December 29

On this day in . . .

• 1778, during the American Revolutionary War: 3,500 British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia without firing a shot

• 1845, according with International Boundary delimitation, U.S.A annexes the Mexican state of Texas, following the Manifest Destiny doctrine. For others, the Republic of Texas is admitted as the 28th U.S. state

• 1930, Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the Two-Nation Theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan

• 1934, Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930

• 1937, the Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution

• 1940, during World War II: In The Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, killing almost 200 civilians

• 1949, KC2XAK of Bridgeport, Connecticut becomes the first Ultra high frequency (UHF) television station to operate a daily schedule

• 1959, physicist Richard Feynman gives a speech entitled "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom", which is regarded as the birth of nanotechnology

• 1998, leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed over 1 million lives