Today:
1. 1184 BC – Traditional date of the fall of Troy, an event narrated in the Greek epic poem, the Iliad, by Homer.
2. 1800 – The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 to purchase “such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress”.
3. 1915 – The Armenian Genocide begins with the arrest of hundreds of Armenian intellectuals and community leaders in Constantinople by Ottoman authorities.
4. 1916 – The Easter Rising against British Rule begins in Ireland. Though the uprising itself was largely quelled within a week, it would eventually lead to the establishment of the independent Irish Republic.
5. 1967 – Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov dies in Soyuz 1 when his parachute fails to open on re-entry, making him the first human to die during a space mission.
6. 1968 – The United States explodes nuclear bomb “Boxcar” in a test at Nevada Test Site.
7. 1970 – The first Chinese satellite, Dong Fang Hong I, is launched, marking China’s entry into the space race.
8. 1980 – Operation Eagle Claw, a US military operation to rescue 52 hostages from the American embassy in Tehran, Iran, ends disastrously when helicopters fail in the desert sandstorm.
9. 1990 – The Hubble Space Telescope is placed into orbit by the Space Shuttle Discovery.
10. 2013 – The Rana Plaza building collapse occurs in Bangladesh, killing over 1,100 people and becoming one of the deadliest industrial disasters in history.