August 20

Pre-1600

• AD 14 – Agrippa Postumus, maternal grandson of the late Roman emperor Augustus, is mysteriously executed by his guards while in exile.
• 636 – Battle of Yarmouk: Arab forces led by Khalid ibn al-Walid take control of the Levant away from the Byzantine Empire, marking the first great wave of Muslim conquests and the rapid advance of Islam outside Arabia.
• 917 – Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.
• 1083 – Canonization of the first King of Hungary, Saint Stephen and his son Saint Emeric celebrated as a National Day in Hungary.
• 1191 – Richard I of England initiates the Massacre at Ayyadieh, leaving 2,600–3,000 Muslim hostages dead.
• 1308 – Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
• 1391 – Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Grand Master of the Teutonic Order.
• 1467 – The Second Battle of Olmedo takes places as part of a succession conflict between Henry IV of Castile and his half-brother Alfonso, Prince of Asturias.
• 1519 – Philosopher and general Wang Yangming defeats Zhu Chenhao, ending the Prince of Ning rebellion against the reign of the Ming dynasty's Zhengde Emperor.

1601–1900

• 1648 – The Battle of Lens is the last major military confrontation of the Thirty Years' War, contributing to the signing of the Peace of Westphalia in October that year.
• 1672 – Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are lynched by a mob in The Hague.
• 1707 – The first Siege of Pensacola comes to an end with the failure of the British to capture Pensacola, Florida.
• 1710 – War of the Spanish Succession: A multinational army led by the Austrian commander Guido Starhemberg defeats the Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by Alexandre Maître, Marquis de Bay in the Battle of Saragossa.
• 1775 – The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
• 1794 – Northwest Indian War: United States troops force a confederacy of Shawnee, Mingo, Delaware, Wyandot, Miami, Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi warriors into a disorganized retreat at the Battle of Fallen Timbers.
• 1852 – Steamboat Atlantic sank on Lake Erie after a collision, with the loss of at least 150 lives.
• 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.
• 1864 – Bakumatsu: Kinmon incident: The Chōshū Domain attempts to expel the Satsuma and Aizu Domains from Japan's imperial court.
• 1866 – President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
• 1882 – Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow, Russia.

1901–present

• 1905 – Sun Yat-sen, Song Jiaoren, and others establish the Tongmenghui, a Republican, anti-Qing revolutionary organisation, in Tokyo, Japan.
• 1910 – Extreme fire weather in the Inland Northwest of the United States causes many small wildfires to coalesce into the Great Fire of 1910, burning approximately 3 million acres (12,000 km²) and killing 87 people.
• 1914 – World War I: Brussels is captured during the German invasion of Belgium.
• 1920 – The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit.
• 1920 – The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio
• 1926 – Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.
• 1938 – Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that stood for 75 years until it was broken by Alex Rodriguez.
• 1940 – In Mexico City, 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".
• 1940 – World War II: The Eighth Route Army launches the Hundred Regiments Offensive, a successful campaign to disrupt Japanese war infrastructure and logistics in occupied northern China.
• 1944 – World War II: One hundred sixty-eight captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused by the Gestapo of being "terror fliers", arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp.
• 1944 – World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.
• 1948 – Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob M. Lomakin is expelled by the United States, due to the Kasenkina Case.
• 1949 – Hungary adopts the Hungarian Constitution of 1949 and becomes a People's Republic.
• 1955 – Battle of Philippeville: In Morocco, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
• 1960 – Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
• 1962 – The NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.
• 1968 – Cold War: Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring. East German participation is limited to a few specialists due to memories of the recent war. Only Albania and Romania refuse to participate.
• 1975 – Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
• 1975 – ČSA Flight 540 crashes on approach to Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria, killing 126 people.
• 1977 – Voyager program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
• 1986 – In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.
• 1988 – "Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
• 1988 – Iran–Iraq War: A ceasefire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
• 1988 – The Troubles: Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone.
• 1989 – The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. Fifty-one people are killed.
• 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, occupied by and incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940, issues a decision on the re-establishment of independence on the basis of legal continuity of its pre-occupation statehood.
• 1992 – In India, Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) was included in the scheduled languages' list and made one of the official languages of the Indian Government.
• 1993 – After rounds of secret negotiations in Norway, the Oslo Accords are signed, followed by a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. the following month.
• 1995 – The Firozabad rail disaster kills 358 people in Firozabad, India.
• 1997 – Souhane massacre in Algeria; over 60 people are killed and 15 kidnapped.
• 1998 – The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government's approval.
• 1998 – U.S. embassy bombings: The United States launches cruise missile attacks against alleged al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and a suspected chemical weapons plant in Sudan in retaliation for the August 7 bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
• 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.
• 2006 – Sri Lankan Civil War: Sri Lankan Tamil politician and former MP S. Sivamaharajah is shot dead at his home in Tellippalai.
• 2007 – China Airlines Flight 120 catches fire and explodes after landing at Naha Airport in Okinawa, Japan.
• 2008 – Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid, Spain to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport. Of the 172 people on board, 146 die immediately, and eight more later die of injuries sustained in the crash.
• 2012 – A prison riot in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, kills at least 20 people.
• 2014 – Seventy-two people are killed in Japan's Hiroshima Prefecture by a series of landslides caused by a month's worth of rain that fell in one day.
• 2016 – Fifty-four people are killed when a suicide bomber detonates himself at a Kurdish wedding party in Gaziantep, Turkey.
• 2020 – Joe Biden gives his acceptance speech virtually for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination at the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

