Unix Timestamp: 1124496000
Saturday, August 20. 2005, 12:00:00 AM UTC


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Saturday, August 20, 2011

28 ndash Arab Spring and the Libyan civil war: In the Battle of Tripoli, Libyan rebels take control of the nation's capital, effectively overthrowing the government of Muammar Gaddafi.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

A line of severe thunderstorms rolls through Ontario, Canada, spawns over 18 tornadoes in one day which has been declared to be the largest tornado outbreak in Canadian history, at least four F-2 tornadoes were confirmed, including one touching down in the town of Durham, Ontario, northwest of Toronto where at least one person was killed, and the other in a Toronto suburb of Vaughan, Ontario where over 600 homes were damaged or destroyed.//toronto.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20090821/ontario_storm_090821?hub=TorontoNewHome (CTV)
Abdelbaset al-Megrahi, imprisoned for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, is released by the Scottish government on compassionate grounds as he has terminal prostate cancer. He returns to his native Libya.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Spanair Flight 5022, from Madrid to Gran Canaria, skids off the runway and crashes at Barajas Airport with 172 on board. Of them, 154 die and 18 survive.{{Cite news|title= DNA tests for those killed in Madrid crash|first=|last=|url= //news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7575970.stm
At least 11 people are killed and 31 injured in two bombings in the Algerian town of Bouira. //afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jHfkhvV-ZbTYJt0Khm9mFZu3pKRw (AFP via Google News)
The United Kingdom Competition Commission recommends that BAA Limited should sell two out of its three airports in South East England (Heathrow, Gatwick, and Stansted) and one of its Scottish airports (either Edinburgh Airport or Glasgow International Airport) due to competition concerns. //news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7571613.stm (BBC News)

Friday, August 20, 2004

Elbegdorj Tsakhia, the peaceful democratic revolutionary leader of Mongolia, becomes Prime Minister of Mongolia for the second time.

Wednesday, August 20, 2003

Fighting persists in Chechnya, with six Russian servicemen killed and 11 others wounded in the war-ravaged region.
A 4-week-old boy, born to Nigerian parents, dies after a botched home circumcision by a friend of the boy's parents, in the Republic of Ireland. The Garda Síochána are searching for the man, who had no medical qualifications. //www.rte.ie/news/2003/0820/baby.html

Wednesday, August 20, 1997

Over 60 are killed, 15 kidnapped in the Souhane massacre in Algeria .

Tuesday, August 20, 1996

A thousands-large protest in Seoul, calling for reunification with North Korea, is broken up by riot police.

Saturday, August 20, 1994

In Honolulu, Hawaii, during a circus international performance, an elephant named Tyke crushes her trainer Allen Cbell to death before hundreds of horrified spectators, at the Neal Blaisdell Arena.

Thursday, August 20, 1992

Kristiansund's connection to the mainland of Norway, Krifast, opens.

Tuesday, August 20, 1991

Dissolution of the Soviet Union: Estonia declares its independence from the Soviet Union, and more than 100,000 people rally outside the Soviet Union's parliament building protesting the coup that deposed President Mikhail Gorbachev.

Saturday, August 20, 1988

The Iran–Iraq War ends, with an estimated one million lives lost.

Wednesday, August 20, 1986

In Edmond, Oklahoma, United States Postal Service employee Patrick Sherrill guns down 14 of his co-workers before committing suicide.

Friday, August 20, 1982

Lebanese Civil War: A multinational force lands in Beirut to oversee the PLO withdrawal from Lebanon. French troops arrive August 21, U.S. Marines August 25.

Monday, August 20, 1979

Grenada recognizes the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR).

Saturday, August 20, 1977

Wednesday, August 20, 1975

Viking program: NASA launches the "Viking 1" planetary probe toward Mars.

Wednesday, August 20, 1969

Florissant Fossil Beds National Monument is established in Florissant, CO, USA

Tuesday, August 20, 1968

August 21 ndash The "Prague Spring" of political liberalization ends, as 200,000 Warsaw Pact troops and 5,000 tanks invade Czechoslovakia.

Friday, August 20, 1965

Jonathan Myrick Daniels, an Episcopal seminarian from Keene, New Hshire, is murdered in Hayneville, Alabama while working in the American civil rights movement.

