TODAY IN HISTORY: Abdication Crisis

In 1792, France’s King Louis XVI went before the Convention to face charges of treason. (Louis was convicted, and executed the following month.)

In 1916, Saskatchewan voted to abolish liquor stores.

In 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry American divorcee and socialite Wallis Warfield Simpson. He had reigned for only 11 months, the shortest reign since that of Edward V in the 15th century. He was succeeded by his brother, the Duke of York (father of Queen Elizabeth II), who took the title King George VI. Edward died of cancer at the age of 77 in 1972. Simpson died 14 years later at age 89.

In 1948, Newfoundland signed an agreement to enter Confederation as Canada’s 10th province.

In 1968, Ernest Manning was succeeded by Harry Strom after 25 years as Alberta’s Social Credit premier.

In 1991, European Community leaders signed a treaty in Maastricht, Netherlands, aiming for a common foreign policy and a single currency by 1999.

In 1996, Richard Kuntz, 15, of Burlington, N.D., shot and killed himself while listening to an album by shock rocker Marilyn Manson. Kuntz’s father later appeared at a U.S. Senate hearing on violent rock and rap lyrics.

In 1997, more than 150 countries, including Canada, reached an unprecedented agreement in Kyoto, Japan - the Kyoto Accord - to combat global warming in the 21st century.

In 2001, the federal government issued a statement of regret over 23 volunteer Canadian soldiers who were executed for cowardice or desertion during the First World War. The apology allowed the soldiers’ names to be added to the Book of Remembrance on Parliament Hill.