March 20
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (80th in leap years). There are 286 days remaining. March 20 is also usually the first day of spring in the Northern Hemisphere, and the first day of autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.
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[change] Events
- 325 – The First Council of Nicaea – the first Ecumenical Council of the Christian Church – is held.
- 526 – An earthquake kills about 300,000 people in Syria and Antiochia.
- 685 – The Battle of Nechtansmere is fought between a Pictish army under King Bridei III and the invading Northumbrians under King Ecgfrith, who are decisively defeated.
- 1217 – The Second Battle of Lincoln is fought near Lincoln, England, resulting in the defeat of Prince Louis of France by William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke.
- 1293 – King Sancho IV of Castile creates the Study of General Schools of Alcalá.
- 1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship The Mathew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).
- 1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.
- 1521 – Battle of Pampeluna.
- 1570 – Cartographer Abraham Ortelius issues the first modern atlas.
- 1631 – The city of Magdeburg in Germany is seized by forces of the Holy Roman Empire and most of its inhabitants massacred, in one of the bloodiest incidents of the Thirty Years War.
- 1690 – England passes the Act of Grace, forgiving followers of Catholic James II.
- 1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.
- 1845 – HMS Erebus and HMS Terror with 134 men under John Franklin sail from the River Thames in England, beginning a disastrous expedition to find the Northwest Passage. All hands are lost.
- 1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state.
- 1861 – Mendoza, Argentina, is completely destroyed by an earthquake in which around 6,000 people are killed.
- 1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.
- 1864 – American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church – In the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory.
- 1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a United States patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.
- 1882 – The Triple Alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy is formed.
- 1883 – The eruption of Krakatoa begins, leading ultimately to the volcano's destruction three months later.
- 1891 – History of cinema: First public display of Thomas Alva Edison's prototype kinetoscope (shown at Edison's Laboratory for a convention of the National Federation of Women's Clubs).
- 1902 – Cuba gains independence from the United States.
- 1916 – The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting ("Boy with Baby Carriage").
- 1916 – The U.S. town of Codell, Kansas, is struck by an F2 tornado.
- 1917 – The U.S. town of Codell, Kansas, is struck by an F3 tornado.
- 1918 – For the third consecutive year on this date, the U.S. town of Codell, Kansas, is struck by a tornado.
- 1920 – The Weimarer Nationalversammlung, the national assembly of Germany's Weimar Republic, is permanently dissolved.
- 1920 – Montreal Quebec station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America.
- 1927 – By the Treaty of Jedda, the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merged to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- 1927 – At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, touching down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day).
- 1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.
- 1940 – Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz.
- 1941 – World War II: Battle of Crete – German paratroops invade Crete.
- 1949 – In the United States, the AFSA (the predecessor of the NSA) is established.
- 1954 – Chiang Kai-shek is selected for another term as President of the Republic of China by the National Assembly.
- 1956 – Tunisia becomes independent from France.
- 1965 – A Pakistani Airlines Boeing 720-B crashes on landing at Cairo airport, killing 121 people.
- 1969 – The Battle of Hamburger Hill in Vietnam ends.
- 1980 – In a Referendum in Quebec, the population rejects by a 60% vote the proposal from its government to move towards independence from Canada.
- 1985 – Radio Martí, part of the Voice of America service, begins broadcasting to Cuba.
- 1985 – Libby Riddles becomes the first woman to win the Iditarod Sled Dog Race in Alaska.
- 1989 – The Chinese authorities declare martial law in the face of pro-democracy demonstrations, setting the scene for the Tiananmen Square massacre.
- 1990 – The first post-Communist presidential and parliamentary elections are held in Romania.
- 1993 – The television sitcom, Cheers ends an 11-year run on NBC.
- 1995 – The Japanese cult, Aum Shinrikyo, under leadership of Shoko Asahara carries out a deadly sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway.
- 1996 – Gay rights: The Supreme Court of the United States rules in Romer v. Evans against a law that would have prevented any city, town or county in the state of Colorado from taking any legislative, executive, or judicial action to protect the rights of homosexuals.
