Today:
73 – Masada, a Jewish fortress near the Dead Sea, falls to Roman forces, ending the First Jewish-Roman War.
1346 – Stefan Dušan proclaims himself Emperor of the Serbs and Greeks, founding the Serbian Empire.
1746 – The Battle of Culloden takes place in Scotland, ending the Jacobite rising of 1745 with a decisive British government victory.
1818 – The United States Senate ratifies the Rush–Bagot Treaty, limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes.
1853 – The first passenger rail opens in India, between Bombay (Mumbai) and Thane.
1917 – Vladimir Lenin returns to Petrograd from exile, playing a key role in the Russian Revolution.
1943 – Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann discovers the hallucinogenic effects of LSD after accidentally absorbing it through his skin.
1947 – American financier Bernard Baruch coins the term “Cold War” in a speech in South Carolina.
2003 – The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens, admitting 10 new member states into the European Union.
2007 – A mass shooting at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia leaves 32 people dead and many injured, becoming the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history.