Pre-1600

• 1377 – Shahrukh Mirza, ruler of Persia and Transoxiania (d. 1447)
• 1517 – Antoine Perrenot de Granvelle, French cardinal and art collector (d. 1586)
• 1561 – Jacopo Peri, Italian singer and composer (d. 1633)

1601–1900

• 1625 – Thomas Corneille, French playwright and philologist (d. 1709)
• 1632 – Louis Bourdaloue, French preacher and academic (d. 1704)
• 1659 – Henry Every, English pirate (d. 1696)
• 1710 – Thomas Simpson, English mathematician and academic (d. 1761)
• 1719 – Christian Mayer, Czech astronomer and educator (d. 1783)
• 1720 – Bernard de Bury, French harpsichord player and composer (d. 1785)
• 1778 – Bernardo O'Higgins, Chilean general and politician, 2nd Supreme Director of Chile (d. 1842)
• 1779 – Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Swedish chemist and academic (d. 1848)
• 1789 – Abbas Mirza, Qajar crown prince of Persia (d. 1833)
• 1799 – James Prinsep, English orientalist and scholar (d. 1840)
• 1833 – Benjamin Harrison, American general, lawyer, and politician, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901)
• 1845 – Albert Chmielowski, Polish saint, founded the Albertine Brothers (d. 1916)
• 1847 – Andrew Greenwood, English cricketer (d. 1889)
• 1847 – Bolesław Prus, Polish journalist and author (d. 1912)
• 1856 – Jakub Bart-Ćišinski, German poet and playwright (d. 1909)
• 1860 – Raymond Poincaré, French lawyer and politician, 10th President of France (d. 1934)
• 1865 – Bernard Tancred, South African cricketer and lawyer (d. 1911)
• 1868 – Ellen Roosevelt, American tennis player (d. 1954)
• 1873 – Eliel Saarinen, Finnish architect and academic, co-designed the National Museum of Finland (d. 1950)
• 1881 – Edgar Guest, English-American poet and author (d. 1959)
• 1881 – Aleksander Hellat, Estonian politician, 6th Estonian Minister of Foreign Affairs (d. 1943)
• 1884 – Rudolf Bultmann, German Lutheran theologian and professor of New Testament at the University of Marburg (d. 1976)
• 1885 – Dino Campana, Italian poet and author (d. 1932)
• 1886 – Paul Tillich, German-American philosopher and theologian (d. 1965)
• 1887 – Phan Khôi, Vietnamese journalist and scholar (d. 1959)
• 1888 – Tôn Đức Thắng, Vietnamese politician, 2nd President of Vietnam (d. 1980)
• 1890 – H. P. Lovecraft, American short story writer, editor, novelist (d. 1937)
• 1896 – Gostha Pal, Indian footballer (d. 1976)
• 1897 – Tarjei Vesaas, Norwegian author and poet (d. 1970)
• 1898 – Vilhelm Moberg, Swedish historian, journalist, author, and playwright (d. 1973)

