20 October 1891

A Tuesday in history

Weekday

Tuesday

Season

Autumn (N. Hemisphere)

Century

19th century

Records

394

  1. 2024

    Prabowo Subianto and Gibran Rakabuming Raka were sworn in as president and vice president of Indonesia, becoming the oldest and the youngest person to assume respective offices.

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  2. 2022

    Protests broke out across Chad after President Mahamat Déby (pictured) declared his intentions to extend his rule by another two years.

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  3. 2011

    First Libyan Civil War: Muammar Gaddafi, the deposed Libyan leader, was captured by rebel forces during the Battle of Sirte, and was killed shortly thereafter.

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  4. 1991

    An earthquake struck the Indian state of Uttarakhand, killing at least 768 people and destroying thousands of homes.

    Source
  5. 1986

    Aeroflot Flight 6502 crashed on approach to Kurumoch Airport in Samara, Russia (then Kuybyshev in the Soviet Union), killing 70 people on board.

    Source
  6. 1984

    The Spanish trawler Sonia sank in British waters after a five-hour chase by the Irish Naval Service patrol vessel Aisling, during which almost 600 shots were fired.

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  7. 1982

    During a UEFA Cup match between Spartak Moscow and Haarlem, a large number of attendees trying to leave the Central Lenin Stadium resulted in a stampede that caused 66 deaths.

    Source
  8. 1977

    Three members of the American rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd died when their chartered plane crashed in Gillsburg, Mississippi.

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  9. 1973

    Watergate scandal: Attorney General Elliot Richardson and his deputy William Ruckelshaus resigned after refusing to obey President Richard Nixon's order to have Archibald Cox fired.

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  10. 1969

    Experimental results from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center were published showing that protons were composed of smaller particles, the first evidence of quarks.

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  11. 1967

    Roger Patterson and Robert Gimlin filmed an unidentified subject, which they claimed was Bigfoot, at Six Rivers National Forest in California.

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  12. 1951

    African-American college football player Johnny Bright was the victim of an on-field assault, eventually leading to changes in NCAA football rules that mandated the use of more protective helmets with face guards.

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  13. 1944

    World War II: Fulfilling a promise he made two years previously, General Douglas MacArthur landed on Leyte to begin the recapture of the Philippines.

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  14. 1939

    Pope Pius XII (pictured) published his first encyclical, Summi Pontificatus, which critiqued ideologies such as racism, cultural superiority and totalitarianism.

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  15. 1936

    British woman Mabel Freer was refused entry to Australia after failing a dictation test given in Italian, leading to a debate over Australia's immigration policy.

    Source
  16. 1740

    Under the terms of the Pragmatic Sanction, Maria Theresa (pictured) ascended the Habsburg throne.

    Source

Photo archive

24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.

What was life like?

Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.

Sources & fact check

Every claim is traced to primary sources, archives, universities and the press — with an explicit confidence rating. Dossiers are generated once and cached permanently.