1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.
1861 – American Civil War: Maryland’s House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: New Orleans, Louisiana falls to Union forces under Admiral David Farragut.
1863 – William Randolph Hearst, American publisher and politician, founded the Hearst Corporation (d. 1951) was birthed
1882 – The “Elektromote” – forerunner of the trolleybus – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin.
1899 – Duke Ellington, Washington, District of Columbia, American bandleader, composer and pianist (Take the A Train) Born
1901 – Hirohito, Japanese emperor (d. 1989) was born.
1916 – Easter Rising: Martial law in Ireland is lifted and the rebellion is officially over with the surrender of Irish nationalists to British authorities in Dublin.
1936 – Jacob Rothschild, English banker/multi-millionaire – Birthed
1944 – World War II: British agent Nancy Wake, a leading figure in the French Resistance and the Gestapo’s most wanted person, parachutes back into France to become a liaison between London and the local maquis group.
1945 – [Thomasina] Tammi Terrell, [Montgomery], singer (Ain’t No Mt High) Born
1945 – World War II: The German army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
1945 – World War II – Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun allegedly commit suicide the following day.
1945 – The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
1951 – Tibetan delegates to the Central People’s Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan autonomy.
1951 – Dale Earnhardt, American race car driver (d. 2001) Born
1952 – David Icke, English author was born.
1954 – Deborah Iyall, rocker (Romeo Void)- Born
1954 – Jerome ‘Jerry’ Seinfeld, Brooklyn New York, comedian/actor (‘Seinfeld’)Born
1957 – Daniel Day-Lewis, England, actor (Last of the Mohicans, My Left Foot, Gangs of New York) Born
1958 – Eve Plumb, Burbank, actress (Jan-Brady Bunch, I’m Gonna Get You Sucka) Born
1960 – Phil King, English bassist (Lush, The Jesus And Mary Chain) Born
1961 – Cisco Houston, American folk singer (b. 1918) Dies of Cancer
1968 – The controversial musical Hair, a product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, opens at the Biltmore Theatre on Broadway, with its song becoming anthems of the anti-Vietnam War movement.
1970 – Uma Thurman, Boston Mass, actress (Baron Munchausen, Pulp Fiction, Henry and June) Born
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1980 – Alfred Hitchcock, English-American director and producer (b. 1899) died.
1986 – The Chernobyl Disaster: American and European Spy Satellites capture the ruins of the 4th Reactor at the Chernobyl Power Plant
1992 – Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles, California, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 53 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1993 – Mick Ronson, English guitarist/producer (Bowie, Mott the Hoople), dies at 46
1997 – Keith Ferguson, blues (Fabulous Thunderbirds), dies of overdose at 50
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
2004 – Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office.
2004 – Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production.
2008 – Albert Hofmann, Swiss chemist, known as the first to synthesize LSD (b. 1906) Dies
2011 – The Wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton.
2012 – Roland Moreno. French engineer, invented the smart card (b. 1945) died.