What Happened on July 20th in History
30 historical events on this date
Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
Otto John was a German lawyer and intelligence official. During World War II, he was a conspirator in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. Following the war, he became the first head of...
The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USSÂ George Washington, for the first time.
The UGM-27 Polaris missile was a two-stage solid-fueled nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM). As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1980.
French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean...
Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Äá»nh TÆ°á»ng Province, CĂĄi BĂš, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).
The Vietnam War was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam and their allies. North Vietnam was supported by the Soviet Union and China, while...
The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
Special Olympics is the world's largest sports organization for children and adults with intellectual disabilities, providing year-round training and activities to 5 million participants and Unified...
Apollo program: Apollo 11's crew successfully makes the first human landing on the Moon in the Sea of Tranquility. Americans Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin become the first humans to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later.
The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo was conceived in 1960 in the...
A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War".
Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south...
Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'Ă©tat, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
Turkey invaded Cyprus on 20Â July 1974 in an operation that progressed in two phases over the following month. Taking place upon a background of intercommunal violence between Greek and Turkish...
The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
Viking 1 was the first of two spacecraft, along with Viking 2, each consisting of an orbiter and a lander, sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. The lander touched down on Mars on July 20,...
The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and...
The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.
The Johnstown flood of 1977 was a major flood which began on the night of July 19, 1977, when heavy rainfall caused widespread flash flooding in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States,...
Aeroflot Flight B-2 crashes after takeoff from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic, killing 39.
Aeroflot Flight B-2 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight operated by Aeroflot from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic to Irkutsk International Airport near Irkutsk. On 20 July 1977, the Avia...
Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people.
On 20 July 1981, Somali Airlines Flight 40, a Fokker F27-600 Friendship operating a daily scheduled domestic passenger flight from Mogadishu International Airport to Hargeisa Airport, Somalia,...
Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings: The Provisional IRA detonates two bombs in Hyde Park and Regent's Park in central London, killing eight soldiers, wounding forty-seven people, and leading to the deaths of seven horses.
The Hyde Park and Regent's Park bombings were carried out on 20 July 1982 in London, England. Members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) detonated two improvised explosive devices during...
The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
Aruba, officially the Country of Aruba, is a constituent island country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in the southern Caribbean Sea 29 kilometres (18Â mi) north of the Venezuelan peninsula...
Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and also referred to as Burma, is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and has...
VĂĄclav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
VĂĄclav Havel was a Czech statesman, author, poet, playwright, and dissident. Havel served as the last president of Czechoslovakia from 1989 until 1992, prior to the dissolution of Czechoslovakia on...
A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes during takeoff from Tbilisi International Airport, killing all 24 aboard and four more people on the ground.
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a three-engined, medium-range, narrow-body airliner designed in the mid-1960s and manufactured by Tupolev. A workhorse of Soviet and (subsequently) Russian airlines for several...
The fully restored USSÂ Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
USS Constitution, also known as Old Ironsides, is a three-masted wooden-hulled heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She is the world's oldest commissioned warship still afloat. She was launched...
The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
The persecution of Falun Gong is the campaign initiated in 1999 by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to eliminate the new religious movement Falun Gong in China, maintaining a doctrine of state...
The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.
The Civil Marriage Act is a federal statute legalizing same-sex marriage across Canada. At the time it became law, same-sex marriage had already been legalized by court decisions in all Canadian...
James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
James Eagan Holmes is an American convicted mass murderer who perpetrated the 2012 Aurora theater shooting in which he killed 12 people and injured 70 others at a Century 16 movie theater on July...
Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and EfrĂźn without resistance.
The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale...
Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
On 20 July 2013, two clashes occurred in Colombia between government forces and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. Nineteen soldiers were killed in the deadliest day since...
Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG).
The Syrian civil war was an armed conflict that began with the Syrian revolution in March 2011, when popular discontent with the Ba'athist regime ruled by Bashar al-Assad triggered large-scale...
A huge explosion in the mostly Kurdish border town of Suruç, Turkey, targeting the Socialist Youth Associations Federation, kills at least 31 people and injures over 100.
The Suruç bombing was a suicide attack by the Turkish sect of Islamic State named Dokumacılar against Turkish leftists that took place in the Suruç district of Ćanlıurfa Province in Turkey on 20...
The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic consisting of 50 states and a federal...
O. J. Simpson is granted parole to be released from prison after serving nine years of a 33-year sentence after being convicted of armed robbery in Las Vegas.
Orenthal James Simpson, nicknamed "the Juice", was an American football player, actor, and media personality. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasonsânine with the Buffalo...
Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
Soyuz MS-13, also designated ISS flight 59S, was a crewed Soyuz mission launched on 20 July 2019 â the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing â carrying three members of the Expedition 60 crew...
American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.
Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American businessman, and the founder, executive chairman, and former president and CEO of Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce and cloud computing company. According...