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- the Second Diet of Speyer, a group of rulers (German: Frst) and independent cities (German: Reichsstadt) protests the reinstatement of the Edict of Worms, beginning the Protestant movement.
- 1587 Sir Francis Drake sinks the Spanish fleet in Cdiz harbor.
- 1713 With no living male heirs, Emperor Charles VI issues the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 to ensure that Habsburg lands and the Austrian throne would be inherited by his daughter, Maria Theresa (not actually born until 1717).
- 1775 American Revolutionary War: The Battle of Lexington and Concord which began the American Revolutionary War.
- 1775 Minutemen Capt John Parker orders not to fire unless fired upon Revolution begins-Lexington Common, shot "heard round the world"
- 1782 Netherlands recognizes US
- 1783 George Washington proclaims end of hostilities
- 1809 The army of Austria attacks and is defeated by the forces of the Duchy of Warsaw in the Battle of Raszyn, part of the struggles of the Fifth Coalition.
- 1810 Venezuela achieves home rule: Vicente Emparan, Governor of the Captaincy General is removed by the people of Caracas and a Junta is installed.
- 1825 33 patriotic exiles return to Uruguay
- 1839 The Treaty of London establishes Belgium as a kingdom.
- 1839 Treaty of London constitutes Belgium an independent kingdom
- 1852 Calif Historical Society forms
- 1861 Baltimore riots-4 soldiers, 9 civilians killed
- 1861 Lincoln orders blockade of Confederate ports (Civil War)
- 1861 President Lincoln orders blockade of Southern ports from SC to Texas
- 1874 Barracks on Alcatraz Island destroyed in fire
- 1877 The opera "Les Cloches de Cornerville" is produced (Paris)
- 1892 Charles Duryea claims to have driven the first automobile in the United States, in Springfield, Massachusetts.
- 1892 Charles Duryea takes first American-made auto out for a spin
- 1897 First American marathon ran, John J McDermott wins in 2:55:10 (Boston)
- 1902 In Guatemala a 7.5 earthquake lasted perhaps 30 to 40 seconds and caused some 2,000 deaths in Quelzaltenango
- 1904 Much of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, is destroyed by fire.
- 1904 R S Dugan discovers asteroids #533 Sara & #534 Nassovia
- 1909 Joan of Arc receives beatification.
- 1919 Leslie Irvin of the United States makes the first successful voluntary free-fall parachute jump using a new kind of self-contained parachute.
- 1927 Mae West is sentenced to 10 days in jail for obscenity for her play Sex.
- 1928 The 125th and final fascicle of the Oxford English Dictionary is published.
- 1930 Clarence DeMar wins his 7th Boston Marathon
- 1933 FDR announces US will leave the gold standard
- 1934 Shirley Temple appears in her first movie, "Stand Up & Cheer"
- 1934 Shirley Temple debuts in Stand Up and Cheer.
- 1936 First day of the Great Uprising in Palestine.
- 1939 Connecticut finally approves Bill of Rights (148 years late)
- 1940 "Lake Shore Ltd" derails speed killing 34 near Little Falls NY
- 1943 "Bermuda Conference": Fruitless discussion by U.S. and British delegates on deliverance of Nazi victims.
- 1943 Bicycle Day Swiss chemist Dr. Albert Hofmann deliberately takes LSD for the first time.
- 1943 Jews attack Nazi occupation forces at Warsaw Ghetto
- 1943 Warsaw ghetto revolt; liquidation of the Warsaw ghetto continues for one month.
- 1943 World War II: In Poland, German troops enter the Warsaw ghetto to round up the remaining Jews, beginning the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
- 1944 Gerard Cote wins his 2nd straight & 3rd career Boston Marathon
- 1945 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical "Carousel" opens on Broadway
- 1947 Tor Maple Leafs beat Montreal Canadiens 4 games to 2 for Stanley Cup
- 1948 Gerard Cote wins his 4th Boston Marathon
- 1949 Rick Muth, President of ORCO Block was born
- 1950 19-year-old Ham Young became the youngest Boston Marathon winner
- 1950 Argentina becomes a signatory to the Buenos Aires copyright treaty.
- 1951 General Douglas MacArthur retires from the military.
- 1951 Shigeki Tanaka, survivor of Hiroshima A-bomb, wins Boston Marathon
- 1954 7-time winner of the Boston Marathon, 65-year-old Clarence Demar, runs his last race at Boston finishing 78th
- 1954 Constituent Assembly of Pakistan decides Urdu and Bengali to be national languages of Pakistan.
- 1955 The German automaker Volkswagen, after six years of selling cars in the United States, founds Volkswagen of America in Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey to standardize its dealer and service network.
- 1955 USS Albany and USS William Wood begin to provide disaster relief to citizens of Volos, Greece, ending 21 April
- 1956 Actress Grace Kelly marries Rainier III of Monaco.
- 1956 US actress Grace Kelly marries Monaco's Prince Rainier III
- 1957 Charles Funk of Funk & Wagnalls, dies at 76
- 1957 In the Fox Islands, Alaska a 7.5quake was one of th elargest qukes in the U.S. (man they get a lot up in that area)
- 1958 Visitor posting - Jason Cripps- a good husband, father, and friend was born.
- 1960 Students in South Korea hold a nationwide pro-democracy protest against their president Syngman Rhee, eventually forcing him to resign.
- 1961 The Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba ends in success for the defenders.