1901–present

• 1901 – Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian novelist and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1968)
• 1905 – Jean Gebser, German linguist, poet, and philosopher (d. 1973)
• 1905 – Mikio Naruse, Japanese director and screenwriter (d. 1969)
• 1905 – Jack Teagarden, American singer-songwriter and trombonist (d. 1964)
• 1906 – Vidrik Rootare, Estonian chess player (d. 1981)
• 1908 – Al López, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1909 – André Morell, English actor (d. 1978)
• 1909 – Alby Roberts, New Zealand cricketer and rugby player (d. 1978)
• 1910 – Eero Saarinen, Finnish-American architect and furniture designer, designed the Gateway Arch (d. 1961)
• 1912 – John H. Michaelis, American general (d. 1985)
• 1913 – Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neuropsychologist and neurobiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1994)
• 1915 – Ivo Rojnica, Croatian-Argentine war crimes suspect, businessman, diplomat, and intelligence agent (d. 2007)
• 1916 – Paul Felix Schmidt, Estonian–German chess player and chemist (d. 1984)
• 1917 – Terry Sanford, 65th Governor of North Carolina (d. 1998)
• 1918 – Jacqueline Susann, American actress and author (d. 1974)
• 1919 – Walter Bernstein, American screenwriter and producer (d. 2021)
• 1919 – Adamantios Androutsopoulos, Greek lawyer, educator and politician, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 2000)
• 1920 – H. R. Van Dongen, American illustrator (d. 2010)
• 1921 – Keith Froome, Australian rugby league player (d. 1978)
• 1921 – Jack Wilson, Australian cricketer (d. 1985)
• 1923 – Jim Reeves, American singer-songwriter (d. 1964)
• 1924 – George Zuverink, American baseball player (d. 2014)
• 1926 – Frank Rosolino, American jazz trombonist (d. 1978)
• 1926 – Nobby Wirkowski, American-Canadian football player and coach (d. 2014)
• 1927 – John Boardman, English archaeologist and historian
• 1927 – Yootha Joyce, English actress (d. 1980)
• 1927 – Fred Kavli, Norwegian-American businessman and philanthropist, founded The Kavli Foundation (d. 2013)
• 1927 – Peter Oakley, English soldier and blogger (d. 2014)
• 1929 – Kevin Heffernan, Irish footballer and manager (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Mario Bernardi, Canadian pianist and conductor (d. 2013)
• 1930 – Peter Randall, English sergeant (d. 2007)
• 1931 – Don King, American boxing promoter
• 1932 – Anthony Ainley, English actor (d. 2004)
• 1932 – Vasily Aksyonov, Russian physician, author, and academic (d. 2009)
• 1932 – Atholl McKinnon, South African cricketer (d. 1983)
• 1933 – Ted Donaldson, American actor (d. 2023)
• 1933 – George J. Mitchell, American lieutenant, lawyer, and politician
• 1934 – Sneaky Pete Kleinow, American country-rock pedal-steel guitarist and songwriter (d. 2007)
• 1934 – Tom Mangold, German-English journalist and author
• 1935 – Ron Paul, American captain, physician, and politician
• 1936 – Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist, engineer, and academic, Nobel Prize laureate
• 1937 – Stelvio Cipriani, Italian composer (d. 2018)
• 1937 – Andrei Konchalovsky, Russian director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1937 – Sky Saxon, American singer-songwriter and bassist (d. 2009)
• 1938 – Jean-Loup Chrétien, French military officer and astronaut
• 1938 – Peter Day, English chemist and academic (d. 2020)
• 1938 – Alain Vivien, French politician
• 1939 – Fernando Poe Jr., Filipino actor and politician (d. 2004)
• 1939 – Mike Velarde, Filipino televangelist and religious leader
• 1940 – Rubén Hinojosa, American businessman and politician
• 1940 – Gus Macdonald, Scottish academic and politician, Minister for the Cabinet Office
• 1940 – Rex Sellers, Indian-Australian cricketer
