Colony (d. 1704)
  • 1621
    Avvakum, Russian priest and writer (d. 1682)
  • 1625
    Paulus Potter, Dutch painter (d. 1654)
  • 1660
    Daniel Ernst Jablonski, German theologian (d. 1741)
  • 1750
    Tipu Sultan, Indian ruler (d. 1799)
  • 1761
    Pope Pius VIII (d. 1830)
  • 1762
    Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist (d. 1833)
  • 1765
    Sir Thomas Fremantle, British naval captain (d. 1819)
  • 1781
    Karl Friedrich Eichhorn, German jurist (d. 1854)
  • 1839
    Christian Wilberg, German painter (d. 1882)
  • 1841
    Victor D'Hondt, Belgian mathematician (d. 1901)
  • 1841
    Wilfrid Laurier, seventh Prime Minister of Canada (d. 1919)
  • 1851
    Queen Margherita of Italy (d. 1926)
  • 1858
    Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish author, Nobel laureate (d. 1940)
  • 1866
    Kenesaw Mountain Landis, American judge and baseball commissioner (d. 1944)
  • 1869
    Clark Griffith, American baseball manager (d. 1955)
  • 1874
    James Michael Curley, 53rd Governor of Massachusetts (d. 1958)
  • 1880
    George McBride, American baseball player (d. 1973)
  • 1882
    Andy Coakley, American baseball player and coach (d. 1963)
  • 1884
    Norman Thomas, American political figure (d. 1968)
  • 1886
    Karl von Frisch, Austrian zoologist, Nobel laureate (d. 1982)
  • 1889
    Edwin Hubble, American astronomer (d. 1953)
  • 1892
    James Collip, Canadian biochemist, co-discoverer of insulin (d. 1965)
  • 1896
    Chiyono Hasegawa, a Japanese supercentenarian. (d. 2011)
  • 1900
    Chester Gould, American comic strip artist (d. 1985)
  • 1903
    Alexandra Danilova, Russian ballerina (d. 1997)
  • 1903
    Ishtiaq Hussain Qureshi, Pakistani historian and educationist (d. 1981)
  • 1905
    François, 9th duc de Noailles, French nobelman (d. 2009)
  • 1907
    Fran Allison, American television personality (d. 1989)
  • 1907
    Henri-Georges Clouzot, French film director (d. 1977)
  • 1908
    Alistair Cooke, British-born journalist (d. 2004)
  • 1910
    Kees Bastiaans, Dutch painter (d. 1986)
  • 1910
    Willem Jacob van Stockum, Dutch physicist (d. 1944)
  • 1912
    Otto von Habsburg, Austrian-German nobleman (d. 2011)
  • 1913
    Judy Canova, American actress (d. 1983)
  • 1913
    Kostas Choumis, Greek footballer (d. 1981)
  • 1914
    Emilio Pucci, Italian fashion designer (d. 1992)
  • 1915
    Kon Ichikawa, Japanese film director (d. 2008)
  • 1916
    Evelyn Keyes, American actress (d. 2008)
  • 1917
    Bobby Locke, South African golfer (d. 1987)
  • 1917
    Robert Byrd, American politician, longest serving member of the United States Congress (d. 2010)
  • 1921
    Jim Garrison, American attorney and judge (d. 1992)
  • 1921
    Phyllis Thaxter, American actress
  • 1923
    Nadine Gordimer, South African writer, Nobel laureate
  • 1924
    Benoît Mandelbrot, Polish-born French mathematician (d. 2010)
  • 1924
    Henk Vredeling, Dutch politician (d. 2007)
  • 1925
    Kaye Ballard, American comic actress
  • 1925
    Maya Plisetskaya, Russian ballet dancer
  • 1925
    Robert F. Kennedy, American politician (d. 1968)
  • 1926
    Andrzej W. Schally, Polish endocrinologist, Nobel laureate
  • 1926
    Terry Hall, English ventriloquist (d. 2007)
  • 1927
    Ed “Too Tall” Freeman, American United States Army officer, helicopter pilot and Medal of Honor recipient (d. 2008)
  • 1927
    Estelle Parsons, American actress
  • 1928
    Aleksey Batalov, Russian actor
  • 1928
    John Disley, Welsh athlete
  • 1929
