February 20 in History: Events

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The published February 20 chronology runs from 1304 to 2025, a span of 721 years. It contains 140 sourced records across 49 countries and 8 event categories. These figures describe the current collection, not all events that occurred on this date.

Start at the earliest published record or jump to the latest. The counts below show where this collection is concentrated.

Most represented topics

Politics & society · 54 records
War & conflict · 38 records
Arts & culture · 15 records
Sport · 15 records

Most represented countries

United States · 25 records
Germany · 9 records
Japan · 8 records
United Kingdom · 8 records
China · 4 records

Compare events across time

These pairs share a category and calendar date; the pairing does not imply a historical connection.

War & conflict: Battle of Happrew (1304) and Battle of Kyaukphyu (2025) appear 721 years apart in this collection.
Politics & society: Coronation of Edward VI (1547) and 2022 Punjab Legislative Assembly election (2022) appear 475 years apart in this collection.
Arts & culture: Rossini’s Barber of Seville premieres in Rome (1816) and 13th Oceanside International Film Festival (2024) appear 208 years apart in this collection.

Some events have more than one location, so country counts can overlap. Read about our sources and editorial approach.

February 20 historical events

1304 — Battle of Happrew

The Battle of Happrew was a skirmish which took place around 20 February 1304, during the First War of Scottish Independence. A chevauchée of English knights, which included Robert de Clifford, William de Latimer, and the later Scottish King, Robert the Bruce had been sent south from Dunfermline under Sir John Segrave to locate and capture the rebels Sir William Wallace and Sir Simon Fraser.

Scotland, United Kingdom · War & conflict · Checked 2026-09-23

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Most represented countries

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February 20 historical events

1304 — Battle of Happrew

1499 — Battle of Hard

1538 — Battle of Beadala (1538)

1547 — Coronation of Edward VI

1548 — Battle of Drumlanrig

1781 — Battle of Elmina (1781)

1783 — Spain formally receives the first U.S. chargé d’affaires

1792 — The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington

1794 — Siege of San Fiorenzo

1799 — Siege of El Arish

1810 — Battle of Vic

1813 — Battle of Salta

1815 — Capture of HMS Cyane and HMS Levant

1816 — Rossini’s Barber of Seville premieres in Rome

1824 — William Buckland presents Megalosaurus to the Geological Society

1824 — Drammen holds another parliamentary vote in 1824

1827 — Battle of Ituzaingó

1835 — An earthquake and tsunami devastate the Concepción area

1846 — Polish insurgents in the Free City of Kraków led an uprising (depicted) attempting to incite a fight for national independence that was put down by the Austrian Empire nine days later

1859 — Coro uprising begins Venezuela’s Federal War

1864 — Battle of Olustee

1865 — Battle of Fort Myers

1865 — Uruguayan War

1868 — 1868 Victorian colonial election

1872 — Metropolitan Museum of Art opens to the public

1890 — German federal election, 1890

1894 — 20 February 1894 attacks

1896 — 1896 Waverley colonial by-election

1897 — Qing imperial postal service opens in Beijing

1905 — Greek legislative election, 1905

1905 — US Supreme Court decides Jacobson v. Massachusetts

1907 — Aberdeen South by-election, 1907

1909 — Le Figaro publishes the Manifesto of Futurism

1912 — 1912 Chinese provisional presidential election

1913 — King O’Malley marks the start of Canberra’s city survey

1915 — 1915 Castlereagh state by-election

1920 — 1920 Gori earthquake

1921 — Clonmult ambush

1921 — 1921 Hamburg state election

1922 — Camberwell North by-election, 1922

1926 — Birth of Yao Peng

1928 — Japanese general election, 1928

1930 — Japanese general election, 1930

1930 — Birth of Yu Ying-shih

1931 — Workers and students occupy Encarnación in a revolutionary attempt

1931 — Kumul Rebellion

1931 — Federal approval is granted for the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge

1932 — Japanese general election, 1932

1933 — US Congress proposes the Twenty-first Amendment

1933 — Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign

1935 — Caroline Mikkelsen goes ashore in the Tryne Islands

1936 — Japanese general election, 1936

1937 — 1937 Tasmanian state election

1937 — 1936–1937 Iraqi parliamentary election

1940 — Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1940

1942 — Battle of Badung Strait

1942 — Action off Bougainville

1942 — Edward O’Hare becomes the U.S. Navy’s first fighter ace of the war

1943 — Rockwell’s Freedom of Speech appears in The Saturday Evening Post

1943 — Parícutin volcano begins erupting

1944 — Battle of Stężarzyce

1944 — Battle of the Green Islands

1944 — Big Week

1956 — The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy receives permanent status

1959 — Canada cancels the Avro Arrow programme

1962 — Mercury-Atlas 6

1965 — 1965 Western Australian state election

1968 — China Academy of Space Technology established

1971 — 1971 Western Australian state election

1971 — A U.S. broadcast test sends a false national emergency alert

1972 — Hong Kong marks the breakthrough of the Cross-Harbour Tunnel

1977 — Salvadoran presidential election, 1977

1978 — Opération Tacaud

1979 — A volcanic eruption releases deadly gas on Indonesia’s Dieng Plateau

1983 — Assam assembly election polling period ends