August 20 in History

Historical Events on August 20

1858 Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London, alongside Alfred Russel Wallace's same theory.

1866 President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.

1940 In Mexico City, Mexico exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader. He dies the next day.

1940 World War II: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill makes the fourth of his famous wartime speeches, containing the line "Never was so much owed by so many to so few".

1950 Korean War: United Nations repel an offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to cross the Nakdong River and assault the city of Taegu.

1988 Iran-Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.

1991 Dissolution of the Soviet Union, August Coup: More than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup aiming to depose President Mikhail Gorbachev.

1991 Estonia, annexed by the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of historical continuity of its pre-World War II statehood.

2002 A group of Iraqis opposed to the regime of Saddam Hussein take over the Iraqi Embassy in Berlin, Germany for five hours before releasing their hostages and surrendering.

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Famous Birthdays on August 20

1890 H. P. Lovecraft

1935 Ron Paul

1974 Amy Adams

1992 Demi Lovato

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Famous Deaths on August 20

1914 Pope Pius X

1939 Agnes Giberne

2012 Meles Zenawi

2017 Jerry Lewis

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