SomeFacts | October 20

On this day - October 20

1568 — The Spanish Duke of Alba defeats a Dutch rebel force under ...

1572 — Eighty Years' War: Three thousand Spanish soldiers wade ...

1740 — France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the ...

1774 — American Revolution: The Continental Association, a ...

1781 — The Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of ...

1803 — The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.

1818 — The Convention of 1818 is signed between the United States and ...

1827 — Greek War of Independence: In the Battle of Navarino, a ...

1883 — Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá ...

1904 — Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, ...

1910 — British ocean liner RMS Olympic is launched.

1935 — The Long March, a mammoth retreat undertaken by the armed ...

1941 — World War II: Thousands of civilians in German-occupied Serbia ...

1944 — World War II: American general Douglas MacArthur fulfills his ...

1944 — Liquefied natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland ...

1944 — World War II: The Soviet Red Army and Yugoslav Partisans ...

1947 — Cold War: The House Un-American Activities Committee begins ...

1948 — A KLM Lockheed L-049 Constellation crashes on approach to ...

1951 — The "Johnny Bright incident" occurs during a ...

1952 — The Governor of Kenya Evelyn Baring declares a state of ...

1961 — The Soviet Navy performs the first armed test of a ...

1962 — China launches simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across ...

1973 — The Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II after 14 ...

1973 — Watergate scandal: "Saturday Night Massacre": United ...

1976 — The Luling–Destrehan Ferry MV George Prince is struck by the ...

1977 — A plane carrying the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in ...

1981 — Two police officers and a Brink's armored car guard are ...

1982 — During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC ...

1986 — Aeroflot Flight 6502 crashes while landing at Kuibyshev ...

1991 — A massive firestorm breaks out in the hills of Oakland and ...

1991 — A 6.8 Mw earthquake strikes the Uttarkashi region of India, ...

1995 — Space Shuttle Columbia launches on STS-73.

2002 — Top Gear, the revived popular British TV motoring magazine, ...

2003 — The Sloan Great Wall, once the largest cosmic structures known ...

2005 — The general conference of the United Nations Educational, ...

2011 — Libyan Crisis: Rebel forces capture Libyan dictator Muammar ...

2017 — Syrian civil war: The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) declare ...

2022 — Liz Truss steps down as British Prime Minister and leader of ...