August 20 in history — What Happened Today in History

The Firozabad rail disaster kills 358 people in Firozabad, India.

In India, Meitei language (officially known as Manipuri language) is included in the scheduled languages' list and made one of the official languages of the Indian Government.

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.

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.

The pleasure boat Marchioness sinks on the River Thames following a collision. Fifty-one people are killed.

"Black Saturday" of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park.

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

The Troubles: Eight British soldiers are killed and 28 wounded when their bus is hit by an IRA roadside bomb in Ballygawley, County Tyrone.

In Edmond, Oklahoma, U.S. Postal employee Patrick Sherrill shoots and kills 14 of his co-workers and then commits suicide.

Voyager program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.

Viking program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.

ČSA Flight 540 crashes on approach to Damascus International Airport in Damascus, Syria, killing 126 people.

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.

The NS Savannah, the world's first nuclear-powered civilian ship, embarks on its maiden voyage.

Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.

Battle of Philippeville: In Algeria, a force of Berbers from the Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid two rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.

Hungary adopts the Hungarian Constitution of 1949 and becomes a People's Republic.

Soviet Consul General in New York, Jacob M. Lomakin is expelled by the United States, due to the Kasenkina Case.

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.

World War II: The Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet Union offensive.

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

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".

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.

Japan's public broadcasting company, Nippon Hōsō Kyōkai (NHK) is established.

The first commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit.

The National Football League is organized as the American Professional Football Conference in Canton, Ohio.

World War I: Brussels is captured during the German invasion of Belgium.

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.

Callum Skinner, Scottish track cyclist

Marko Djokovic, Serbian tennis player

Jyrki Jokipakka, Finnish hockey player

Cory Joseph, Canadian basketball player

Macauley Chrisantus, Nigerian footballer

Culoe De Song, South African music producer and DJ

Leigh Griffiths, Scottish footballer

Bradley Klahn, American tennis player

Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Dutch swimmer

Kirko Bangz, American rapper and producer

Silas Kiplagat, Kenyan runner

Slavcho Shokolarov, Bulgarian footballer

Judd Trump, English snooker player

B. K. S. Iyengar, Indian yoga instructor and author, founded Iyengar Yoga (born 1918)

Buddy MacMaster, Canadian singer-songwriter and fiddler (born 1924)

Sava Stojkov, Serbian painter and educator (born 1925)

Edmund Szoka, American cardinal (born 1927)

Sathima Bea Benjamin, South African singer-songwriter (born 1936)

Narendra Dabholkar, Indian author and activist (born 1945)

Elmore Leonard, American novelist, short story writer, and screenwriter (born 1925)

Marian McPartland, English-American pianist and composer (born 1918)

Ted Post, American director and screenwriter (born 1918)

Phyllis Diller, American actress and comedian (born 1917)

Daryl Hine, Canadian-American poet and academic (born 1936)

Dom Mintoff, Maltese journalist and politician, 8th Prime Minister of Malta (born 1916)

Mika Yamamoto, Japanese journalist (born 1967)