History Events on February 20

Two trains collide in the Swiss town of Rafz resulting in as many as 49 people injured and Swiss Federal Railways cancelling some services.

#Rafz_train_crash

An earthquake cracks open the Sinila volcanic crater on the Dieng Plateau, releasing poisonous H2S gas and killing 149 villagers in the Indonesian province of Central Java.

#Earthquake

Rossini's opera The Barber of Seville premieres at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.

#Gioachino_Rossini

The Milanese army and the St. George's (San Giorgio) Mercenaries of Lodrisio Visconti clash in the Battle of Parabiago; Visconti is defeated.

#Milan

An earthquake kills between 114 and 130 in Georgia and heavily damages the town of Gori.

#1920_Gori_earthquake

American figure skater Tara Lipinski becomes the youngest gold-medalist at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan.

#Tara_Lipinski

During a Great White concert in West Warwick, Rhode Island, a pyrotechnics display sets the Station nightclub ablaze, killing 100 and injuring over 200 others.

#Great_White

Orkney and Shetland are pawned by Norway to Scotland in lieu of a dowry for Margaret of Denmark.

#Orkney

The Saturday Evening Post publishes the first of Norman Rockwell's Four Freedoms in support of United States President Franklin Roosevelt's 1941 State of the Union address theme of Four Freedoms.

#The_Saturday_Evening_Post

The Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast votes to secede from Azerbaijan and join Armenia, triggering the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

#Nagorno-Karabakh_Autonomous_Oblast

End of the Uruguayan War, with a peace agreement between President Tomás Villalba and rebel leader Venancio Flores, setting the scene for the destructive War of the Triple Alliance.

#Uruguayan_War

Lieutenant Edward O'Hare becomes America's first World War II flying ace.

#Edward_O'Hare

Emmett Ashford becomes the first African-American umpire in organized baseball by being authorized to be a substitute umpire in the Southwestern International League.

#Emmett_Ashford

René-Robert Cavelier establishes Fort St. Louis at Matagorda Bay thus forming the basis for France's claim to Texas.

#René-Robert_Cavelier,_Sieur_de_La_Salle

The United States Merchant Marine Academy becomes a permanent Service Academy.

#United_States_Merchant_Marine_Academy

The U.S. Congress approves the construction of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge by the state of California.

#United_States_Congress

Manuel Belgrano defeats the royalist army of Pío de Tristán during the Battle of Salta.

#Manuel_Belgrano

Ranger 8 crashes into the Moon after a successful mission of photographing possible landing sites for the Apollo program astronauts.

#Ranger_8

Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake receives its premiere at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

#Pyotr_Ilyich_Tchaikovsky

In the Albanian capital Tirana, a gigantic statue of Albania's long-time leader, Enver Hoxha, is brought down by mobs of angry protesters.

#Tirana

World War II: The "Big Week" began with American bomber raids on German aircraft manufacturing centers.

#World_War_II

In Madeira Island, Portugal, heavy rain causes floods and mudslides, resulting in at least 43 deaths, in the worst disaster in the history of the archipelago.

#2010_Madeira_floods_and_mudslides

The Soviet Union launches its Mir spacecraft. Remaining in orbit for 15 years, it is occupied for ten of those years.

#Soviet_Union

The 1835 Concepción earthquake destroys Concepción, Chile.

#1835_Concepción_earthquake

The U.S. Congress approves the Blaine Act to repeal federal Prohibition in the United States, sending the Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution to state ratifying conventions for approval.

#Blaine_Act

Spain becomes the first country to vote in a referendum on ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, passing it by a substantial margin, but on a low turnout.

#2005_Spanish_European_Constitution_referendum

Dozens of Euromaidan anti-government protesters died in Ukraine's capital Kiev, many reportedly killed by snipers.

#Euromaidan

The legislature of Hawaii Territory convenes for the first time.

#Territory_of_Hawaii

Edward VI of England is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.

#Edward_VI_of_England

Adolf Hitler secretly meets with German industrialists to arrange for financing of the Nazi Party's upcoming election campaign.

#Adolf_Hitler

Louis-Alexandre Berthier removes Pope Pius VI from power.

#Louis-Alexandre_Berthier

King O'Malley drives in the first survey peg to mark commencement of work on the construction of Canberra.

#King_O'Malley

American Civil War: Battle of Olustee: The largest battle fought in Florida during the war.

#American_Civil_War

Two Tamil Tigers aircraft packed with C4 explosives en route to the national airforce headquarters are shot down by the Sri Lankan military before reaching their target, in a kamikaze style attack.

#2009_suicide_air_raid_on_Colombo

The Metropolitan Museum of Art opens in New York City.

#Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art

Six people are killed and two injured in multiple shooting incidents in Kalamazoo County, Michigan.

The United States Emergency Broadcast System is accidentally activated in an erroneous national alert.

Mercury program: While aboard Friendship 7, John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the earth, making three orbits in four hours, 55 minutes.

The Avro Arrow program to design and manufacture supersonic jet fighters in Canada is cancelled by the Diefenbaker government amid much political debate.

World War II: The United States takes Eniwetok Island.

American movie studio executives agree to allow the Office of War Information to censor movies.

Caroline Mikkelsen becomes the first woman to set foot in Antarctica.

Publication of the Futurist Manifesto in the French journal Le Figaro.

Polish insurgents lead an uprising in Kraków to incite a fight for national independence.

The Postal Service Act, establishing the United States Post Office Department, is signed by United States President George Washington.