On this day...

September 2: National Day in Vietnam (1945) 1792 – French Revolution: Due to an overwhelming fear that foreign armies would attack Paris and prisoners would revolt, thousands of people weresummarily executed. 1864 – American Civil War: Union forces enteredAtlanta, Georgia, a day after the Confederate defendersfled the city, bringing the Atlanta Campaign to a close. 1946 – The interim government of India, headed by Jawaharlal Nehru (pictured), was formed to assist the transition of India fromBritish rule to independence. 1957 – President Ngô Đình Diệm of South Vietnam became the first foreign head of state to make a state visit to Australia. 1990 – Transnistria unilaterally declared its independence from what was then the Moldavian SSR of the Soviet Union, but it remains only a partially recognised state.