• 1941 – Dave Brock, English singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1941 – Rich Brooks, American football player and coach
• 1941 – Anne Evans, English soprano and actress
• 1941 – William H. Gray, American lawyer and politician (d. 2013)
• 1941 – Slobodan Milošević, Serbian lawyer and politician, 1st President of Serbia (d. 2006)
• 1941 – Robin Oakley, English journalist and author
• 1941 – Jo Ramírez, Mexican race car driver and manager
• 1942 – Isaac Hayes, American singer-songwriter, pianist, producer, and actor (d. 2008)
• 1942 – Fred Norman, American baseball player
• 1943 – Roger Gale, English journalist and politician
• 1943 – Sylvester McCoy, Scottish actor
• 1944 – Rajiv Gandhi, Indian lawyer and politician, 6th Prime Minister of India (d. 1991)
• 1944 – Graig Nettles, American baseball player and manager
• 1944 – José Wilker, Brazilian actor and director (d. 2014)
• 1945 – Roy Gardner, English businessman
• 1946 – Mufaddal Saifuddin, 53rd Da'i al-Mutlaq of Fatimid Caliphate
• 1946 – Henryk Broder, Polish-German journalist and author
• 1946 – Connie Chung, American journalist
• 1946 – Laurent Fabius, French politician, 158th Prime Minister of France
• 1946 – Ralf Hütter, German singer and keyboard player
• 1946 – N. R. Narayana Murthy, Indian businessman, co-founded Infosys
• 1947 – Alan Lee, English painter and illustrator
• 1947 – James Pankow, American musician
• 1947 – Ray Wise, American actor
• 1948 – John Noble, Australian actor and director
• 1948 – Robert Plant, English singer-songwriter
• 1949 – Nikolas Asimos, Greek singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 1988)
• 1949 – Phil Lynott, Irish singer-songwriter, bass player, and producer (d. 1986)
• 1951 – Greg Bear, American author (d. 2022)
• 1951 – DeForest Soaries, American minister and politician, 30th Secretary of State of New Jersey
• 1952 – John Emburey, English cricketer and coach
• 1952 – Doug Fieger, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (d. 2010)
• 1952 – John Hiatt, American singer-songwriter and guitarist
• 1952 – Ric Menello, American director and screenwriter (d. 2013)
• 1953 – Gerry Bertier, American football player (d. 1981)
• 1953 – Peter Horton, American actor and director
• 1953 – Mike Jackson, American politician
• 1953 – Jim Trenton, American radio host and actor
• 1953 – Leroy Burgess, American singer, songwriter, keyboard player, recording artist, and record producer
• 1954 – Quinn Buckner, American basketball player and coach
• 1954 – Tawn Mastrey, American radio host and producer (d. 2007)
• 1954 – Al Roker, American news anchor, television personality, and author
• 1955 – Agnes Chan, Hong Kong singer and author
• 1955 – Janet Royall, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, English politician, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
• 1956 – Joan Allen, American actress
• 1956 – Alvin Greenidge, Barbadian cricketer
• 1956 – Desmond Swayne, English soldier and politician, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
• 1957 – Finlay Calder, Scottish rugby player
• 1957 – Jim Calder, Scottish rugby player
• 1957 – Simon Donaldson, English mathematician and academic
• 1957 – Sorin Antohi, Romanian journalist and historian
• 1957 – Paul Johnson, American football coach
• 1958 – Nigel Dodds, Northern Irish lawyer and politician
• 1958 – Patricia Rozema, Canadian director and screenwriter
• 1958 – David O. Russell, American director and screenwriter
• 1958 – John Stehr, American journalist
• 1960 – Dom Duff, Breton singer-songwriter, guitarist, composer
• 1960 – Mark Langston, American baseball player
• 1961 – Amanda Sonia Berry, English businesswoman
• 1962 – James Marsters, American actor
• 1963 – Uwe Bialon, German footballer and manager
• 1963 – Kal Daniels, American baseball player
