Today:
1. 1939: The Spanish Civil War ended with the victory of Francisco Franco’s Nationalists over the Republican forces.
2. 1969: Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34th President of the United States, died in Washington, D.C., at the age of 78.
3. 1979: A partial meltdown of the Three Mile Island nuclear reactor in Pennsylvania, United States, led to one of the most significant nuclear accidents in U.S. history.
4. 1990: The U.S. space probe Magellan was launched from the Space Shuttle Atlantis on its mission to Venus.
5. 1999: A NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia began, marking the start of the Kosovo War.
6. 2003: American troops invaded Iraq, initiating the Iraq War and leading to the eventual capture of Baghdad.
7. 2005: A magnitude 8.6 earthquake struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia, triggering a tsunami that killed at least 1,300 people.
8. 2006: The United Nations Human Rights Council held its first session in Geneva, Switzerland.
9. 2017: Cyclone Debbie struck northeastern Australia, causing widespread damage and forcing thousands of people to evacuate their homes.
10. 2019: A massive explosion at a chemical plant in Jiangsu Province, China, killed at least 78 people and injured hundreds more.