July 20

Historic Events

2021

American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin. ›

2019

Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing. ›

2017

O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas. ›

2015

A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100. ›

2015

The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades. ›

2013

Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca. ›

2013

Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG). ›

2012

James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others. ›

2012

Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance. ›

2005

The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada. ›

1999

The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide. ›

1997

The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years. ›

1992

Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia. ›

1992

A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes during takeoff from Tbilisi International Airport, killing all 24 aboard and four more people on the ground. ›

1989

Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. ›

1985

The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles. ›

1982

Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses. ›

1981

Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people. ›

1977

The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments. ›

1977

The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages. ›

1977

Aeroflot Flight B-2 crashes after takeoff from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic, killing 39. ›

1976

The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars. ›

1974

Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios. ›

1969

Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later. ›

1969

A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War". ›

1968

The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities. ›

1964

Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children). ›

1961

French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte. ›

1960

The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time. ›

1954

Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany. ›

1951

King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. ›

1950

Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs. ›

1950

After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's Air Force was destroyed by anti-communist forces. ›

1949

The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. ›

1944

World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. ›

1941

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief. ›

1940

Denmark leaves the League of Nations. ›

1940

California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway. ›

1938

The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948. ›

1936

The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime. ›

1935

Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen. ›

1934

Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven. ›

1934

West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks. ›

1932

In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government. ›

1922

The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom. ›

1920

The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks. ›

1917

World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia. ›

1906

In Finland, a new electoral law is ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women are the first in Europe to receive the right to vote. ›

1903

The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile. ›

1885

The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association. ›

1871

British Columbia joins the Canadian Confederation. ›

1866

Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea. ›

1864

American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman. ›

1848

The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes. ›

1831

Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River. ›

1810

Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain. ›

1807

Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France. ›

1799

Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia. ›

1738

Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan. ›

1715

Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice's "Kingdom of the Morea", thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea. ›

1705

A fire in Oulu, Finland almost completely destroyed the fourth district, which covered the southern part of the city and was by far the largest of the city districts. ›

1592

During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it. ›

1398

The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster. ›

1230

Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations. ›

1189

Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy. ›

911

Rollo lays siege to Chartres. ›

792

Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae. ›

514

Consecration of pope Hormisdas following the death of pope Symmachus the previous day. ›

70

Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots. ›