1. 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to the low chronology of the 18th dynasty).

2. 1184 BC - The Greeks enter Troy using the Trojan horse, leading to the fall of the city.

3. 858 - Nicholas I succeeds Benedict III as pope.

4. 1066 - Halley's Comet sparks an English monk to predict the country will be destroyed.

5. 1185 - Battle at Danoura: Yoshitsune Minamoto's fleet beats the Taira during Japan's Genpei War.

6. 1288 - Jews of Troyes, France are accused of ritual murder.

7. 1311 - General Malik Kafur returns to Delhi after a campaign in South India.

8. 1364 - Pope Urban V names John V van Virneburg as bishop of Utrecht.

9. 1503 - Michelangelo undertakes to carve 12 apostles for the Cathedral of Florence.

10. 1524 - Charles III, Duke of Bourbon drives Admiral Bonnivet out of Milan.

11. 1547 - Battle of Muhlberg: Catholic forces under Emperor Charles V defeat Protestant princes John Frederick I and Philip I of Hesse.

12. 1570 - Battles between Spanish troops and followers of Sultan Suleiman.

13. 1596 - The Pacification of Ireland is drawn.

14. 1655 - Piedmontese Easter Massacre: Troops of Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy, slaughter over 4,000 Waldensian civilians.

15. 1704 - The first continuously published newspaper in America, the Boston News - Letter, is published in Boston by John Campbell.

16. 1731 - English journalist and writer Daniel Defoe dies.

17. 1792 - French army officer Rouget de Lisle composes "The Marseillaise".

18. 1793 - French revolutionary Jean - Paul Marat is acquitted by the revolutionary tribunal.

19. 1800 - The United States Library of Congress is established.

20. 1801 - The first performance of Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Seasons" takes place.

21. 1823 - Eugene Scribe's opera "Le Menteur Vé ridique" premieres in Paris.

22. 1833 - Jacob Evert and George Dulty patent the first soda fountain.

23. 1862 - The United States Congress establishes the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

24. 1863 - Skirmish at Okolona and Birmingham, Mississippi (Grierson's Raid).

25. 1865 - The fire alarm and police telegraph system is put into operation in San Francisco.

26. 1867 - Black demonstrators stage ride - ins on Richmond, Virginia streetcars.

27. 1872 - Mount Vesuvius volcano erupts in Italy.

28. 1877 - The last federal occupying troops withdraw from the South (New Orleans).

29. 1877 - The Russo - Turkish War begins. Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.

30. 1880 - The Amateur Athletic Association, the governing body for men's athletics in England and Wales, is founded in Oxford, England.

31. 1883 - 28 Surinamers depart to the Amsterdam World's Fair.

32. 1884 - The National Medical Association of Black Physicians organizes in Atlanta.

33. 1888 - Eastman Kodak is founded by George Eastman.

34. 1894 - French cyclist Henri Des Grange rides 100 km in a world - record time of 2:39:18.

35. 1895 - Canadian - American adventurer Joshua Slocum sets sail from Boston on a solo around - the - world voyage.

36. 1897 - The first reporter, William Price (Washington Star), is assigned to the White House.

37. 1898 - Spain declares war on the United States, starting the Spanish - American War.

38. 1901 - The first game in baseball's American League takes place.

39. 1904 - President Loubet of France visits King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and ignores the pope.

40. 1905 - The first - class cricket debut of Sir Jack Hobbs takes place.

41. 1911 - Lin Juemin writes "Letter to My Wife" on the eve of the Huanghuagang Uprising.

42. 1916 - The Easter Rising begins in Dublin, Ireland.

43. 1918 - The world's first tank battle breaks out between the British - Australian联军 and Germany.

44. 1930 - The first Academy Awards ceremony takes place.

45. 1941 - The Soviet Union and Japan sign the Soviet - Japanese Neutrality Pact.

46. 1945 - The Soviet Red Army captures the Reichstag in Berlin. The same day, the US Army and the Soviet Red Army meet at the Elbe River.

47. 1953 - James Watson and Francis Crick publish their paper describing the structure of DNA.

48. 1970 - The Soviet Luna 16 mission is launched, becoming the first spacecraft to return lunar soil samples to Earth.

49. 1990 - The Hubble Space Telescope is launched into space by the space shuttle Discovery.

50. 2007 - The farewell ceremony for the body of Boris Yeltsin is held.