20 April History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 1139    -    The Second Lateran Council opens in Rome.
  • 1657    -    English Admiral Robert Blake fights his last battle when he destroys the Spanish fleet in Santa Cruz Bay.
  • 1769    -    Ottawa Chief Pontiac is murdered by an Indian in Cahokia.
  • 1770    -    Captain Cook discovers Australia.
  • 1775    -    British troops begin the siege of Boston.
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  • 1792    -    France declares war on Austria, Prussia, and Sardinia.
  • 1809    -    Napoleon defeats Austria at Battle of Abensberg, Bavaria.
  • 1836    -    The Territory of Wisconsin is created.
  • 1841    -    Edgar Allen Poe's first detective story is published.
  • 1861    -    Robert E. Lee resigns from the U.S. Army.
  • 1879    -    The first mobile home (horse-drawn) is used in a journey from London to Cyprus.
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  • 1916    -    Wrigley Field opens in Chicago.
  • 1919    -    The Polish Army captures Vilno, Lithuania from the Soviets.
  • 1940    -    The first electron microscope is demonstrated.
  • 1942    -    Pierre Laval, the premier of Vichy France, in a radio broadcast, establishes a policy of "true reconciliation with Germany."
  • 1945    -    Soviet troops begin their attack on Berlin.
  • 1951    -    General MacArthur addresses a joint session of Congress after being relieved by President Truman.
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  • 1953    -    Operation Little Switch begins in Korea, the exchange of sick and wounded prisoners of war.
  • 1962    -    The New Orleans Citizens Committee gives free one-way ride to blacks to move North.
  • 1967    -    U.S. planes bomb Haiphong for first time during the Vietnam War.
  • 1999    -    Two students enter Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado and open fire with multiple firearms, killing 13 students and teachers, wounding 25 and eventually shooting themselves.

  • 20 April Birthdays

  • 121    -    Marcus Aurelius, 16th Roman emperor, philosopher.
  • 1745    -    Philippe Pinel, founder of psychiatry.
  • 1807    -    Aloysius Bertrand ("Gaspard de la Nuit"), French poet.
  • 1808    -    Louis-Napoleon (Napoleon III), emperor of France.
  • 1850    -    Daniel Chester French, sculptor.
  • 1889    -    Adolf Hitler, Facist dictator of Nazi Germany (1933-1945).
  • 1893    -    Harold Lloyd, film comedian.
  • 1893    -    Joan Miró, Spanish painter.
  • 1927    -    Alex Muller, Nobel Prize-winning physicist.