Today:
1348 – Charles University in Prague, the first university in Central Europe, was founded by Emperor Charles IV.
1788 – The American settlement of Marietta, Ohio, was founded, becoming the first permanent U.S. settlement in the Northwest Territory.
1827 – English chemist John Walker sold the first friction match, which he called “lucifers.”
1906 – Mount Vesuvius erupted in Italy, causing extensive damage to the city of Naples and forcing the 1908 Olympics to be moved from Rome to London.
1927 – The first public demonstration of long-distance television transmission was made by Bell Telephone Laboratories in New York and Washington, D.C.
1933 – Prohibition officially ended in the United States with the passage of the Cullen–Harrison Act, which allowed the sale of beer and wine with up to 3.2% alcohol.
1945 – The Japanese battleship Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, was sunk by U.S. aircraft during Operation Ten-Go in World War II.
1948 – The World Health Organization (WHO) was established by the United Nations.
1994 – Civil war and genocide began in Rwanda following the assassination of President Juvénal Habyarimana.
2003 – U.S. forces captured Baghdad, effectively bringing about the fall of Saddam Hussein’s regime in the Iraq War.