1. In 1026, Conrad II crowned himself King of Italy.

2. In 1066, the 18th recorded perihelion passage of Halley's Comet occurred.

3. In 1153, the Treaty of Konstanz was signed between Frederick I Barbarossa and Pope Eugene III.

4. In 1174, Jocelin, Abbot of Melrose, was elected Bishop of Glasgow.

5. In 1490, the first dated edition of Maimonides' "Mishneh Torah", a code of Jewish religious law, was published.

6. In 1534, the Aragonese legal code was formally recognized.

7. In 1568, the Treaty of Longjumeau was signed, and the French Huguenots went on strike.

8. In 1579, Friesland joined the Union of Utrecht.

9. In 1593, English separatist Puritans John Greenwood and Henry Barrowe were tried and sentenced to death on the charge of devising and circulating seditious books.

10. In 1630, French troops occupied Pinerolo, Piedmont.

11. In 1657, France and England formed an alliance against Spain, and England got Dunkirk.

12. In 1708, the Pretender to the English throne, James III, attempted to land at the Firth of Forth, Scotland, but was turned away by the British Royal Navy.

13. In 1743, George Frideric Handel's oratorio "Messiah" premiered at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London.

14. In 1752, Canada's first newspaper, "Halifax Gazette", was published in Halifax by John Bushell.

15. In 1752, Pope Stephen II was elected to succeed Zacharias and died two days later.

16. In 1775, Patrick Henry proclaimed "Give me liberty or give me death!" in a speech in favor of Virginian troops joining the US Revolutionary War.

17. In 1782, the novel "Les Liaisons Dangereuses" (Dangerous Liaisons) by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos was published by Durand Neveu.

18. In 1794, Josiah Pierson patented a "cold - header" (rivet) machine.

19. In 1794, Lt - General Tadeusz Kościuszko returned to Poland.

20. In 1808, Napoleon's brother Joseph took the throne of Spain.

21. In 1821, the Battle of Kalamata took place during the Greek War of Independence, and the city of Kalamata fell.

22. In 1839, the first recorded use of "OK" (oll korrect) appeared in the Boston's Morning Post.

23. In 1840, John William Draper took the first successful photo in the US of the moon (daguerreotype) in New York City.

24. In 1848, the ship John Wickliffe arrived at Port Chalmers, carrying the first Scottish settlers for Dunedin, New Zealand, and the Otago Province was founded.

25. In 1849, the Battle of Novara took place between King Charles Albert and the Italian Republic.

26. In 1856, 18 - year - old English chemist William Perkin accidentally produced the first synthetic aniline dye, "mauveine" (purple), during his Easter holiday.

27. In 1857, Elisha Otis installed his first elevator at 488 Broadway in New York City.

28. In 1858, the streetcar was patented by E. A. Gardner of Philadelphia.

29. In 1861, London's first tramcars, designed by Mr. Train of NY, began operating.

30. In 1862, the Battle of Kernstown, Virginia, took place, and Jackson began his Valley Campaign.

31. In 1864, an encounter occurred at Camden, Arkansas.

32. In 1865, General Sherman and Cox's troops reached Goldsboro, North Carolina.

33. In 1867, Congress passed the second Reconstruction Act over President Andrew Johnson's veto.

34. In 1868, the University of California was founded in Oakland, California.

35. In 1877, the 39th Grand National took place. Fred Hobson aboard 15/1 shot Austerlitz won by 4 lengths from Congress.

36. In 1878, the English FA Cup final was held at Kennington Oval, London. Wanderers beat Royal Engineers 3 - 1, and Wanderers won their second consecutive and fifth overall title.

37. In 1879, the War of the Pacific was fought between Chile and the joint forces of Bolivia and Peru. Chile successfully took over Arica and Tarapacá, leaving Bolivia a landlocked country.

38. In 1880, the flour rolling mill was patented by John Stevens of Wisconsin.

39. In 1881, the Boers and Britain signed a peace accord, ending the First Boer War.

40. In 1882, the Edmunds Act (Edmunds Anti - Polygamy Act) was adopted by the US to suppress polygamy.

41. In 1886, Tchaikovsky's "Manfred" symphony premiered in Moscow, Russia, conducted by Max Erdmannsdörfer.

42. In 1888, the 50th Grand National took place. George Mawson aboard 40/1 outsider Playfair easily won by 10 lengths from Frigate.

43. In 1889, the free Woolwich ferry officially opened in East London.

44. In 1896, the Raines Law was passed by the New York State Legislature, restricting the Sunday sale of alcohol to hotels.

45. In 1901, Australian opera star Dame Nellie Melba revealed the secret of her now - famous toast.

46. In 1903, the Wright brothers first filed a patent for a flying machine, which was granted three years later.

47. In 1908, American diplomat Durham Stevens was attacked by Korean assassins Jeon Myeong - un and Jang In - hwan, leading to his death in hospital two days later.

48. In 1915, the Zion Mule Corp was formed by the British Army.

49. In 1917, tornadoes killed 211 over four days in the Midwest US.

50. In 1918, Lithuania proclaimed independence.