World War II / ANZUS / Titanic / Airbags

-1715

French King Louis XIV died at the age of 72, the longest reign of any major European monarch.

-1785

Mozart publishes his sixth string quartet, Opus 10, in Vienna.

-1864

The Confederate forces were ordered to retreat by General John Bell Hood after General William Tecumseh Sherman tightened the noose around Atlanta, Georgia.

-1878

Emma Nutt becomes the first female telephone operator for Edwin Holmes Telephone Dispatch Company.

-1905

Both Alberta and Saskatchewan became the 8th and 9th provinces of the Canadian Confederation under Wilfrid Laurier.

-1923

Japan's capital Tokyo and neighboring "City of Silk" Yokohama are disrupted by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake that causes many homes to collapse, killing over 140,000.

-1939

World War II started when Germany invaded Poland by attacking the Free City of Danzig.

-1941

Germany requires Jews to wear yellow Stars of David.

-1951

The United States, Australia, and New Zealand signed the ANZUS mutual defense treaty.

-1969

Colonel Muammar Gaddafi overthrew King Idris during the Libyan Revolution.

-1971

The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-7 with the first all-Black and Latino lineup in MLB history.

-1972

Bobby Fischer beats Russian champion Boris Spassky 12.5-8.5 in Reykjavik, Iceland, the most-watched world title match ever; Fischer is the first American to win the title.

-1985

Seventy-three years after the RMS Titanic sank, a French-American expedition finds the wreck.

-1998

The Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 finally went into effect, requiring airbags on both sides of the front seats on all cars and light trucks sold in the United States.

-2001

The US Postal Service releases the first American stamp celebrating Muslim holidays, after five years of lobbying.