Event-a-Day

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1527 – Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 147 Swiss Guards, including their commander, die fighting the forces of Charles V in order to allow Pope Clement VII to escape into Castel Sant'Angelo.

1682 – Louis XIV of France moves his court to the Palace of Versailles.

1835 – James Gordon Bennett, Sr. publishes the first issue of the New York Herald.

1840 – The Penny Black postage stamp becomes valid for use in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

1861 – American Civil War: Arkansas secedes from the Union.

1889 – The Eiffel Tower is officially opened to the public at the Universal Exposition in Paris.

1910 – George V becomes King of the United Kingdom upon the death of his father, Edward VII.

1915 – Babe Ruth, then a pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, hits his first major league home run.

1935 – New Deal: Executive Order 7034 creates the Works Progress Administration.

1937 – Hindenburg disaster: The German zeppelin Hindenburg catches fire and is destroyed within a minute while attempting to dock at Lakehurst, New Jersey. Thirty-six people are killed.

1940 – John Steinbeck is awarded the Pulitzer Prize for his novel The Grapes of Wrath.

1941 – At California's March Field, Bob Hope performs his first USO show. The first flight of the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

1949 – EDSAC, the first practical electronic digital stored-program computer, runs its first operation.

1954 – Roger Bannister becomes the first person to run the mile in under four minutes.

1960 – More than 20 million viewers watch the first televised royal wedding when Princess Margaret marries Anthony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey.

1998 – Kerry Wood strikes out 20 Houston Astros to tie the major league record held by Roger Clemens. He threw a one-hitter and did not walk a batter in his fifth career start.

2013 – Three women missing for more than a decade are found alive in the U.S. city of Cleveland, Ohio.

1429 – Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning, wounded, to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.

1664 – Louis XIV of France begins construction of the Palace of Versailles.

1794 – French Revolution: Robespierre introduces the Cult of the Supreme Being in the National Convention as the new state religion of the French First Republic.

1824 – World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the composer's supervision.

1832 – Greece's independence is recognized by the Treaty of London.

1864 – The world's oldest surviving clipper ship, the City of Adelaide is launched by William Pile, Hay and Co. in Sunderland, England, for transporting passengers and goods between Britain and Australia.

1895 – In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention, the Popov lightning detector — a primitive radio receiver. In some parts of the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.

1915 – World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people, including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.

1940 – The Norway Debate in the British House of Commons begins, and leads to the replacement of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain with Winston Churchill three days later.

1942 – During the Battle of the Coral Sea, United States Navy aircraft carrier aircraft attack and sink the Imperial Japanese Navy light aircraft carrier Shōhō; the battle marks the first time in the naval history that two enemy fleets fight without visual contact between warring ships.

1945 – World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.

1946 – Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees.

1960 – Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960: Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.

1976 – Honda Accord officially launched.

1986 – Canadian Patrick Morrow becomes the first person to climb each of the Seven Summits.

1992 – Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.

1992 – The Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its first mission, STS-49.

2000 – Vladimir Putin is inaugurated as president of Russia.

1450 – Jack Cade's Rebellion: Kentishmen revolt against King Henry VI.

1788 – The French Parlement is suspended to be replaced by the creation of forty-seven new courts.

1821 – Greek War of Independence: The Greeks defeat the Turks at the Battle of Gravia Inn.

1861 – American Civil War: Richmond, Virginia is named the capital of the Confederate States of America.

1886 – Pharmacist John Pemberton first sells a carbonated beverage named "Coca-Cola" as a patent medicine.

1898 – The first games of the Italian football league system are played.

1912 – Paramount Pictures is founded.

1919 – Edward George Honey proposes the idea of a moment of silence to commemorate the Armistice of 11 November 1918 which ended World War I.

1945 – World War II: V-E Day, combat ends in Europe. German forces agree in Reims, France, to an unconditional surrender.

1927 – Attempting to make the first non-stop transatlantic flight from Paris to New York, French war heroes Charles Nungesser and François Coli disappear after taking off aboard The White Bird biplane.

1933 – Mohandas Gandhi begins a 21-day fast of self-purification and launched a one-year campaign to help the Harijan movement.

1962 – The Rabindra Bharati University, a prominent University in India, was founded.

1976 – The rollercoaster The New Revolution, the first steel coaster with a vertical loop, opens at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

1978 – The first ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, by Reinhold Messner and Peter Habeler.

1980 – The World Health Organization confirms the eradication of smallpox.

