WHAT HAPPENED ON 20. MAY
Want to find out what all happened on 20. May

American Civil War: Battle of Ware Bottom Church – in the Virginia Bermuda Hundred Campaign, 10,000 troops fight in this Confederate victory. (20. May 1864)

Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets. (20. May 1873)

Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units. (20. May 1875)

The Triple Alliance between the German Empire, Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Italy is formed. (20. May 1882)

Krakatoa begins to erupt; the volcano explodes three months later, killing more than 36,000 people. (20. May 1883)

Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo becomes the king of the Zulu Nation. (20. May 1884)

History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope. (20. May 1891)

The six ton chandelier of the Palais Garnier falls on the crowd below resulting in the death of one and the injury of many others. (20. May 1896)

The first traffic ticket in the US: New York City taxi driver Jacob German was arrested for speeding while driving 12 miles per hour on Lexington Street. (20. May 1899)

Cuba gains independence from the United States. Tomás Estrada Palma becomes the country's first President. (20. May 1902)

Budi Utomo organization is founded in Dutch East Indies, beginning the Indonesian National Awakening. (20. May 1908)

The Saturday Evening Post publishes its first cover with a Norman Rockwell painting (Boy with Baby Carriage). (20. May 1916)

Montreal, Quebec radio station XWA broadcasts the first regularly scheduled radio programming in North America. (20. May 1920)

Treaty of Jeddah: the United Kingdom recognizes the sovereignty of King Ibn Saud in the Kingdoms of Hejaz and Nejd, which later merge to become the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. (20. May 1927)

At 07:52 Charles Lindbergh takes off from Roosevelt Field in Long Island, New York, on the world's first solo non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean. He touched down at Le Bourget Field in Paris at 22:22 the next day. (20. May 1927)

Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day. (20. May 1932)

The Holocaust: The first prisoners arrive at a new concentration camp at Auschwitz. (20. May 1940)

World War II: Battle of Crete – German paratroops invade Crete. (20. May 1941)

Chiang Kai-shek is elected as the first President of the Republic of China. (20. May 1948)

In the United States, the Armed Forces Security Agency, the predecessor to the National Security Agency, is established. (20. May 1949)