THURSDAY, Aug. 20, 2026

1597-First Dutch East India Company ships return from the Far East

1741-Alaska is first sighted by a Russian expedition led by Danish explorer Vitus Bering

1905-Chinese revolutionary Sun Yat-sen forms the first chapter of Tongmenghui, a union of secret societies determined to bring down the Qing dynasty

1939-General Zhukov leads a Soviet offensive against the Japanese invasion in Mongolia

1968-250,000 Soviet and Warsaw Pact troops invade Czechoslovakia at night to suppress the Prague Spring

1993-Oslo Peace Accords are signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization after secret negotiations in Norway, a public ceremony in Washington, D.C. is held the following month