Events Pre-1600 509 BC – Publius Valerius Publicola celebrates the first triumph of the Roman Republic after his victory over the deposed king Lucius Tarquinius Superbus at the Battle of Silva Arsia. 293 – Emperor Diocletian and Maximian appoint Constantius Chlorus and Galerius as Caesars. This is considered the beginning of the Tetrarchy, known as the Quattuor Principes Mundi ("Four Rulers of the World"). 350 – Vetranio proclaims himself Caesar after being encouraged to do so by Constantina, sister of Constantius II. 834 – Emperor Louis the Pious is restored as sole ruler of the Frankish Empire. 1290 - University of Coimbra, in Portugal, is officially chartered by King Denis. 1476 – Forces of the Catholic Monarchs engage the combined Portuguese-Castilian armies of Afonso V and Prince John at the Battle of Toro. 1562 – Sixty-three Huguenots are massacred in Wassy, France, marking the start of the French Wars of Religion.
1601–1900 1628 – Writs issued in February by Charles I of England mandate that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date. 1633 – Samuel de Champlain reclaims his role as commander of New France on behalf of Cardinal Richelieu. 1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are brought before local magistrates in Salem Village, Massachusetts, beginning what would become known as the Salem witch trials. 1781 – The Articles of Confederation goes into effect in the United States.; 1796 – The Dutch East India Company is nationalized by the Batavian Republic. 1805 – Justice Samuel Chase is acquitted at the end of his impeachment trial before the U.S. Senate. 1811 – Leaders of the Mamluk dynasty are killed by Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali. 1815 – Napoleon returns to France from his banishment on Elba. 1836 – A convention of delegates from 57 Texas communities convenes in Washington-on-the-Brazos, Texas, to deliberate independence from Mexico. 1845 – United States President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. 1867 – Nebraska is admitted as the 37th U.S. state. 1870 – Marshal F. S. López dies during the Battle of Cerro Corá thus marking the end of the Paraguayan War. 1871 – The victorious Prussian Army parades through Paris, France, after the end of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. 1872 – Yellowstone National Park is established as the world's first national park. 1893 – Electrical engineer Nikola Tesla gives the first public demonstration of radio in St. Louis, Missouri. 1896 – Battle of Adwa: An Ethiopian army defeats an outnumbered Italian force, ending the First Italo-Ethiopian War. 1896 – Henri Becquerel discovers radioactive decay.
1901–present 1901 – The Australian Army is formed. 1910 – The deadliest avalanche in United States history buries a Great Northern Railway train in northeastern King County, Washington, killing 96 people. 1914 – China joins the Universal Postal Union. 1917 – The Zimmermann Telegram is reprinted in newspapers across the United States after the U.S. government releases its unencrypted text. 1919 – March 1st Movement begins in Korea under Japanese rule. 1921 – The Australian cricket team captained by Warwick Armstrong becomes the first team to complete a whitewash of The Ashes, something that would not be repeated for 86 years. 1921 – Following mass protests in Petrograd demanding greater freedom in the RSFSR, the Kronstadt rebellion begins, with sailors and citizens taking up arms against the Bolsheviks. 1932 – Aviator Charles Lindbergh's 20-month-old son Charles Jr is kidnapped from his home in East Amwell, New Jersey. His body would not be found until May 12. 1939 – An Imperial Japanese Army ammunition dump explodes at Hirakata, Osaka, Japan, killing 94. 1941 – World War II: Bulgaria signs the Tripartite Pact, allying itself with the Axis powers. 1942 – World War II: Japanese forces land on Java, the main island of the Dutch East Indies, at Merak and Banten Bay (Banten), Eretan Wetan (Indramayu) and Kragan (Rembang). 1946 – The Bank of England is nationalised. 1947 – The International Monetary Fund begins financial operations. 1950 – Cold War: Klaus Fuchs is convicted of spying for the Soviet Union by disclosing top secret atomic bomb data. 1953 – Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin suffers a stroke and collapses; he dies four days later. 1954 – Nuclear weapons testing: The Castle Bravo, a 15-megaton hydrogen bomb, is detonated on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in the worst radioactive contamination ever caused by the United States. 1954 – Armed Puerto Rican nationalists attack the United States Capitol building, injuring five Representatives. 1956 – The International Air Transport Association finalizes a draft of the Radiotelephony spelling alphabet for the International Civil Aviation Organization. 1956 – Formation of the East German Nationale Volksarmee. 1958 – Samuel Alphonsus Stritch is appointed Pro-Prefect of the Propagation of Faith and thus becomes the first U.S. member of the Roman Curia. 1961 – Uganda becomes self-governing and holds its first elections. 1962 – American Airlines Flight 1 crashes into Jamaica Bay in New York, killing 95. 1964 – Villarrica Volcano begins a strombolian eruption causing lahars that destroy half of the town of Coñaripe. 1964 – Paradise Airlines Flight 901A crashes near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, killing 85. 1966 – Venera 3 Soviet space probe crashes on Venus becoming the first spacecraft to land on another planet's surface. 1966 – The Ba'ath Party takes power in Syria. 1971 – President of Pakistan Yahya Khan indefinitely postpones the pending national assembly session, precipitating massive civil disobedience in East Pakistan. 1973 – Black September storms the Saudi embassy in Khartoum, Sudan, resulting in the assassination of three Western hostages. 1974 – Watergate scandal: Seven are indicted for their role in the Watergate break-in and charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice. 1981 – Provisional Irish Republican Army member Bobby Sands begins his hunger strike in HM Prison Maze. 1990 – Steve Jackson Games is raided by the United States Secret Service, prompting the later formation of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. 1991 – Uprisings against Saddam Hussein begin in Iraq, leading to the deaths of more than 25,000 people, mostly civilians. 1992 – Bosnia and Herzegovina declares its independence from Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. 1998 – Titanic becomes the first film to gross over $1 billion worldwide. 2002 – U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda begins in eastern Afghanistan. 2002 – The Envisat environmental satellite successfully launches aboard an Ariane 5 rocket to reach an orbit of above the Earth, which was the then-largest payload at 10.5 m long and with a diameter of 4.57 m. 2002 – Space Shuttle Columbia is launched on STS-109 to service the Hubble Space Telescope. 2003 – Management of the United States Customs Service and the United States Secret Service moves to the United States Department of Homeland Security. 2005 – In Roper v. Simmons, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that the execution of juveniles found guilty of any crime is unconstitutional. 2006 – English-language Wikipedia reaches its one millionth article, Jordanhill railway station. 2007 – Tornadoes break out across the southern United States, killing at least 20 people, including eight at Enterprise High School. 2008 – The Armenian police clash with peaceful opposition rally protesting against allegedly fraudulent presidential elections; as a result ten people are killed. 2014 – Thirty-five people are killed and 143 injured in a mass stabbing at Kunming Railway Station in China.
