On March 26

On this day in ...
... 1979 (30 years ago today), in a televised White House ceremony hosted by U.S. President Jimmy Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar al-Sadat shook hands to mark the signing of a peace treaty that had evolved out of the Camp David peace accords. The treaty was intended to bring to an end more than 3 decades of hostilities between the 2 countries. (photo credit)
... 1995, the Convention Implementing the Schengen Agreement (sometimes called the Schengen acquis) "took practical effect" nearly a year and a half after it entered into force. The delay was caused be the time it took to put in place "the necessary technical and legal prerequisites such as data banks and the relevant data protection authorities." As described on this official German site, the Convention's

key points relate to measures designed to create, following the abolition
of common border checks, a common area of security and justice. Specifically it is concerned with
► harmonizing provisions relating to entry into and short stays in the Schengen area by non-EU citizens (uniform Schengen visa),
► asylum matters (determining in which Member State an application for asylum may be submitted),
► measures to combat cross-border drugs-related crime,
► police cooperation, and
► cooperation among Schengen states on judicial matters.

Countries that have fully implented Schengen include Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.

(Prior March 26 posts are here and here.)

On September 5

On this day in ...
... 1793 (215 years ago today), Maximilien Robespierre (right) launched the period of the French Revolution known as the Reign of Terror when he "declare[d] Terror 'the order of the day.'" The declaration touched off nearly 2 years in which political enemies -- an estimated 18,500-40,000 persons -- were killed. Robespierre himself would perish beneath the guillotine days after the end of La Terreur. (image credit)
... 1978 (30 years ago today), Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, and U.S. President Jimmy Carter began what would be nearly 2 weeks of negotiations on framework for Middle East peace at the U.S. President's Maryland retreat, Camp David. The Camp David Accords were released at the conclusion of the meeting, on September 17. A collection of historial materials related to the negotiations may be found here. (credit for photo of Begin playing chess with U.S. National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski during Camp David negotiations)

On November 19, ...

... 1977 (30 years ago today), Egyptian President Anwar Sadat became the 1st Arab leader ever to visit Israel. Sadat was greeted at Ben Gurion

Airport outside Tel Aviv by Prime Minister Menachem Begin, with whom he would share the Nobel Peace Prize a year later. Also planned during the 36-hour visit was a televised speech before the Knesset, to be delivered in Arabic, 1 of the official languages of the Israeli parliament.

... 1794, Jay's Treaty, an instrument formally titled the Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, between His Britannick Majesty; and The United States of America, was signed in London. Its U.S. nickname recognizes its U.S. negotiator, John Jay, a special envoy who also wrote some of the Federalist papers and served as the 1st Chief Justice of the United States. Although the instrument averted a looming commercial war between the 2 countries, it was controversial. Protesters hanged Jay in effigy. Nonetheless, the treaty received the Senate's advice and consent in 1795.