Today in History
20 January
|
||
Today in History |
||
20 January |
||
| 1045 Giovanni di Sabina elected Pope Sylvester III | ||
| 1265 In England, the first parliament to be attended by elected knights of the shires and burgesses met under Simon de Montfort. | ||
| 1320 Wladislaw I, also known as Wladislaw the Short, was crowned king of Poland. In defeating the Knights of the Teutonic Order, he created strong foundations for one Polish nation. | ||
| 1327 King Edward II of England was forced to abdicate by powerful barons in favor of his son Edward III. | ||
| 1356 Scottish king Edward Baliol resigns | ||
| 1513 Christian II succeeds Johan I as Danish/Norwegian king | ||
| 1586 Johann Hermann Schein, German composer (Fontana d'Israel) was born | ||
| 1612 Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor from 1576, died; he was unable to reconcile Roman Catholic and Protestant factions which eventually led to the Thirty Years War. | ||
| 1613 Peace of Knerod ends War of Kalmar between Denmark & Sweden | ||
| 1648 Cornerstone of Amsterdam townhall laid | ||
| 1649 British king Charles I was brought before a high court of justice at Westminster Hall on charges of treason following the civil war against parliamentarian forces. | ||
| 1667 Treaty of Andrussovo-ends 13 year war between Poland & Russia | ||
| 1716 Carlos III, king of Naples/Spain (1759-88) Pompei/Jesuits was born | ||
| 1763 Theobald Wolfe Tone, Irish patriot was born | ||
| 1781 1st edition of Pieter It Hoens "Post of Neder-Rhijn" published | ||
| 1782 Johan B J F S, archduke of Austria was born | ||
| 1785 Samuel Ellis advertises to sell Oyster Island (Ellis Is), no takers | ||
| 1788 Pioneer African Baptist church organizes in Savannah, Ga | ||
| 1800 Napoleon I's sister Carolina marries King Joachim Murat of Naples | ||
| 1801 John Marshall appointed US chief justice | ||
| 1831 Pieter J Joubert, general (South Africa) was born | ||
| 1839 The confederation of Peru and Bolivia invaded Chile and was heavily beaten by the Chileans at the battle of Yungan. This defeat led to the break-up of the confederation. | ||
| 1840 Dumont D'Urville discovers Adelie Land, Antarctica | ||
| 1840 Dutch King Willem II crowned | ||
| 1841 China cedes Hong Kong to British | ||
| 1841 After lengthy talks between Britain and China concerning the Opium Wars, the convention of Chuanbi was signed by which Hong Kong island was ceded to the British. | ||
| 1850 Investigator, 1st ship to effect northwest passage, leaves England | ||
| 1860 Dutch troops conquer Watampone in Celebes | ||
| 1866 Prim's Insurrection in Spain ends | ||
| 1866 Richard Le Gallienne, English writer (Maker of Gainborg) was born | ||
| 1870 "City of Boston" vanishes at sea with all 177 aboard | ||
| 1870 Hiram R Revels elected to fill unexpired term of Jefferson Davis | ||
| 1879 British troops under Lord Chelmsford set camp at Isandlwana | ||
| 1918 The German light cruiser Breslau was sunk by mines outside the Dardanelles. Only 162 of 370 crew members survived. | ||
| 1921 British submarine K5 leaves with man & mouse | ||
| 1921 Turkey declared in remnants of Ottoman Empire | ||
| 1925 USSR & Japan sign treaty of Peking, Seychelles back to USSR | ||
| 1926 2nd German governament of Luther begins | ||
| 1934 Japan sends Henry Pu Yi as regent to emperor of Manchuria | ||
| 1936 King George V of Britain died. He was succeeded by Edward VIII, who caused a crisis later the same year by abdicating. | ||
| 1936 Edward VIII succeeds British king George V | ||
| 1939 Hitler proclaims to German parliament to exterminate all European Jews | ||
| 1942 Japanese air raid on Rabaul New Britain | ||
| 1942 Japanese invade Burma | ||
| 1942 Nazi leaders of the security police and various ministries met at the Wannsee conference to set up the bureaucratic apparatus for the Final Solution and complete the systematic destruction of the Jews. | ||
| 1943 Operation-Weiss: Assault of German, Italian, Bulgarian & Croatian | ||
| 1944 In a short air raid on Berlin, the British air force dropped some 2,300 tons of bombs. | ||
| 1945 Franklin Delano Roosevelt was inaugurated to his record fourth term in office as president of the United States. | ||
| 1946 F Gouin follows De Gaulle as temporary leader of French govt | ||
| 1950 Suriname becomes independent part in Realm of Netherlands | ||
| 1952 British army occupies Ismailiya, Suez Canal Zone | ||
| 1957 Gomulka wins Poland's parliamentary election | ||
| 1958 Dr. Vivian Fuchs who led the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic expedition arrived at the South Pole, the half-way point of their journey, with his 11-member team. | ||
| 1960 Patrice Lumumba sentenced to 6 months in Belgian Congo | ||
| 1961 Arthur M Ramsay becomes archbishop of Canterbury | ||
| 1961 Yugoslav ex-vice-president Milovan Djilas flees | ||
| 1961 John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the 35th president of the United States. He was elected by the closest vote ever and was the youngest presidential nominee elected. | ||
| 1965 Generalissimo Francisco Franco meets with Jewish representatives to discuss legitimizing Jewish communities in Spain | ||
| 1969 Richard M Nixon inaugurated as president | ||
| 1973 Richard M. Nixon was sworn in as president for a second term; during the Watergate scandal, he became the first president to resign from office. | ||
| 1973 Dr. Amilcar Cabral, Guinea-Bissau Nationalist leader, was assassinated in Conakry. He founded the PAIGC (African Independence Party of Guinea and Cape Verde), the organization that fought Portuguese colonial rule. | ||
| 1977 George Bush, ends term as 11th director of CIA | ||
| 1977 Mr Knoche, serves as acting director of CIA | ||
| 1981 52 Americans held hostage in Iran for 444 days freed | ||
| 1981 Frank C Carlucci, ends term as deputy director of CIA | ||
| 1981 Ronald Reagan became president of the United States at the age of 69 and 349 days, the oldest president to take office. | ||
| 1981 52 American hostages seized in their embassy in Tehran were released after 444 days in captivity. | ||
| 1982 7 miners killed in an explosion in Craynor Ky | ||
| 1982 Piet Dankert elected chairman of European Parliament | ||
| 1984 Johnny Weissmuller, U.S. athlete and actor, died. Olympic swimming champion who set many records, he was famed for his film appearances as Tarzan. | ||
| 1987 Anglican Church envoy Terry Waite taken hostage in Beirut, Lebanon | ||
| 1987 Terry Waite, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy in Lebanon, was kidnapped. He was not released until November 1991. | ||
| 1991 US Patriot missiles begins shooting down Iraqi missiles | ||
| 1993 Adm Studeman, serves as acting director of CIA | ||
| 1993 Bill Clinton inaugurated as 42nd president | ||
| 1996 Palestinians voted for the first time in elections that consolidated PLO chief Yasser Arafat's rule of the West Bank and Gaza under a peace deal with Israel. He became the first democratically-elected leader of the Palestinian people with 88.1 percent of the vote. | ||
| 1996 Mohammed Hamed Abu el-Nasr, leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest and most influential Islamist organization, died aged 83. | ||