• 1963 – José Cecena, Mexican baseball player
• 1964 – Azarias Ruberwa, Congolese lawyer and politician, Vice-President of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• 1965 – KRS-One, American rapper and producer
• 1966 – Miguel Albaladejo, Spanish director and screenwriter
• 1966 – Colin Cunningham, American actor
• 1966 – Dimebag Darrell, American guitarist and songwriter (d. 2004)
• 1966 – Enrico Letta, Italian lawyer and politician, 55th Prime Minister of Italy
• 1966 – Liu Chunyan, Chinese host and voice actress
• 1967 – Andy Benes, American baseball player
• 1968 – Brett Angell, English footballer and coach
• 1968 – Abdelatif Benazzi, Moroccan-French rugby player
• 1968 – Sandy Brondello, Australian basketball player and coach
• 1968 – Klas Ingesson, Swedish footballer and manager (d. 2014)
• 1968 – Yuri Shiratori, Japanese voice actress and singer
• 1968 – Bai Yansong, Chinese host
• 1969 – Billy Gardell, American comedian, actor, and producer
• 1969 – Mark Holzemer, American baseball player and scout
• 1969 – Santeri Kinnunen, Finnish actor
• 1970 – Els Callens, Belgian tennis player and sportscaster
• 1970 – Fred Durst, American singer-songwriter
• 1971 – Nenad Bjelica, Croatian footballer and manager
• 1971 – Matt Calland, English rugby player and coach
• 1971 – Ke Huy Quan, Vietnamese-American actor
• 1971 – Steve Stone, English footballer and coach
• 1971 – David Walliams, English comedian, actor, and author
• 1972 – Derrick Alston, American basketball player
• 1972 – Melvin Booker, American basketball player
• 1972 – Chaney Kley, American actor (d. 2007)
• 1972 – Scott Quinnell, Welsh rugby player and sportscaster
• 1972 – Anna Umemiya, Japanese model and actress
• 1973 – Alban Bushi, Albanian footballer
• 1973 – Alexandre Finazzi, Brazilian footballer
• 1973 – Scott Goodman, Australian swimmer
• 1973 – Todd Helton, American baseball player
• 1973 – Cameron Mather, New Zealand rugby player and sportscaster
• 1973 – José Paniagua, Dominican baseball player
• 1973 – Donn Swaby, American actor and screenwriter
• 1973 – Juan Becerra Acosta, Mexican journalist
• 1974 – Amy Adams, American actress
• 1974 – Misha Collins, American actor
• 1974 – Szabolcs Sáfár, Hungarian footballer and coach
• 1974 – Andy Strachan, Australian drummer and songwriter
• 1974 – Maxim Vengerov, Russian-Israeli violinist and conductor
• 1975 – Marcin Adamski, Polish footballer and manager
• 1975 – Marko Martin, Estonian pianist and educator
• 1975 – Shaun Newton, English footballer
• 1975 – Elijah Williams, American football player and coach
• 1976 – Chris Drury, American ice hockey player
• 1976 – Cornel Frăsineanu, Romanian footballer
• 1976 – Tony Grant, Irish footballer
• 1976 – Kristen Miller, American actress, producer, and screenwriter
• 1976 – Marcel Podszus, German footballer
• 1976 – Fabio Ulloa, Honduran footballer
• 1977 – Paolo Bianco, Italian footballer
• 1977 – Wayne Brown, English footballer
• 1977 – Felipe Contepomi, Argentine rugby player, coach, and physician
• 1977 – Manuel Contepomi, Argentine rugby player
• 1977 – Shockmain Davis, American football player
• 1977 – Stéphane Gillet, Luxembourgian footballer
• 1977 – Aaron Hamill, Australian footballer and coach
• 1977 – Ívar Ingimarsson, Icelandic footballer
• 1977 – James Ormond, English cricketer
• 1977 – Josh Pearce, American baseball player
• 1977 – Aaron Taylor, American baseball player
• 1978 – Alberto Martín, Spanish tennis player
• 1978 – Emir Mkademi, Tunisian footballer
• 1978 – Chris Schroder, American baseball player
• 1979 – Sarah Borwell, English tennis player
• 1979 – Jamie Cullum, English singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1979 – Cory Sullivan, American baseball player
• 1981 – Ben Barnes, English actor
