1983 – Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the U.S. schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war.
1362 – Muhammad VI ruler of Granada killed with a lance personally by Peter I of Castile, along with 36 followers and his head sent to Muhammad V
1507 – German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller is the first to use the name America on his world map “Universalis Cosmographia”
1590 – The Sultan of Morocco launched his successful attack to capture Timbuktu.
1607 – Shortly before making landfall in America, Captain Edward Maria Wingfield is named President of the Jamestown governing council
1626 – Battle of Dessau Bridge: Albrecht von Wallenstein at head of Holy Roman Empire forces defeats Danish attempt led by Ernst von Mansfeld’s to cross Elbe River (Thirty Years’ War)
1644 – Last Ming Emperor Chongzhen hangs himself from a tree on Jing Mountain, Beijing, rather than be captured by forces of Li Zicheng
1684 – A patent was granted for the thimble.
1707 – At the Battle of Almansa, Franco-Spanish forces defeated the Anglo-Portugese.
1719 – Daniel Defoe publishes “Robinson Crusoe”, regarded as the 1st English novel
1742 – Elizabeth of Russia crowns herself Empress in the Dormition Cathedral in Moscow
1792 – The guillotine was first used to execute highwayman Nicolas J. Pelletier.
1831 – The New York and Harlem Railway was incorporated in New York City.
1846 – Thornton Affair: Open conflict begins over the disputed border of Texas, triggering the Mexican–American War
1849 – The Governor General of Canada, Lord Elgin, signs the Rebellion Losses Bill, outraging Montreal’s English population and triggering the Montreal Riots.
1859 – Work began on the Suez Canal in Egypt.
1860 – The first Japanese diplomats to visit a foreign power reached Washington, DC. They remained in the U.S. capital for several weeks while discussing expansion of trade with the United States.
1867 – Tokyo was opened for foreign trade.
1881 – 250,000 Germans petition to bar foreign Jews from entering Germany
1882 – French commander Henri Riviere seized the citadel of Hanoi in Indochina.
1898 – The U.S. declared war on Spain. Spain had declared war on the U.S. the day before.
1901 – New York became the first state to require license plates for cars. The fee was $1.
1914 – US President Woodrow Wilson is persuaded by Argentina, Brazil, and Chile to accept mediation in the conflict with Mexico
1915 – During World War I, Australian and New Zealand troops landed at Gallipoli in Turkey in hopes of attacking the Central Powers from below. The attack was unsuccessful.
1920 – San Remo conference establishes three League of Nations mandates: a French mandate for Syria, and British mandates for Mesopotamia and Palestine with effect to the terms of the Balfour Declaration
1925 – General Paul von Hindenburg took office as president of Germany.
1926 – In Iran, Reza Kahn was crowned Shah and choose the name “Pehlevi.”
1928 – A seeing eye dog was used for the first time. Buddy, a German Shepherd, becomes 1st guide dog for a US citizen Morris Frank
1945 – U.S. and Soviet forces met at Torgau, Germany on Elbe River.
1945 – Delegates from about 50 countries met in San Francisco to organize the United Nations.
1945 – Clandestine Radio 1212, used to hoax Nazi Germany’s final transmission
1950 – Chuck Cooper becomes the 1st African American to be drafted into the NBA (for Boston Celtics) https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/chuck-cooper-nba-draft-first-black-player
1952 – After a three-day fight against Chinese Communist Forces, the Gloucestershire Regiment was annihilated on “Gloucester Hill,” in Korea.
1953 – U.S. Senator Wayne Morse ended the longest speech in U.S. Senate history. The speech on the Offshore Oil Bill lasted 22 hours and 26 minutes.
1953 – Dr. James D. Watson and Dr. Francis H.C. Crick suggested the double helix structure of DNA.
1954 – The prototype manufacture of the first solar battery was announced by the Bell Laboratories in New York City.
1957 – Operations began at the first experimental sodium nuclear reactor.
1959 – St. Lawrence Seaway opened to shipping. The water way connects the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
1960 – 1st submerged circumnavigation of Earth completed by USS submarine Triton in 60 days, 21 hours
1962 – The U.S. spacecraft, Ranger, crashed on the Moon.
1967 – Colorado Governor John Love signed the first law legalizing abortion in the U.S. The law was limited to therapeutic abortions when agreed to, unanimously, by a panel of three physicians.
1971 – The country of Bangladesh was established.
1974 – In Portugal, the fascist Estado Novo is overthrown in a bloodless coup, The leftist Carnation Revolution was led by military officers and supported by widespread civil resistance.
1974 – Günter Guillaume, an aide to West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, is exposed as a Stasi spy (East German secret service)
1978 – Phillie Phanatic makes 1st appearance
1981 – More than 100 workers are exposed to radiation during repairs of a nuclear power plant in Tsuruga, Japan
1982 – In accordance with Camp David agreements, Israel completed its Sinai withdrawal.
1983 – Soviet leader Yuri V. Andropov invited Samantha Smith to visit his country after receiving a letter in which the U.S. schoolgirl expressed fears about nuclear war. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/andropov-writes-to-u-s-student
1983 – The Pioneer 10 spacecraft crossed Pluto’s orbit, speeding on its endless voyage through the Milky Way.
1984 – In France, over one million people demonstrated to show they favored the decentralization of education.
1987 – In Washington, DC, 100,000 people protested the U.S. policy in Central America.
1988 – In Israel, John “Ivan the Terrible” Demjanuk was sentenced to death as a Nazi war criminal.
1990 – Sandinista rule ended in Nicaragua.
1990 – The U.S. Hubble Space Telescope was placed into Earth’s orbit. It was released by the space shuttle Discovery.
1991 – Boston Herald journalist Lisa Olson brings suit against NFL New England Patriots for sexual harassment while covering team; an out-of-court settlement was reached, the league fines the team, and she transfers to a position in Sydney, Australia https://www.upi.com/Archives/1991/04/25/Lisa-Olson-files-sex-harassment-suit-against-Patriots/4240672552000/
1992 – Islamic forces in Afghanistan took control of most of the capital of Kabul following the collapse of the Communist government.
1996 – The main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted to revoke clauses in its charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy Israel.
1998 – U.S. first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton on was questioned by Whitewater prosecutors on videotape about her work as a private lawyer for the failed savings and loan at the center of the investigation.
2003 – Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader and ex-wife of former President Nelson Mandela, was sentenced to four years in prison for her conviction on fraud and theft charges. She was convicted of 43 counts of fraud and 25 of theft of money from a women’s political league.
2005 – Final piece of the Obelisk of Axum is returned to Ethiopia after being stolen by the invading Italian army in 1937
2011 – The largest tornado outbreak ever recorded hits the U.S., 348 people in six states were killed during the outbreak, which encompassed a total of 358 confirmed tornadoes.
2013 – 38 people are killed in a psychiatric hospital fire in Ramensky, Russia
2013 – The United Kingdom reopens its embassy in Somalia after 22 years
2018 – Danish inventor Peter Madsen found guilty of killing and desecrating body of journalist Kim Wall aboard submarine, sentenced to life imprisonment
2018 – Indian religious leader Asaram Bapu is sentenced to life for raping a 16-year old girl
2019 – More than 1,600 civilians were killed in US-led coalition air and land strikes on Raqqa in 2017, according to Amnesty International and monitoring group Airwars
REFERENCE: history.net, onthisday.com, thepeopleshistory.com, timeanddate.com, scopesys.com, on-this-day.com
