March 20 in History

Historical Events on March 20

235

Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed emperor.
673

Emperor Tenmu of Japan assumes the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Palace of Kiyomihara in Asuka.
1206

Michael IV Autoreianos is appointed Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople.
1600

The Linköping Bloodbath takes place on Maundy Thursday in Linköping, Sweden.
1602

The Dutch East India Company is established.
1616

Sir Walter Raleigh is freed from the Tower of London after 13 years of imprisonment.
1760

The Great Boston Fire of 1760 destroys 349 buildings.
1815

After 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.
1848

Revolutions of 1848 in the German states: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.
1852

Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin is published.
1854

The Republican Party of the United States is organized in Ripon, Wisconsin.
1861

An earthquake completely destroys Mendoza, Argentina.
1883

The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property is signed.
1888

The premiere of the very first Romani language operetta is staged in Moscow, Russia.
1913

Sung Chiao-jen, a founder of the Chinese Nationalist Party, is wounded in an assassination attempt and dies 2 days later.
1915

Albert Einstein publishes his general theory of relativity.
1921

The Upper Silesia plebiscite was a plebiscite mandated by the Versailles Treaty to determine a section of the border between Weimar Germany and Poland.
1922

The USS Langley is commissioned as the first United States Navy aircraft carrier.
1923

The 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.
1933

Giuseppe Zangara is executed in Florida's electric chair for fatally shooting Anton Cermak in an assassination attempt against President-Elect Franklin D. Roosevelt.
1933

Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler ordered the creation of Dachau concentration camp as Chief of Police of Munich and appointed Theodor Eicke as the camp commandant.
1942

World 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".
1948

With 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.
1951

Fujiyoshida, a city located in Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan, in the center of the Japanese main island of Honshū is founded.
1952

The United States Senate ratifies a peace treaty with Japan.
1956

Tunisia gains independence from France.
1964

The precursor of the European Space Agency, ESRO (European Space Research Organisation) is established per an agreement signed on June 14, 1962.
1972

The Troubles: The first Provisional IRA car bombing in Belfast kills seven people and injures 148 others in Northern Ireland.
1985

Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the 1,135-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.
1985

Canadian paraplegic athlete and humanitarian Rick Hansen begins his circumnavigation of the globe in a wheelchair in the name of spinal cord injury medical research.
1987

The Food and Drug Administration approves the anti-AIDS drug, AZT.
1988

Eritrean 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.
1990

Ferdinand Marcos's widow, Imelda Marcos, goes on trial for bribery, embezzlement, and racketeering.
1993

The Troubles: A Provisional IRA bomb kills two children in Warrington, England. It leads to mass protests in both Britain and Ireland.
1995

The Japanese cult Aum Shinrikyo carries out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 12 and wounding over 1,300 people.
1999

Legoland California, the first Legoland outside of Europe, opens in Carlsbad, California.
2000

Jamil 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.
2003

Invasion of Iraq: In the early hours of the morning, the United States and three other countries (the UK, Australia and Poland) begin military operations in Iraq.
2006

Over 150 Chadian soldiers are killed in eastern Chad by members of the rebel UFDC. The rebel movement sought to overthrow Chadian president Idriss Déby.
2012

At least 52 people are killed and more than 250 injured in a wave of terror attacks across ten cities in Iraq.
2014

Four suspected Taliban members attack the luxurious Kabul Serena Hotel, killing at least nine people.
2015

A Solar eclipse, equinox, and a Supermoon all occur on the same day.

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