In Calendar Form

October 20

480BC The Greeks defeat the Persians in a naval battle at Salamis.

1435 Birth: Andrea Della Robbia, in Florence, sculptor, nephew of Luca.

1587 In France, Huguenot Henri de Navarre routs Duke de Joyeuse's larger Catholic force at Coutras.

1600 Battle of Sekigahara: The Tokugawa clan assumes responsibility as Japan's rulers (Shoguns).

1632 Birth: Sir Christopher Wren, in East Knoyle, Wiltshire, England; astronomer and architect, whose work will include St Paul's Cathedral.

1709 Marlborough and Eugene of Savoy take Mons in the Netherlands.

1714 George I of England is crowned.

1740 Maria Theresa becomes ruler of Austria, Hungary and Bohemia.

1803 The US Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase.

1805 Austrian general Karl Mac surrenders to Napoleon Bonaparte's army at the battle of Ulm.

1812 Birth: Austin Flint, 19th century heart research pioneer.

1813 The German Kingdom of Westphalia is abolished.

1817 The first Mississippi showboat leaves Nashville on its maiden voyage.

1818 The United States and Britain informally establish the 49th Parallel as the boundary between Canada and the United States as the parties agree to joint control of Oregon country.

1819 Birth: Mirza Ali Mohammad, forerunner of Bah 'u'll h.

1854 Birth: Arthur Rimbaud, in France, poet, adventurer (Illuminations).

1861 US Civil War: Britians Lord Palmerston sends a note to the Foreign Office stating that it is probable the South will win the war, and that without doubt, the South as an independent State will be a valuable market for British goods, but the outcome is still too uncertain to fully recognize the South.

1870 The Summer Palace in Beijing, China, is burnt to the ground by a Franco-British expeditionary force.

1874 Birth: Viscount Palmerston, (Whig) British Prime Minister (1855-65).

1883 Treaty of Ancon: Peru cedes Tarapaca to Chile.

1889 Birth: Margaret Dumont.

1891 Birth: Sir James Chadwick, physicist; will win the Nobel Prize for discovering the neutron.

1903 The Joint Commission, set up on 24 January by Great Britain and the United States to arbitrate the disputed Alaskan boundary, rules in favor of the United States. The deciding vote is Britain's, which embitters Canada. The United States gains ports on the panhandle coast of Alaska.

1904 Bolivia and Chile sign a treaty ending the War of the Pacific. The treaty recognizes Chile's possession of the coast, but provides for the construction of a railway to link La Paz, Bolivia, to Arica, on the coast.

1905 The Great General Strike in Russia begins, lasting 11 days.

1906 Dr. Lee DeForest demonstrates his radio tube.

1911 Roald Amundsen sets out on the race to the South Pole.

1914 WW1: Hitler and his Regiment are loaded onto trains and head for the Western Front. Rumor has it that their destination is Ypres. The recruits are full of enthusiasm, and like Hitler, believe they are going to do battle to protect the Fatherland from "the greed of the old enemy." As they cross the Rhine, "the German river of all rivers," as Hitler calls it, the recruits sporadically begin singing German patriotic songs. While the troop train travels through the Rhineland, it makes occasional stops. Hitler is overwhelmed by "the kindness and spontaneity of the Rhinelanders ... [who] receive us and fete us in a most touching manner."

1916 Volkishness: General major Erwin von Heimerdinger becomes the new Chancellor of the original Germanenorden. Dr. Gensch becomes Treasurer and Bernhard Koerner (above), Grand Keeper of Pedigrees. Philipp Stauff and Eberhard von Brockhusen are principle officers of the Berlin province. (Bundesarchiv, Koblenz; Roots)

1922 Weimar: Julius Streicher, strongman of Nuremberg, joins the NSDAP, bringing with him his Deutsche Werksgemeinschaf and his newspaper Deutsche Volkwille. (Maser)

1925 Birth: Art Buchwald, in Mt. Vernon, New York, columnist, humorist, author (Have I Ever Lied to You).

1936 Polish officials close the Warsaw Trade School after anti-Jewish riots.

1937 Death: Felix Warburg, in the United States; international banker, philanthropist and Jewish communal leader. (Edelheit)

1937 Holocaust: Jewish market stalls and shops are picketed by Nazi police.

1938 Holocaust: The Nazis begin harassing Communists, Jews and other anti-Nazis in Czechoslovakia.

1939 Diary of Leon Gladun: This morning we smoked machorowka which Jozio* bought for 2.50. Further news: Finland is defending herself against Russia, and Sweden and Norway have joined her. The Germans are near Hrubieszow [...] Great Poland is still defending herself. Vivat! [*Jozef Szmalstych, classmate from Krzemieniec Lyceum, executed at Katyn.]

1940 WW2: German troops reach the approaches to Moscow.

1941 WW2: The German commander in Nantes, France, is shot by members of the resistance. Fifty French hostages are shot in reprisal.

1942 WW2: The US government orders the seizure of Nazi German banking operations in New York which were being conducted by Prescott Bush. The US Alien Property Custodian took over the Union Banking Corporation and its stock shares, all of which were owned by E. Roland "Bunny" Harriman, Bush, three Nazi executives and two other Bush associates.

1943 WW2: The United Nations (UN) War Crimes Commission is set up.

1944 WW2: US troops enter Aachen after a savage pounding by American artillery. Little is left standing and the city lies in ruins, but the German defenders continue to fight fiercely, often to the last man.

1944 WW2: The US makes landings on Leyte in the Philippines.

1945 Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Lebanon form the Arab League to present a unified front against the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.

1947 The House Un-American Activities Committee opens public hearings on alleged communist infiltration in Hollywood. Among those denounced as having un-American tendencies Are: Katherine Hepburn, Charles Chaplin and Edward G. Robinson. Among those called to testify is Screen Actors Guild President, Ronald Reagan, who denies that leftists ever controlled the Guild and refuses to label anyone a communist. (Bradley)

1960 Penguin Books goes on trial, charged with contravening the Obscene Publications Act by publishing D. H. Lawrence's novel Lady Chatterley's Lover.

1960 The first fully mechanized post office in America opens in Providence, Rhode Island.

1964 Death: Herbert Hoover, 31st president of the US, in New York at 90.

1970 Zond 8 is launched by the USSR. Circumlunar, it will return to Earth 27 October 1970.

1972 Death: Harlow Shapley, determined the Sun's position in the galaxy.

1973 Arab Oil Embargo: Arab oil-producing nations banned oil exports to the United States, following the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli war.

1979 The John F. Kennedy Library is dedicated in Boston, Massachusetts.

1990 Antiwar protest marches against the US in Iraq begin in 20 US cities.

1992 An orangutan at a sanctuary in the Malaysian state of Sabah strips a French tourist naked and runs away into the jungle with his clothes.

2001 Elite US Rangers launch raids into Afghanistan in the dark of night. Two US soldiers are killed when their helicopter crashes in Pakistan near the Afghanistan border.

2001 In China, Bush says the soldiers "did not die in vain." Later Bush meets with Russian President Putin and Chinese President Zemin.

2001 Anthrax is confirmed at the Ford building on Capitol Hill. The FBI locates the mailbox in New Jersey where anthrax letters dropped.

2001 Israeli tanks move into Palestinian cities.

2004

2004