On this day in history - March 7

What Happened On This Day – March 7

• 1971 A speech by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman helps spark the Bangladesh war of independence

  Bangladesh's founding leader made his historical speech at a time of mounting tensions between East Pakistan, which later became Bangladesh, and West Pakistan, which became present-day Pakistan.

• 1965 Police brutally attack civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama

  Scores of demonstrators were injured, and the day entered history books as Bloody Sunday. The event helped to shift public opinion in favor of the Civil Rights movement.

• 1945 U.S. troops capture the Ludendorff Bridge and cross the Rhine at Remagen

  The legendary capture yielded little strategic advantage but it elevated the morale of the U.S. troops in pursuit of retreating German fighters,

• 1926 The first two-way transatlantic telephone takes place

  The conversation between the post office in London and Bell Laboratories in New York was established using a short-wave radio signal.

• 1900 The SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse becomes the first ship to send wireless signals to shore

  The German transatlantic liner was fitted with wireless communication by its owner, Norddeutscher Lloyd, in order to outdo its rival Hamburg America Line.