1. In 502, King Gundo of Burgundy delegates royal power.

2. In 845, Paris is sacked by Viking raiders.

3. In 1421, Thomas, Duke of Clarence, Henry V's brother and heir presumptive, is killed in the Battle of Baugé.

4. In 1461, the Battle of Towton takes place. Edward, Duke of York, defeats the Lancastrian army, deposes King Henry VI and Queen Margaret of Anjou, and proclaims himself King Edward IV.

5. In 1549, the city of Salvador da Bahia, the first capital of Brazil, is founded.

6. In 1632, the Treaty of Saint - Germain - en - Laye is signed, returning Quebec to French control after the English seized it in 1629.

7. In 1638, the first permanent white settlement in Delaware is established by Swedish Lutherans.

8. In 1673, English King Charles II accepts the Test Act, excluding Roman Catholics from public functions.

9. In 1792, King Gustav III of Sweden dies after being shot at a midnight masquerade ball.

10. In 1795, Ludwig van Beethoven has his debut performance as a pianist in Vienna.

11. In 1798, the Republic of Switzerland forms.

12. In 1799, New York passes a gradual abolition law saying children of enslaved mothers are born free but still owe free service to masters until certain ages.

13. In 1804, thousands of whites are massacred in Haiti.

14. In 1806, construction is authorized of the Cumberland Road, the first US federal highway.

15. In 1809, King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden abdicates after a coup d'état.

16. In 1827, 20,000 people attend Ludwig van Beethoven's burial in Vienna.

17. In 1831, the Great Bosnian Uprising occurs as Bosniaks rebel against Turkey.

18. In 1842, Dr. Crawford Long of Georgia, USA, successfully performs the first surgery using anesthesia.

19. In 1847, 12,000 US troops capture Vera Cruz, Mexico.

20. In 1848, Niagara Falls stops flowing for 30 hours due to an ice jam.

21. In 1849, Great Britain formally annexes Punjab after defeating the Sikhs in India.

22. In 1850, the SS Royal Adelaide sinks in a storm, killing 200 people.

23. In 1852, Ohio makes it illegal for children under 18 and women to work more than 10 hours a day.

24. In 1860, Dion Boucicault's stage melodrama The Colleen Bawn premieres in New York City.

25. In 1864, Great Britain gives the Ionian Islands back to Greece.

26. In 1865, the Battle of Lewis's Farm in Virginia begins.

27. In 1867, the British North America Act is given royal assent, creating the Dominion of Canada.

28. In 1867, the US Congress first approves building of the Lincoln Memorial.

29. In 1871, the Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria in London.

30. In 1873, the Wanderers win the English FA Cup final, defeating Oxford University 2 - 0.

31. In 1878, John Jones aboard Shifnal wins the 40th Grand National.

32. In 1879, the Old Etonians win the English FA Cup final, defeating Clapham Rovers 1 - 0.

33. In 1879, Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin premieres in Moscow.

34. In 1882, the Knights of Columbus is chartered for Catholic men.

35. In 1889, Jockey Tommy Beasley wins his third Grand National aboard Frigate.

36. In 1895, Joe Widger aboard Wild Man from Borneo wins the 57th Grand National.

37. In 1897, Japan adopts the gold standard.

38. In 1901, Edmund Barton is elected prime minister in Australia's first parliamentary election.

39. In 1912, Captain Robert Falcon Scott, storm - bound near the South Pole, makes his last diary entry.

40. In 1924, Bavaria and the Vatican reach an accord.

41. In 1927, Henry Segrave races his Sunbeam to a record 203.79 mph at Daytona.

42. In 1928, Yeshiva College (now University) is chartered in New York City.

43. In 1929, the Boston Bruins win the Stanley Cup final, sweeping the New York Rangers 2 - 0.

44. In 1929, US President Herbert Hoover has the first telephone installed on his desk in the Oval Office.

45. In 1930, Heinrich Brüning is appointed German chancellor.

46. In 1932, Jack Benny debuts on radio, on Ed Sullivan's New York interview program.

47. In 1934, the Bank of Travail in Belgium, socialist workers' movement, goes bankrupt.

48. In 1951, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are convicted of conspiracy to commit espionage for passing nuclear secrets to the Soviet Union.

49. In 1971, Army Lieutenant William Calley Jr. is convicted of murdering Vietnamese civilians in the My Lai Massacre.

50. In 2004, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia join NATO.