
View Historical Events by Day: What Happened on July 20 in History?
Explore the historical events that shaped our world on July 20th. From major milestones to cultural achievements, see what happened on this day in history. Dates for earlier events may be approximate.
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, declares Independence from Spain. Colombia is located primarily located in South America with insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuela to the east and northeast, Brazil to the southeast, Peru and Ecuador to the south and southwest, the Pacific Ocean to the west, and Panama to the northwest.
Six prominent and politically powerful Wyoming cattlemen lynched and hanged Jim Averell and Ella Watson, the woman they called Cattle Kate. They had both been wrongly accused of cattle rustling. The lynching rocked the nation as the shocking story traveled quickly across the country. The men who killed Watson and Averell never went to trial. The grand jury was made of 16 people, seven of whom were cattlemen and could not find two key witnesses.
Averell was a postmaster, a notary public and a justice of the peace who had a Homestead. Watson filed her own homesteading entry with the government which meant that by the spring of 1888, she and Averell had claim to two 160-acre claims.
All this was during the time that open range ranching was beginning to come to an end and big ranches, owned by the land barons could no longer count on profiting off the free grass on government-owned land. More
An attempt to kill Hitler led by Claus von Stauffenberg fails. Stauffenberg planted a bomb in a briefcase at Hitler's Wolf's Lair headquarters. Hitler survived with only minor injuries, this was a significant attempt to overthrow the Nazi regime. Adolf Hitler was the target of at least 42 known assassination attempts while he was in power. Many of the other assassination attempts included poisoning, bombs, shootings, and even plans to use snipers or tanks. More
German military leaders attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler and take control of the government. Their plot fails. More
President Harry S. Truman signs a proclamation that reinstituted the military draft in the United States. This action, taken during a period of increasing Cold War tensions with the Soviet Union, required nearly 10 million men between the age of 18 and 26 to register for military service within two months and it officially formalized Military Selective Service Act, also known as the Selective Service Act of 1948. The law also established a system for the "Doctor Draft," aiming to induct health professionals. The draft continued to be used to fill military ranks throughout the Cold War, including during the Korean and Vietnam Wars.
Apollo 11 American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin land the Apollo 11 mission Lunar Module “Eagle” in the Sea of Tranquility and become the first humans to walk on the moon, while Michael Collins remained in lunar orbit. Launched on July 16, 1969, the mission concluded with a successful splashdown in the Pacific Ocean on July 24. More
Viking 1 Lands on Mars' on the western slope of Chryse Planitia (the Plains of Gold). Viking 1 found a place in history when it became the first U.S. mission to land a spacecraft safely on the surface of Mars and return images of the surface. More