• 1981 – Brett Finch, Australian rugby league player and sportscaster
• 1981 – Artur Kotenko, Estonian footballer
• 1981 – Bernard Mendy, French footballer
• 1981 – Craig Ochs, American football player
• 1981 – Byron Saxton, American wrestler, manager, and sportscaster
• 1982 – Cléber Luis Alberti, Brazilian footballer
• 1982 – Aleksandr Amisulashvili, Georgian footballer
• 1982 – Monty Dumond, South African rugby player
• 1982 – Youssouf Hersi, Ethiopian footballer
• 1982 – Joshua Kennedy, Australian footballer
• 1982 – Mijaín López, Cuban wrestler
• 1982 – Meghan Ory, Canadian actress
• 1982 – Richard Petiot, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1982 – Barney Rogers, Zimbabwean cricketer
• 1982 – Enyelbert Soto, Venezuelan-Japanese baseball player
• 1983 – Hamza Abdullah, American football player
• 1983 – Paulo André Cren Benini, Brazilian footballer
• 1983 – Andrew Garfield, American-English actor
• 1983 – Héctor Landazuri, Colombian footballer
• 1983 – Mladen Pelaić, Croatian footballer
• 1983 – Brian Schaefering, American football player
• 1983 – Yuri Zhirkov, Russian footballer
• 1984 – Aílton José Almeida, Brazilian footballer
• 1984 – Pavel Eismann, Czech footballer
• 1984 – Laura Georges, French footballer
• 1984 – Jamie Hoffmann, American baseball player
• 1984 – Ingrid Lukas, Estonian-Swiss singer-songwriter and pianist
• 1985 – Brant Daugherty, American actor
• 1985 – Glen Buttriss, Australian rugby league player
• 1985 – Blake DeWitt, American baseball player
• 1985 – Thomas Domingo, French rugby player
• 1985 – Matt Hague, American baseball player
• 1985 – Jack King, English footballer
• 1985 – Álvaro Negredo, Spanish footballer
• 1985 – Willie Ripia, New Zealand rugby player
• 1985 – Joe Vitale, American ice hockey player
• 1985 – Stephen Ward, Irish footballer
• 1985 – Mark Washington, American football player
• 1986 – Andrew Surman, South African-English footballer
• 1986 – Steven Zalewski, American ice hockey player
• 1987 – Stefan Aigner, German footballer
• 1987 – Gunther, Austrian wrestler
• 1987 – Manny Jacinto, Canadian actor
• 1987 – Vedran Janjetović, Croatian-Australian footballer
• 1987 – Sido Jombati, Portuguese footballer
• 1987 – Egon Kaur, Estonian race car driver
• 1988 – Jerryd Bayless, American basketball player
• 1988 – Sarah R, Lotfi, American director, producer, and screenwriter
• 1988 – José Zamora, Spanish footballer
• 1989 – Kirko Bangz, American rapper and producer
• 1989 – Nebil Gahwagi, Hungarian footballer
• 1989 – Silas Kiplagat, Kenyan runner
• 1989 – Slavcho Shokolarov, Bulgarian footballer
• 1989 – Judd Trump, English snooker player
• 1989 – Dean Winnard, English footballer
• 1990 – Macauley Chrisantus, Nigerian footballer
• 1990 – Culoe De Song, South African music producer and DJ
• 1990 – Venelin Filipov, Bulgarian footballer
• 1990 – Leigh Griffiths, Scottish footballer
• 1990 – Fabien Jarsalé, French footballer
• 1990 – Bradley Klahn, American tennis player
• 1990 – Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Dutch swimmer
• 1991 – Marko Djokovic, Serbian tennis player
• 1991 – Jyrki Jokipakka, Finnish hockey player
• 1991 – Cory Joseph, Canadian basketball player
• 1992 – Matt Eisenhuth, Australian rugby league player
• 1992 – Carolina Horta, Brazilian beach volleyball player
• 1992 – Demi Lovato, American singer-songwriter and actress
• 1992 – Alex Newell, American actor and singer
• 1992 – Deniss Rakels, Latvian footballer
• 1992 – Callum Skinner, Scottish track cyclist
• 1993 – Tonisha Rock-Yaw, Barbadian netball player
• 1994 – Mitchell Trubisky, American football player
• 1995 – Liana Liberato, American actress
• 1996 – Bunty Afoa, New Zealand rugby league player
• 1997 – Daniel Vladař, Czech ice hockey player
• 1998 – Lieke Klaver, Dutch athlete
• 2003 – Prince Gabriel of Belgium

