John Bell Hood orders the evacuation of Atlanta, ending a four-month siege by General William Tecumseh Sherman. 1870 – Franco-Prussian War: The Battle of Sedan is fought, resulting in a decisive Prussian victory. 1873 – Cetshwayo ascends to the throne as king of the Zulu nation following the death of his father Mpande. 1878 – Emma Nutt becomes the world's first female telephone operator when she is recruited by Alexander Graham Bell to the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company. 1880 – The army of Mohammad Ayub Khan is routed by the British at the Battle of Kandahar, ending the Second Anglo-Afghan War. 1894 – Over 400 people die in the Great Hinckley Fire, a forest fire in Hinckley, Minnesota. 1897 – The Tremont Street Subway in Boston opens, becoming the first underground rapid transit system in North America. 1901–present 1923 – The Great Kantō earthquake devastates Tokyo and Yokohama, killing about 105,000 people. 1939 – World War II: Nazi Germany and Slovakia invade Poland, beginning the European phase of World War II. 1961 – TWA Flight 529 crashed shortly after takeoff from Midway Airport in Chicago, killing all 78 people on board. At the time, it was the deadliest single plane disaster in U.S. history. 1967 – Six-Day War: The Khartoum Resolution is issued at the Arab Summit, and eight countries adopt the "three 'no's against Israel". 1969 – A coup in Libya brings Muammar Gaddafi to power. 1973 – A 76-hour multinational rescue effort in the Celtic Sea resulted in the Rescue of Roger Mallinson and Roger Chapman. 1974 – The SR-71 Blackbird sets (and holds) the record for flying from New York to London in the time of one hour, 54 minutes and 56.4 seconds at a speed of . 1981 – Central African President David Dacko is ousted from power in a bloodless military coup led by General André Kolingba. 1982 – The United States Air Force Space Command is founded. 1983 – Cold War: Korean Air Lines Flight 007 is shot down by a Soviet Union jet fighter when the commercial aircraft enters Soviet airspace, killing all 269 on board, including Congressman Lawrence McDonald. 2004 – The Beslan school siege begins when armed terrorists take schoolchildren and school staff hostage in North Ossetia, Russia; by the end of the siege, three days later, more than 385 people are dead (including hostages, other civilians, security personnel and terrorists).