• 558 - In Constantinople, the dome of the Hagia Sophia collapses. Justinian I immediately orders the dome rebuilt.
• 1274 - In France, the Second Council of Lyons opens to regulate the election of the Pope.
• 1429 - Joan of Arc ends the Siege of Orléans, pulling an arrow from her own shoulder and returning, wounded, to lead the final charge. The victory marks a turning point in the Hundred Years' War.
• 1664 - Louis XIV of France inaugurates The Palace of Versailles.
• 1697 - Stockholm's royal castle (dating back to medieval times) is destroyed by fire (in the 18th century, it's replaced by the current Royal Palace).
• 1763 - Indian Wars: Pontiac's Rebellion begins - Chief Pontiac begins the "Conspiracy of Pontiac" by attacking British forces at Fort Detroit.
• 1824 - World premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony in Vienna, Austria. The performance is conducted by Michael Umlauf under the deaf composer's supervision.
• 1832 - The independence of Greece is recognized by the Treaty of London. Otto of Wittelsbach, Prince of Bavaria is chosen King.
• 1836 - The settlement of Mayagüez, Puerto Rico is elevated to the royal status of villa by the government of Spain.
• 1840 - The Great Natchez Tornado strikes Natchez, Mississippi killing 317 people. It is the second deadliest tornado in United States history.
• 1847 - The American Medical Association (AMA) is founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• 1864 - American Civil War: The Army of the Potomac, under General Ulysses S. Grant, breaks off from the Battle of the Wilderness and moves southwards.
• 1895 - In Saint Petersburg, Russian scientist Alexander Stepanovich Popov demonstrates to the Russian Physical and Chemical Society his invention - the world's first radio receiver. In the former Soviet Union the anniversary of this day is celebrated as Radio Day.
• 1915 - World War I: German submarine U-20 sinks the RMS Lusitania, killing 1,198 people including 128 Americans. Public reaction to the sinking turns many formerly pro-Germans in the United States against the German Empire.
• 1920 - Kiev Offensive (1920): Polish troops led by Józef Piłsudski and Edward Rydz-Śmigły and assisted by a symbolic Ukrainian force capture Kiev only to be driven out by the Red Army counter-offensive a month later.
• 1920 - Treaty of Moscow (1920): Soviet Russia recognizes independence of the Democratic Republic of Georgia only to invade the country six months later.
• 1927 - Angelos Sikelianos organizes the first Delphic Festival in Delphi to celebrate the ancient Greek Delphic ideal.
• 1937 - Spanish Civil War: The German Condor Legion, equipped with Heinkel He 51 biplanes, arrives in Spain to assist Francisco Franco's forces.
• 1945 - World War II: General Alfred Jodl signs unconditional surrender terms at Reims, France, ending Germany's participation in the war. The document takes effect the next day.
• 1946 - Tokyo Telecommunications Engineering (later renamed Sony) is founded with around 20 employees.
• 1948 - The Council of Europe is founded during the Hague Congress.
• 1952 - The concept of the integrated circuit, the basis for all modern computers, is first published by Geoffrey W.A. Dummer.
• 1954 - Indochina War: The Battle of Dien Bien Phu ends in a French defeat (the battle began on March 13).
• 1960 - Cold War: U-2 Crisis of 1960 - Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev announces that his nation is holding American U-2 pilot Gary Powers.
• 1964 - Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild F-27 airliner, crashes near San Ramon, California, killing all 44 aboard; the FBI later reports that a cockpit recorder tape indicates that the pilot and co-pilot had been shot by a suicidal passenger.
• 1974 - West German Chancellor Willy Brandt resigns.
• 1992 - Michigan ratifies a 203-year-old proposed amendment to the United States Constitution making the 27th Amendment law. This amendment bars the U.S. Congress from giving itself a mid-term pay raise.
• 1992 - Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on its maiden voyage (STS-49).
• 1992 - Three employees at a McDonald's Restaurant in Sydney, Nova Scotia, Canada, are brutally murdered and a fourth permanently disabled after a botched robbery. It is the first fast-food murder in Canada.
• 1998 - Mercedes-Benz buys Chrysler for $40 billion USD and forms DaimlerChrysler in the largest industrial merger in history.
• 1999 - Pope John Paul II travels to Romania becoming the first pope to visit a predominantly Eastern Orthodox country since the Great Schism in 1054.
• 1999 - A jury finds The Jenny Jones Show and Warner Bros. liable in the shooting death of Scott Amedure, after the show purposely deceived Jonathan Schmitz to appear on a secret same-sex crush episode. Schmitz later killed Amedure and the jury awarded Amedure's family $25 million USD.
• 1999 - Kosovo War: In Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, three Chinese citizens are killed and 20 wounded when a NATO aircraft bombs the Chinese embassy in Belgrade.
• 1999 - In Guinea-Bissau, President João Bernardo Vieira is ousted in a military coup.
• 2002 - A China Northern Airlines MD-82 plunges into the Yellow Sea, killing 112 people.
• 2007 - The tomb of Herod the Great is discovered.

Births