Pre-1600

• AD 14 – Agrippa Postumus, Roman son of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa (b. 12 BC)
• 535 – Mochta, Irish missionary and saint
• 651 – Oswine of Deira
• 768 – Eadberht of Northumbria
• 917 – Constantine Lips, Byzantine admiral
• 984 – Pope John XIV
• 1153 – Bernard of Clairvaux, French theologian and saint (b. 1090)
• 1158 – Rögnvald Kali Kolsson (b. 1100), Earl of Orkney and Saint
• 1297 – William Fraser, bishop and Guardian of Scotland
• 1348 – Laurence Hastings, 1st Earl of Pembroke (b. 1319)
• 1384 – Geert Groote, Dutch preacher, founded the Brethren of the Common Life (b. 1340)
• 1386 – Bo Jonsson, royal marshal of Sweden
• 1471 – Borso d'Este, Duke of Ferrara (b. 1413)
• 1528 – Georg von Frundsberg, German knight and landowner (b. 1473)
• 1572 – Miguel López de Legazpi, Spanish navigator and politician, 1st Governor-General of the Philippines (b. 1502)
• 1580 – Jerónimo Osório, Portuguese historian and author (b. 1506)

1601–1900

• 1611 – Tomás Luis de Victoria, Spanish priest and composer (b. 1548)
• 1639 – Martin Opitz, German poet and hymnwriter (b. 1597)
• 1648 – Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, English soldier and diplomat (b. 1583)
• 1651 – Jeremi Wiśniowiecki, Polish nobleman (b. 1612)
• 1672 – Cornelis de Witt, Dutch lawyer and politician (b. 1623)
• 1672 – Johan de Witt, Dutch mathematician and politician (b. 1625)
• 1680 – William Bedloe, English spy (b. 1650)
• 1701 – Sir Charles Sedley, 5th Baronet, English playwright and politician (b. 1639)
• 1707 – Nicolas Gigault, French organist and composer (b. 1627)
• 1773 – Enrique Flórez, Spanish historian and author (b. 1701)
• 1785 – Jean-Baptiste Pigalle, French sculptor (b. 1714)
• 1823 – Pope Pius VII (b. 1740)
• 1825 – William Waldegrave, 1st Baron Radstock, English admiral and politician, Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1753)
• 1835 – Agnes Bulmer, English merchant and poet (b. 1775)
• 1854 – Shiranui Dakuemon, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 8th Yokozuna (b. 1801)
• 1859 – Juan Bautista Ceballos, President of Mexico (1853) (b. 1811)
• 1882 – James Whyte, Scottish-Australian politician, 6th Premier of Tasmania (b. 1820)
• 1887 – Jules Laforgue, French poet and author (b. 1860)
• 1893 – Alexander Wassilko von Serecki, Austrian lawyer and politician (b. 1827)
• 1897 – Charles Lilley, English-Australian politician, 4th Premier of Queensland (b. 1827)

