@rh18bold:Today in History

Today is Monday, March 9, the 68th day of 2009. There are 297 days left in the year.

On this date

In 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclads USS Monitor and CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac) clashed for five hours to a draw at Hampton Roads, Virginia.

In 1924, Italy annexed the independent city of Fiume but abandoned claims to Yugoslavia's Dalmatian coast.

In 1932, Eamon de Valera was appointed head of government of the Irish Free State.

In 1942, Japanese troops took Java after heavy fighting against Dutch colonial forces and their British, Australian and US allies.

In 1945, US B-29 bombers launched incendiary bomb attacks against Japan, resulting in an estimated 100,000 deaths.

In 1977, about a dozen armed Hanafi Muslims invaded three buildings in Washington D.C., killing one person and taking more than 130 hostages. The siege ended two days later.

In 1991, Yugoslavia deployed tanks in Belgrade after clashes between police and anti-communists.

Thought for Today

"Conscience is the perfect interpreter of life." — Karl Barth, Swiss theologian (1886-1966).