ON THIS DAY FEBRUARY 3

1377 The mass execution of the population of Cesena, Italy, by papal forces, marks the beginning the papal schism.

1488 Bartolomeu Dias lands in Mossel Bay. He is the first known European to travel so far south.

1838 Piet Retief, 70 burghers and 30 mounted servants arrive at Dingaan’s kraal Ungungundlovu (Home of the Elephant) for the signing of a treaty.

1848 Cape Governor Harry Smith annexes the land between the Orange and Vaal rivers. 1917 The US cuts diplomatic relations with Germany owing to submarine warfare. 1919 The Bolshevik army is defeated by the multinational-backed White Russians, who are fighting to restore the government after the 1917 revolution.

1931 Arkansas legislature passes motion to pray for soul of journalist HL Mencken, after he calls the state the ‘apex of moronia’.

1943 Four chaplains sacrifice their lives by giving up their life jackets when their troopship, SS Dorchester, is torpedoed. 1945 As part of Operation Thunderclap, 1 000 B-17s drop 3 000 tons of bombs on Berlin, killing 2 500-3 000 people and making 120 000 more homeless.

1959 The Day the Music Died: Rock and rollers Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens are killed in a plane crash in Iowa.

1960 British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan delivers his ‘wind of change’ speech to Parliament in Cape Town, condemning apartheid and incensing local politicians. 1961 The USAF begins Operation Looking Glass, and for the next 30 years, a ‘Doomsday Plane’ is always in the air as a command post in the event of nuclear holocaust.

1966 The USSR’s Luna 9 becomes the first craft to make a soft landing on the Moon.

1972 The seven-day Iran blizzard, the deadliest snowstorm in history – it kills more than 4 000 people – starts.

1978 The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Pik Botha says in Parliament that the Steve Biko affair has done endless harm to South Africa. 1985 Desmond Tutu becomes the first Black Anglican bishop of Johannesburg.

1992 The US Department of Defense opens calling Noriega “our ally in war on drugs” 1998 A Nato pilot causes the death of 20 people when his plane brings down an Italian cable-car.

2016 Lord Lucan’s death certificate is granted, 42 years after he disappeared.

2018 Moscow has its heaviest snowfall in a day, killing one person and toppling 2 000 trees. | The Historian