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”.