THE DAY IN HISTORY · SEPTEMBER 20
September 20 in history
What happened on September 20: 7 moments from the Maps of History atlases, in 1792, 1857, 1863, 1916, 1945, 1954 and 1985, each linked to the map that shows it.
— Battle of Valmy
20 Sep 1792 — A citizen army stands its ground against Prussia’s professionals in a day-long cannonade. Goethe, watching: “Here and today, a new era of world history begins.”
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Siege of Delhi
11 May – 20 Sep 1857 — The Meerut sepoys hailed the elderly Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, as their sovereign, and Delhi became the rising’s capital. British forces besieged it from the Ridge for three months, stormed it from 14 September, then sacked and emptied the city.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE INDIAN INDEPENDENCE & PARTITION MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Battle of Chickamauga
19–20 Sep 1863 — Bragg breaks the Union line in the north-Georgia woods — the war’s bloodiest western battle, 34,000 casualties. George Thomas’ stand as “the Rock of Chickamauga” saves the army to be besieged in Chattanooga.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Brusilov Offensive
4 Jun-20 Sep 1916 — Brusilov attacks everywhere at once after silent registration — no telegraphed massing, shock troops probing for soft points. Austria-Hungary loses ~750,000 men and never mounts an independent offensive again.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE WWI MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Friedland transit camp
20 Sep 1945 — The British open a reception camp in farm buildings where their zone met the American and Soviet zones. Expellees, prisoners of war coming home and, for decades afterwards, ethnic German resettlers passed through it in their millions; it still receives newcomers today.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE UPROOTED MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— First constitution of the PRC
20 Sep 1954 — The first National People’s Congress adopts the PRC’s constitution: a state of people’s congresses, with freedom of speech, assembly and religion written in. Its preamble places the country under a “people’s democratic united front” led by the Communist Party, and in practice the Party chose every delegate and every official.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC UNDER MAO MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
— Tunisia ratifies CEDAW
20 Sep 1985 — Tunisia ratifies CEDAW, with reservations on family law and nationality that it lifts only after the 2011 revolution. The second half of this atlas follows Tunisia.
READ THIS MOMENT → · SEE IT ON THE PROTEST AND CHANGE MAP → · THE FULL STORY →
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