Thursday, August 20, 1964

Fannie Lou Hamer, civil rights activist and Vice Chair of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party, addresses the Credentials Committee of the Democratic National Convention, challenging the all-white Mississippi delegation.
Goalkeeper Derek Foster of Sunderland becomes the youngest-ever player to play in the Football League, aged 15 years and 185 days.
International Telecommunications Satellite Consortium

Saturday, August 20, 1960

Senegal breaks away from the Mali Federation, declaring its independence.
The American nuclear submarine USS "Seadragon" (SSN-584) surfaced through the arctic ice cap at the North Pole, the first submarine ever to do so.
The American nuclear submarineUSS \'\'Seadragon\'\' (SSN-584) surfaced through the arctic ice cap at the North Pole, the first submarine ever to do so.

Saturday, August 20, 1955

Hundreds of people are killed in anti-French rioting in Morocco and Algeria.

Sunday, August 20, 1944

American forces successfully defeat Nazi forces at Chambois, closing the Falaise Gap.
168 captured allied airmen, including Phil Lamason, accused of being terror fliers by the Gestapo, arrive at Buchenwald concentration c.

Sunday, August 20, 1939

Armored forces under the command of Soviet General Georgi Zhukov deliver a decisive defeat to Japanese Imperial Army forces in the Japanese-Soviet border war in Inner Mongolia.

Friday, August 20, 1920

The first commercial radio station in the United States, 8MK (WWJ), begins operations in Detroit, Michigan. It is owned by the Detroit News, the first U.S. radio station owned by a newspaper.

Thursday, August 20, 1914

World War I: German forces occupy Brussels.

Wednesday, August 20, 1913

above Buc, France, parachutist Adolphe Pegoud jumps from an airplane and lands safely.

Saturday, August 20, 1898

Opening of the Gornergratbahn railway, connecting Zermatt to the Gornergrat.

Wednesday, August 20, 1890

Treaty of London: Portugal and the United Kingdom define the borders of the Portuguese colonies of Mozambique and Angola.

Monday, August 20, 1888

There is a mutiny at Dufile, India, and the Emin Pasha is imprisoned.

Friday, August 20, 1886

A massive hurricane demolishes the town of Indianola, Texas.

Sunday, August 20, 1882

Thursday, August 20, 1868

Abergele Train Disaster in Wales: An "Irish Mail" passenger train collides with 4 cargo trucks loaded with paraffin: 33 are killed (the first major train disaster in Britain).

Friday, August 20, 1847

U.S. troops defeat Mexican troops in Valencia, Mexico

Tuesday, August 20, 1833

Future United States PresidentBenjamin Harrison is born in Ohio. From this date until the death of Former U.S. President James Madison on June 281836, there are a total of 19 Presidents of the United States (3 former, 1 current, and 15 known future) living which is more than any other time period in U.S. history.

Monday, August 20, 1804

Lewis and Clark Expedition: The "Corps of Discovery", whose purpose is to explore the Louisiana Purchase, suffers its only death when Sergeant Charles Floyd dies, apparently from acute appendicitis.

Wednesday, August 20, 1710

War of the Spanish Succession: Battle of Saragossa: The Spanish-Bourbon army commanded by the Marquis de Bay is soundly defeated by the forces of the Habsburg Monarchy under Guido Starhemberg and their allies.
In Sweden, the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala is founded as the "Collegium curiosorum".
John Smithwick begins brewing Smithwick\\'sale at Kilkenny, Ireland (St. Francis Abbey Brewery).
Beijing becomes the largest city of the world, taking the lead from Istanbul.1987 estimate.

Saturday, August 20, 1672

September ndash Raimondo Montecuccoli and the Great Elector assemble at Halberstadt to attack the French and the bishops of Münster and Cologne in their back. Bernard von Galen withdraws from the city of Groningen slowly to the south.
October ndash Spain begins construction on the masonry fort that will become Castillo de San Marcos, to protect St. Augustine, Florida.
Johan de Witt, Grand Pensionary of Holland, is slaughtered by a mob in The Hague.