- 1962 Eino Oksanen wins his 3rd Boston Marathon
- 1962 NASA civilian pilot Joseph A Walker takes X-15 to 46,900 m
- 1963 "Hot Spot" opens at the Majestic Theater on Broadway
- 1963 Visitor posting - Gregg A Griffith arrives on the scene! - USA
- 1963 Visitor posting - Dave Gibson born in Aberdeen UK
- 1965 T.A.M.I. Show premiers in London
- 1966 Roberta Bignay becomes the first woman to run in the Boston Marathon
- 1967 Beatles sign a contract to stay together for 10 years (they don't)
- 1967 US Surveyor III lands on Moon
- 1968 Dedication of the Desert Mounted Corps Memorial on Anzac Parade, Canberra, by Prime Minister John Gorton The memorial is a copy of the original unveiled at Port Said, Egypt, by former Prime Minister William Morris Hughes in 1932
- 1968 The first American since 1957 wins the 72nd Boston Marathon
- 1969 "Oliver," Cliff Robertson & Katharine Hepburn win 51st Acadamy Awards
- 1971 Launch of Salyut 1, first human-made space station.
- 1971 Visitor posting - George R. Marovic's birthday - USA
- 1971 Visitor posting - Richard Peal, Born in Chicago, Illinois, Dance Skater, & Lizzy Hill - USA
- 1971 Sierra Leone becomes a republic (Natl Day)
- 1971 USSR Salyut 1 launched; first manned lab in orbit
- 1971 Vietnam War: Vietnam Veterans Against the War begin a five-day demonstration in Washington, DC.
- 1975 India launches first satellite with help of USSR
- 1976 C-I Lagerkvist discovers asteroid #2114 Wallenquist
- 1976 Executive Order 9066 is rescinded.
- 1978 Lagumot Harris is elected President of Nauru.
- 1978 Yitzhak Navron elected 5th president of Israel
- 1979 FCC raids & shuts down pirate radio station WFAT (Bkln NY)
- 1979 J C Muzzio discovers asteroid #3666
- 1980 Ethel Wilson actress (Aunt Harriet-Aldrich Family), dies at 88
- 1980 Visitor posting - april 19 1980 naijo born in india -
- 1980 Visitor posting - Shannon Whitaker was born @ 1:37pm - USA
- 1982 Alberto Salazar wins the Boston Marathon in a record 2:8:51
- 1982 Rosie Ruiz, marathon race cheater, arrested for forgery
- 1982 Sally Ride announced as first woman astronaut
- 1982 USSR Salyut 7 space station put into orbit
- 1983 Lorene Scott actress (Faraway Hill), dies at 74
- 1984 Nemesis, death star of dinosaurs first appears in print (Nature mag)
- 1985 16th Space Shuttle Mission (51-D)-Discovery 4 returns to Earth
- 1985 Advance Australia Fair is proclaimed as Australia's national anthem, and green and gold as the national colours.
- 1985 U.S.S.R performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakhstan/Semipalatinsk U.S.S.R.
- 1986 Alvin Childress actor (Amos-Amos 'n' Andy), dies at 78
- 1986 Michael Spinks beats Larry Holmes for heavyweight boxing title
- 1986 Number one hit on UK music charts - George Michael - A Different Corner
- 1987 Jacqueline Blanc, sets women's downhill ski speed rec (124.902 mph)
- 1987 Maxwell D Taylor US commander 101st airborne (WW II), dies at 85
- 1987 The Simpsons make their television debut in the short "Good Night" a segment for The Tracey Ullman Show.
- 1989 A gun turret explodes on the USS Iowa, killing 47 sailors.
- 1989 Republic Day in Sierra Leone
- 1990 Marla Maples appears on ABC's Prime-Time
- 1991 Battle of the Ages-Heavyweight champ Evander Hollyfield beats 42 year old George Foreman
- 1991 Visitor posting - Aaron James Long Zim born :) - USA
- 1991 Evander Holyfield defeats George Foreman by unanimous decision to retain the world heavyweight championship in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
- 1991 Greyhound Bus posts $195 million loss for 1990
- 1992 Balki & Mary Ann wed on "Perfect Strangers"
- 1993 The 51-day siege of the Branch Davidian building outside Waco, Texas, USA, ends when a fire breaks out. Eighty-one people die.
- 1995 Visitor posting - Rob Schulke's Birthday - USA
- 1995 Oklahoma City bombing: The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA, is bombed, killing 168. That same day convicted murderer Richard Wayne Snell, who had ties to bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh, was executed in Arkansas.
- 1996 Visitor posting - Morgan Long was born!!!!!! (: - USA
- 1999 The German Bundestag returns to Berlin.
- 2000 An Air Philippines Boeing 737-200 crashes near Davao International Airport, killing 131.
- 2005 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger elected Pope Benedict XVI on the second day of the Papal conclave.
- 2008 Jewish Holiday - Passover April 19-27, 2008 - No work permitted on April 20-21, 26-27. Work is permitted only on April 22-25 with certain restrictions.
- 2010 Visitor posting - Aaron McClean born two months early at 4.30am - United Kingdom
- 2011 In the Movie "Terminator" Skynet is activated and becomes self aware.
- 2010 Visitor posting - 1962 Great Stage Actor Scott Stewart born at 4:19 in Ft. Benning Ga - USA
- 2010 Visitor posting - Jap Crap update - Japanese Death Machine manufacturer toyota recalls yet another model - this time the Lexus SUV.
- 1303 The University of Rome La Sapienza is instituted by Pope Boniface VIII.
More historical events added daily - keep checking back