December 20

Historic Events

2024

Six people are killed and over 200 are injured when an anti-Islam activist drives a car into a crowd at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, Germany. ›

2024

A mass stabbing occurs in a primary school in Zagreb, Croatia, in which a 7-year-old pupil is killed and six more are injured by a knife-wielding 19-year-old male. ›

2019

The United States Space Force becomes the first new branch of the United States Armed Forces since 1947. ›

2016

Aerosucre Flight 157 crashes during takeoff from Germán Olano Airport in Puerto Carreño, Colombia, killing five people. ›

2007

The Portrait of Suzanne Bloch (1904), by the Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, and O Lavrador de Café by Brazilian modernist painter Cândido Portinari, are stolen from the São Paulo Museum of Art in Brazil. Both will be recovered a few weeks later. ›

2004

A gang of thieves steal £26.5 million worth of currency from the Donegall Square West headquarters of Northern Bank in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, one of the largest bank robberies in British history. ›

1999

Macau is handed over to China by Portugal. ›

1995

American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757, crashes into a mountain 50 km north of Cali, Colombia, killing 159 of the 163 people on board. ›

1991

A Missouri court sentences the Palestinian militant Zein Isa and his wife Maria to death for the honor killing of their daughter Palestina. ›

1989

The United States invasion of Panama deposes Manuel Noriega. ›

1988

War on drugs: The United Nations agrees upon and promulgates the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, one of three major drug control treaties currently in force. ›

1987

In the worst peacetime sea disaster, the passenger ferry Doña Paz sinks after colliding with the oil tanker MT Vector in the Tablas Strait of the Philippines, killing an estimated 4,000 people (1,749 official). ›

1985

Pope John Paul II announces the creation of World Youth Day. ›

1984

The Summit Tunnel fire, one of the largest transportation tunnel fires in history, burns after a freight train carrying over one million liters of gasoline derails near the town of Todmorden, England, in the Pennines. ›

1984

Disappearance of Jonelle Matthews from Greeley, Colorado. Her remains were discovered on July 23, 2019, located about 24 km (15 mi) southeast of Jonelle's home. The cause of death "was a gunshot wound to the head." ›

1977

With the approval of the State Council, China's two largest newspapers, the People's Daily and the Guangming Daily, publish in full for the first time the Second Chinese Character Simplification Scheme. ›

1973

Assassination of Luis Carrero Blanco: A car bomb planted by ETA in Madrid kills three people, including the Prime Minister of Spain, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco. ›

1970

Koza riot: After a series of hit-and-runs and other vehicular incidents involving American service personnel, roughly 5,000 Okinawans take to the streets, clashing with American law enforcement in protest against the U.S. occupation of Okinawa. ›

1968

The Zodiac Killer murders his first two officially confirmed victims, David Arthur Faraday and Betty Lou Jensen, on Lake Herman Road in Benicia, California, United States. ›

1960

Vietnam War: The National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, popularly known as the Viet Cong, is formally established in Tân Lập village, present day Tây Ninh province. ›

1957

The initial production version of the Boeing 707 makes its first flight. ›

1955

Cardiff is proclaimed the capital city of Wales, United Kingdom. ›

1952

A United States Air Force C-124 crashes and burns in Moses Lake, Washington, killing 87 of the 115 people on board. ›

1951

The EBR-1 in Arco, Idaho becomes the first nuclear power plant to generate electricity. The electricity powered four light bulbs. ›

1948

Indonesian National Revolution: The Dutch military captures Yogyakarta, the temporary capital of the newly formed Republic of Indonesia. ›

1946

It's a Wonderful Life premieres at the Globe Theatre in New York to mixed reviews. ›

1946

An earthquake in Nankaidō, Japan causes a tsunami which kills at least one thousand people and destroys 36,000 homes. ›

1942

World War II: Japanese air forces bomb Calcutta, India. ›

1941

World War II: First battle of the American Volunteer Group, better known as the "Flying Tigers", in Kunming, China. ›

1940

Captain America Comics #1, containing the first appearance of the superhero Captain America, is published. ›

1924

Adolf Hitler is released from Landsberg Prison. ›

1917

Cheka, the first Soviet secret police force, is founded. ›

1915

World War I: The last Australian troops are evacuated from Gallipoli. ›

1860

South Carolina becomes the first state to attempt to secede from the United States with the South Carolina Declaration of Secession. ›

1848

French presidential election: Having won the popular vote in a landslide, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte is inaugurated in the chamber of the National Assembly as the first (and only) president of the French Second Republic. ›

1832

HMS Clio under the command of Captain Onslow arrives at Port Egmont under orders to take possession of the Falkland Islands. ›

1808

Peninsular War: The Siege of Zaragoza begins. ›

1803

The Louisiana Purchase is completed at a ceremony in New Orleans. ›

1334

Cardinal Jacques Fournier, a Cistercian monk, is elected Pope Benedict XII. ›

1192

Richard I of England is captured and imprisoned by Leopold V of Austria on his way home to England after the Third Crusade. ›

1046

Emperor Henry III convenes the synod of Sutri to mediate between different claimants to the papacy. ›

944

Byzantine Emperor Romanos I Lekapenos is arrested by two of his sons, forced to abdicate and to live as a monk for the rest of his life. ›

69

Antonius Primus enters Rome to claim the title of Emperor for Nero's former general Vespasian. ›