Editing April 20 (section)

===1601–1900===
*[[1653]] &ndash; [[Oliver Cromwell]] dissolves England's [[Rump Parliament]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=William Robison|author2=Ronald H. Fritze|title=Historical Dictionary of Stuart England, 1603-1689|publisher=Greenwood Press|year=1996|isbn=9780313283918|page=147}}</ref>
*[[1657]] &ndash; English Admiral [[Robert Blake (admiral)|Robert Blake]] destroys a Spanish silver fleet, under heavy fire from the shore, at the [[Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife (1657)|Battle of Santa Cruz de Tenerife]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Manganiello |first1=Stephen C |title=The Concise Encyclopedia of the Revolutions and Wars of England, Scotland, and Ireland, 1639-1660 |date=2004 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-5100-9|page=481}}</ref>
*  1657   &ndash; [[Freedom of religion]] is granted to the Jews of [[New Amsterdam]] (later New York City).
*[[1752]] &ndash; Start of [[Konbaung–Hanthawaddy War]], a new phase in the Burmese Civil War (1740–57).
*[[1770]] &ndash; The [[Georgia (country)|Georgian]] king, [[Erekle II]], abandoned by his [[Russian Empire|Russian]] ally [[Gottlieb Heinrich Totleben|Count Totleben]], wins a victory over [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman forces]] at [[Battle of Aspindza|Aspindza]].
*[[1789]] &ndash; [[George Washington]] arrives at [[Grays Ferry, Philadelphia]], while en route to Manhattan for his [[first inauguration of George Washington|inauguration]].
*[[1792]] &ndash; France declares war against the "[[Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor|King of Hungary and Bohemia]]", the beginning of the [[French Revolutionary Wars]].
*[[1800]] &ndash; The [[Septinsular Republic]] is established.
*[[1809]] &ndash; Two Austrian army corps in Bavaria are defeated by a [[First French Empire]] army led by [[Napoleon]] at the [[Battle of Abensberg]] on the second day of a four-day campaign that ended in a French victory.
*[[1828]] &ndash; [[René Caillié]] becomes the second non-Muslim to enter [[Timbuktu]], following [[Alexander Gordon Laing|Major Gordon Laing]]. He would also be the first to return alive.<ref>{{cite book | last=Quella-Villéger | first=Alain | year=2012 | title=René Caillié, l'Africain: une vie d'explorateur, 1799–1838 | publisher=Aubéron | place=Anglet, France | isbn=978-2-84498-137-0 | language=fr|page=95 }}</ref>
*[[1836]] &ndash; [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] passes an act creating the [[Wisconsin Territory]].
*[[1861]] &ndash; [[American Civil War]]: [[Robert E. Lee]] resigns his commission in the [[United States Army]] in order to command the forces of the state of [[Virginia]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Pryor|first=Elizabeth Brown|title=Robert E. Lee's 'Severest Struggle'|journal=American Heritage|date=Winter 2008 |access-date=April 20, 2019|url=https://www.americanheritage.com/robert-e-lees-severest-struggle}}</ref>
*  1861   &ndash; [[Thaddeus S. C. Lowe]], attempting to display the value of balloons, makes record journey, flying 900 miles from Cincinnati to South Carolina.<ref>{{cite book|first=Clifton|last=Daniel|title=Chronicle of America|publisher=Chronicle publication|year=1989|page=364|isbn=0-13-133745-9}}</ref> 
*[[1862]] &ndash; [[Louis Pasteur]] and [[Claude Bernard]] complete the experiment disproving the theory of [[spontaneous generation]].
*[[1865]] &ndash; Astronomer [[Angelo Secchi]] demonstrates the [[Secchi disk]], which measures water clarity, aboard [[Pope Pius IX]]'s yacht, the ''L'Immaculata Concezion''.
*[[1876]] &ndash; The [[April Uprising of 1876|April Uprising]] begins. Its suppression shocks European opinion, and Bulgarian independence becomes a condition for ending the [[Russo-Turkish War (1877–78)|Russo-Turkish War]].
*[[1884]] &ndash; Pope Leo XIII publishes the encyclical ''[[Humanum genus]]'', condemning Freemasonry.
*[[1898]] &ndash; U.S. President [[William McKinley]] signs a joint resolution to Congress for declaration of war against Spain, beginning the [[Spanish–American War]].<ref>{{cite book|last=McCallum|first=Jack|title=Military Medicine: From Ancient Times to the 21st Century|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|publisher=ABC-CLIO|date=2008|isbn=978-1-85109-693-0|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5BXB9QtUfFQC|page=306}}</ref>