Today in History

303 – Emperor Diocletian issues the first official Roman edict for the persecution of Christians.

1582 – Pope Gregory XIII announces the New Style (Gregorian) calendar.

1771 – Encyclopaedia Britannica is first published.

1868 – The US House of Representatives votes to impeach President Andrew Johnson. He is cleared in May, after the Senate narrowly fails to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to convict him.

1887 – Paris and Brussels become the first two capital cities to be linked by telephone.

1902 – End of the battle of Langverwacht Hill, in which 23 New Zealand troops were killed, during South Africa’s Boer War.

1912 – The SS Earnslaw, left, is launched on Lake Wakatipu.

1920 – The Nazi Party is organised in Germany.

1946 – Juan Peron is elected president of Argentina for first time.

1981 – Buckingham Palace announces the engagement of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer.

1989 – A cargo door of a United Airlines plane blows out on a flight from Los Angeles to Sydney. Nine passengers are killed, including New Zealander Lee Campbell.

1991 – Hours after last-minute diplomatic efforts fail, allied forces launch a ground offensive against Iraqi forces in Kuwait and Iraq.

2008 – Fidel Castro retires as president of Cuba, due to ill health, after nearly 50 years in charge.

2016 – An independent report into the downing of Malaysian airlines flight MH17 points the finger directly at the Russian government.

Birthdays

Charles V, holy Roman emperor (1500-58); Julius Vogel, NZ premier (1835-99); Ettie Rout, NZ writer, safesex campaigner (1877-1936); Steve Jobs, US computer pioneer (1955-2011); Judith Collins, NZ politician (1959-); Floyd Mayweather, US boxer (1977-).