1386 – England and Portugal formally ratify their alliance with the signing of the Treaty of Windsor, making it the oldest diplomatic alliance in the world which is still in force.

1540 – Hernando de Alarcón sets sail on an expedition to the Gulf of California.

1662 – The figure who later became Mr. Punch made his first recorded appearance in England.

1671 – Thomas Blood, disguised as a clergyman, attempts to steal England's Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.

1887 – Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show opens in London.

1901 – Australia opens its first parliament in Melbourne.

1904 – The steam locomotive City of Truro becomes the first steam engine in Europe to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h).

1926 – Admiral Richard E. Byrd and Floyd Bennett claim to have flown over the North Pole (later discovery of Byrd's diary appears to cast some doubt on the claim.)

1936 – Italy formally annexes Ethiopia after taking the capital Addis Ababa on May 5.

1941 – World War II: The German submarine U-110 is captured by the Royal Navy. On board is the latest Enigma machine which Allied cryptographers later use to break coded German messages.

1942 – Holocaust: The SS executes 588 Jewish residents of the Podolian town of Zinkiv (Khmelnytska oblast, Ukraine). The Zoludek Ghetto (in Belarus) is destroyed and all its inhabitants executed or deported.

1945 – World War II: The final German Instrument of Surrender is signed at the Soviet headquarters in Berlin-Karlshorst. The Channel Islands are liberated by the British after five years of German occupation.

1955 – Cold War: West Germany joins NATO.

1958 – Film: Vertigo has world premiere in San Francisco.

1970 – Vietnam War: In Washington, D.C., 75,000 to 100,000 war protesters demonstrate in front of the White House.

1974 – Watergate scandal: The United States House Committee on the Judiciary opens formal and public impeachment hearings against President Richard Nixon.

1291 – Scottish nobles recognize the authority of Edward I of England pending the selection of a king.

1503 – Christopher Columbus visits the Cayman Islands and names them Las Tortugas after the numerous turtles there.

1534 – Jacques Cartier visits Newfoundland.

1655 – England, with troops under the command of Admiral William Penn and General Robert Venables, annexes Jamaica from Spain.

1773 – The Parliament of Great Britain passes the Tea Act, designed to save the British East India Company by granting it a monopoly on the North American tea trade.

1774 – Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette become King and Queen of France.

1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon I of France wins a victory against Austrian forces at Lodi bridge over the Adda River in Italy. The Austrians lose some 2,000 men.

1865 – American Civil War: Jefferson Davis is captured by U.S. troops near Irwinville, Georgia.

1869 – The First Transcontinental Railroad, linking the eastern and western United States, is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah with the golden spike.

1872 – Victoria Woodhull becomes the first woman nominated for President of the United States.

1876 – The Centennial Exposition is opened in Philadelphia by U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant and Brazilian Emperor Dom Pedro II.

1908 – Mother's Day is observed for the first time in the United States, in Grafton, West Virginia.

1924 – J. Edgar Hoover is appointed first Director of the United States' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and remains so until his death in 1972.

1933 – Censorship: In Germany, the Nazis stage massive public book burnings.

1940 – World War II: German fighters accidentally bomb the German city of Freiburg. German raids on British shipping convoys and military airfields begin. Germany invades Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. Winston Churchill is appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain. Iceland is invaded by the United Kingdom. The House of Commons in London is damaged by the Luftwaffe in an air raid.

1941 – World War II: Rudolf Hess parachutes into Scotland to try to negotiate a peace deal between the United Kingdom and Nazi Germany.

1946 – First successful launch of an American V-2 rocket at White Sands Proving Ground.

1960 – The nuclear submarine USS Triton completes Operation Sandblast, the first underwater circumnavigation of the earth.

1962 – Marvel Comics publishes the first issue of The Incredible Hulk.

1970 – Bobby Orr scores "The Goal" to win the 1970 Stanley Cup Finals, for the Boston Bruins' fourth NHL championship in their history.

1994 – Nelson Mandela is inaugurated as South Africa's first black president.

2013 – One World Trade Center becomes the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.

1672 – Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.

1745 – War of the Austrian Succession: Battle of Fontenoy: French forces defeat an Anglo-Dutch–Hanoverian army.

1792 – Captain Robert Gray becomes the first documented white person to sail into the Columbia River.

1846 – President James K. Polk asked for and received a Declaration of War against Mexico, starting the Mexican–American War.