- 2002 – East Timor becomes independent from Indonesian rule.
- 2003 – The US-led invasion of Iraq begins.
- 2005 – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hits Fukuoka, Japan, killing one person, and leading to hundreds being injured or evacuated.
[change] Births
- 43 BC – Publius Ovidius Naso, Roman poet (d. 17)
- 1142 – King Malcolm IV of Scotland (d. 1165)
- 1634 – Balthasar Bekker, Dutch philosopher (d. 1698)
- 1725 – Abdul Hamid I, Ottoman Sultan (d. 1789)
- 1737 – Rama I of Thailand (d. 1809)
- 1770 – Friedrich Hoelderlin, German writer (d. 1843)
- 1799 – Karl August Nicander, Swedish poet (d. 1839)
- 1811 – Napoleon II of France (d. 1832)
- 1828 – Henrik Ibsen, Norwegian writer and playwright (d. 1906)
- 1856 – Frederick Winslow Taylor, American inventor (d. 1915)
- 1890 – Beniamino Gigli, Italian operatic tenor and actor (d. 1957)
- 1894 – Ky Ebright, American Olympic rowing coach (d. 1979)
- 1911 – Alfonso Garcia Robles, Mexican diplomat and politician (d. 1991)
- 1915 – Rudolf Kirchschlaeger, President of Austria (d. 2000)
- 1915 – Sviatoslav Richter, Soviet pianist (d. 1997)
- 1916 – Pierre Messmer, Prime Minister of France (d. 2007)
- 1917 – Dame Vera Lynn, British singer
- 1922 – Carl Reiner, American film director
- 1928 – Fred Rogers, American TV host (d. 2003)
- 1937 – Jerry Reed, American singer and actor (d. 2008)
- 1939 – Brian Mulroney, 18th Prime Minister of Canada
- 1948 – Bobby Orr, Canadian ice hockey player
- 1950 – William Hurt, American actor
- 1951 – Jimmie Vaughan, American guitarist
- 1956 – Catherine Ashton, British politician
- 1957 – Spike Lee, American film director
- 1958 – Holly Hunter, American actress
- 1961 – Jesper Olsen, Danish footballer
- 1963 – David Thewlis, British actor
- 1963 – Kathy Ireland, American model and actress
- 1968 – Paul Merson, English footballer
- 1974 – Carsten Ramelow, German footballer
- 1976 – Chester Bennington, American musician (Linkin Park)
- 1979 – Freema Agyeman, British actress
- 1979 – Bianca Lawson, American actress
- 1982 – Rory Fallon, New Zealand footballer
- 1982 – Tomasz Kuszczak, Polish footballer
- 1983 – Eiji Kawashima, Japanese footballer
- 1983 – Thomas Kahlenberg, Danish footballer
- 1984 – Fernando Torres, Spanish footballer
- 1987 – Sergei Kostitsyn, Belarussian ice hockey player
[change] Deaths
- 1413 – King Henry IV of England (b. 1367)
- 1619 – Mathias, Holy Roman Emperor (b. 1557)
- 1865 – Keisuke Yamanami, Japanese samurai (b. 1833)
- 1894 – Lajos Kossuth, National hero of Hungary (b. 1802)
- 1931 – Hermann Mueller, Chancellor of Germany (b. 1876)
- 1934 – Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Regent of the Netherlands (b. 1858)
- 1964 – Brendan Behan, Irish playwright and author (b. 1923)
- 1990 – Lev Yashin, Soviet footballer (b. 1929)
- 1993 – Polykarp Kusch, German physicist (b. 1911)
- 1995 – Werner Liebrich, German footballer (b. 1927)
- 2004 – Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (b. 1909)
- 2010 – Girija Prasad Koirala, Nepalese politician (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Harry Carpenter, British sports commentator (b. 1925)
- 2010 – Stewart Udall, American politician (b. 1920)
[change] Observances
- Independence Day in Tunisia
- Spring Equinox in the Northern Hemisphere
- Autumn Equinox in the Southern Hemisphere
- Norouz, Iranian New Year
