Did you know
Anwar Sadat was a senior member of the Free Officers who overthrew King Farouk I in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.
November 20 in History
1977 — Egyptian President Anwar Sadat becomes the first Arab leader to officially visit Israel, when he meets Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and speaks before the Knesset in Jerusalem, seeking a permanent peace settlement
November 20 spans 49 recorded events across recorded history, from 284 to 2022. Below is a curated digest of the most significant moments tied to this date.
By thisDay.info Editorial Team · — Wikipedia
Historical Events
49 events
284 – 2022
Today in history
More major events on November 20
The featured story and these ranked highlights form a quick summary. Every recorded event remains available in the chronology below.
- 1998 The first space station module component, Zarya, for the International Space Station is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Source
- 1441 The Peace of Cremona ends the war between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan, after the victorious Venetian enterprise of military engineering of the Galeas per montes. Source
- 1969 Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam. Source
Did you know
Sadat served as vice president twice under President Gamal Abdel Nasser before succeeding him as president in 1970.
Did you know
The October war of 1973 was led by Sadat, resulting in a significant shift in the regional balance of power.
Did you know
Sadat and Menachem Begin were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978 for their efforts to establish a lasting peace treaty.
Did you know
Sadat's presidency ended with his assassination in 1981, after which he was succeeded by Hosni Mubarak.
762
During the An Shi Rebellion, the Tang dynasty, with the help of Huihe tribe, recaptures Luoyang from the rebels.
755–763 uprising against Tang rule in China
1407
John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy, and Louis of Valois, Duke of Orléans, agree to a truce, but Burgundy would kill Orléans three days later.
Duke of Burgundy from 1404 to 1419
1441
The Peace of Cremona ends the war between the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan, after the victorious Venetian enterprise of military engineering of the Galeas per montes.
1441 peace treaty between Venice and Milan
1695
Zumbi, the last of the leaders of Quilombo dos Palmares in early Brazil, is executed by the forces of Portuguese bandeirante Domingos Jorge Velho.
Afro-Brazilian freed slave; king of Quilombo dos Palmares (r. 1680–95)
1739
Start of the Battle of Porto Bello between British and Spanish forces during the War of Jenkins' Ear.
Battle during the War of Jenkins' Ear
1776
American Revolutionary War: British forces land at the Palisades and then attack Fort Lee.
The Continental Army starts to retreat across New Jersey.
1805
1815
The Second Treaty of Paris is signed, returning the French frontiers to their 1790 extent, imposing large indemnities, and prolonging the occupation by troops of Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia for several more years.
Treaty ending the Napoleonic Wars
1820
An 80-ton sperm whale attacks and sinks the Essex (a whaling ship from Nantucket, Massachusetts) 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi) from the western coast of South America.
(Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick was in part inspired by this incident.)
1845
Anglo-French blockade of the Río de la Plata: Battle of Vuelta de Obligado.
1845–50 naval blockade by Britain and France during the Uruguayan Civil War
1861
American Civil War: A secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government.
1861–1865 conflict in the United States
1873
Garnier Expedition: French forces under Lieutenant Francis Garnier captured Hanoi from the Vietnamese.
1873–74 French expedition in Tonkin
1900
The French actress Sarah Bernhardt receives the press at the Savoy Hotel in New York at the outset of her first visit since 1896.
She talked about her impending tour with a troupe of more than 50 performers and her plans to play the title role in Hamlet.
1910
Mexican Revolution: Francisco I.
Madero issues the Plan de San Luis Potosí, denouncing Mexican President Porfirio Díaz, calling for a revolution to overthrow the government of Mexico, effectively starting the Mexican Revolution.
1917
World War I: Battle of Cambrai begins: British forces make early progress in an attack on German positions but are later pushed back.
Global conflict from 1914 to 1918
1936
José Antonio Primo de Rivera, founder of the Falange, is killed by a republican execution squad.
Spanish politician and founder of Falange Española (1903–1936)
1940
World War II: Hungary becomes a signatory of the Tripartite Pact, officially joining the Axis powers.
Global conflict (1939–1945)
1943
World War II: Battle of Tarawa (Operation Galvanic) begins: United States Marines land on Tarawa Atoll in the Gilbert Islands and suffer heavy fire from Japanese shore guns and machine guns.
