On This Day … 20 September

Events

  • 1058 – Agnes of Poitou and Andrew I of Hungary meet to negotiate about the border territory of Burgenland.
  • 1066 – At the Battle of Fulford, Harald Hardrada defeats earls Morcar and Edwin.
  • 1187 – Saladin begins the Siege of Jerusalem.
  • 1260 – The Great Prussian Uprising among the old Prussians begins against the Teutonic Knights.
  • 1519 – Ferdinand Magellan sets sail from Sanlúcar de Barrameda with about 270 men on his expedition to circumnavigate the globe.
    1697 – The Treaty of Ryswick is signed by France, England, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire and the Dutch Republic, ending the Nine Years’ War.
    1737 – The finish of the Walking Purchase which forces the cession of 1.2 million acres (4,860 km2) of Lenape-Delaware tribal land to the Pennsylvania Colony.
    1792 – French Revolutionary Wars: French troops stop an allied invasion of France at the Battle of Valmy.
    1835 – The decade-long Ragamuffin War starts when rebels capture Porto Alegre in Brazil.
    1854 – Crimean War: British and French troops defeat Russians at the Battle of Alma.
    1857 – The Indian Rebellion of 1857 ends with the recapture of Delhi by troops loyal to the East India Company.
  • 1863 – American Civil War: The Battle of Chickamauga, in northwestern Georgia, ends in a Confederate victory.
    1870 – The Bersaglieri corps enter Rome through the Porta Pia, and complete the unification of Italy.
  • 1911 – The White Star Line’s RMS Olympic collides with the British warship HMS Hawke.
  • 1920 – Irish War of Independence: British police known as “Black and Tans” burned the town of Balbriggan and killed two local men in revenge for an Irish Republican Army (IRA) assassination.
  • 1941 – World War II: The Holocaust in Lithuania: Lithuanian Nazis and local police begin a mass execution of 403 Jews in Nemenčinė.
  • 1942 – World War II: The Holocaust in Ukraine: In the course of two days a German Einsatzgruppe murders at least 3,000 Jews in Letychiv.
  • 1946 – The first Cannes Film Festival is held, having been delayed seven years due to World War II.
  • 1946 – Six days after a referendum, King Christian X of Denmark annuls the declaration of independence of the Faroe Islands.
  • 1955 – The Treaty on Relations between the USSR and the GDR is signed.
  • 1961 – Greek general Konstantinos Dovas becomes Prime Minister of Greece.
  • 1965 – Following the Battle of Burki, the Indian Army captures Dograi in course of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965.
  • 1979 – A French-supported coup d’état in the Central African Empire overthrows Emperor Bokassa I.
  • 1990 – South Ossetia declares its independence from Georgia.
  • 2000 – The United Kingdom’s MI6 Secret Intelligence Service building is attacked by individuals using a Russian-built RPG-22 anti-tank missile.
  • 2001 – In an address to a joint session of Congress and the American people, US President George W. Bush declares a “War on Terror”.
  • 2011 – The United States military ends its “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, allowing gay men and women to serve openly for the first time.

People (Births)

  • 1778 – Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen, Russian admiral, cartographer, and explorer (d. 1852).
  • 1820 – John F. Reynolds, American general (d. 1863).
  • 1833 – Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, Italian soldier and journalist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1918).
  • 1872 – Maurice Gamelin, French general (d. 1958).
  • 1889 – Charles Reidpath, American runner and general (d. 1975).
  • 1891 – Tomás Garrido Canabal, Mexican revolutionary (d. 1943).
  • 1893 – Colin Fraser Barron, Scottish-Canadian sergeant, Victoria Cross recipient (d. 1958).
  • 1937 – Garry Johnson, English general.
  • 1973 – Jo Pavey, English runner.
  • 1980 – Vladimir Karpets, Russian cyclist.
  • 1983 – Freya Ross, Scottish runner.

People (Deaths)

  • 1643 – Lucius Cary, 2nd Viscount Falkland, English soldier and politician, Secretary of State for England (b. 1610).
  • 1793 – Fletcher Christian, English lieutenant and mutineer (b. 1764).
  • 1803 – Robert Emmet, Irish commander (b. 1780).
  • 1839 – Sir Thomas Hardy, 1st Baronet, English admiral (b. 1769).
  • 1970 – Alexandros Othonaios, Greek general and politician, 126h Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1879).
  • 1979 – Ludvík Svoboda, Czech general and politician, 8th President of Czechoslovakia (b. 1895).
  • 1993 – Erich Hartmann, German soldier and pilot (b. 1922).
  • 2000 – Gherman Titov, Russian general, pilot, and astronaut (b. 1935).
  • 2004 – Townsend Hoopes, American soldier and historian (b. 1922).
  • 2010 – Leonard Skinner, American soldier and educator (b. 1933).
  • 2012 – Tereska Torrès, French soldier and author (b. 1920).
  • 2013 – James B. Vaught, American general (b. 1926).
  • 2014 – Anatoly Berezovoy, Russian colonel, pilot, and cosmonaut (b. 1942).
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