TODAY IN HISTORY

March 1, 2003 - 0:0
1867 - Nebraska became the 37th state of the Union.

1871 - Napoleon III was deposed as emperor of France.

1872 - Yellowstone, the world's first national park, was set up in the U.S. 1880 - Lytton (Giles) Strachey, British biographer, born.

1886 - Oskar Kokoschka, expressionist artist and writer, born in Austria. He fled to England in 1938 to escape the Nazis.

1896 - Italian forces were defeated by the Ethiopians at the battle of Adowa, dealing a blow to Italian hopes of building an empire in Africa.

1910 - David Niven, British film actor, born. Won the best Actor Oscar for his role in the 1958 film Separate Tables.

1917 - Robert Traill Spence Lowell, American poet, born. His second volume of poetry, Lord Weary's Castle won a Pulitzer prize.

1919 - The Samil Independence Movement began in Korea, demonstrating against Japanese rule. It was also known as the March First Movement and lasted a year.

1932 - The 20-month-old son of American aviator Charles Lindbergh was kidnapped. He was found dead in May.

1941 - Bulgaria joined the Axis powers and allowed German forces to enter the country.

1950 - In Britain, Dr. Klaus Fuchs was convicted for giving British and American atomic secrets to the Soviet government.

1950 - Chiang Kai-Shek resumed the presidency of the Nationalist Chinese government.

1954 - The United States announced it had conducted a hydrogen bomb test on the Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean.

1959 - Archbishop Makarios returned to Cyprus from exile.

1962 - Uganda achieved internal self-government, with Benedicto Kiwanuka as prime minister. 1962 - Pakistan announced a new constitution, setting up a presidential system of government.

1966 - The Soviet spacecraft Venus III landed on Venus. It was the first spacecraft to land on another planet.

1966 - Ghana ordered all Soviet, East German and Chinese technicians to leave the country.

1967 - The government of General Oscar Gestido, elected the previous November, took office in Uruguay.

1973 - Fine Gael and Labour Party coalition won the Irish general election. Liam Cosgrave became prime minister.

1974 - American Grand Jury issued indictments against President Nixon's top aides, including John Ehrlichman, in the Watergate case.

1979 - Referendums in Scotland and Wales on devolution took place; the Welsh rejected the plans and the Scottish vote in favor was below the required percentage.

1988 - Soviet troops were sent into Azerbaijan after ethnic riots between Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

1992 - King Fahd of Saudi Arabia unveiled major political reforms, ceding some powers after 10 years of disciplined rule.

1992 - Bosnian Muslims and Croats voted to secede from Yugoslavia.

1995 - Police raided the home of Winnie Mandela as part of a fraud investigation.

1996 - The U.S. said Colombia had failed in its anti-drug efforts and would no longer qualify for most American aid and loans.

1997 - Albania's government resigned after the deadliest violence in two months of angry unrest.