This Day In History, March 10th.
Five Historical Events That Happened on March 10th.
The first successful voice transmission via Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, occurred in 1876. "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you," Bell said to his assistant, Thomas Watson.
1945: The United States Army Air Force bombed Tokyo, Japan, killing an estimated 100,000 people. It was the most lethal bombing raid of WWII.
The first successful voice transmission via Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, occurred in 1876. "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you," Bell said to his assistant, Thomas Watson.
1945: The United States Army Air Force bombed Tokyo, Japan, killing an estimated 100,000 people. It was the most lethal bombing raid of WWII.
Lithuanian parliament declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1990, becoming the first Soviet republic to do so. The Soviet government did not recognize the declaration, and it took several months of tense negotiations for the Soviet Union to finally recognize Lithuania's independence.
This Day In History, March 10th, 1876: The first successful voice transmission over Alexander Graham Bell's new invention, the telephone, took place. Bell spoke the famous words, "Mr. Watson, come here, I want to see you," to his assistant, Thomas Watson.
Bell and Watson had been working on improving the telephone, and on this day, they succeeded in transmitting the first intelligible words over a distance of approximately 20 feet. Bell's famous sentence was spoken into the transmitter, which was wired to another room where Watson was waiting. Watson clearly heard the words and rushed to Bell's side, exclaiming, "You were heard! I could hear the words!" This breakthrough resulted in the invention of the telephone, which revolutionized global communication.
1945: The United States Army Air Force firebombed Tokyo, Japan, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 100,000 people. It was the deadliest bombing raid of World War II.
On March 10, 1945, the United States Army Air Force conducted a massive firebombing raid on Tokyo, Japan, during World War II. During the raid, codenamed Operation Meetinghouse, over 300 B-29 bombers dropped incendiary bombs on the city. The attack caused widespread devastation and fires, killing an estimated 100,000 people. It was one of the deadliest bombing raids of the war, wreaking havoc on Tokyo's infrastructure and economy. The attack was part of a larger Allied plan to weaken Japan's ability to wage war and force a surrender.
1959: Tibetans staged an uprising against Chinese rule in Lhasa, which led to a brutal crackdown by Chinese authorities. The 14th Dalai Lama fled into exile in India, where he has remained ever since.
On March 10, 1959, an uprising against Chinese rule occurred in Lhasa, Tibet's capital city. Tibetans had been resisting Chinese occupation since the 1950s, but peaceful protests turned violent when Chinese authorities attempted to kidnap the Dalai Lama, Tibet's spiritual and political leader at the time. The Chinese government retaliated with a brutal crackdown, and tens of thousands of Tibetans were killed as a result of the conflict. The Dalai Lama fled to India and has been there ever since. Tibetan resistance persists to this day, with many Tibetans demanding independence or greater autonomy from China.
1969: James Earl Ray, the man who assassinated civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 99 years in prison.
James Earl Ray, the assassin of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., pleaded guilty in a Memphis court on March 10, 1969, and was sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ray had been on the run for more than a year after killing King in Memphis on April 4, 1968. Finally apprehended in London, he was extradited to the United States to stand trial. Ray initially denied responsibility for the murder, but later pleaded guilty in exchange for a life sentence. He later recanted his confession, claiming that he was merely a pawn in a larger conspiracy. Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination was a watershed moment in the civil rights movement, with far-reaching consequences.
1990: The Lithuanian parliament declared the country's independence from the Soviet Union, becoming the first Soviet republic to do so.
The Lithuanian parliament declared the country's independence from the Soviet Union on March 10, 1990, making it the first Soviet republic to do so. The declaration marked the end of a long struggle for independence that began in the 1980s with the formation of the Sjdis movement. Because the Soviet government refused to recognize Lithuania's independence, it imposed an economic blockade on the country. The blockade caused significant hardship for the people of Lithuania, but the government refused to relent. After months of tense negotiations, the Soviet Union finally recognized Lithuania's independence, along with the Baltic republics of Estonia and Latvia, in September 1991. The events in Lithuania were part of a larger wave of democratization and independence movements that swept through Eastern Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s, eventually leading to the Soviet Union's demise.