Monday, August 20, 1657

The ship "Les Armes d'Amsterdam" arrives at Quebec, New France. Among the passengers is Michel Mathieu Brunet "dit" Lestang (1638–1708), colonist, explorer and co-discoverer of what is today Green Bay, Wisconsin. He is the ancestor of the Brunet, Lestang and Carisse families of North America.
September ndash Shah Jahan becomes ill, allowing his son to take control of the Mughal Empire.

Monday, August 20, 1612

Ten 'Pendle witches' are hanged having been found guilty of practising witchcraft in Lancashire, England.

Tuesday, August 20, 1585

The Treaty of Nonsuch is signed, committing England to support the Dutch Revolt, thus entering the Eighty Years' War.ref name=Cassell's Chronology
Chocolate is introduced to Europe commercially.

Saturday, August 10, 1527 (Julianian calendar)

Diet of Odense (Denmark). King Frederick I declares religious tolerance for Lutherans, permits marriage of priests, forbids seeking papal "pallium" (approval) for royal appointments of Church officials.Steffensen, Kenneth (2007). "Scandinavia After the Fall of the Kalmar Union: a Study of Scandinavian Relations", 1523-1536. Unpubl. M.A. Thesis, Brigham Young Univ.Fisher, George P (1873). "The Reformation". Scribner.
Sixty Anabaptists meet at the Martyrs' Synod.

Tuesday, August 10, 1507 (Julianian calendar)

The Portuguese occupy Mozambique and the islands of Socotra and Lamu.
Cardinal Cisneros is appointed major inquisitor of Castile.
Raphael paints his "Burial of Jesus".
Timurid dynasty ends.
The King of England prosecutes the Lords for keeping a private army, which might threaten his régime.
Leonardo da Vinci completes the "Mona Lisa".
The AztecNew Fire ceremony is held for the last time (according to Bernardino de Sahagún).
King James IV grants a patent for the first printing press in Scotland to Walter Chapman and Andrew Myllar.
Guru Nanak Dev becomes the first guru and leader of the Sikh religion.

Thursday, August 10, 1503 (Julianian calendar)

Stephen III of Moldavia concludes a treaty with Sultan Beyazid II preserving Moldavia's self-rule at the cost of an annual tribute to the Ottoman Empire.

Wednesday, August 11, 1456 (Julianian calendar)

Vladislav II, reigning Prince of Wallachia, is killed in battle by Vlad III Dracula, who succeeds him.

Wednesday, August 11, 1451 (Julianian calendar)

The French capture Bayonne, the last English stronghold in Guyenne

Saturday, August 13, 1205 (Julianian calendar)

William of Wrotham, Lord Warden of the Stannaries of England, oversees a reform of English currency. In keeping with other high-ranking bureaucrats of his time and place, this is just one of Wrotham's many offices: he is also Keeper of the King's Ports Galleys, supervisor of the mints of Canterbury and London, ward of the vacant Diocese of Bath and Wells, an archdeacon of Taunton, a canon of Wells, and will serve the following year as a circuit judge."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 130
Following certain news of Baldwin I's death, Henry of Flanders is crowned Emperor of the Latin Empire.
Anjou is conquered by Philip II of France. Fearing a French invasion of England itself, John of England requires every English male over 12 to enter an association for the general defence of the realm and the preservation of peace."King John" by Warren. Published by University of California Press in 1961. p. 111
Following certain news of Baldwin I\'s death, Henry of Flanders is crowned Emperor of the Latin Empire.
Othon de la Roche founds the Duchy of Athens.

Wednesday, August 13, 1119 (Julianian calendar)

Monday, August 13, 1100 (Julianian calendar)

After a success over the Armenians of Cilicia and the emirate of Aleppo, Baldwin of Bourcq becomes Count of Edessa with the support of the patriarch Dagobert of Pisa.
with the support of the Venetian fleet, the Crusaders under Tancred of Hauteville captures the coastal city of Haifa.
Genoa, Venice and Pisa gain trading privileges from the Crusader states in return for their service during the conquest of the coastal cities.

Friday, August 15, 984 (Julianian calendar)

Antipope Boniface VII murders Pope John XIV.

Friday, August 15, 917 (Julianian calendar)

Battle of Achelous: A large-scale Byzantine expedition against Bulgaria is routed by Tsar Simeon I of Bulgaria.
Source: Wikipedia