1858 – Minnesota is admitted as the 32nd U.S. State.

1910 – An act of the U.S. Congress establishes Glacier National Park in Montana.

1918 – The Mountainous Republic of the Northern Caucasus is officially established.

1927 – The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is founded.

1949 – Israel joins the United Nations.

1960 – In Buenos Aires, Argentina, four Israeli Mossad agents capture fugitive Nazi Adolf Eichmann who is living under the alias of Ricardo Klement.

1997 – Deep Blue, a chess-playing supercomputer, defeats Garry Kasparov in the last game of the rematch, becoming the first computer to beat a world-champion chess player in a classic match format.

2010 – David Cameron becomes Prime Minister of the United Kingdom following talks between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to form the UK's first coalition government since World War II after elections produced a hung parliament.

1191 – Richard I of England marries Berengaria of Navarre who is crowned Queen consort of England the same day.

1797 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon I of France conquers Venice.

1821 – The first major battle of the Greek War of Independence against the Turks is fought in Valtetsi.

1926 – The Italian-built airship Norge becomes the first vessel to fly over the North Pole.

1932 – Ten weeks after his abduction, the infant son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Jr., is found dead in Hopewell, New Jersey, just a few miles from the Lindberghs' home.

1937 – The Duke and Duchess of York are crowned as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Westminster Abbey.

1941 – Konrad Zuse presents the Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computer, in Berlin.

1949 – The Soviet Union lifts its blockade of Berlin. The western occupying powers approve the Basic Law for the new German state: the Federal Republic of Germany.

1965 – The Soviet spacecraft Luna 5 crashes on the Moon.

1515 – Mary Tudor, Queen of France and Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk are officially married at Greenwich.

1568 – Battle of Langside: The forces of Mary, Queen of Scots, are defeated by a confederacy of Scottish Protestants under James Stewart, Earl of Moray, her half-brother.

1787 – Captain Arthur Phillip leaves Portsmouth, England, with eleven ships full of convicts (the "First Fleet") to establish a penal colony in Australia.

1861 – American Civil War: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom issues a "proclamation of neutrality" which recognizes the breakaway states as having belligerent rights. The Great Comet of 1861 is discovered by John Tebbutt of Windsor, New South Wales, Australia. Pakistan's (then a part of British India) first railway line opens, from Karachi to Kotri.

1862 – The USS Planter, a steamer and gunship, steals through Confederate lines and is passed to the Union, by a southern slave, Robert Smalls, who later was officially appointed as captain, becoming the first black man to command a United States ship.

1912 – The Royal Flying Corps, the forerunner of the Royal Air Force, is established in the United Kingdom.

1940 – World War II: Germany's conquest of France begins as the German army crosses the Meuse. Winston Churchill makes his "blood, toil, tears, and sweat" speech to the House of Commons.

1943 – World War II: German Afrika Korps and Italian troops in North Africa surrender to Allied forces.

1950 – The first round of the Formula One World Championship is held at Silverstone.

1958 – Ben Carlin becomes the first (and only) person to circumnavigate the world by amphibious vehicle, having travelled over 17,000 kilometres (11,000 mi) by sea and 62,000 kilometres (39,000 mi) by land during a ten-year journey.

1264 – Battle of Lewes: Henry III of England is captured and forced to sign the Mise of Lewes, making Simon de Montfort the de facto ruler of England.

1610 – Henry IV of France is assassinated, bringing Louis XIII to the throne.

1643 – Four-year-old Louis XIV becomes King of France upon the death of his father, Louis XIII.

1787 – In Philadelphia, delegates convene a Constitutional Convention to write a new Constitution for the United States; George Washington presides.

1796 – Edward Jenner administers the first smallpox inoculation.

1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition departs from Camp Dubois and begins its historic journey by traveling up the Missouri River.

1961 – Civil Rights Movement: The Freedom Riders bus is fire-bombed near Anniston, Alabama, and the civil rights protesters are beaten by an angry mob.

1973 – Skylab, the United States' first space station, is launched.

1536 – Anne Boleyn, Queen of England, stands trial in London on charges of treason, adultery and incest; she is condemned to death by a specially-selected jury.

1567 – Mary, Queen of Scots marries James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell, her third husband.

1730 – Robert Walpole effectively became the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1776 – American Revolution: The Fifth Virginia Convention instructs its Continental Congress delegation to propose a resolution of independence from Great Britain, paving the way for the United States Declaration of Independence.