    Don January, American professional golfer
  • 1930
    Bernard Horsfall, British Actor
  • 1932
    Richard Dawson, English-American actor and game show host
  • 1936
    Don DeLillo, American author
  • 1937
    Eero Mäntyranta, Finnish cross-country skier
  • 1937
    René Kollo, German tenor
  • 1937
    Ruth Laredo, American pianist (d. 2005)
  • 1937
    Viktoriya Tokareva, Russian playwright
  • 1939
    Dick Smothers, American comedian
  • 1940
    Bob Einstein, American actor and comedian
  • 1941
    Haseena Moin, Pakistani television writer and playwright
  • 1942
    Joe Biden, 47th Vice President of the United States
  • 1942
    Meredith Monk, American composer and choreographer
  • 1942
    Norman Greenbaum, American singer
  • 1942
    Paulos Faraj Rahho, Iraqi bishop (d. 2008)
  • 1943
    Veronica Hamel, American actress
  • 1944
    Louie Dampier, American basketball player
  • 1945
    Nanette Workman, American-born Canadian singer and actress
  • 1945
    Rick Monday, American baseball player
  • 1946
    Duane Allman, American guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band) (d. 1971)
  • 1946
    Greg Cook, American football player
  • 1946
    Judy Woodruff, American TV anchor
  • 1947
    Joe Walsh, American musician (Eagles, James Gang)
  • 1948
    Barbara Hendricks, American/Swedish singer
  • 1948
    John R. Bolton, American ambassador
  • 1948
    Richard Masur, American actor
  • 1949
    Jeff Dowd, American film producer
  • 1949
    Thelma Drake, American politician
  • 1951
    David Walters, American politician
  • 1951
    Rodger Bumpass, American voice actor
  • 1952
    John Van Boxmeer, Canadian hockey player
  • 1954
    Berit Andnor, Swedish politician
  • 1954
    Steve Dahl, American radio personality
  • 1956
    Bo Derek, American actress
  • 1956
    Mark Gastineau, American football player
  • 1957
    John Eriksen, Danish footballer (d. 2002)
  • 1957
    Mike Craven, English footballer
  • 1957
    Stefan Bellof, German race car driver (d. 1985)
  • 1958
    Rickson Gracie, Brazilian mixed martial artist
  • 1959
    James P. McGovern, American politician
  • 1959
    Sean Young, American actress
  • 1960
    Marc Labrèche, Canadian actor and television host
  • 1960
    Veronika Bellmann, German politician
  • 1961
    Dave Watson, English footballer
  • 1961
    Jim Brickman, American pianist and songwriter
  • 1961
    Larry Karaszewski, American screenwriter
  • 1961
    Tim Harvey, British racing driver
  • 1963
    Ming-Na Wen, Macau actress
  • 1963
    Timothy Gowers, British mathematician
  • 1963
    Wan Yanhai, Chinese AIDS activist
  • 1965
    Jimmy Vasser, American racing driver
  • 1965
    Mike D, American musician (Beastie Boys)
  • 1965
    Sen Dog, Cuban rapper (Cypress Hill)
  • 1965
    Yoshiki Hayashi, Japanese musician (X Japan)
  • 1966
    Jill Thompson, American comic book writer and artist
  • 1966
    Kevin Gilbert, American musician (d. 1996)
  • 1966
    Thanasis Kolitsidakis, Greek footballer
  • 1967
    Chris Childs, American basketball player
  • 1967
    Teoman, Turkish rock singer
  • 1968
    Chew Chor Meng, Singaporean actor
  • 1968
    Tommy Asinga, Surinamese track star
  • 1969
    Callie Thorne, American actor
  • 1970
    Delia Gonzalez, American boxer
  • 1970
    Geoffrey Keezer, American jazz pianist
  • 1970
    Joe Zaso, American actor
  • 1970
    Matt Blunt, American politician
  • 1970
    Phife Dawg, American rapper (A Tribe Called Quest)
  • 1970
