Today:
1529 – The Protestation at Speyer occurs: German princes protest the imperial ban on Martin Luther, leading to the term “Protestant.”
1770 – British explorer Captain James Cook sights the eastern coast of Australia for the first time.
1775 – The Battles of Lexington and Concord take place, marking the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.
1824 – English poet Lord Byron dies in Missolonghi, Greece, while supporting Greek independence from the Ottoman Empire.
1861 – The Baltimore riot of 1861 occurs, the first bloodshed of the American Civil War involving Union troops.
1897 – The first Boston Marathon is held in Massachusetts, USA.
1943 – The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising begins as Jewish resistance fighters rise against Nazi forces in German-occupied Poland.
1993 – The Waco siege ends when the FBI assaults the Branch Davidian compound in Texas, resulting in a deadly fire.
1995 – The Oklahoma City bombing occurs, the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history at the time.
2011 – Fidel Castro resigns as head of Cuba’s Communist Party, formally ending his official leadership role.