Battle in the Pacific Theater of World War II
1945
Nuremberg trials: Trials against 24 Nazi war criminals start at the Palace of Justice at Nuremberg.
Trials of Nazi German leaders
1946
Indonesian National Revolution: 96 Indonesian including I Gusti Ngurah Rai were killed during the Battle of Margarana with Dutch forces.
1945–1949 Indonesian conflict and diplomatic struggle against Dutch rule
1947
The Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen) marries Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, who becomes the Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London.
Queen of the United Kingdom from 1952 to 2022
1959
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child is adopted by the United Nations.
International document promoting child rights
1962
Cuban Missile Crisis ends: In response to the Soviet Union agreeing to remove its missiles from Cuba, U.S.
President John F. Kennedy ends the quarantine of the Caribbean nation.
1968
A total of 78 miners are killed in an explosion at the Consolidated Coal Company's No.
9 mine in Farmington, West Virginia in the Farmington Mine disaster.
1969
Vietnam War: The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio) publishes explicit photographs of dead villagers from the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.
1955–1975 war in Southeast Asia
1969
Occupation of Alcatraz: Native American activists seize control of Alcatraz Island until being ousted by the U.S.
Government on June 11, 1971.
1974
The United States Department of Justice files its final anti-trust suit against AT&T Corporation.
This suit later leads to the breakup of AT&T and its Bell System.
1974
The first fatal crash of a Boeing 747 occurs when Lufthansa Flight 540 crashes while attempting to takeoff from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 59 out of the 157 people on board.
American wide-body four-engined jet long-range aircraft
1979
Grand Mosque seizure: About 200 Sunni Muslims revolt in Saudi Arabia at the site of the Kaaba in Mecca during the pilgrimage and take about 6,000 hostages.
The Saudi government receives help from French special forces to put down the uprising.
1980
Lake Peigneur in Louisiana drains into an underlying salt deposit.
A misplaced Texaco oil probe had been drilled into the Diamond Crystal Salt Mine, causing water to flow down into the mine, eroding the edges of the hole.
1985
Microsoft Windows 1.0, the first graphical personal computer operating environment developed by Microsoft, is released.
American multinational technology company
1989
Velvet Revolution: The number of protesters assembled in Prague, Czechoslovakia, swells from 200,000 the day before to an estimated half-million.
Democratization process in Czechoslovakia in 1989
1990
Andrei Chikatilo, one of the Soviet Union's most prolific serial killers, is arrested; he eventually confesses to 56 killings.
Soviet serial killer (1936–1994)
1991
An Azerbaijani MI-8 helicopter carrying 19 peacekeeping mission team with officials and journalists from Russia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan is shot down by Armenian military forces in Khojavend District of Azerbaijan.
Country in Eastern Europe and West Asia
1992
In England, a fire breaks out in Windsor Castle, badly damaging the castle and causing over £50 million worth of damage.
Fire at historic royal castle
1993
Savings and loan crisis: The United States Senate Ethics Committee issues a stern censure of California senator Alan Cranston for his "dealings" with savings-and-loan executive Charles Keating.
US financial crisis from 1986 to 1995
1993
North Macedonia's deadliest aviation disaster occurs when Avioimpex Flight 110, a Yakovlev Yak-42, crashes near Ohrid Airport, killing all 116 people on board.
Country in Southeast Europe
1994
The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign the Lusaka Protocol in Zambia, ending 19 years of civil war.
(Localized fighting resumes the next year.)
1996
A fire breaks out in an office building in Hong Kong, killing 41 people and injuring 81.
1996 fire in Hong Kong
1998
A court in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan declares accused terrorist Osama bin Laden "a man without a sin" in regard to the 1998 U.S.
embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania.
1998
The first space station module component, Zarya, for the International Space Station is launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
First module of the International Space Station
2003
After the November 15 bombings, a second day of the 2003 Istanbul bombings occurs in Istanbul, Turkey, destroying the Turkish head office of HSBC Bank AS and the British consulate.
Day of the year
2015
Following a hostage siege, at least 19 people are killed in Bamako, Mali.
2015 terrorist attack in Radisson Blu, Bamako
2016
Jimmie Johnson wins his seventh NASCAR Cup Series championship to tie Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt for the most all-time.
American racing driver (born 1975)
2022
The 2022 FIFA World Cup begins in Qatar.
This is the first time the tournament was held in the Middle East.