April 20Birthdays & History

On this day: April 20 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 1152After an eight-year conflict, Baldwin III of Jerusalem wins sole control of the Kingdom of Jerusalem from his mother Melisende.Middle East
2. 1303The Bahri Mamluks defeat the Ilkhanate in the battle of Marj al-Saffar, marking the end of the Mongol incursions into Syria.AsiaMiddle East
3. 1303The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.Europe
4. 1535A complex halo display is observed over Stockholm, Sweden, inspiring the Vädersolstavlan ("The Sundog painting"), the earliest depiction of such an event, and the oldest colour depiction of the city.Europe
5. 1653Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament.Europe
6. 1657English Admiral Robert Blake destroys a Spanish silver fleet, under heavy fire from the shore, at the Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.Europe
7. 1657Freedom of religion is granted to the Jews of New Amsterdam (later New York City).EuropeNorth America
8. 1752Start of Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War, a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).Asia
9. 1770The Georgian king, Erekle II, abandoned by his Russian ally Count Totleben, wins a victory over Ottoman forces at Aspindza.EuropeMiddle East
10. 1789George Washington arrives at Grays Ferry, Philadelphia, while en route to Manhattan for his inauguration.North America
11. 1792France declares war against the "King of Hungary and Bohemia", the beginning of the French Revolutionary Wars.Europe
12. 1800The Septinsular Republic is established.Europe
13. 1809Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a First French Empire army led by Napoleon at the Battle of Abensberg on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.Europe
14. 1828René Caillié becomes the second non-Muslim to enter Timbuktu, following Major Gordon Laing. He would also be the first to return alive.Africa
15. 1836U.S. Congress passes an act creating the Wisconsin Territory.North America
16. 1861American Civil War: Robert E. Lee resigns his commission in the United States Army in order to command the forces of the state of Virginia.North America
17. 1861Thaddeus S. C. Lowe, attempting to display the value of balloons, makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina.North America
18. 1862Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard complete the experiment disproving the theory of spontaneous generation.Europe
19. 1865Astronomer Angelo Secchi demonstrates the Secchi disk, which measures water clarity, aboard Pope Pius IX's yacht, the L'Immaculata Concezion.Europe
20. 1876The April Uprising begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the Russo-Turkish War.EuropeMiddle East
21. 1884Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical Humanum genus, condemning Freemasonry.Europe
22. 1898U.S. President William McKinley signs a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the Spanish–American War.North AmericaEurope
23. 1902Pierre and Marie Curie refine radium chloride.Europe
24. 1908Opening day of competition in the New South Wales Rugby League.Europe
25. 1914Nineteen men, women, and children participating in a strike are killed in the Ludlow Massacre during the Colorado Coalfield War.North America
26. 1918World War I: Manfred von Richthofen, a.k.a. The Red Baron, shoots down his 79th and 80th victims, his final victories before his death the following day.Europe
27. 1922The Soviet government creates the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the Georgian SSR.Europe
28. 1945World War II: U.S. troops capture Leipzig, Germany, only to later cede the city to the Soviet Union.North AmericaEurope
29. 1945Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.Europe
30. 1945World War II: Führerbunker: On his 56th birthday Adolf Hitler makes his last trip to the surface to award Iron Crosses to boy soldiers of the Hitler Youth.Europe
31. 1946The League of Nations officially dissolves, giving most of its power to the United Nations.Europe
32. 1949Amethyst incident: The People's Liberation Army attacks HMS Amethyst (F116) travelling to the British embassy in Nanjing during the Chinese Civil War.EuropeAsia
33. 1961Cold War: Failure of the Bay of Pigs Invasion of US-backed Cuban exiles against Cuba.North AmericaLatin America
34. 1968South African Airways Flight 228 crashes near J.G. Strijdom Airport in South West Africa (now Hosea Kutako International Airport in Namibia), killing 123 people.Africa
35. 1968English politician Enoch Powell makes his controversial "Rivers of Blood" speech.Europe
36. 1972Apollo program: The Apollo 16 Lunar Module Orion, commanded by John Young and piloted by Charles Duke, lands on the Moon.World
37. 1985University of California, Riverside 1985 laboratory raid: Animal Liberation Front rescues 467 animals being tested in a lab at University of California, Riverside in Riverside, California, causing $700,000 in damages to the laboratory, in advocacy for animal rights.North America
38. 1998Air France Flight 422 crashes after taking off from El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, killing all 53 people on board.EuropeLatin America
39. 1999Columbine High School massacre: Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold kill 14 people and injure 23 others before committing suicide at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado.North America
40. 2004The Nicoll Highway in Singapore collapses, killing four workers.Asia
41. 2007Johnson Space Center shooting: William Phillips barricades himself with a handgun in NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, before killing a male hostage and himself.North America
42. 2008Danica Patrick wins the Indy Japan 300, becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.Asia
43. 2010The Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explodes in the Gulf of Mexico, killing eleven workers and beginning an oil spill that lasted six months.Latin America
44. 2012One hundred twenty-seven people are killed when a plane crashes in a residential area near the Benazir Bhutto International Airport near Islamabad, Pakistan.Asia
45. 2013A 6.6-magnitude earthquake strikes Lushan County, Ya'an, in China's Sichuan province, killing at least 193 people and injuring thousands.Asia
46. 2015Ten people are killed in a bomb attack on a convoy carrying food supplies to a United Nations compound in Garowe in the Somali region of Puntland.Africa
47. 2020For the first time in history, oil prices drop below zero, an effect of the 2020 Russia-Saudi Arabia oil price war.EuropeMiddle East
48. 2021State of Minnesota v. Derek Michael Chauvin: Derek Chauvin is found guilty of all charges in the murder of George Floyd by the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota.North America
49. 2023SpaceX's Starship rocket, the largest and most powerful rocket ever built, launches for the first time. It explodes four minutes into flight.North America

Source: Wikipedia "April 20" / CC BY-SA 4.0