1348 – The first English order of knighthood was founded. It was the Order of the Garter.
1564 – Poet, playwright William Shakespeare (“Julius Caesar,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “MacBeth”)
1666 – Shakespeare died on his birthday this year
1872 – Charlotte E. Ray became the African-American woman lawyer.
1895 – Russia, France, and Germany forced Japan to return the Liaodong peninsula to China.
1908 – U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt signed an act creating the U.S. Army Reserve.
1915 – The A.C.A. became the National Advisory Council on Aeronautics (NACA).
1924 – The U.S. Senate passed the Soldiers Bonus Bill.
1945 – The Soviet Army fought its way into Berlin.
1950 – Chaing evacuated Hainan, leaving mainland China to Mao and the communists.
1967 – The Soyuz 1 was launched by Russia.
1971 – The Soyuz 10 was launched.
1981 – The Soviet Union conducted an underground nuclear test at their Semipaltinsk (Kazakhstan) test site.
1988 – Kanellos Kanelopoulos set three world records for human-powered flight when he stayed in the air for 74 miles and four hours in his pedal-powered “Daedalus”.
