Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
Today in History
December 20
| 69 | Vespians's supporters enter Rome and discover Vitellius in hiding. He is dragged through the streets before being brutally murdered. | |
| 1355 | Stephen Urosh IV of Serbia dies while marching to attack Constantinople. | |
| 1802 | The United States buys the Louisiana territory from France. | |
| 1860 | South Carolina secedes from the Union. | |
| 1861 | English transports loaded with 8,000 troops set sail for Canada so that troops are available if the "Trent Affair" is not settled without war. | |
| 1924 | Adolf Hitler is released from prison after serving less than one year of a five year sentence for treason. | |
| 1930 | Thousands of Spaniards sign a revolutionary manifesto. | |
| 1933 | The German government announces 400,000 citizens are to be sterilized because of hereditary defects. | |
| 1938 | First electronic television system is patented. | |
| 1941 | The Flying Tigers, American pilots in China, enter combat against the Japanese over Kunming. | |
| 1943 | Soviet forces halt a German army trying to relieve the besieged city of Stalingrad. | |
| 1946 | Viet Minh and French forces fight fiercely in Annamite section of Hanoi. | |
| 1948 | U.S. Supreme Court announces that it has no jurisdiction to hear the appeals of Japanese war criminals sentenced by the International Military Tribunal. | |
| 1960 | National Liberation Front is formed by guerrillas fighting the Diem regime in South Vietnam. | |
| 1962 | In its first free election in 38 years, the Dominican Republic chooses leftist Juan Bosch Gavino as president. | |
| 1963 | Four thousand cross the Berlin Wall to visit relatives under a 17-day Christmas accord. | |
| 1989 | U.S. troops invade Panama to oust General Manuel Noriega and replace him with Guillermo Endara. | |
| Born on December 20 | ||
| 1868 | Harvey Firestone, industrialist and tire maker. | |
| 1881 | Branch Rickey, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers. | |
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