Today in History – August 20th

Published August 20, 2012 |

917, Battle of Acheloos: Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria decisively defeats a Byzantine army.
1083, Canonization of the 1st King of Hungary, Saint Stephen and his son Saint Emeric.
1308, Pope Clement V pardons Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, absolving him of charges of heresy.
1391, Konrad von Wallenrode becomes the 24th Hochmeister of the Teutonic Order.
1672, Former Grand Pensionary Johan de Witt and his brother Cornelis are brutally murdered by an angry mob in The Hague.
1775, The Spanish establish the Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in the town that became Tucson, Arizona.
1778, Bernardo O’Higgins, South American revolutionary (d. 1842) was born.
1833, Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (d. 1901) was born.
1858, Charles Darwin 1st publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings.
1866, President Andrew Johnson formally declares the American Civil War over.
1882, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture debuts in Moscow.
1907, Alan Reed, original voice of Fred Flintstone. (d. 1977) was born.
1910, The Great Fire of 1910 occurred in northeast Washington, northern Idaho and western Montana, burning approx 3 million acres.
1912, William Booth, English founder of the Salvation Army (b. 1829) died.
1914, WWI: German forces occupy Brussels.
1920, The 1st commercial radio station, 8MK (now WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan.
1926, Japan’s public broadcasting company, Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK) is established.
1938, Lou Gehrig hits his 23rd career grand slam, a record that still stands.
1940, British PM Winston Churchill makes 4th of his famous wartime speeches, “Never was so much owed by so many to so few”.
1940, In Mexico City exiled Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky is fatally wounded with an ice axe by Ramon Mercader.
1941, Slobodan Milosevic, President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia (d. 2006) was born.
1942, Isaac Hayes, American singer, songwriter, and actor (d. 2008) was born.
1944, WWII: 168 captured allied airmen accused by the Gestapo of being “terror fliers”, arrive at Buchenwald concentration camp.
1944, WWII: the Battle of Romania begins with a major Soviet offensive.
1950, Korean War: UN repel offensive by North Korean divisions attempting to cross the Naktong River and assault city of Taegu.
1955, In Morocco, force of Berbers from Atlas Mountains region of Algeria raid 2 rural settlements and kill 77 French nationals.
1960, Senegal breaks from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
1968, Soviet Union-dominated Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia, crushing the Prague Spring.
1975, Viking Program: NASA launches the Viking 1 planetary probe toward Mars.
1977, Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 2 spacecraft.
1988, “Black Saturday” of the Yellowstone fire in Yellowstone National Park
1988, IranaE”Iraq War: a cease-fire is agreed after almost eight years of war.
1998, The Supreme Court of Canada rules that Quebec cannot legally secede from Canada without the federal government’s approval.
2001, Sir Fred Hoyle, English astronomer and science fiction writer (b. 1915) died.
2006, Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (b. 1911) died.
2007, Leona Helmsley, American hotel operator and real estate investor (b. 1920) died.

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Chris Rivait

Chris loves history and hopes that Yesteeyear becomes a place where everyone can share their history knowledge. Chris owns an Internet Marketing company, Arrivait Marketing. He has a wonderful wife and four great children.