Events

• 1500 – Ludovico Sforza is captured by Swiss troops at Novara and is handed over to the French.
• 1606 – The Virginia Company of London is established by royal charter by James I of England with the purpose of establishing colonial settlements in North America.
• 1741 – War of the Austrian Succession: Prussia gains control of Silesia at the Battle of Mollwitz.
• 1809 – Napoleonic Wars: The War of the Fifth Coalition begins when forces of the Austrian Empire invade Bavaria.
• 1826 – The 10,500 inhabitants of the Greek town of Missolonghi begin leaving the town after a year’s siege by Turkish forces.
  • Very few of them survive.
• 1864 – Archduke Maximilian of Habsburg is proclaimed emperor of Mexico during the French intervention in Mexico.
• 1865 – American Civil War: A day after his surrender to Union forces, Confederate General Robert E. Lee addresses his troops for the last time.
• 1868 – At Arogee in Abyssinia, British and Indian forces defeat an army of Emperor Tewodros II.
  • While 700 Ethiopians are killed and many more injured, only two British/Indian troops die.
• 1900 – Second Boer War: British suffer a sharp defeat by the Boers south of Brandfort.
  • 600 British troops are killed and wounded and 800 taken prisoner.
• 1912 – RMS Titanic sets sail from Southampton, England on her maiden and only voyage.
• 1919 – Mexican Revolution leader Emiliano Zapata is ambushed and shot dead by government forces in Morelos.
• 1941 – World War II: The Axis powers establish the Independent State of Croatia.
• 1944 – World War II: Rudolf Vrba and Alfréd Wetzler escape from Birkenau death camp.
• 1963 – One hundred twenty-nine American sailors die when the submarine USS Thresher sinks at sea.
• 1972 – Tombs containing bamboo slips, among them Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Sun Bin’s lost military treatise, are accidentally discovered by construction workers in Shandong.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: For the first time since November 1967, American B-52 bombers reportedly begin bombing North Vietnam.
• 1988 – The Ojhri Camp (a military storage centre) explosion kills or injures more than 1,000 people in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan.
• 1998 – The Good Friday Agreement is signed in Northern Ireland (refer to The Troubles).
• 2010 – Polish Air Force Tu-154M crashes near Smolensk, Russia, killing 96 people, including Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife, and dozens of other senior officials and dignitaries.

People (Births)

• 1769 – Jean Lannes, French marshal (d. 1809).
• 1794 – Matthew C. Perry, English-Scottish American commander (d. 1858).
• 1806 – Leonidas Polk, Scottish-American general and bishop (d. 1884).
• 1827 – Lew Wallace, American general, lawyer, and politician, 11th Governor of New Mexico Territory (d. 1905).
• 1879 – Coenraad Hiebendaal, Dutch rower and physician (d. 1921).
• 1886 – Johnny Hayes, American runner and trainer (d. 1965).
• 1906 – Steve Anderson, American hurdler (d. 1988).
• 1913 – Stefan Heym, German-American soldier and author (d. 2001).
• 1921 – Jake Warren, Canadian soldier and diplomat, Canadian Ambassador to the United States (d. 2008).
• 1923 – Floyd Simmons, American decathlete and actor (d. 2008).
• 1924 – Kenneth Noland, American soldier and painter (d. 2010).
• 1936 – John A. Bennett, American soldier (d. 1961).
• 1943 – Andrzej Badeński, Polish-German sprinter (d. 2008).
• 1945 – Kevin Berry, Australian swimmer (d. 2006).
• 1953 – David Moorcroft, English runner and businessman.
• 1969 – Ekaterini Koffa, Greek sprinter.
• 1974 – Eric Greitens, American soldier, author and politician.
• 1986 – Olivia Borlée, Belgian sprinter.

People (Deaths)

• 1601 – Mark Alexander Boyd, Scottish soldier and poet (b. 1562).
• 1786 – John Byron, English admiral and politician, 24th Commodore Governor of Newfoundland (b. 1723).
• 1806 – Horatio Gates, English-American general (b. 1727).
• 1871 – Lucio Norberto Mansilla, Argentinian general and politician (b. 1789).
• 1919 – Emiliano Zapata, Mexican general (b. 1879).
• 1950 – Fevzi Çakmak, Turkish field marshal and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Turkey (b. 1876).
• 1966 – Evelyn Waugh, English soldier, novelist, journalist and critic (b. 1903).
• 1968 – Gustavs Celmiņš, Latvian lieutenant and politician (b. 1899).
• 2010 – Casualties in the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash included:
  • Ryszard Kaczorowski, Polish soldier and politician, 6th President of the Republic of Poland (b. 1919).
  • Maria Kaczyńska, Polish economist, First Lady of Poland (b. 1942).
  • Lech Kaczyński, Polish lawyer and politician, 4th President of Poland (b. 1949).
  • Anna Walentynowicz, Ukrainian-Polish journalist and activist (b. 1929).
• 2013 – Gordon Thomas, English cyclist (b. 1921).