Births Pre-1600 1105 – Alfonso VII, king of León and Castile (died 1157) 1389 – Antoninus of Florence, Italian archbishop and saint (died 1459) 1432 – Isabella of Coimbra (died 1455) 1456 – Vladislaus II of Hungary (died 1516) 1547 – Rudolph Goclenius, German philosopher and lexicographer (died 1628) 1554 – William Stafford, English courtier and conspirator (died 1612) 1577 – Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland (died 1635) 1597 – Jean-Charles della Faille, Flemish priest and mathematician (died 1652)
1601–1900 1611 – John Pell, English mathematician and linguist (died 1685) 1629 – Abraham Teniers, Flemish painter (died 1670) 1647 – John de Brito, Portuguese Jesuit missionary and martyr (died 1693) 1657 – Samuel Werenfels, Swiss theologian and author (died 1740) 1683 – Tsangyang Gyatso, sixth Dalai Lama (died 1706) 1683 – Caroline of Ansbach, British queen and regent (died 1737) 1724 – Manuel do Cenáculo, Portuguese prelate and antiquarian (died 1814) 1732 – William Cushing, American lawyer and judge (died 1810) 1760 – François Buzot, French lawyer and politician (died 1794) 1769 – François Séverin Marceau-Desgraviers, French general (died 1796) 1807 – Wilford Woodruff, American religious leader, 4th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (died 1898) 1810 – Frédéric Chopin, Polish pianist and composer (died 1849) 1812 – Augustus Pugin, English architect, co-designed the Palace of Westminster (died 1852) 1817 – Giovanni Duprè, Italian sculptor and educator (died 1882) 1821 – Joseph Hubert Reinkens, German bishop and academic (died 1896) 1835 – Philip Fysh, English-Australian politician, 12th Premier of Tasmania (died 1919) 1837 – William Dean Howells, American novelist, playwright, and critic (died 1920) 1842 – Nikolaos Gyzis, Greek painter and academic (died 1901) 1848 – Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Irish-American sculptor and academic (died 1907) 1852 – Théophile Delcassé, French politician, French Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1923) 1863 – Alexander Golovin, Russian painter and set designer (died 1930) 1870 – E. M. Antoniadi, Greek-French astronomer and academic (died 1944) 1876 – Henri de Baillet-Latour, Belgian businessman (died 1942) 1880 – Lytton Strachey, British writer and critic (died 1932) 1886 – Oskar Kokoschka, Austrian-Swiss painter, poet, and playwright (died 1980) 1888 – Ewart Astill, English cricketer and billiards player (died 1948) 1888 – Fanny Walden, English cricketer and umpire, international footballer (died 1949) 1889 – Tetsuro Watsuji, Japanese historian and philosopher (died 1960) 1890 – Theresa Bernstein, Polish-American painter and author (died 2002) 1891 – Ralph Hitz, Austrian-American hotelier (died 1940) 1892 – Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, Japanese author and educator (died 1927) 1893 – Mercedes de Acosta, American author, poet, and playwright (died 1968) 1896 – Dimitri Mitropoulos, Greek pianist, composer, and conductor (died 1960) 1896 – Moriz Seeler, German playwright and producer (died 1942) 1899 – Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski, German SS officer (died 1972) 1900 – Basil Bunting, British poet (died 1985)
1901–present 1904 – Paul Hartman, American actor, singer, and dancer (died 1973) 1904 – Glenn Miller, American trombonist, composer, and bandleader (died 1944) 1905 – Doris Hare, Welsh-English actress, singer, and dancer (died 2000) 1906 – Phạm Văn Đồng, Vietnamese lieutenant and politician, 2nd Prime Minister of Vietnam (died 2000) 1909 – Eugene Esmonde, English lieutenant and pilot (died 1942) 1909 – Winston Sharples, American pianist and composer (died 1978) 1910 – Archer John Porter Martin, English chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 2002) 1910 – David Niven, English soldier and actor (died 1983) 1912 – Gerald Emmett Carter, Canadian cardinal (died 2003) 1912 – Boris Chertok, Polish-Russian engineer and academic (died 2011) 1914 – Harry Caray, American sportscaster (died 1998) 1914 – Ralph Ellison, American novelist and literary critic (died 1994) 1917 – Robert Lowell, American poet (died 1977) 1917 – Dinah Shore, American singer and actress (died 1994) 1918 – João Goulart, Brazilian lawyer and politician, 24th President of Brazil (died 1976) 1918 – Gladys Spellman, American educator and politician (died 1988)