March 20Birthdays & History

On this day: March 20 in history

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

1. 1206Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.Middle East
2. 1600The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden: five Swedish noblemen are publicly beheaded in the aftermath of the War against Sigismund (1598–1599).Europe
3. 1602The Dutch East India Company is established.EuropeAsia
4. 1616Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.Europe
5. 1760The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings.North America
6. 1815After escaping from Elba, Napoleon enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.Europe
7. 1848German revolutions of 1848–49: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.Europe
8. 1852Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.North America
9. 1854The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin, US.North America
10. 1861An earthquake destroys Mendoza, Argentina.Latin America
11. 1883The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is signed.Europe
12. 1888The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.Europe
13. 1890Chancellor of the German Empire Otto von Bismarck is dismissed by Emperor Wilhelm II.Europe
14. 1896With the approval of Emperor Guangxu, the Qing dynasty post office is opened, marking the beginning of a postal service in China.Asia
15. 1903The first of a series of auctions of sheep farming land in southern Patagonia takes place impacting established settlers.Latin America
16. 1913Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.Asia
17. 1914In the Curragh incident, over 100 British Army officers threaten to resign if ordered to march against the Ulster Volunteers.Europe
18. 1916Albert Einstein submits his paper, "The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity", which establishes his general theory of relativity, to the journal Annalen der Physik.Europe
19. 1921The Upper Silesia plebiscite, mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland, is held.Europe
20. 1922The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.North America
21. 1923The Arts Club of Chicago hosts the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the United States.North America
22. 1926Chiang Kai-shek initiates a purge of communist elements within the National Revolutionary Army in Guangzhou.Asia
23. 1933Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler orders the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appoints Theodor Eicke as the camp commandant.Europe
24. 1942World War II: General Douglas MacArthur, at Terowie, South Australia, makes his famous speech regarding the fall of the Philippines, in which he says: "I came out of Bataan and I shall return".OceaniaAsia
25. 1948With a Musicians Union ban lifted, the first telecasts of classical music in the United States, under Eugene Ormandy and Arturo Toscanini, are given on CBS and NBC.North America
26. 1951Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.Asia
27. 1952The US Senate ratifies the Security Treaty between the United States and Japan.North AmericaAsia
28. 1956Tunisia gains independence from France.AfricaEurope
29. 1964The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.Europe
30. 1969A United Arab Airlines (now Egyptair) Ilyushin Il-18 crashes at Aswan International Airport, killing 100 people.Middle East
31. 1972The Troubles: The first car bombing by the Provisional IRA in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland.Europe
32. 1985Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.North America
33. 1987The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.North America
34. 1988Eritrean War of Independence: Having defeated the Nadew Command, the Eritrean People's Liberation Front enters the town of Afabet, victoriously concluding the Battle of Afabet.Africa
35. 1990Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.Asia
36. 1993The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland.Europe
37. 1995The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 14 and wounding over 6,200 people.Asia
38. 1999Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California, US.North AmericaEurope
39. 2000Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a former Black Panther once known as H. Rap Brown, is captured after murdering Georgia sheriff's deputy Ricky Kinchen and critically wounding Deputy Aldranon English.Europe
40. 2003Iraq War: The United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland begin an invasion of Iraq.Middle EastNorth AmericaEurope
41. 2006Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.Africa
42. 2010Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland begins eruptions that would last for three months, heavily disrupting air travel in Europe.Europe
43. 2012At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq.Middle East
44. 2014Four suspected Taliban members attack the Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.Asia
45. 2015A solar eclipse, equinox, and a supermoon all occur on the same day.World
46. 2015Syrian civil war: The Siege of Kobanî is broken by the People's Protection Units (YPG) and Free Syrian Army (FSA), marking a turning point in the Rojava–Islamist conflict.Middle East
47. 2019Kassym-Jomart Tokayev is sworn in as acting president of Kazakhstan, following the resignation of long-time president Nursultan Nazarbayev.Asia
48. 2021La Plume noire, an anarchist bookstore in Lyon, is targeted by an attack of the far-right, provoking a shock in Lyon's far-left circles.Europe

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