July 20 has produced turning points in politics, science, culture, war, law, and technology. This timeline collects notable events recorded for this calendar day.
The list below is generated from public historical datasets and refreshed automatically by date.
Timeline for July 20
2021 Jeff Bezos
American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.
2019 Soyuz MS-13
Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
2017 O. J. Simpson
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.
2015 Suruç bombing
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.
2015 United States
The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.
2013 Colombian clashes
Seventeen government soldiers are killed in an attack by FARC revolutionaries in the Colombian department of Arauca.
2013 Syrian civil war
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).
2012 James Holmes (mass murderer)
James Holmes opened fire at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, killing 12 and injuring 70 others.
2012 Syrian civil war
Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance.
2005 Civil Marriage Act
The Civil Marriage Act legalizes same-sex marriage in Canada.
1999 Persecution of Falun Gong
The Chinese Communist Party begins a persecution campaign against Falun Gong, arresting thousands nationwide.
1997 USS Constitution
The fully restored USS Constitution (a.k.a. Old Ironsides) celebrates its 200th birthday by setting sail for the first time in 116 years.
1992 Václav Havel
Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.
1992 Tupolev Tu-154
A Tupolev Tu-154 crashes during takeoff from Tbilisi International Airport, killing all 24 aboard and four more people on the ground.
1989 Myanmar
Burma's ruling junta puts opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.
1985 Aruba
The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.
1982 Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings
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.
1981 Somali Airlines Flight 40
Somali Airlines Flight 40 crashes in Balad, Somalia, killing 50 people.
1977 Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.
1977 Johnstown flood of 1977
The Johnstown flood of 1977 kills 84 people and causes millions of dollars in damages.
1977 Aeroflot Flight B-2
Aeroflot Flight B-2 crashes after takeoff from Vitim Airport in the Sakha Republic, killing 39.
1976 Viking 1
The American Viking 1 lander successfully lands on Mars.
1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus
Turkish invasion of Cyprus: Forces from Turkey invade Cyprus after a coup d'état, organised by the dictator of Greece, against president Makarios.
1969 Apollo program
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.
1969 Honduras
A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War".
1968 Special Olympics
The first International Special Olympics Summer Games are held at Soldier Field in Chicago, with about 1,000 athletes with intellectual disabilities.
1964 Vietnam War
Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Định Tường Province, Cái Bè, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of whom are children).
1961 Tunisia
French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.
1960 UGM-27 Polaris
The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.
1954 Otto John
Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.
1951 Abdullah I of Jordan
King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem.
1950 Cold War
Cold War: In Philadelphia, Harry Gold pleads guilty to spying for the Soviet Union by passing secrets from atomic scientist Klaus Fuchs.
1950 Korean People’s Army Air Force
After a month-long campaign, the majority of North Korea's Air Force was destroyed by anti-communist forces.
1949 Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission
The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
1944 World War II
World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.
1941 Soviet Union
Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.
1940 League of Nations
Denmark leaves the League of Nations.
1940 California
California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.
1938 United States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.
1936 Montreux Convention Regarding the Regime of the Straits
The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.
1935 KLM
Switzerland: A Royal Dutch Airlines plane en route from Milan to Frankfurt crashes into a Swiss mountain, killing thirteen.
1934 Minneapolis
Labor unrest in the U.S.: Police in Minneapolis fire upon striking truck drivers, during the Minneapolis Teamsters Strike of 1934, killing two and wounding sixty-seven.
1934 West Coast waterfront strike
West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.
1932 Prussian coup d’état
In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government.
1922 League of Nations
The League of Nations awards mandates of Togoland to France and Tanganyika to the United Kingdom.
1920 Silivri
The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks.
1917 World War I
World War I: The Corfu Declaration, which leads to the creation of the post-war Kingdom of Yugoslavia, is signed by the Yugoslav Committee and Kingdom of Serbia.
1906 Finland
In Finland, a new electoral law is ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women are the first in Europe to receive the right to vote.
1903 Ford Motor Company
The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.
1885 The Football Association
The Football Association legalizes professionalism in association football under pressure from the British Football Association.
1871 British Columbia
British Columbia joins the Canadian Confederation.
1866 Austro-Prussian War
Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.
1864 Battle of Peachtree Creek
American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.
1848 Seneca Falls Convention
The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.
1831 Seneca people
Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.
1810 Bogotá
Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.
1807 Nicéphore Niépce
Nicéphore Niépce is awarded a patent by Napoleon for the Pyréolophore, the world's first internal combustion engine, after it successfully powered a boat upstream on the river Saône in France.
1799 Tekle Giyorgis I
Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.
1738 Pierre Gaultier de Varennes, sieur de La Vérendrye
Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.
1715 Ottoman–Venetian War (1714–1718)
Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice's "Kingdom of the Morea", thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea.
1705 Oulu
A fire in Oulu, Finland almost completely destroyed the fourth district, which covered the southern part of the city and was by far the largest of the city districts.
1592 Imjin War
During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it.
1398 English people
The Battle of Kellistown was fought on this day between the forces of the English led by Roger Mortimer, 4th Earl of March against the O'Byrnes and O'Tooles under the command of Art Óg mac Murchadha Caomhánach, the most powerful Chieftain in Leinster.
1230 Treaty of San Germano
Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations.
1189 Richard I of England
Richard I of England officially invested as Duke of Normandy.
911 AD 911
Rollo lays siege to Chartres.
792 Kardam of Bulgaria
Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.
514 Pope Hormisdas
Consecration of pope Hormisdas following the death of pope Symmachus the previous day.
70 AD 70
Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
