Events of the day

711 – Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexius I.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege of Orleans.
1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary Islands is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.
1587 – Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish fleet.
1672 – Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades the Netherlands.
1770 – James Cook arrives at and names Botany Bay, Australia.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal off the coast of Martinique.
1832 – Évariste Galois is released from prison.
1861 – American Civil War: Maryland's House of Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: New Orleans, Louisiana falls to Union forces under Admiral David Farragut.
1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to be founded during the Civil War.
1882 – The "Elektromote" – forerunner of the trolleybus – is tested by Ernst Werner von Siemens in Berlin.
1903 – A 30 million cubic-metre landslide kills 70 in Frank, Alberta, Canada.
1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the People's Budget, the first budget in British history with the expressed intent of redistributing wealth among the British public.
1916 – World War I: The British 6th Indian Division surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut in one of the largest surrenders of British forces up to that point.
1916 – Easter Rising: Martial law in Ireland is lifted and the rebellion is officially over with the surrender of Irish nationalists to British authorities in Dublin.
1945 – World War II: The German army in Italy unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
1945 – World War II: Start of Operation Manna.
1945 – World War II: The Captain class frigate HMS Goodall K479 is torpedoed by U-286 outside the Kola Inlet becoming the last ship of the Royal Navy sunk in the European theatre of World War II.
1945 – World War II – Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his successor. Both Hitler and Braun commit suicide the following day.
1945 – The Dachau concentration camp is liberated by United States troops.
1945 – The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese leaders for war crimes.
1946 – Father Divine, a controversial religious leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary in the International Peace Mission movement.
1951 – Tibetan delegates to the Central People's Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan autonomy.
1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1965 – Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launches its seventh rocket in its Rehber series.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United States Army the day before (citing religious reasons), Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1968 – The controversial musical Hair opens on Broadway.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon announces the release of edited transcripts of White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover. U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1986 – A fire at the Central library of the City of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys 400,000 books and other items.
1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around 155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least 138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million homeless.
1992 – Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles, California, following the acquittal of police officers charged with excessive force in the beating of Rodney King. Over the next three days 53 people are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993 enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
1999 – The Avala TV Tower near Belgrade is destroyed in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
2004 – Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded hearing in the Oval Office.
2004 – Oldsmobile builds its final car ending 107 years of production.
2005 – Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon, ending 29 years of occupation.
2011 – Wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Kate Middleton.

Holidays and observances

Christian Feast Day:
Catherine of Siena
Endelienta (Roman Catholic and Anglican Church)
Hugh of Cluny
Robert of Molesme
Torpes of Pisa
April 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Dance Day (International)
Queen's Night (the Netherlands)
Shōwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden Week holiday period. (Japan)
The beginning of Arita Ceramic Fair (Arita, Saga, Japan)
The ninth day of Ridván (Bahá'í Faith)
Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical Warfare

 

 

 

 

 

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