Snapshots in Time
5 YearsAgo
2005 - Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, steps down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.
Today's Facts
538 - Witiges, king of the Ostrogoths ends his siege of Rome and retreats to Ravenna, leaving the city in the hands of the victorious Roman general, Belisarius.
1622 - Ignatius of Loyola, founder of the Jesuits, is canonized a saint by the Catholic Church.
1664 - New Jersey becomes a colony of England.
1832 - The Filippo Taglioni ballet La Sylphide receives its première performance at the Paris Opéra.
1868 - Henry O'Farrell attempts to assassinate Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
1881 - Andrew Watson makes his Scotland debut as the world's first black international football player and captain.
1894 - In Vicksburg, Mississippi, USA, Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.
1912 - The Girl Guides (later renamed the Girl Scouts of the USA) are founded in the United States.
1913 - Canberra Day: The future capital of Australia is officially named Canberra. (Melbourne remained temporary capital until 1927 while the new capital was still under construction.)
1918 - Moscow becomes the capital of Russia again after Saint-Petersburg held this status for 215 years.
1928 - In California, the St. Francis Dam fails, killing over 600 people.
1930 - Mahatma Gandhi leads a 200-mile march, known as the Dandi March, to the sea in defiance of British opposition, to protest the British monopoly on salt.
1933 - Franklin D. Roosevelt addresses the nation for the first time as President of the United States. This was also the first of his "fireside chats".
1934 - Konstantin Päts and General Johan Laidoner stage a coup in Estonia, and ban all political parties.
1938 - Anschluss: German troops occupy Austria.
1940 - Winter War: Finland signs the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union, ceding almost all of Finnish Karelia. Finnish troops and the remaining population are immediately evacuated.
1947 - The Truman Doctrine is proclaimed to help stem the spread of Communism.
1964 - New Hampshire Lottery: New Hampshire becomes the first state to sell lottery tickets in the modern era.
1966 - Suharto takes over from Sukarno to become President of Indonesia.
1968 - Mauritius achieves independence.
1971 - The March 12 Memorandum, is sent to the Demirel government of Turkey and the government resigns.
1992 - Mauritius becomes a republic while remaining a member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 - Fire in the Sky directed by Robert Lieberman was released
1993 - CB4 directed by Tamra Davis was released
1993 - Several bombs explode in Bombay (Mumbai), India, killing about 300 and injuring hundreds more.
1993 - North Korea nuclear weapons program: North Korea says that it plans to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and refuses to allow inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
1993 - The Blizzard of 1993 – Snow would begin to fall across the eastern portion of the US with tornadoes, thunder snow storms, high winds and record low temperatures. The storm would last another 30 hours before it left the US.
1994 - The Church of England ordains its first female priests.
1999 - Forces of Nature directed by Bronwen Hughes was released
1999 - Former Warsaw Pact members the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland join NATO.
2003 - Zoran Đinđić, Prime Minister of Serbia, is assassinated in Belgrade.
2004 - A President of South Korea, Roh Moo-hyun, is impeached by its national assembly for the first time in the nation's history.
2005 - Tung Chee Hwa, the first Chief Executive of Hong Kong, steps down from his post after his resignation is approved by the Chinese central government.