1792 – War of the First Coalition: France declares war on Kingdom of Sardinia.

1793 – Diego Marín Aguilera flies a glider for "about 360 meters", at a height of 5–6 meters, during one of the first attempted manned flights.

1796 – War of the First Coalition: Napoleon enters Milan in triumph.

1800 – King George III of the United Kingdom survives an assassination attempt by James Hadfield, who is later acquitted by reason of insanity.

1862 – President Abraham Lincoln signs a bill into law creating the United States Bureau of Agriculture. It is later renamed the United States Department of Agriculture.

1869 – Women's suffrage: In New York, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton form the National Woman Suffrage Association.

1928 – Walt Disney character Mickey Mouse premieres in his first cartoon, "Plane Crazy".

1940 – McDonald's opens its first restaurant in San Bernardino, California.

1941 – Joe DiMaggio begins a 56-game hitting streak.

1942 – World War II: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.

1958 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 3.

1960 – The Soviet Union launches Sputnik 4.

1963 – Project Mercury: The launch of the final Mercury mission, Mercury-Atlas 9 with astronaut Gordon Cooper on board. He becomes the first American to spend more than a day in space, and the last American to go into space alone.

1970 – President Richard Nixon appoints Anna Mae Hays and Elizabeth P. Hoisington the first female United States Army generals.

1991 – Édith Cresson becomes France's first female premier.

2008 – California becomes the second U.S. state after Massachusetts in 2004 to legalize same-sex marriage after the state's own Supreme Court rules a previous ban unconstitutional.

2010 – Jessica Watson becomes the youngest person to sail, non-stop and unassisted around the world solo.

1532 – Sir Thomas More resigns as Lord Chancellor of England.

1568 – Mary, Queen of Scots, flees to England.

1770 – A 14-year-old Marie Antoinette marries 15-year-old Louis-Auguste who later becomes King Louis XVI of France.

1843 – The first major wagon train heading for the Pacific Northwest sets out on the Oregon Trail with one thousand pioneers from Elm Grove, Missouri.

1866 – The U.S. Congress eliminates the half dime coin and replaces it with the five cent piece, or nickel.

1868 – United States President Andrew Johnson is acquitted in his impeachment trial by one vote in the United States Senate.

1888 – Nikola Tesla delivers a lecture describing the equipment which will allow efficient generation and use of alternating currents to transmit electric power over long distances.

1929 – In Hollywood, the first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.

1969 – Venera program: Venera 5, a Soviet space probe, lands on Venus.

2005 – Kuwait permits women's suffrage in a 35–23 National Assembly vote.

2011 – STS-134 (ISS assembly flight ULF6), launched from the Kennedy Space Center on the 25th and final flight for Space Shuttle Endeavour.

1521 – Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham, is executed for treason.

1536 – George Boleyn, 2nd Viscount Rochford and four other men are executed for treason. 1536 – Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn's marriage is annulled.

1590 – Anne of Denmark, wife of King James VI of Scotland, is crowned Queen of Scotland.

1792 – The New York Stock Exchange is formed under the Buttonwood Agreement.

1809 – Napoleon I of France orders the annexation of the Papal States to the French Empire.

1875 – Aristides wins the first Kentucky Derby.

1939 – The Columbia Lions and the Princeton Tigers play in the United States' first televised sporting event, a collegiate baseball game in New York City.

1969 – Venera program: Soviet Venera 6 begins its descent into the atmosphere of Venus, sending back atmospheric data before being crushed by pressure.

1973 – Watergate scandal: Televised hearings begin in the United States Senate.

2004 – The first legal same-sex marriages in the U.S. are performed in the state of Massachusetts.

1499 – Catherine of Aragon is married by proxy to Arthur, Prince of Wales. Catherine is 13 and Arthur is 12.

1536 – Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII of England, is beheaded.

1568 – Queen Elizabeth I of England orders the arrest of Mary, Queen of Scots.

1643 – Thirty Years' War: French forces under the duc d'Enghien decisively defeat Spanish forces at the Battle of Rocroi, marking the symbolic end of Spain as a dominant land power.

1649 – An Act of Parliament declaring England a Commonwealth is passed by the Long Parliament. England would be a republic for the next eleven years.

1802 – Napoleon Bonaparte founds the Legion of Honour.

1828 – U.S. President John Quincy Adams signs the Tariff of 1828 into law, protecting wool manufacturers in the United States.

