Nelson Mandela, whose efforts to end apartheid led to his imprisonment (1962–90) and earned him a share (with F.W. de Klerk) of the 1993 Nobel Peace Prize, became president of South Africa this day in 1994.
| 1940: | | Germany invaded Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. |
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| 1940: | | | After losing the support of many Conservatives in the House of Commons, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain resigned his office and was replaced by Winston Churchill. |
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| 1869: | | | The tracks of the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific were joined at Promontory, Utah, to form the first transcontinental railway in the United States. |
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| 1865: | | | Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederacy, was captured by Union troops near Irwinville, Georgia. |
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| 1857: | | The Indian Mutiny erupted in Meerut in reaction to the increased pace of Westernization in India and a military crackdown on Indian troops by their British officers. |
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| 1838: | | | American actor John Wilkes Booth, who would assassinate President Abraham Lincoln in 1865, was born near Bel Air, Maryland. |
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| 1818: | | American patriot Paul Revere died in Boston. |
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| 1775: | | The Green Mountain Boys, under the joint command of Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, captured the British-controlled Fort Ticonderoga during the American Revolution. |
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