óæå ïðîøëî 20 August

1910 : Huge fire in the U.S.


On August 20, 1910, a forest fire spreads in the states of Washington, Idaho and Montana. The summer is particularly dry and hundreds of smaller fires join and form a huge fire. In two days, 12,000 km2 of forest and several cities are destroyed by fire. 87 people including 78 firefighters are killed.

1940 : Assassination of Trotsky in Mexico


On August 20, 1940, Leon Trotsky was fatally wounded in Mexico by a Mexican Communist appointed by Stalin.
Trotsky was deported twice by the Russian authorities of the czar in 1900 and 1905 and had escaped both times (in 1902 and 1907). He then lived in various countries and was regularly expelled prior to participating in the 1917 Revolution in Russia. He became the heir of Lenin.
However, when Lenin died, Stalin managed to take power. Because of his criticism of Stalinist methods, Trotsky was gradually expelled from all his functions before being exiled to Central Asia and eventually being banned from the country in 1929.
He later lived in different countries before receiving political asylum in Mexico in 1936.

1968 : Soviet Union invades Czechoslovakia


On August 20, 1968, 5000 Soviet tanks and 200,000 soldiers from the Eastern bloc invaded Czechoslovakia to crush the reforms of the Prague Spring. The first secretary of the Czech Communist Party, Alexander Dubcek, had initiated major reforms to democratize the political and economic system. The Soviet Union, fearing the end of communism in Czechoslovakia, decided to intervene to regain control of the country.

1995 : A train explodes in colliding with another in India


On 20 August 1995, at 2 am, a train collided with a cow near Firozabad, India. The brakes were damaged during the accident, and the train stopped on the track. However, the signalman did not stop the next train which arrived at high speed with 1300 passengers onboard and which exploded as it hit the first train. 358 people were killed and over 400 injured.

Íîâîñòè äíÿ : 20 August

Restoration of Independence Day in Estonia
August 20 is the Restoration of Independence Day in Estonia, which commemorates the restoration of its independence it had lost in 1939 against the Soviet Union and has recovered in 1991.
Revolution of the King and People in Morocco
August 20 is a national holiday in Morocco which celebrates the Revolution of the King and the People (Thawratou Maliki wa el Chaab). This festival commemorates the deportation of Mohammed V to Madagascar in 1953 after being deposed by France. This event marks the beginning of the resistance of the Moroccan people that will lead to the country's independence and the return of the sovereign.

Öèòàòà äíÿ : 20 August

Joseph Staline
The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.

Äíè ðîæäåíèÿ : 20 August

Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (1833)
Raymond Poincaré, French politician (1860)
H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (1890)
Salvatore Quasimodo, Italian writer, Nobel Prize in Literature (1901)
Roger Wolcott Sperry, American neuropsychologist, Nobel Prize in Medicine (1913)
Walter Bernstein, American screenwriter (1919)
Armi Kuusela, Finnish beauty queen, Miss Universe 1952 (1934)
Hideki Shirakawa, Japanese chemist, Nobel Prize (1936)
Slobodan Milošević, 3rd President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, 1st President of Serbia, charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity (1941)
Rajiv Gandhi, 6th Prime Minister of India (1944)
Connie Chung, American journalist (1946)
Laurent Fabius, French politician (1946)
Robert Plant, English musician (Led Zeppelin) (1948)
James Marsters, American actor (1962)
Fred Durst, American musician (Limp Bizkit) (1970)
Maxim Vengerov, Russian violinist (1974)
Felipe Contepomi, Argentine rugby player (1977)
Manuel Contepomi, Argentine rugby player (1977)
Joshua Kennedy, Australian football player (1982)
Andrew Garfield, American actor (1983)
Ranomi Kromowidjojo, Dutch swimmer (1990)
Demi Lovato, American actress and singer (1992)

Ils nous ont quitté un 20 August

Jules Laforgue, French poet (1887)
Paul Ehrlich, German immunologist, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1915)
Adolf von Baeyer, German chemist, Nobel laureate (1917)
Percy Williams Bridgman, American physicist, Nobel laureate (1961)
Joe Dassin, American singer (1980)
George Adamson, * British Wildlife Conservationist (1989)
Hugo Pratt, Italian cartoonist (Corto Maltese) (1995)
Joe Rosenthal, American photographer (2006)
Äð. äàòû
Vue mer : crédit photo Aseed