215 BC A temple was built on the Capitoline Hill dedicated to Venus Erycinato commemorate the Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene.
1014 Battle of Clontarf: Brian Boru defeated Viking invaders, but was killed in battle.
1229 Ferdinand III of Castile conquered Cáceres.
1343 St. George’s Night Uprising.
1348 Edward III announced the founding of the Order of the Garter.
1521 Battle of Villalar: King Charles I of Spain defeated the Comuneros.
1564 – William Shakespeare, English writer and actor was born. (Traditional approximate birth date (in the Julian calendar) based on April 25th baptism) (d. 1616) .
1597 William Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor was first performed, with Queen Elizabeth I in attendance.
1621 William Penn, English admiral was born (d. 1670).
1635 The first public school in the United States, Boston Latin School, was founded.
1660 Treaty of Oliwa was established between Sweden and Poland.
1661King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland was crowned in Westminster Abbey.
1815 The Second Serbian Uprising – a second phase of the national revolution of the Serbs against the Ottoman Empire, erupted shortly after the annexation of the country to the Ottoman Empire.
1867 William Lincoln patented the zoetrope, a machine that showed animated pictures by mounting a strip of drawings in a wheel.
1895 Ngaio Marsh, New Zealand writer, was born (d. 1982) .
1899 – Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-American author (d. 1977).
1910 Theodore Roosevelt made his The Man in the Arena speech.
1920 The national council in Turkey denounced the government of SultanMehmed VI and announced a temporary constitution.
1920 The Grand National Assembly of Turkey was founded in Ankara.
1923 – 1st official celebration of Children’s day, world’s only Children’s day that is offically being celebrated since 1923 and with international participation since 1979.
1928 – Shirley Temple, American actress and politician, was born.
1932 The 153-year old De Adriaan Windmill in Haarlem burned down.
1935 The Polish Constitution of 1935 was adopted.
1935 The first official Children’s day was celebrated in Turkey.
1940 The Rhythm Night Club fire at a dance hall in Natchez, Mississippi, killed 198 people.
1941 World War II: The Greek government and King George II evacuated Athens before the invading Wehrmacht.
1942 World War II: Baedeker Blitz – German bombers hit Exeter, Bath and York in retaliation for the British raid on Lübeck.
1948 1948 Arab-Israeli War: Haifa was captured from Arab forces.
1949 Chinese Civil War: Establishment of the People’s Liberation Army Navy.
1955 The Canadian Labour Congress was formed by the merger of the Trades and Labour Congress of Canada and the Canadian Congress of Labour.
1961 Algiers putsch by French generals.
1967 Soviet space programme: Soyuz 1 (Russian: Союз 1, Union 1) was a manned spaceflight, Launched into orbit carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov.
1967 A group of young radicals was expelled from the Nicaraguan Socialist Party. This group went on to found the Socialist Workers Party.
1968 Vietnam War: Student protesters at Columbia University took over administration buildings and shut down the university.
1979 – New Zealander Blair Peach was killed during a clash between police and protesters at an anti-fascism rally in Southall, London.
1982 The Conch Republic was established.
1983 Prince William met Buzzy Bee.
1985 Coca-Cola changed its formula and released New Coke. The response was overwhelmingly negative, and the original formula was back on the market in less than 3 months.
1987 28 construction workers died when the L’Ambiance Plaza apartment building collapsed while under construction.
1988 Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon left the charts for the first time after spending a record of 741 consecutive weeks (over 14 years) on the Billboard 200.
1990 Namibia became the 160th member of the United Nations and the 50th member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
1993 Eritreans vote overwhelmingly for independence from Ethiopia in a United Nations-monitored referendum.
1997 Omaria massacre in Algeria: 42 villagers were killed.
2003 Beijing closed all schools for two weeks because of the SARS virus.
2005 – First YouTube video uploaded, titled “Me at the zoo”
2009 The gamma ray burst GRB 090423 was observed for 10 seconds as the most distant object of any kind and also the oldest known object in the universe.
2013 – At least 28 were killed and more than 70 are injured as violence broke out in Hawija, Iraq.
Sourced from NZ History Online & Wikipedia
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