History Events on October 20

The Governor of Kenya declares a state of emergency and begins arresting hundreds of suspected leaders of the Mau Mau Uprising.

#Mau_Mau_Uprising

The city of La Paz is founded by Alonso de Mendoza.

#La_Paz

The Long March, a mammoth retreat undertaken by the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party a year prior, ends.

#Long_March

Liquefied natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland and then explodes, leveling 30 blocks and killing 130 people.

#Cleveland_East_Ohio_Gas_explosion

"Saturday Night Massacre": United States President Richard Nixon fires U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson and Deputy Attorney General William Ruckelshaus after they refuse to fire special prosecutor Archibald Cox, who is finally fired by Robert Bork.

#Saturday_Night_Massacre

Eighty Years' War: Three thousand Spanish soldiers wade through fifteen miles of water in one night to effect the relief of Goes.

#Relief_of_Goes

Peru and Chile sign the Treaty of Ancón, by which the Tarapacá province is ceded to the latter, bringing an end to Peru's involvement in the War of the Pacific.

#Treaty_of_Ancón

The Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction.

#Sydney_Opera_House

Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, delimiting the border between the two countries.

#Treaty_of_Peace_and_Friendship_(1904)

The Spanish Duke of Alba defeats a Dutch rebel force under William the Silent.

#Battle_of_Jodoigne

The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.

#Louisiana_Purchase

The Convention of 1818 is signed between the United States and the United Kingdom, which settles the Canada-United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.

#Treaty_of_1818

France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction, and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.

#Pragmatic_Sanction_of_1713

Libyan Civil War: Rebel forces capture Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown of Sirte and kill him shortly thereafter.

#Death_of_Muammar_Gaddafi

American general Douglas MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines when he commands an Allied assault on the islands.

#Battle_of_Leyte

The hull of the RMS Olympic, sister-ship to the ill-fated RMS Titanic, is launched from the Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast.

#RMS_Olympic

The Patent of Toleration, providing limited freedom of worship, is approved in Austria.

#Patent_of_Toleration

World War II: Thousands of civilians in German-occupied Serbia are murdered in the Kragujevac massacre.

#Kragujevac_massacre

World War II: The Soviet Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade.

#Belgrade_Offensive

The Soviet Union performs the first armed test of a submarine-launched ballistic missile, launching an R-13 from a Golf-class submarine.

#R-13_(missile)

The ferry George Prince is struck by a ship while crossing the Mississippi River. Seventy-eight passengers and crew die, and only 18 people aboard the ferry survive.

#MV_George_Prince_ferry_disaster

In the Battle of Navarino, a combined Turkish and Egyptian fleet is defeated by British, French and Russian naval forces in the last significant battle fought with wooden sailing ships.

#Battle_of_Navarino

A 6.8 Mw earthquake strikes the Uttarkashi region of India, killing more than 1,000 people.

During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.

Two police officers and an armored car guard are killed during an armed robbery carried out by members of the Black Liberation Army and Weather Underground.

Rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd's airplane crashes. Lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines perish in the crash.

Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.

People's Republic of China launches simultaneous offensives in Ladakh and across the McMahon Line, igniting the Sino-Indian War.

The "Johnny Bright incident" occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma.

The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of the Hollywood film industry, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.

Caribbean pirate Calico Jack is captured by the Royal Navy.