• 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the Low Chronology of the 18th Dynasty).
• 1184 BC - Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan Horse (traditional).
• 1558 - Mary Queen of Scots marries the Dauphin of France, François, at Notre Dame de Paris.
• 1704 - The first regular newspaper in the United States, the Boston, Massachusetts New-Letter, is published.
• 1800 - The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
• 1862 - American Civil War: A flotilla commanded by Union Admiral David Farragut passes two Confederate forts on the Mississippi River on its way to capture New Orleans, Louisiana.
• 1877 - Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878: Russia declares war on Ottoman Empire.
• 1898 - The Spanish-American War: The United States declare war on Spain.
• 1907 - Hersheypark, founded by Milton S. Hershey for the exclusive use of his employees, is opened.
• 1913 - The skyscraper Woolworth Building in New York City is opened.
• 1915 - The Armenian Genocide begins with a massacre of hundreds of prominent Armenians in Constantinople (now Istanbul).
• 1916 - Easter Rising begins: The Irish Republican Brotherhood led by nationalists Patrick Pearse, James Connolly, and Joseph Plunkett start a rebellion in Ireland.
• 1918 - First tank-to-tank combat, at Villers-Bretonneux, France, when three British Mark IVs met three German A7Vs.
• 1953 - Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
• 1955 - The Bandung Conference ends: Twenty-nine non-aligned nations of Asia and Africa finish a meeting that condemns colonialism, racism, and the Cold War.
• 1961 - The 17th century Swedish ship Vasa is salvaged.
• 1963 - Marriage of Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra of Kent to Angus Ogilvy at Westminster Abbey in London.
• 1964 - Mexico becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
• 1965 - Civil war breaks out in the Dominican Republic when Colonel Francisco Caamaño, overthrows the triumvirate that was in power since the coup d'état against Juan Bosch.
• 1967 - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1, when the parachute fails to open. He is the first human to die during a space mission.
• 1967 - Vietnam War: American General William Westmoreland says in a news conference that the enemy had "gained support in the United States that gives him hope that he can win politically that which he can't win militarily."
• 1968 - Mauritius becomes a member state of the United Nations.
• 1970 - The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched.
• 1970 - The Gambia becomes a republic within the Commonwealth of Nations, with Dawda Jawara as the first President.
• 1975 - The Baader-Meinhof Gang blows up the West German embassy in Stockholm.
• 1980 - Eight U.S. servicemen die in Operation Eagle Claw as they attempt to end the Iran hostage crisis.
• 1990 - STS-31: The Hubble Space Telescope is launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery.
• 1990 - Gruinard Island, Scotland, is officially declared free of the anthrax disease after 48 years of quarantine.
• 1991 - Freddie Stowers is awarded the posthumous Medal of Honor for which he'd been recommended in 1918.
• 1993 - The 73rd Constitutional Amendment Act comes into force establishing Panchayati Raj system in India.
• 1993 - An IRA bomb devastates the Bishopsgate area of London.
• 1996 - In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is introduced.
• 2004 - The United States lifts economic sanctions imposed on Libya 18 years previously, as a reward for its cooperation in eliminating weapons of mass destruction.
• 2005 - Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger is inaugurated as the 265th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church taking the name Pope Benedict XVI.
• 2006 - King Gyanendra of Nepal gives into the demands of protesters and restores the parliament that he dissolved in 2002.
• 2007 - Iceland announces that Norway will shoulder the defense of Iceland during peacetime.

Births