Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March 20

This is a list of selected March 20 anniversaries that appear in the "On this day" section of the Main Page. To suggest a new item, in most cases, you can be bold and edit this page. Please read the selected anniversaries guidelines before making your edit. However, if your addition might be controversial or on a day that is or will soon be on the Main Page, please post your suggestion on the talk page instead.

Please note that the events listed on the Main Page are chosen based more on relative article quality and to maintain a mix of topics, not based solely on how important or significant their subjects are. Only four to five events are posted at a time and thus not everything that is "most important and significant" can be listed. In addition, an event is generally not posted this year if it is also the subject of the scheduled featured article or picture of the day.

To report an error when this appears on the Main Page, see Main Page errors. Please remember that this list defers to the supporting articles, so it is best to achieve consensus and make any necessary changes there first.

← March 19	March 21 →

Staging area

Images

Use only ONE image at a time

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  Harriet Beecher Stowe
• Harriet Beecher Stowe <--requires undeletion
  Harriet Beecher Stowe <--requires undeletion
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  Harriet Beecher Stowe
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  Napoleon Bonaparte
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  An illustration from an 1880s edition of the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin
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  Chemical structure of zidovudine (AZT)
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  Douglas MacArthur
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  Cyclone Larry

Ineligible

Blurb	Reason
March equinox (21:58 UTC, 2019)	twelve citation-needed tags
; Independence Day in Tunisia (1956)	refimprove section
1600 – Five advisers to Polish–Swedish king Sigismund III Vasa were publicly executed, effectively ending his reign in Sweden.	unreferenced section
1602 – The Dutch East India Company—the first company to issue stock, one of the first multinational corporations, and possibly the first megacorporation—was established.	multiple issues
1760 – A fire of unknown cause broke out in Boston, Massachusetts, destroying 349 buildings and leaving over 1000 people homeless.	Quibbles over "over 1000" not in line with sources (see [1])
1815 – After escaping from exile in Elba, Napoleon entered Paris, beginning the period known as the "Hundred Days".	unreferenced section
1848 – Due to the European Revolutions, King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicated in favour of his son, Maximilian.	refimprove
1854 – At a meeting in Ripon, Wisconsin, U.S., an anti-slavery political party decided to name itself the Republican Party.	neutrality issues
1883 – Eleven countries signed the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, one of the first intellectual property treaties.	refimprove section
1995 – The Aum Shinrikyo sect carried out a poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway, killing 12 people and injuring thousands of others with sarin.	refimprove
2003 – A U.S.-led coalition force invaded Iraq, beginning the Iraq War.	globalize
2006 – Cyclone Larry made landfall in Far North Queensland, eventually causing nearly AU$1 billion in total damage and destroying over 80 percent of Australia's banana crop.	refimprove section
Ai Ogawa (d. 2010)	refimprove section

Eligible

• 1922 – The United States Navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier, USS Langley.
• 1923 – The Arts Club of Chicago hosted the opening of Pablo Picasso's first United States showing, entitled Original Drawings by Pablo Picasso, becoming an early proponent of modern art in the U.S.
• 1939 – Germany issued an ultimatum to Lithuania, demanding they return the Klaipėda Region under threat of invasion.
• 1944 – World War II: Four thousand U.S. Marines made a landing on Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago to develop an airbase as part of Operation Cartwheel.
• Born/died: Alexios III of Trebizond (d. 1390) · Isaac Newton (d. 1726/27) · Adrienne Lecouvreur (d. 1730) · Amanda Clement (b. 1888) · Elizabeth Rona (b. 1890) · Willie Brown (b. 1934) · Fernando Torres (b. 1984)

Notes

• Napoleon's escape from Elba appears on February 26 so Hundred Days should not appear in the same year
• Severus Alexander (also year 235) appears on March 19, so Maximinus Thrax should not appear in the same year

March 20: Nowruz in Iran, Central Asia, the Baháʼí Faith, and Zoroastrianism (2020)

Bust of Maximinus Thrax

• 235 – Maximinus Thrax (bust pictured) acceded to the throne of the Roman Empire as a so-called barracks emperor, who gained power by virtue of his command of the army.
• 1852 – Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, which had a profound effect on attitudes toward African Americans and slavery in the United States, was published.
• 1942 – World War II: After being forced to flee the Philippines for Australia, U.S. Army general Douglas MacArthur announced, "I came through and I shall return."
• 1987 – The antiretroviral drug zidovudine (AZT) became the first treatment approved by the Food and Drug Administration for HIV/AIDS.
• 1993 – The Troubles: Two children were killed by the second of two bomb attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army in Warrington, England.

Maurice Csák (d. 1336) · Paul von Lettow-Vorbeck (b. 1870) · Dorothy Campbell (d. 1945)

More anniversaries:

• March 19
• March 20
• March 21