    Sabrina Lloyd, American actress
  • 1971
    Joel McHale, American actor and comedian
  • 1971
    Joey Galloway, American football player
  • 1971
    Marco Oppedisano, American guitarist and composer
  • 1972
    Sheema Kalbasi, Iranian poet
  • 1973
    Angelica Bridges, American actress, model, and singer
  • 1975
    Davey Havok, American singer (AFI)
  • 1975
    Dierks Bentley, American singer
  • 1975
    J. D. Drew, American baseball player
  • 1975
    Joshua Gomez, American actor
  • 1975
    Ryan Bowen, American basketball player
  • 1976
    Cemal Yıldız, Turkish footballer
  • 1976
    Dominique Dawes, American gymnast
  • 1976
    Jason Thompson, Canadian actor
  • 1976
    Laura Harris, Canadian actress
  • 1976
    Theodoros Velkos, badminton player
  • 1976
    Tusshar Kapoor, Indian actor
  • 1977
    Daniel Svensson, Swedish drummer
  • 1977
    Josh Turner, American singer
  • 1977
    Rudy Charles, American professional wrestling referee
  • 1978
    Freya Lin, Taiwanese singer
  • 1978
    Nadine Velazquez, American actress and model
  • 1979
    Ericson Alexander Molano, Colombian gospel singer
  • 1979
    Maree Bowden, New Zealand netball player (Silver Ferns)
  • 1980
    James Chambers, English footballer
  • 1981
    Carlos Boozer, American basketball player
  • 1981
    Kimberley Walsh, English singer (Girls Aloud)
  • 1981
    Sam Fuld, American baseball player
  • 1982
    Margo Stilley, American actress
  • 1984
    Ferdinando Monfardini, Italian racing driver
  • 1984
    Justin Hoyte, English footballer
  • 1984
    Tashard Choice, American football player
  • 1985
    Aaron Yan, Taiwanese singer and actor (Fahrenheit)
  • 1985
    Dan Byrd, American actor
  • 1985
    Juan Cruz Álvarez, Argentine racing driver
  • 1986
    Ashley Fink, American Actress
  • 1986
    Jared Followill, American rock musician
  • 1986
    Oli Sykes, English musician
  • 1988
    Rhys Wakefield, Australian actor
  • 1989
    Cody Linley, American actor
  • 1990
    Mark Christian, Manx professional cyclist
  • 1992
    Maiha Ishimura, Japanese pop singer
  • 1995
    Mariko Hill, International cricketer
  • 2000
    Connie Talbot, English singer

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Who Died On November 20?

  • 869
    King Edmund of East Anglia (b. 841)
  • 1022
    Bernward of Hildesheim (b. 993)
  • 1316
    King John I of France (b. 1316)
  • 1437
    Thomas Langley, Bishop of Durham (b. 1363)
  • 1518
    Marmaduke Constable, English soldier
  • 1518
    Pierre de La Rue, Flemish composer
  • 1529
    Karl von Miltitz, German papal nuncio (b. c. 1490)
  • 1591
    Christopher Hatton, English politician (b. 1540)
  • 1612
    John Harington, English writer (b. 1561)
  • 1651
    Mikołaj Potocki, Polish soldier (b. 1595)
  • 1662
    Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria, Austrian-born Spanish territorial governor (b. 1614)
  • 1695
    Zumbi, Brazilian slave (b. 1655)
  • 1704
    Charles Plumier, French botanist (b. 1646)
  • 1737
    Queen Caroline of Ansbach, consort of George II of Great Britain (b. 1683)
  • 1742
    Melchior de Polignac, French diplomat (b. 1661)
  • 1758
    Johan Helmich Roman, Swedish composer (b. 1694)
  • 1764
    Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (b. 1690)
  • 1778
    Francesco Cetti, Italian Jesuit scientist (b. 1726)
  • 1856
    Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician (b. 1775)
  • 1894
    Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist and composer (b. 1829)
