On This Day: The Big Three met to discuss terms to end World War II, UN adopted Rome statute and more

1862 | The Second Confiscation Act, which was a precursor to the Emancipation Proclamation, was passed by the Abraham Lincoln-led Congress in the US. (Image: Wiki Commons)

1917 | King George V issued a proclamation on July 17, 1917, changing the name of the British Royal family to Windsor from the German Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The move came after the Germans started daylight raids on Britain, killing 18 children in one of the attacks. German Gotha bombers carried out the strike on the Upper North Street School in Poplar in June 1917, which was, by coincidence, the same name as the royal family. (Image: Wiki Commons)

1918 | Russian Tsar Nicholas II, who abdicated the throne on March 15, 1917, is executed by a firing squad along with his wife, Alexandra; son, Alexis; four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasi, and four of their servants. (Image: Wiki Commons)

1936 | The Spanish Civil War, a planned rebellion of the Nationalists against the Republican government of Spain, started, sparking a bloody civil war which continued till 1939. The Nationalists and Francisco Franco assumed power in 1939. (Image: Wiki Commons)

1944 | Two ammunition ships at a facility at Port Chicago, California, 35 miles north of San Francisco, exploded, killing 322 people. (Image: Wiki Commons)

1948 | Lt. Gail S. Halvorsen, a US Air Force transport pilot, encountered children at Tempelhof Airport in Berlin and offered them candies. This gave him the idea to drop candy in ‘Operation Little Vittles’ during the Berlin Blockade. (Image: Wiki Commons)

1955 | Walt Disney’s new theme park called “Disneyland”, which had attractions based on the creations of Walt Disney and the Disney Company, opened to the public in Anaheim, California. (Image: Wiki Commons)

1984 | The US signed into law the National Minimum Drinking Age Act, prohibiting people under the age of 21 from buying or possessing alcohol. (Image: Shutterstock)

1998 | The United Nations adopted the Rome Statute, establishing the International Criminal Court, which seeks to protect people from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. (Image: Shutterstock)

2014 | Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur crashed over conflict-hit Ukraine after disappearing from radar. According to a BBC report, there were 283 passengers, including 80 children, and 15 crew members, on board when the flight crashed. A Dutch investigation later revealed that the aircraft was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile. (Image: Reuters)

2020 | American civil rights leader John Lewis, who led the famed march in Selma, Alabama, that became known as “Bloody Sunday”, died at the age of 80. The Selma march is a landmark event in the history of the civil rights movement in 1965. (Image: Reuters)