1519 - Envoys of Montezuma II attend the first Easter mass in Central America.
1752 - Robert Clive and 200 men capture the Covelong fortress from the French.
1778 - In the first American victory over the British navy, John Paul Jones, in the Ranger, defeats the HMS Drake at the Battle of Carrickfergus.
1792 - Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle composes "La Marseilles," which will become the national anthem of France.
1800 - The Library of Congress is established.
1805 - U.S. Marines attack and capture the town of Derna in Tripoli from the Barbary pirates.
1877 - Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1884 - Otto von Bismarck informs Cape Town, South Africa that it is now a German colony.
1898 - Spain declares war on the US, rejecting an ultimatum to leave Cuba.
1915 - Turks of the Ottoman Empire begin massacring Armenians, a minority in the country.
1916 - Irish nationalists launch the Easter Uprising against British occupation.
1940 - In the wake of Greece's surrender to the Axis, forces from Great Britain, Australia, Poland, and New Zealand, begin to withdraw from that country. Over 50,000 troops are evacuated in six days; weapons, aircraft, and other equipment are left behind.
1944 - The first B-29 arrives in China.
1948 - The Berlin airlift begins.
1953 - Winston Churchill is knighted.
1961 - President John Kennedy accepts "sole responsibility" for the failed Bay of Pigs invasion. 1968 - Leftist students take over Columbia University in protest over the Vietnam War.
1980 - In Iran, a plane collides with a helicopter in the desert, leading to the failure of an attempt to rescue U.S. hostages.
1981 - The IBM Personal Computer is introduced.
1989 - In Beijing, thousands of Chinese students continue to protest for more democratic reforms.

Birthdays
1769 - Arthur Wellesley, general - Napoleonic Wars / Duke of Wellington.
1856 - Henri Philippe Pétain, French Marshall / WWI hero / Nazi collaborator.
1906 - William Joyce ('Lord Haw-Haw'), Nazi propagandist / British traitor.