Today:
1. 1461: During the Wars of the Roses, the Battle of Towton took place in England, resulting in a decisive victory for the Yorkists over the Lancastrians.
2. 1849: The United Kingdom formally annexed the Punjab region of India, following the Second Anglo-Sikh War.
3. 1886: Dr. John Pemberton brewed the first batch of Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia.
4. 1951: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were convicted of espionage for their role in passing atomic secrets to the Soviet Union during World War II.
5. 1971: A jury in Los Angeles acquitted singer and actor Frank Sinatra of charges of conspiracy to obstruct justice and of receiving stolen property.
6. 1974: The Terracotta Army was discovered near Xi’an, China, by local farmers digging a well. The army consists of thousands of life-sized clay soldiers buried with the first Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang.
7. 2004: Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined NATO as full members.
8. 2006: The Republic of Montenegro held a referendum on independence from the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro, leading to Montenegro’s eventual declaration of independence.
9. 2010: Two suicide bombers attacked the Moscow Metro in Russia, killing 40 people and injuring over 100 others.
10. 2014: The first same-sex marriages took place in England and Wales after the Marriage (Same-Sex Couples) Act 2013 came into effect.