Today in History

• 1991 Yugoslav troops invade Slovenia
  The attack, which marked the beginning of the Ten-Day War, followed Slovenia’s declaration of independence. It was the first of the Yugoslav Wars, a number of ethnic conflicts leading to the break-up of Yugoslavia and resulting in at least 140,000 deaths.

• 1986 The 1980s U.S. intervention in Nicaragua is declared illegal
  The International Court of Justice condemned the U.S. paramilitary campaign to overthrow the left-wing Nicaraguan government. The social democratic Sandinistas had begun to redistribute the country’s wealth and improve education.

• 1972 Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney found Atari, Inc.
  The pioneering video game and home computer company produced arcade classics like the two-dimensional tennis simulator Pong. Especially in the 1970s and 1980s, its products had a large impact on the electronic entertainment industry.

• 1956 The film Moby Dick is premiered
  John Huston’s adaptation of Herman Melville’s homonymous novel, while not having been a great box office success, is today considered an outstanding work, especially for its use of light and color.

• 1954 The world’s first nuclear power plant is activated
  The reactor at Obninsk in present-day Russia remained in operation for 48 years. Today, there are some 400 atomic power plants worldwide. The technology remains controversial, especially due to the unsolved long-term storage of the highly dangerous nuclear waste.