Events

• AD 73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the First Jewish-Roman War.
• 1346 – Stefan Dušan, “the Mighty”, is crowned Emperor of the Serbs at Skopje, his empire occupying much of the Balkans.
• 1520 – The Revolt of the Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Charles V.
• 1582 – Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.
• 1746 – The Battle of Culloden is fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland.
  • After the battle many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants.
• 1799 – French Revolutionary Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor: Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.
• 1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Treaty, limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain.
• 1847 – Shooting of a Māori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand Wars.
• 1862 – American Civil War: Battle at Lee’s Mills in Virginia.
• 1862 – American Civil War: The District of Columbia Compensated Emancipation Act, a bill ending slavery in the District of Columbia, becomes law.
• 1863 – American Civil War: During the Vicksburg Campaign, gunboats commanded by acting Rear Admiral David Dixon Porter run downriver past Confederate artillery batteries at Vicksburg.
• 1917 – World War I: Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia, from exile in Switzerland (refer to Russian Civil War).
• 1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organises a day of “prayer and fasting” in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.
• 1919 – Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.
• 1922 – The Treaty of Rapallo, pursuant to which Germany and the Soviet Union re-establish diplomatic relations, is signed.
• 1925 – During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, Bulgaria, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.
• 1941 – World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships.
• 1941 – World War II: The Nazi-affiliated Ustaše is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis powers after Operation 25 is effected.
• 1943 – Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of the research drug LSD.
  • He intentionally takes the drug three days later on 19 April.
• 1944 – World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people.
  • This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.
• 1945 – World War II: The Red Army begins the final assault on German forces around Berlin, with nearly one million troops fighting in the Battle of the Seelow Heights.
• 1945 – The United States Army liberates Nazi Sonderlager (high security) prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C (better known as Colditz).
• 1945 – More than 7,000 die when the German refugee ship Goya is sunk by a Soviet submarine.
• 1947 – Bernard Baruch first applies the term “Cold War” to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
• 1961 – In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.
• 2001 – India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.
• 2013 – The 2013 Baga massacre is started when Boko Haram militants engage government soldiers in Baga.
• Memorial Day for the Victims of the Holocaust (Hungary).
• Remembrance of Chemical Attack on Balisan and Sheikh Wasan (Iraqi Kurdistan).

People (Births)

• 1682 – John Hadley, English mathematician, invented the octant (d. 1744).
• 1730 – Henry Clinton, English general and politician (d. 1795).
• 1786 – John Franklin, English admiral and politician, 4th Lieutenant Governor of Van Diemen’s Land (d. 1847).
• 1800 – George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan, English field marshal and politician (d. 1888).
• 1821 – Ford Madox Brown, French-English soldier and painter (d. 1893).
• 1865 – Harry Chauvel, Australian general (d. 1945).
• 1874 – Jōtarō Watanabe, Japanese general (d. 1936).
• 1893 – John Norton, American hurdler (d. 1979).
• 1922 – Lawrence N. Guarino, American colonel (d. 2014).
• 1923 – Arch A. Moore Jr., American sergeant, lawyer, and politician, 28th Governor of West Virginia (d. 2015).
• 1937 – Gert Potgieter, South African hurdler and coach.
• 1952 – Esther Roth-Shahamorov, Israeli sprinter and hurdler.
• 1956 – David M. Brown, American captain, pilot, and astronaut (d. 2003).
• 1968 – Rüdiger Stenzel, German runner.
• 1984 – Kerron Stewart, Jamaican sprinter.
• 1986 – Epke Zonderland, Dutch gymnast.
• 1990 – Tony McQuay, American sprinter.

People (Deaths)

• 1375 – John Hastings, 2nd Earl of Pembroke, English nobleman and soldier (b. 1347).
• 1645 – Tobias Hume, Scottish soldier, viol player, and composer (b. 1569).
• 1925 – Stefan Nerezov, Bulgarian general (b. 1867).
• 1937 – Jay Johnson Morrow, American military engineer and politician, 3rd Governor of the Panama Canal Zone (b. 1870).
• 1947 – Rudolf Höss, German SS officer (b. 1900).
• 1965 – Francis Balfour, English soldier and colonial administrator (b. 1884).
• 1970 – Péter Veres, Hungarian politician, Hungarian Minister of Defence (b. 1897).
• 1978 – Lucius D. Clay, American officer and military governor in occupied Germany (b. 1898).
• 1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian commander, founded Fatah (b. 1935).
• 2007 – Maria Lenk, Brazilian swimmer (b. 1915).
• 2010 – Rasim Delić, Bosnian general and convicted war criminal (b. 1949).