1945: Big Three meet at Yalta
On this day in 1945, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin meet at Yalta, a Ukrainian resort town on the Black Sea.
During their second and most controversial conference, the three allies compromised on their visions of the post-war world order and discussed military considerations in the war against Japan. With victory over Germany imminent, the leaders agreed to divide Germany into zones of occupation.
A frail President Roosevelt, two months from his death, concentrated most of his energies in petitioning Stalin to join the war against Japan. Stalin agreed, but only after being assured of an occupation zone in Korea and postwar possession of territories historically disputed between Russia and Japan.
Although the Soviets' eventual entrance into the Pacific War hastened the Japanese surrender, Roosevelt was later criticized for delivering Eastern Europe and North Korea into communist domination by conceding too much to Stalin at Yalta.
2006
In response to the publication in
Denmark and other European countries of cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad, both the Danish and
Norwegian Embassies in Damascus,
Syria are looted and set on fire.
1998
Thousands die as Northern
Afghanistan is hit by an earthquake.
1988
Against the advice of their union - The National Union of Seamen - thousands of British seamen continue their strike action, closing many ports in Britain. 1974
In England, eleven people are killed and twelve are injured as a bomb explodes on a coach carrying soldiers and civilians on its way to an army base in North Yorkshire.1973
The Vietnam War: The International Commission of Control and Supervision, created by the
Paris Peace Accords to supervise the ceasefire between North and South
Vietnam, starts work.
1969
The Palestinian Liberation Organisation is formed with Yasir
Arafat as its leader.
1968
As a result of a law passed by the Kenyan government denying
Asian Kenyans the ability to work in the country, many Indian and Pakistani citizens living in
Kenya arrive in Britain to start a new life.
1962
The Vietnam War: The first American helicopter is shot down in Vietnam. 1929
In
Britain, the first ' Green Belt' area is approved on land five miles from Hendon in Middlesex.
1915
World War I:
Germany declares the North Sea a war zone, in which all merchant ships, including those from neutral countries, are liable to be sunk without warning.
1861
In Montgomery, Alabama delegates from South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida,
Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana convene to establish the Confederate States of America.
1794
The French Revolutionary
legislature abolishes
slavery in the territories of the French Republic.
1789
George Washington becomes the first President of the USA.211
Roman Emperor Septimius Severus dies. His two sons,
Caracalla and Geta, are left in control of the Empire.
1920
English comedian Norman Wisdom.1908
British actress Hilda Baker.1902
American aviator Charles
Augustus Lindbergh. Made the first non-stop solo flight across the Atlantic from New York to
Paris in a monoplane, the 'Spirit of St Louis'. Served in the US airforce in the Pacific during World War Two.
