July 20 - Events

Events

• 70 – First Jewish–Roman War: 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.
• 911 – Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
• 1304 – Wars of Scottish Independence: Fall of Stirling Castle – King Edward I of England takes the stronghold using the War Wolf.
• 1402 – Ottoman-Timurid Wars: Battle of Ankara – Timur, ruler of Timurid Empire, defeats forces of the Ottoman Empire sultan Bayezid I.
• 1738 – Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
• 1799 – Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of five reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
• 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.
• 1810 – Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
• 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.
• 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.
• 1871 – British Columbia joins the confederation of Canada.
• 1885 – The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association.
• 1903 – The Ford Motor Company ships its first car.
• 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.
• 1922 – The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
• 1932 – In Washington, D.C., police fire tear gas on World War I veterans, part of the Bonus Expeditionary Force, who attempt to march to the White House.
• 1934 – Labor unrest in the U.S.: as police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven.
• 1934 – 1934 West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, Washington, 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.
• 1935 – Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
• 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.
• 1938 – The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York, New York 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.
• 1940 – Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
• 1940 – California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
• 1941 – Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrenti Beria its chief.
• 1944 – World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
• 1949 – Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war.
• 1950 – Cold War: In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
• 1951 – King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
• 1954 – Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
• 1960 – Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) elects Sirimavo Bandaranaike Prime Minister, the world's first elected female head of government.
• 1960 – The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
• 1961 – French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
• 1964 – Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children).
• 1968 – The first Special Olympics is held.
• 1969 – Apollo program: Apollo 11 successfully makes the first manned landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon almost 7 hours later. (US Time)
• 1969 – A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, 6 days after the beginning of the "Football War".
• 1974 – Turkish occupation of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'etat, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
• 1976 – The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
• 1977 – Johnstown, Pennsylvania is hit by a flash flood that kills eighty and causes $350 million in damage.
• 1977 – The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind control experiments.
• 1980 – The United Nations Security Council votes 14-0 that member states should not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
• 1982 – Hyde Park and Regents Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regents Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
• 1985 – The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
• 1989 – Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
• 1992 – Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
• 1997 – The fully restored USS Constitution (aka Old Ironsides) celebrates her 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
• 1999 – Falun Gong is banned in China, and a large scale crackdown of the practice is launched.
• 2012 – During a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises, a gunman opens fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 people and injuring 58.