Today is Monday, March 8, the 67th day of 2010. There are 298 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1702, England's Queen Anne acceded to the throne upon the death of King William III.

In 1782, the Gnadenhutten massacre took place as more than 90 Indians were slain by militiamen in Ohio in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indians.

In 1854, U.S. Commodore Matthew C. Perry made his second landing in Japan; within a month, he concluded a treaty with the Japanese.

In On March 8, 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclad CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimack) rammed and sank the USS Cumberland and heavily damaged the USS Congress, both frigates, off Newport News, Virginia.

In 1917, Russia's "February Revolution" (so called because of the Old Style calendar being used by Russians at the time) began with rioting and strikes in Petrograd. and led to the overthrow the Tsar in Russia.

In 1917, the US Senate voted to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.

In 1921, French troops occupied Düsseldorf and towns in the Ruhr area following Germany's failure to pay reparations from World War One.

In 1921, Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato was assassinated by anarchists near his home in Madrid.

In 1944, US heavy bombers resumed raiding Berlin.

In 1965, the United States landed its first combat troops in South Vietnam as 3,500 Marines were brought in to defend the US airbase at Da Nang.

In 2001, a Chilean appeals court ruled 2-1 that former dictator Augusto Pinochet could be tried for human rights abuses that occurred after his 1973 coup.

Thought for Today

"In every person, even in such as appear most reckless, there is an inherent desire to attain balance." — Jakob Wassermann, German author (1873-1934).