TODAY HISTORY LESSON: MARCH 29
845 Paris is sacked by Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, who collects a huge ransom in exchange for leaving
1461 The armies of two kings, Henry VI and Edward IV, collide at Towton.
1638 A permanent European colony is established in present-day Delaware.
1814 Battle at Horseshoe Bend AL: Andrew Jackson beats Creek-Indians
1847 U.S. troops under General Winfield Scott take possession of the Mexican stronghold at Vera Cruz.
1848 For the first time in recorded history, Niagara Falls stopped flowing. An ice jam in the Niagara River above the rim of the falls caused the water to stop.
1852 Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 & women to work more than 10 hours a day
1867 The North America Act was passed by the British parliament, creating the dominion of Canada.
1886 Coca-Cola goes on sale for the first time at a drugstore in Atlanta. Its inventor, Dr. John Pemberton, claims it can cure anything from hysteria to the common cold.
1906 In the U.S., 500,000 coal miners walked off the job seeking higher wages.
1912 Captain Robert Scott, storm-bound in a tent near South Pole, makes last entry in his diary “the end cannot be far”
1913 The German government announces a raise in taxes in order to finance the new military budget.
1951 In the United States, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage. They were executed in June 19, 1953.
1952 President Harry Truman removes himself from the presidential race.
1961 The 23rd amendment, allowing residents of Washington, D.C. to vote for president, is ratified.
1962 Cuba opens the trial of the Bay of Pigs invaders.
1971 Lt. William Calley Jr., of the U.S. Army, was found guilty of the premeditated murder of at least 22 Vietnamese civilians. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The trial was the result of the My Lai massacre in Vietnam on March 16, 1968.
1971 Charles Manson is sentenced to death in the gas chamber. The sentence was never carried out because the California Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in 1972. The infamous criminal who ordered several murders served a life sentence and died on November 19, 2017.
1973 The last U.S. troops withdraw from South Vietnam.
1974 Chinese farmers discover the Terracotta Army near Xi’an, 8,000 clay warrior statues buried to guard the tomb of China’s 1st emperor, Qin Shi Huang
1976 Eight Ohio National Guardsmen are indicted for shooting four Kent State students during an anti-war protest on May 4, 1970.
1979 The Committee on Assassinations Report issued by U.S. House of Representatives stated the assassination of President John F. Kennedy was the result of a conspiracy.
1984 NFL Baltimore Colts move to Indianapolis under cover of night
1986 A court in Rome acquits six men in a plot to kill the Pope.
1992 Democratic presidential front-runner Bill Clinton said “I didn’t inhale and I didn’t try it again” in reference to when he had experimented with marijuana.
1993 The South Korean government agreed to pay financial support to women who had been forced to have sex with Japanese troops during World War II.
1995 The U.S. House of Representatives rejected a constitutional amendment that would have limited terms to 12 years in the U.S. House and Senate.
2004 Ireland becomes the first country to ban smoking in all workplaces
2010 Two Chechen suicide bombers detonate their devices in the Moscow underground. 40 people died in the attack allegedly carried out by so-called “black widows”, or Islamist Chechen female suicide bombers.
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
