This Day in History

2008

A decision by the International Court of Justice ends a twenty-nine-year territorial dispute between Malaysia and Singapore over some South China Sea islands.

Archived Facts

1990

The Republic of Yemen is formed after unification of North Yemen and South Yemen.

2006

Montenegro holds a popular referendum in which it decides to become independent from Serbia.

2002

East Timor formally becomes an independent state.

1940

Troops from Nazi Germany occupy Brussels.

1991

Queen Elizabeth II is the first British monarch to address the U.S. Congress.

1948

Hours after declaring its independence, the state of Israel is attacked by five Arab countries.

1955

The Warsaw Pact is established under the initiative of the Soviet Union with eight signatory states.

1888

Under pressure from Britain, Brazil abolishes slavery.

1994

Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as president of South Africa.

1936

Italy annexes Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

1945

President Harry Truman announces the end of World War II in Europe.

1974

West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns after revelations that one of his closest aides was a Stasi agent.

2001

John Paul II becomes the first Catholic pope to enter a mosque during a visit to Damascus, Syria.

2001

The United States is voted out of the UN Human Rights Commission.

2011

Osama bin Laden is killed in a U.S. special forces raid in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

1707

The Acts of Union passed by the English and Scottish parliaments go into effect, giving birth to the United Kingdom of Great Britain.

1975

The capital of South Vietnam is captured by Communist forces.

1945

American troops enter the Dachau Concentration camp in Germany.

2005

The last Syrian troops leave Lebanon, ending a twenty-nine-year military occupation.