  • 1908
    Georgy Voronoy, Russian mathematician (b. 1868)
  • 1910
    Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, Russian novelist (b. 1828)
  • 1925
    Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom (b. 1844)
  • 1934
    Willem de Sitter, Dutch scientist (b. 1872)
  • 1936
    Buenaventura Durruti, Spanish anarchist (b. 1896)
  • 1936
    José Antonio Primo de Rivera, Spanish politician (b. 1903)
  • 1938
    Enzo Matsunaga, Japanese writer (b. 1895)
  • 1938
    Maud, Queen of Norway (b. 1869)
  • 1945
    Francis William Aston, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1877)
  • 1950
    Francesco Cilea, Italian composer (b. 1866)
  • 1951
    Thomas Quinlan (impresario), British opera impresario (b. 1881)
  • 1954
    Clyde Vernon Cessna, American aviation designer (b. 1879)
  • 1957
    Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Russian-born Lithuanian artist (d. 1875)
  • 1973
    Allan Sherman, American comedian (b. 1924)
  • 1975
    Francisco Franco, Spanish dictator (b. 1892)
  • 1976
    Trofim Lysenko, Russian biologist (b. 1898)
  • 1978
    Giorgio de Chirico, Italian painter (b.1888)
  • 1978
    Vasilisk Gnedov, Russian poet (b. 1890)
  • 1980
    John McEwen, Australian politician (b. 1900)
  • 1983
    Marcel Dalio, French actor (b. 1900)
  • 1984
    Faiz Ahmed Faiz, Pakistani poet (b. 1911)
  • 1994
    John Lucarotti, British-born Canadian screenwriter (b. 1926)
  • 1995
    Robie Macauley, American novelist and literary critic (b. 1919)
  • 1995
    Sergei Grinkov, Russian figure skater (b. 1967)
  • 1997
    Dick Littlefield, American baseball player (b. 1926)
  • 1998
    Galina Starovoitova, Russian politician (b. 1946)
  • 1999
    Amintore Fanfani, Italian politician (b. 1908)
  • 2000
    Kalle Päätalo, Finnish writer (b. 1919)
  • 2000
    Mike Muuss, American computer programmer (b. 1958)
  • 2003
    David Dacko, Central African politician (b. 1930)
  • 2003
    Eugene Kleiner, American entrepreneur (b. 1923)
  • 2003
    Jim Siedow, American actor (b. 1920)
  • 2003
    Kerem Yilmazer, Turkish actor (b. 1945)
  • 2003
    Loris Azzaro, French fashion designer (b. 1933)
  • 2003
    Robert Addie, British actor (b. 1960)
  • 2003
    Roger Short, British statesman (b. 1944)
  • 2004
    David Grierson, Canadian radio host (b. 1955)
  • 2004
    Jenny Ross, English musician (Section 25) (b. 1962)
  • 2005
    Chris Whitley, American musician (b. 1960)
  • 2005
    James King, American singer (b. 1925)
  • 2005
    Manouchehr Atashi, Iranian poet (b. 1931)
  • 2005
    Nora Denney, American actress (b. 1928)
  • 2005
    Sheldon Gardner, American psychologist (b. 1934)
  • 2006
    Andre Waters, American football player (b. 1962)
  • 2006
    Robert Altman, American film director (b. 1925)
  • 2006
    Zoia Ceauşescu, Romanian mathematician (b. 1950)
  • 2007
    Ian Smith, Rhodesian politician (b. 1919)
  • 2008
    Bennie Gonzales, American architect (b. 1924)
  • 2008
    Sven Inge, Swedish painter (b. 1935)
  • 2009
    Lino Lacedelli, Italian mountaineer, one of the first team to summit K2 (b. 1925)
  • 2010
    Chalmers Johnson, American political scholar and author (b. 1931)
  • 2010
    Danny McDevitt, American baseball player (b. 1932)
  • 2010
    Laurie Bembenek, American convicted murderer and fugitive (b. 1958)
  • 2010
    Rob Lytle, American football player (b. 1954)
  • 2010
    Roxana Briban, Romanian Soprano (b. 1971)

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