73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Great Jewish Revolt.
1521 – Protestant Reformation: Martin Luther’s first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the other estates of the empire.
1730 – Henry Clinton, English general and politician (d. 1795) was born.
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.
1756 – Jacques Cassini, Fr astronomer (Discover rings of Saturn), dies at 79
1844 – Anatole France, writer (Thaïs, Wickerwork Woman, Nobel 1921) Born
1808 – Caleb Blood Smith, American journalist, lawyer, and politician, 6th U.S. Secretary of the Interior (d. 1864) was born.
1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot Treaty, establishing the border with Canada.
1847 – The accidental shooting of a Māori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Campaign of the New Zealand land wars.
1850 – Marie [Gresholtz] Tussaud, maker of wax figures, dies at 88
1858 – The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is wound up.
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: Siege of Vicksburg: Ships led by Union Admiral David Dixon Porter move through heavy Confederate artillery fire on approach to Vicksburg, Mississippi.
1867 – Wilbur Wright, American pilot, engineer, and businessman, co-founded the Wright Company (d. 1912) was born.
1881 – In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.
1889 – Charles ‘Charlie’ Chaplin, actor/comedian (City Lights, Gold Rush), born in London, England Born
1910 – The oldest existing indoor ice hockey arena still used for the sport in the 21st century, Boston Arena, opens for the first time.
1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd, Russia from exile in Switzerland.
1919 – Mohandas Gandhi organizes 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.
1921 – Peter Ustinov, actor (Death on Nile, Logan’s Run, Billy Budd), born in London, England
1922 – The Prohibition Department is to enforce the law making it illegal to manufacture beer or wine in the home for home use, this follows the supreme court that home brewing is illegal
1924 – Henry Mancini, composer/conductor (Pink Panther), born in Cleveland, Ohio
1924 – Rudy Pompilli, American saxophonist (Bill Haley & His Comets) (d. 1976) was born.
1927 – Pope Benedict XVI was birthed
1929 – Roy Hamilton, American singer (d. 1969) was born.
1929 – Ed Townsend, American singer-songwriter and producer (d. 2003) was born.
1939 – Dusty Springfield, [Mary O’Brien], vocalist (Growing Pains), born in London, England
1941 – World War II: The Ustaše, a Croatian far-right organization is put in charge of the Independent State of Croatia by the Axis Powers after the Axis Operation 25 invasion.
1943 – Dave Peverett, English rocker (Foghat, Savoy Brown), born in London, England
1943 – Albert Hoffman, a Swiss chemist accidentally consumes LSD-25. After taking the drug, formally known as lysergic acid diethylamide, Dr. Hoffman was disturbed by unusual sensations and hallucinations.
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 – A French freighter “Grandcamp” , loaded with ammonium nitrate ( Fertilizer ), exploded at a port in Texas . The blast caused other explosions at a nearby chemical plant, spreading fires across oil refineries along the port. An estimated 500 People were killed by the blast and the ensuing fires which swept the port and the surrounding town.
1947 – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, [Lew Alcindor], NBA center (Mil Bucks, LA Lakers), born in NYC, New York
1947 – Bernard Baruch coins the term “Cold War” to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.
1952 – Billy West, American voice actor and singer was born.
1952 – Nick Young, English lawyer and activist was born.
1952 – Bill Belichick, Nashville Tennessee, American football coach (New England Patriots, 4 Super Bowls, NY Giants 2 SBs) Born
1953 – Peter Garrett, Australian singer-songwriter and politician (Midnight Oil) was born
1956 – T Lavitz, American keyboard player, composer, and producer (Dixie Dregs, Jazz Is Dead, and Widespread Panic) (d. 2010) was born.
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.
1962 – Ian MacKaye, rocker (Member of: Fugazi · Minor Threat · The Teen Idles · Embrace · The Evens · Skewbald · Pailhead · Egg Hunt) Born
1962 – Walter Cronkite takes over as the lead news anchor of the CBS Evening News, during which time he would become “the most trusted man in America”.
1963 – Police break up walk to city hall to register to vote in Birmingham Alabama and arrested the first 15 Negroes in the walk to the county courthouse
1963 – Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.
1963 – Jimmy Osmond, American singer and actor (The Osmonds) was born.
1964 – At the old Bailey in London the great train robbers were sentenced to up to 30 years for their part in the Great Train Robbery . Seven of the defendants – Ronald Biggs, Charles Wilson, Douglas Goody, Thomas Wisbey, Robert Welch, James Hussey and Roy James each received sentences of 30 years. The robbery was from a mail train carrying 3.8 million pounds between Glasgow and London when 15 masked robbers stopped the train at by changing the signals to red and boarding the train armed with weapons.
1964 – Dave Pirner, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (Soul Asylum) was born.
1964 – “The Rolling Stones band’s debut album, “The Rolling Stones” issued in the US as “England’s Newest Hit Makers” was released. The band consisted of Jagger, Jones, Richards, Wyman, and Watts.
1972 – Apollo program: The launch of Apollo 16 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
1987 – The British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor has appeared in court and is accused of committing acts of gross indecency with two male teenagers.
1988 – Khalil al-Wazir, Palestinian commander, founded Fatah (b. 1935) died.
1990 – The “Doctor of Death”, Jack Kevorkian, participates in his first assisted suicide.
1992 – The Katina P runs aground off of Maputo, Mozambique and 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.
1994 – Ralph Waldo Ellison, US writer (Invisible Man), dies at 80
1995 – George W. Bush names April 16 as Selena Day in Texas, after she was killed two weeks earlier.
1995 – Cheyenne Brando, daughter of Marlon, commits suicide
1999 – Skip Spence, Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist (Jefferson Airplane and Moby Grape) (b. 1946) died.
2002 – Robert Urich, American actor (b. 1946) Dies
2003 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting ten new member states to the European Union.
2007 – Virginia Tech massacre: Seung-Hui Cho guns down 32 people and injures 17 before committing suicide.
2009 – Barack Obama has released four top secret memos that permitted the C.I.A. to torture the al-Qaeda suspects they were holding at the Guantánamo Bay and other secret detention centers. In an accompanying statement Obama has ruled out prosecutions against those that participated in these actions. The memos can provide a look at the techniques that were used by the C.I.A. and the legal basis by which the previous administration approved it.
2010 – Daryl Gates, American police officer, created the D.A.R.E. Program (b. 1926) died.
2013 – Rita MacNeil, Canadian singer and actress (b. 1944) died.
2013 – Pat Summerall, American NFL player and sportscaster, dies from cardiac arrest at 82
2014 – The MV Sewol ferry carrying more than 450 people capsizes near Jindo Island off South Korea, leaving 295 passengers and crew dead and 9 more missing.