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October 20 in History

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The Untoward Battle of Navarino

October 20, 1827

The Untoward Battle of Navarino

Three allied powers sailed into a Greek bay under strict diplomatic orders to prevent a war without firing a shot. Four hours later, an entire Ottoman armada lay shattered beneath the water, securing Greek independence by total accident.

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More that happened on October 20

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  1. 1803The United States Senate ratified a treaty with France, doubling the nation's territory through the Louisiana Purchase.
  2. 1818Great Britain and the United States signed a treaty setting the international boundary along the forty-ninth parallel.
  3. 1935Mao Zedong led Chinese communist forces into Shaanxi province, completing the grueling military retreat known as the Long March.
  4. 1944General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his promise to return as American armed forces landed on the Philippine island of Leyte.
  5. 1947The House Un-American Activities Committee opened controversial public hearings into alleged communist subversion within the American motion picture industry.
  6. 1952British colonial authorities declared a state of emergency across Kenya following an escalation of the armed Mau Mau rebellion.
  7. 1973President Richard Nixon triggered the Saturday Night Massacre by ordering the firing of special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox.
  8. 1973Queen Elizabeth II officially opened the iconic Sydney Opera House designed by Danish architect Jørn Utzon in Australia.
  9. 1973Several Arab petroleum nations banned oil exports to the United States to protest American support for Israel during wartime.
  10. 1975The Soviet Union successfully placed its unmanned probe Venera 9 into orbit around the cloud-covered planet Venus.
  11. 2011Libyan rebel fighters captured and killed ousted dictator Muammar Gaddafi in his besieged coastal hometown of Sirte.

Chosen from the October 20 pages of HISTORY, HistoryNet and OnThisDay.com, retold in our own words.