This Day in History

1945

The Arab League is formed in Cairo.

Archived Facts

1871

Otto von Bismarck becomes the first chancellor of the German Empire.

2003

The U.S.-led ground invasion of Iraq begins.

1944

German forces occupy Hungary.

1962

Algerian rebels sign the Evian Accords with France after a seven-year war of independence.

2011

The civil war in Syria begins.

1965

Israel approves West Germany’s proposal to formally establish diplomatic relations.

1938

The Anschluss: Hitler annexes Austria to Germany.

1999

The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland become members of NATO.

2004

An al-Qaeda-inspired terrorist group kills 191 people in a series of coordinated bombings at commuter trains and stations in Madrid, Spain.

1957

Egyptians reopen the Suez canal, four months after the end of the Suez War.

1989

Iran and the United Kingdom break diplomatic relations over the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against writer Salman Rushdie.

1967

Svetlana Alliluyeva, Joseph Stalin's only daughter, defects to the United States.

1946

Winston Churchill uses the phrase "Iron Curtain" for the first time during a speech in Westminster College, Missouri.

2009

Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir becomes the first sitting head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court.

2003

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is arrested in Pakistan by CIA agents.

1974

The United States and Egypt reestablish diplomatic relations after a seven-year hiatus.

1844

The Dominican Republic gains independence from Haiti.

1917

President Woodrow Wilson learns of the Zimmermann Telegram, a message from Germany to Mexico proposing an alliance in the event of a war with the United States.

1919

The Paris Peace Conference approves creation of the League of Nations.