What Happened Today In History

About October 20

October 20, 2025 is the 293^rd day of the year 2025 in the Gregorian calendar. There are 72 days remaining until the end of this year. The day of the week is Monday.

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Libra is the sun sign of a person born on this day. Opal is the modern birthstone for this month. Jasper is the mystical birthstone from Tibetan origin that dates back over a thousand years.

According to the lunisolar Chinese calendar, there are 120 days remaining before the start of the next Chinese New Year.

What Happened On October 20

• 1740 –
  Maria Theresa takes the throne of Austria. France, Prussia, Bavaria and Saxony refuse to honour the Pragmatic Sanction and the War of the Austrian Succession begins.
• 1803 –
  The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.
• 1818 –
  The Convention of 1818 signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the Canada – United States border on the 49th parallel for most of its length.
• 1827 –
  Battle of Navarino – a combined Turkish and Egyptian armada is defeated by British, French, and Russian naval force in the port of Navarino in Pylos, Greece.
• 1873 –
  Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and Rutgers universities draft the first code of American football rules.
• 1904 –
  Chile and Bolivia sign the Treaty of Peace and Friendship, delimiting the border between the two countries.
• 1917 –
  The Military Revolutionary Committee of the Petrograd Soviet, in charge of preparation and carrying out the Russian Revolution, holds its first meeting.
• 1935 –
  The Long March ends.
• 1939 –
  Pope Pius XII publishes his first major encyclical entitled Summi Pontificatus.
• 1941 –
  World War II: Thousands of civilians in Kragujevac in German-occupied Serbia are killed in the Kragujevac massacre.
• 1943 –
  The cargo vessel Sinfra is attacked by Allied aircraft at Suda Bay, Crete, and sunk. 2,098 Italian prisoners of war drown with it.
• 1944 –
  Liquid natural gas leaks from storage tanks in Cleveland, then explodes; the explosion and resulting fire level 30 blocks and kill 130.
• 1944 –
  The Soviet Army and Yugoslav Partisans liberate Belgrade, the capital of Yugoslavia
• 1947 –
  The House Un-American Activities Committee begins its investigation into Communist infiltration of Hollywood, resulting in a blacklist that prevents some from working in the industry for years.
• 1947 –
  United States of America and Pakistan establish diplomatic relations for the first time.
• 1951 –
  The “Johnny Bright Incident” occurs in Stillwater, Oklahoma
• 1968 –
  Former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy marries Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis.
• 1977 –
  A plane carrying Lynyrd Skynyrd crashes in Mississippi, killing lead singer Ronnie Van Zant and guitarist Steve Gaines along with backup singer Cassie Gaines, the road manager, pilot, and co-pilot.
• 1982 –
  During the UEFA Cup match between FC Spartak Moscow and HFC Haarlem, 66 people are crushed to death in the Luzhniki disaster.
• 1991 –
  The Oakland Hills firestorm kills 25 and destroys 3,469 homes and apartments, causing more than $2 billion in damage.