Year 238 » Gordian II loses the Battle of Carthage (238) called Battle of Carthage against the Numidian forces loyal to Maximinus Thrax and is killed. Gordian I, his father, commits suicide.
Year 240 » Shapur I is crowned as king of the Sasanian Empire.
Year 467 » Anthemius is elevated to Roman emperor known as Emperor of the Western Roman Empire.
Year 627 » King Edwin of Northumbria is converted to Christianity by Paulinus of York or Paulinus, bishop of York.
Year 1204 » The Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade breach the walls of Constantinople and Siege of Constantinople (1204) or enter the city, which they completely occupy the following day.
Year 1606 » The Union Flag is adopted as the flag of Kingdom of England e.g English and Kingdom of Scotland known as Scottish ships.
Year 1776 » American Revolution: With the Halifax Resolves, the North Carolina Provincial Congress authorizes its Second Continental Congress known as Congressional delegation to vote for independence from Kingdom of Great Britain named Britain.
Year 1820 » Alexander Ypsilantis (1792-1828) or Alexander Ypsilantis is declared leader of Filiki Eteria, a secret organization to overthrow Ottoman Empire named Ottoman rule over Greece.
Year 1831 » Soldiers marching on the Broughton Suspension Bridge in Manchester, England cause it to collapse.
Year 1861 » American Civil War: The war begins with Confederate States of America e.g Confederate forces firing on Fort Sumter, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina.
Year 1862 » American Civil War: The Andrews Raid (the Great Locomotive Chase) occurs, starting from Big Shanty, Georgia (now Kennesaw, Georgia or Kennesaw).
Year 1864 » American Civil War: The Fort Pillow massacre: Confederate forces kill most of the African American soldiers that surrendered at Fort Pillow, Tennessee.
Year 1865 » American Civil War: Mobile, Alabama, falls to the Union (American Civil War) called Union Army.
Year 1877 » The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland called United Kingdom annexes the South African Republic or Transvaal.
Year 1910 » SMS or Zrínyi, one of the last pre-dreadnoughts built by the Austro-Hungary e.g Austro-Hungarian Navy, is launched.
Year 1917 » World War I: Canada or Canadian forces successfully complete the taking of Battle of Vimy Ridge or Vimy Ridge from the Germans.
Year 1927 » April 12 Incident: Chiang Kai-shek orders the Communist Party of China members executed in Shanghai, ending the First United Front (China) named First United Front.
Year 1928 » The Bremen (aircraft) or Bremen, a German Junkers W33 type aircraft, takes off for the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west.
Year 1934 » The strongest surface wind gust in the world at 231 mph, is measured on the summit of Mount Washington (New Hampshire) named Mount Washington, New Hampshire.
Year 1934 » The U.S. Auto-Lite Strike begins, culminating in a five-day melee between Ohio National Guard troops and 6,000 strike action or strikers and picketers.
Year 1935 » First flight of the Bristol Aeroplane Company named Bristol Bristol Blenheim named Blenheim.
Year 1937 » Sir Frank Whittle ground-tests the first jet engine designed to power an aircraft, at Rugby, Warwickshire e.g Rugby, England.
Year 1945 » U.S. President of the United States or President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies while in office; vice-president Harry Truman is sworn in as the 33rd President.
Year 1955 » The polio vaccine, developed by Dr. Jonas Salk, is declared Jonas Salk Test results announced named safe and effective.
Year 1961 » The Soviet Union known as Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human to travel into outer space and perform the first manned orbital flight, in Vostok spacecraft known as Vostok 3KA-2 (Vostok 1).
Year 1963 » The Soviet Union Soviet nuclear-powered submarine Soviet submarine K-33 K-33 collides with the Finland Finnish merchant vessel M/S 'Finnclipper' in the Denmark Danish straits.
Year 1970 » Soviet submarine K-8, carrying four nuclear torpedoes, sinks in the Bay of Biscay four days after a fire on board.
Year 1981 » The first launch of a Space Shuttle ('Space Shuttle Columbia called Columbia') takes place - the STS-1 mission.
Year 1994 » Canter & Siegel post the first commercial mass Usenet Newsgroup spam called spam.
Year 1998 » An earthquake in Slovenia, measuring 5.6 on the Richter magnitude scale e.g Richter scale occurs near the town of Bovec.
Year 1999 » US President Bill Clinton is cited for contempt of court for giving "intentionally false statements" in a sexual harassment civil lawsuit.
Year 2007 » A suicide bomber 2007 Iraqi Parliament bombing known as penetrates the Green Zone and detonates in a cafeteria within a parliament building, killing Iraqi MP Mohammed Awad and wounding more than twenty other people.
Year 2009 » Zimbabwe officially abandons the Zimbabwe Dollar as its official currency.
Year 2010 » A 2010 Merano train derailment called train derails near Merano, Italy, after running into a landslide, causing nine deaths and injuring 28 people.
Year 2014 » A 2014 Valparaíso wildfire named wildfire ravages the Chilean city of Valparaíso, killing 16, displacing nearly 10,000, and destroying over 2,000 homes.