1961 – Venera program: Venera 1 becomes the first man-made object to fly-by another planet by passing Venus (the probe had lost contact with Earth a month earlier and did not send back any data).

1962 – A birthday salute to U.S. President John F. Kennedy takes place at Madison Square Garden, New York City. The highlight is Marilyn Monroe's rendition of "Happy Birthday".

1963 – The New York Post Sunday Magazine publishes Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail.

1971 – Mars probe program: Mars 2 is launched by the Soviet Union.

1497 – John Cabot sets sail from Bristol, England, on his ship Matthew looking for a route to the west (other documents give a May 2 date).

1498 – Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama discovers the sea route to India when he arrives at Kozhikode (previously known as Calicut), India.

1813 – Napoleon Bonaparte leads his French troops into the Battle of Bautzen in Saxony, Germany, against the combined armies of Russia and Prussia. The battle ends the next day with a French victory.

1861 – American Civil War: The state of Kentucky proclaims its neutrality, which will last until September 3 when Confederate forces enter the state. Meanwhile, the State of North Carolina secedes from the Union.

1862 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln signs the Homestead Act into law.

1873 – Levi Strauss and Jacob Davis receive a U.S. patent for blue jeans with copper rivets.

1875 – Signing of the Metre Convention by 17 nations leading to the establishment of the International System of Units.

1891 – History of cinema: The first public display of Thomas Edison's prototype kinetoscope.

1932 – Amelia Earhart takes off from Newfoundland to begin the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean by a female pilot, landing in Ireland the next day.

1554 – Queen Mary I grants a royal charter to Derby School, as a grammar school for boys in Derby, England.

1659 – In the Concert of The Hague, the Dutch Republic, the Commonwealth of England and the Kingdom of France set out their views on how the Second Northern War should end.

1725 – The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky is instituted in Russia by Empress Catherine I. It would later be discontinued and then reinstated by the Soviet government in 1942 as the Order of Alexander Nevsky.

1851 – Slavery is abolished in Colombia, South America.

1881 – The American Red Cross is established by Clara Barton in Washington, D.C.

1894 – The Manchester Ship Canal in the United Kingdom is officially opened by Queen Victoria, who later knights its designer Sir Edward Leader Williams.

1904 – The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is founded in Paris.

1927 – Charles Lindbergh touches down at Le Bourget Field in Paris, completing the world's first solo nonstop flight across the Atlantic Ocean.

1932 – Bad weather forces Amelia Earhart to land in a pasture in Derry, Northern Ireland, and she thereby becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

1937 – A Soviet station, North Pole-1, becomes the first scientific research settlement to operate on the drift ice of the Arctic Ocean.

1939 – The Canadian National War Memorial is unveiled by King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in Ottawa.

1980 – Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is released in theaters.

1992 – After 30 seasons Johnny Carson hosted his penultimate episode and last featuring guests (Robin Williams and Bette Midler) of The Tonight Show.

2010 – JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, launches the solar-sail spacecraft IKAROS aboard an H-IIA rocket. The vessel would make a Venus flyby late in the year.

760 – 14th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet.

1200 – King John of England and King Philip II of France sign the Treaty of Le Goulet.

1455 – Start of the Wars of the Roses: At the First Battle of St Albans, Richard, Duke of York, defeats and captures King Henry VI of England.

1804 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition officially began as the Corps of Discovery departed from St. Charles, Missouri.

1807 – A grand jury indicts former Vice President of the United States Aaron Burr on a charge of treason.

1809 – On the second and last day of the Battle of Aspern-Essling (near Vienna, Austria), Napoleon I is repelled by an enemy army for the first time.

1849 – Future U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is issued a patent for an invention to lift boats, making him the only U.S. President to ever hold a patent.

1900 – The Associated Press is formed in New York City as a non-profit news cooperative.

1906 – The Wright brothers are granted U.S. patent number 821,393 for their "Flying-Machine".

1942 – Mexico enters World War II on the side of the Allies.

1947 – The Truman Doctrine goes into effect, aiding Turkey & Greece.

1964 – Lyndon B. Johnson launches the Great Society.

1969 – Apollo 10's lunar module flies within 8.4 nautical miles (16 km) of the moon's surface.

1973 – U.S. President Richard Nixon confesses his role in Watergate cover-up.

2002 – Civil Rights Movement: A jury in Birmingham, Alabama, convicts former Ku Klux Klan member Bobby Frank Cherry of the 1963 murders of four girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing.