On this day: 20 July

Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.

Kardam of Bulgaria defeats Byzantine Emperor Constantine VI at the Battle of Marcellae.

Rollo lays siege to Chartres.

Treaty of San Germano is signed at San Germano between Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II and Pope Gregory IX. A Dominican named Guala is responsible for the negotiations.

During the first Japanese invasion of Korea, Japanese forces led by Toyotomi Hideyoshi captured Pyongyang, although they were ultimately unable to hold it.

A fire in Oulu, Finland almost completely destroyed the fourth district, which covered the southern part of the city and was by far the largest of the city districts.

Seventh Ottoman–Venetian War: The Ottoman Empire captures Nauplia, the capital of the Republic of Venice's "Kingdom of the Morea", thereby opening the way to the swift Ottoman reconquest of the Morea.

Canadian explorer Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye reaches the western shore of Lake Michigan.

Tekle Giyorgis I begins his first of six reigns as Emperor of Ethiopia.

French brothers Claude and Nicéphore Niépce received a patent for their Pyréolophore, one of the world's first internal combustion engines.

Citizens of Bogotá, New Granada declare independence from Spain.

Seneca and Shawnee people agree to relinquish their land in western Ohio for 60,000 acres west of the Mississippi River.

The first Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York, a two-day event, concludes.

American Civil War: Battle of Peachtree Creek: Near Atlanta, Georgia, Confederate forces led by General John Bell Hood unsuccessfully attack Union troops under General William T. Sherman.

Austro-Prussian War: Battle of Lissa: The Austrian Navy, led by Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff, defeats the Italian Navy near the island of Vis in the Adriatic Sea.

The United States Congress established the Indian Peace Commission to seek peace treaties with a number of Native American tribes.

British Columbia joins the Canadian Confederation.

The Ford Motor Company ships its first automobile.

In Finland, a new electoral law is ratified, guaranteeing the country the first and equal right to vote in the world. Finnish women are the first in Europe to receive the right to vote.

Serbian prime minister Nikola Pašić and Yugoslav Committee president Ante Trumbić signed the Corfu Declaration, agreeing to seek the establishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

The Greek Army takes control of Silivri after Greece is awarded the city by the Paris Peace Conference; by 1923 Greece effectively lost control to the Turks.

In the Preußenschlag, German President Hindenburg places Prussia directly under the rule of the national government.

West Coast waterfront strike: In Seattle, police fire tear gas on and club 2,000 striking longshoremen. The governor of Oregon calls out the National Guard to break a strike on the Portland docks.

The July 1936 military uprising in Barcelona is defeated by anarchist militias and Republican loyalists, beginning the Spanish Revolution of 1936.

The Montreux Convention is signed in Switzerland, authorizing Turkey to fortify the Dardanelles and Bosphorus but guaranteeing free passage to ships of all nations in peacetime.

The United States Department of Justice files suit in New York City against the motion picture industry charging violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act in regards to the studio system. The case would eventually result in a break-up of the industry in 1948.

Denmark leaves the League of Nations.

California opens its first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin consolidates the Commissariats of Home Affairs and National Security to form the NKVD and names Lavrentiy Beria its chief.

The Israel–Syria Mixed Armistice Commission brokers the last of four ceasefire agreements to end the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.

Korean War: After a month-long campaign, much of the North Korean air force was destroyed by United Nations forces.

Germany: Otto John, head of West Germany's secret service, defects to East Germany.

The Polaris missile is successfully launched from a submarine, the USS George Washington, for the first time.

French military forces break the Tunisian siege of Bizerte.

The first games of the Special Olympics (athletes pictured), for athletes with intellectual disabilities, were held at Soldier Field in Chicago.

The Apollo 11 Lunar Module Eagle landed on the Sea of Tranquillity, where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to walk on the Moon six and a half hours later (bootprint pictured).

A cease fire is announced between Honduras and El Salvador, six days after the beginning of the "Football War".

The Viking 1 lander became the first spacecraft to successfully land on Mars and perform its mission.

The Central Intelligence Agency releases documents under the Freedom of Information Act revealing it had engaged in mind-control experiments.

The government of Aruba passes legislation to secede from the Netherlands Antilles.

Václav Havel resigns as president of Czechoslovakia.

USS Constitution, one of the United States Navy's original six frigates, sailed for the first time in 116 years after a full restoration.

Syrian civil war: The People's Protection Units (YPG) capture the cities of Amuda and Efrîn without resistance.

Syrian civil war: The Battle of Ras al-Ayn ends with the expulsion of Islamist forces from the city by the People's Protection Units (YPG).

The United States and Cuba resume full diplomatic relations after five decades.

Soyuz MS-13 is launched to the International Space Station on the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

American businessman Jeff Bezos flies to space aboard New Shepard NS-16 operated by his private spaceflight company Blue Origin.