What happened on 20 August?

9 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 1667 Milton's Paradise Lost English blank-verse epic on the Fall of Man; pinnacle of 17th-century English poetry.
2. 1968 Soviet-led invasion of Czechoslovakia Warsaw Pact forces crush Prague Spring liberalisation.
3. 1991 Estonia declares independence from USSR Estonia restores independence ahead of full USSR collapse.
4. 1944 Born: Rajiv Gandhi Former Prime Minister of India; assassinated 1991.
5. 1882 Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture Concert overture commemorating Russia's defence against Napoleon; cannons and bells included.
6. 1828 Ram Mohan Roy founds the Brahmo Sabha A reformed Hindu congregation without idols or caste, and the institutional root of the Bengal Renaissance.
7. 2018 Greta Thunberg's school strike Swedish teenager's lone climate strike outside parliament inspires a worldwide movement.
8. 1897 Ross proves mosquitoes transmit malaria Dissecting a mosquito in a sweltering Secunderabad lab, Ronald Ross finds the malaria parasite in its gut — 'Mosquito Day', and Britain's first Nobel in medicine.
9. 1191 Massacre of Ayyadieh Richard I orders the execution of 2,700 Muslim prisoners outside Acre after Saladin delays the agreed ransom.