0858: St. Nicholas I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
1792: Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle composes "La Marseillaise". It will become France's national anthem.
1800: The Library of Congress is established in Washington, D.C. with a $5,000 allocation.
1833: A patent is granted for the first soda fountain.
1877: Russia declares war on the Ottoman Empire.
1898: Spain declares war on United States, rejecting an ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba.
1915: Turks of the Ottoman Empire begin massacring the Armenian minority in their country.
1916: Irish nationalists launch the Easter Uprising against British occupation.
1953: Winston Churchill is knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
1961: President John Kennedy accepts "sole responsibility" for the failed invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs.
1968: Leftist students take over Columbia University in protest over the Vietnam War.
1980: A rescue attempt of the U.S. hostages held in Iran fails when a plane collides with a helicopter in the Iranian desert.
1981: The IBM Personal Computer is introduced.
1989: Thousands of Chinese students strike in Beijing for more democratic reforms.
Source: HistoryNet.com