1. 1452 - Leonardo da Vinci, the famous Italian painter, was born.

2. 1755 - "Johnson's Dictionary" compiled by British writer Samuel Johnson was published, becoming the first official English dictionary.

3. 1789 - William Wilberforce, a member of the British House of Commons, delivered a famous speech in Parliament on the abolition of the slave trade.

4. 1820 - Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, was born in Florence, Italy.

5. 1861 - The Lincoln administration issued a call to arms, declaring war on the Confederate States of America, and the American Civil War broke out.

6. 1907 - Emily Dickinson, the famous American female writer and social activist, died.

7. 1925 - The All - Union Congress of Soviets approved the Constitution of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.

8. 1926 - Roald Amundsen flew over the North Pole on the airship "Norge".

9. 1932 - The body of the kidnapped son of Charles Lindbergh was found in a wooded area in New Jersey.

10. 1932 - Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.

11. 1933 - US President Roosevelt signed the Agricultural Adjustment Act.

12. 1937 - King George VI of the United Kingdom was crowned at Westminster Abbey.

13. 1940 - Nazi Germany launched a blitzkrieg against France, crossing the Meuse River and quickly breaking through the French defense line.

14. 1940 - The French and German armies fought the largest - scale tank battle in the history of the war in the Arny region during World War II.

15. 1942 - The Soviet Red Army suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Kharkov, losing about 200,000 people.

16. 1943 - The Axis forces in North Africa surrendered to the Allied forces, marking the end of the North African Campaign.

17. 1949 - The Soviet Union announced the end of the Berlin Blockade.

18. 1949 - After the founding of the State of Israel, the Arab countries launched the First Middle East War against Israel.

19. 1958 - The United States and Canada officially signed the North American Air Defense Agreement, establishing a joint air defense command system.

20. 1961 - US President Kennedy announced the launch of the "Apollo Program".

21. 1965 - West Germany and Israel officially established diplomatic relations.

22. 1967 - Israel occupied the West Bank and the Gaza Strip during the Six - Day War.

23. 1975 - The White House announced that the new Cambodian government had seized an American merchant ship, the "Mayaguez," in international waters.

24. 1975 - To celebrate the 30th anniversary of V - E Day, a US Navy fleet visited Leningrad, Soviet Union, and two Soviet missile destroyers also arrived in Boston, USA, for a reciprocal visit.

25. 1982 - Spain officially joined NATO, becoming the 16th member of the organization.

26. 1986 - The United Kingdom and France officially signed an agreement to jointly build the Channel Tunnel.

27. 1992 - The Dutch parliament passed a bill legalizing euthanasia, becoming the first country in the world to do so.

28. 1994 - The new South African constitution came into effect, establishing a non - racial democratic system.

29. 1994 - South Africa held its first all - race election, and Nelson Mandela was elected as the first black president of South Africa.

30. 1998 - Four students at Trisakti University in Jakarta, Indonesia, were shot and killed by military and police during an anti - government demonstration, triggering political unrest across Indonesia.

31. 2000 - The US space agency's "Pathfinder" probe successfully landed on Mars.

32. 2002 - Former US President Jimmy Carter visited Cuba, becoming the first former or current US president to visit the country since the Cuban Revolution in 1959.

33. 2006 - A large - scale organized crime riot broke out in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and hundreds of police stations and government agencies were attacked.

34. 2010 - Libya and Italy signed a historic friendship treaty, and Italy agreed to pay Libya $5 billion in compensation for the colonial period.

35. 2017 - A large - scale "WannaCry" ransomware attack broke out globally, affecting hundreds of thousands of computers in more than 150 countries.

36. 1896 - The first modern Olympic Games ended in Athens, Greece.

37. 1912 - The British ocean liner Titanic hit an iceberg the previous night and sank in the early morning, resulting in the death of more than 1,500 people.

38. 1937 - Comedian George Carlin was born in New York City.

39. 1958 - Manitoba entered Confederation as a Canadian province.

40. 1982 - In Fatima, Portugal, security guards overpowered a Spanish priest armed with a bayonet who was trying to reach Pope John Paul II.

41. 1991 - The "Hope Project" was launched.

42. 1993 - Oprah Winfrey interviewed Michael Jackson live, attracting 90 million viewers worldwide and setting a record for television interviews.

43. 1999 - Russian President Yeltsin dismissed Prime Minister Primakov and appointed Stepashin as the new prime minister, paving the way for Putin's accession to power the following year.

44. 2008 - A magnitude - 8.0 earthquake hit Wenchuan, Sichuan, China.

45. 2008 - The severe tropical storm "Nargis" hit the Irrawaddy Delta in Myanmar.

46. 2013 - The US space agency's "Curiosity" rover completed its first full - year mission on Mars.

47. 2018 - The US moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

48. 2019 - The Notre - Dame de Paris in France was burned.