1901–present

• 1912 – William Booth, English preacher, co-founded The Salvation Army (b. 1829)
• 1914 – Pope Pius X (b. 1835)
• 1915 – Paul Ehrlich, German physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1854)
• 1917 – Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1835)
• 1919 – Greg MacGregor, Scottish cricketer and rugby player (b. 1869)
• 1930 – Charles Bannerman, Australian cricketer and umpire (b. 1851)
• 1936 – Edward Weston, English-American chemist (b. 1850)
• 1939 – Agnes Giberne, Indian-English astronomer and author (b. 1845)
• 1942 – István Horthy, Hungarian admiral and pilot (b. 1904)
• 1943 – William Irvine, Irish-Australian politician, 21st Premier of Victoria (b. 1858)
• 1949 – Ragnhild Kaarbø, Norwegian painter (b. 1889)
• 1951 – İzzettin Çalışlar, Turkish general (b. 1882)
• 1961 – Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1882)
• 1963 – Joan Voûte, Dutch astronomer (b. 1879)
• 1965 – Jonathan Daniels, American seminarian and civil rights activist (b. 1939)
• 1971 – Rashid Minhas, Pakistani lieutenant and pilot (b. 1951)
• 1976 – Vera Lutz, British economist (b. 1912)
• 1979 – Christian Dotremont, Belgian painter and poet (b. 1922)
• 1980 – Joe Dassin, American-French singer-songwriter (b. 1938)
• 1981 – Michael Devine, Irish Republican Hunger Striker
• 1982 – Ulla Jacobsson, Swedish actress (b. 1929)
• 1985 – Donald O. Hebb, Canadian psychologist and academic (b. 1904)
• 1985 – Wilhelm Meendsen-Bohlken, German admiral (b. 1897)
• 1986 – Milton Acorn, Canadian poet and playwright (b. 1923)
• 1987 – Walenty Kłyszejko, Estonian–Polish basketball player and coach (b. 1909)
• 1993 – Bernard Delfgaauw, Dutch philosopher and academic (b. 1912)
• 1995 – Hugo Pratt, Italian author and illustrator (b. 1927)
• 1996 – Rio Reiser, German singer-songwriter (b. 1950)
• 1997 – Norris Bradbury, American soldier, physicist, and academic (b. 1909)
• 1997 – Léon Dion, Canadian political scientist and academic (b. 1922)
• 1998 – Vũ Văn Mẫu, 10th and final Prime Minister of South Vietnam (b. 1914)
• 2001 – Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and author (b. 1915)
• 2001 – Kim Stanley, American actress (b. 1925)
• 2005 – Thomas Herrion, American football player (b. 1981)
• 2005 – Krzysztof Raczkowski, Polish drummer and songwriter (b. 1970)
• 2006 – Bryan Budd, Northern Ireland-born English soldier, Victoria Cross recipient (b. 1977)
• 2006 – Joe Rosenthal, American photographer and journalist (b. 1911)
• 2006 – S. Sivamaharajah, Sri Lankan Tamil newspaper publisher and politician (b. 1938)
• 2007 – Leona Helmsley, American businesswoman (b. 1920)
• 2008 – Ed Freeman, American soldier and pilot, Medal of Honor recipient (b. 1927)
• 2008 – Hua Guofeng, Chinese politician, 2nd Premier of the People's Republic of China (b. 1921)
• 2008 – Stephanie Tubbs Jones, American lawyer and politician (b. 1949)
• 2008 – Gene Upshaw, American football player (b. 1945)
• 2009 – Larry Knechtel, American keyboardist and bass player (b. 1940)
• 2009 – Karla Kuskin, American author and illustrator (b. 1932)
• 2010 – Đặng Phong, Vietnamese economist and historian (b. 1937)
• 2011 – Ram Sharan Sharma, Indian historian and academic (b. 1919)
• 2012 – Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedian (b. 1917)
• 2012 – Daryl Hine, Canadian-American poet and academic (b. 1936)
• 2012 – Dom Mintoff, Maltese journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Malta (b. 1916)
• 2012 – Len Quested, English footballer and manager (b. 1925)
• 2012 – Mika Yamamoto, Japanese journalist (b. 1967)
• 2012 – Meles Zenawi, Ethiopian soldier and politician, Prime Minister of Ethiopia (b. 1955)
• 2013 – Sathima Bea Benjamin, South African singer-songwriter (b. 1936)
• 2013 – Narendra Dabholkar, Indian author and activist (b. 1945)
• 2013 – Don Hassler, American saxophonist and composer (b. 1929)
• 2013 – Elmore Leonard, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter (b. 1925)
• 2013 – Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (b. 1918)
• 2013 – John W. Morris, American general (b. 1921)
• 2013 – Ted Post, American director and screenwriter (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Anton Buslov, Russian astrophysicist and journalist (b. 1983)
• 2014 – Lois Mai Chan, Taiwanese-American librarian, author, and academic (b. 1934)
• 2014 – Boris Dubin, Russian sociologist and academic (b. 1946)
• 2014 – B. K. S. Iyengar, Indian yoga instructor and author, founded Iyengar Yoga (b. 1918)
• 2014 – Buddy MacMaster, Canadian singer-songwriter and fiddler (b. 1924)
• 2014 – Sava Stojkov, Serbian painter and educator (b. 1925)
• 2014 – Edmund Szoka, American cardinal (b. 1927)
• 2015 – Egon Bahr, German journalist and politician, Federal Minister for Special Affairs of Germany (b. 1922)
• 2015 – Paul Kibblewhite, New Zealand chemist and engineer (b. 1941)
• 2015 – Frank Wilkes, Australian soldier and politician (b. 1922)
• 2017 – Jerry Lewis, American actor and comedian (b. 1926)
• 2018 – Uri Avnery, Israeli writer, politician and peace activist (b. 1923)
• 2018 – Jennifer Ramírez Rivero, Venezuelan model (b. 1978)
• 2021 – Igor Vovkovinskiy, Ukrainian-American law student and actor, American tallest person (b. 1982)
• 2022 – Darya Dugina, Russian journalist (b. 1992)

• Christian feast day:
  • Amadour
  • Bernard of Clairvaux
  • Blessed Georg Häfner
  • Heliodorus of Bet Zabdai
  • Maria De Mattias
  • Oswine of Deira
  • Philibert of Jumièges
  • Samuel (prophet)
  • William and Catherine Booth (Church of England)
  • August 20 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
• Feast of Asmá’ (Baháʼí Faith, only if Baháʼí Naw-Rúz falls on March 21)
• Indian Akshay Urja Day (India)
• Independence Restoration Day (Estonia), re-declaration of the independence of Estonia from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Meitei Language Day, also known as Manipuri Language Day, the day on which Meitei (Manipuri) was included in the scheduled languages' list and made one of the official languages of India.
• Revolution of the King and the People (Morocco)
• Saint Stephen's Day (Hungary)
• World Mosquito Day

• "On This Day". BBC.
• The New York Times: On This Day
• "Historical Events on August 20". OnThisDay.com.