1867 – Russian Baron Stoeckl and U.S. Secretary of State Seward complete the draft of a treaty ceding Alaska to the United States for $7,200,000 ($109 million in 2018), roughly 2 cents an acre. The treaty is signed the following day..
1282 – The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers
1422 – Ketsugan, Zen teacher, performs exorcisms to free aizoji temple
1492 – King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella sign a decree expelling all Jews from Spain.
1533 – Henry VIII divorced his first wife, Catherine of Aragon.
1796 – Carl Friedrich Gauss, German mathematician, discovers the construction of the heptadecagon
1814 – The allied European nations against Napoleon marched into Paris.
1822 – Florida became a U.S. territory.
1840 – “”Beau” Brummell, the English dandy and former favorite of the prince regent, dies in a French lunatic asylum for paupers.
1855 – About 5,000 “Border Ruffians” from western Missouri invaded the territory of Kansas and forced the election of a pro-slavery legislature. It was the first election in Kansas.
1856 – The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War, Russia lost the war to a coalition of the Ottoman Empire, France, Britain, and Sardinia.
1867 – Russian Baron Stoeckl and U.S. Secretary of State Seward complete the draft of a treaty ceding Alaska to the United States for $7,200,000 ($109 million in 2018), roughly 2 cents an acre. The treaty is signed the following day..
1870 – The 15th amendment, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race, was passed by the U.S. Congress.
1870 – President U.S. Grant signs bill readmitting Texas to the Union, the last Confederate state readmitted.
1903 – Revolutionary activity in the Dominican Republic brought U.S. troops to Santo Domingo to protect American interests.
1905 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt was chosen to mediate in the Russo-Japanese peace talks.
1909 – The Queensboro bridge in New York opened linking Manhattan and Queens. It was the first double decker bridge.
1909 – In Oklahoma, Seminole Indians revolted against meager pay for government jobs.
1916 – Pancho Villa killed 172 at the Guerrero garrison in Mexico.
1939 – The comic book “Detective Comics #27” appeared on newstands. This comic introduced Batman.
1940 – The Japanese set up a puppet government called Manchuko in Nanking, China.
1941 – The German Afrika Korps under General Erwin Rommel began its first offensive against British forces in Libya.
1942 – SS murders 200 inmates of Trawniki concentration camp
1944 – The U.S. fleet attacked Palau, near the Philippines.
1945 – The U.S.S.R. invaded Austria during World War II.
1946 – The Allies seized 1,000 Nazis attempting to revive the Nazi party in Frankfurt.
1950 – U.S. President Truman denounced Senator Joe McCarthy as a saboteur of U.S. foreign policy.
1957 – Tunisia and Morocco signed a friendship treaty in Rabat.
1958 – The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater gave its initial performance.
1964 – “Jeopardy” debuted on NBC-TV.
1965 – Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the U.S. Embassy in Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others
1969 – Loyalists bomb water and electricity installations in Northern Ireland in the hope that the attacks would be blamed on the IRA and on elements of the civil rights movement, which was demanding an end to discrimination against Catholics
1972 – The British government assumed direct rule over Northern Ireland.
1972 – The Eastertide Offensive began when North Vietnamese troops crossed into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) in the northern portion of South Vietnam.
1975 – As the North Vietnamese forces move toward Saigon, desperate South Vietnamese soldiers mob rescue jets.
1976 – Thousands of Palestinians protest against Israel’s massive land expropriation
1979 – Airey Neave, a British politician, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.
1981 – U.S. President Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded in Washington, DC, by John W. Hinckley Jr. Two police officers and Press Secretary James Brady were also wounded.
1984 – The U.S. ended its participation in the multinational peace force in Lebanon.
1993 – In Sarajevo, two Serb militiamen were sentenced to death for war crimes committed in Bosnia.
1993 – In the Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown hit his first home run.
1994 – Serbs and Croats signed a cease-fire to end their war in Croatia while Bosnian Muslims and Serbs continued to fight each other.
2002 – Suspected Islamic militants set off several grenades at a temple in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Four civilians, four policemen and two attackers were killed and 20 people were injured.
2006 – UK Terrorism Act 2006 becomes law.
2009 – The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey confirmed that the new World Trade Center building would be officially known by its legal name of “One World Trade Center.”
2012 – Mastercard and Visa announce a massive breach in security with over ten million compromised credit card numbers
2013 – North Korea declares it is at a state of war with South Korea
2017 – Ex-South Korean president Park Geun-hye arrested in corruption investigation
2017 – Venezuela Supreme Court takes over legislative powers of the National Assembly, opposition calls it a coup
2018 – Palestinians begin a “Great March of Return”, 6 weeks of protests on the Gaza Strip demanding Palestinian refugees be allowed to return to Israel. 19 Palestinians killed, 1,416 injured on the first day.
2020 – Three out of four Americans now ordered to stay home due to COVID-19 as states of Virginia, Maryland, Arizona and Florida issue lockdowns
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
