A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.

Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.

Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.

Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.

Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.

The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.

Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.

Estonian Communist Party bureau declares "fight against bourgeois TV" — meaning Finnish TV — a top priority of the propagandists of Estonian SSR

Launch of ''Pioneer 11'' spacecraft.

The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.

Vietnam War: Easter Offensive

Newhall Incident: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed.

In Richmond, Indiana's downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.

Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.

The British Government announces the cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft project.

Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks from the podium during a New York Philharmonic concert featuring Glenn Gould performing Brahms' First Piano Concerto.

Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.

The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.

World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from the German and Croatian Nazis by the Yugoslav Partisans.

World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).

Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.

Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." beginning the Salt Satyagraha.

Huey P. Long Governor of Louisiana is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.

Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).

The first Prefects Board in Southeast Asia is formed in Victoria Institution, Malaysia.

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi orders a general strike.

World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson's address to Congress).

Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after Gjergj Kastrioti (Skenderbeg).

Robert Peary and Matthew Henson allegedly reach the North Pole.

The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and the Western world.

In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned by Roman Emperor Theodosius I.

Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London after losing a libel case against the John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry.

Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.

Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.

Celluloid is patented.

The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.

American Civil War: The Battle of Sayler's Creek

American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins – in Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—later renamed Community of Christ—is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois

Indian Wars: The Black Hawk War begins – the Sauk warrior Black Hawk begins a war with the United States.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and others at Fayette or Manchester, New York.

Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba.

British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in the Peninsular War against Napoleon led France.

John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company.

During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic, and the period known as the Reign of Terror begins.

Rama I of Siam (modern day Thailand) founds the Chakri dynasty.

An earthquake devastates Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state.

At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town .

Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.

John, Master of the Order of Aviz, is made king John I of Portugal.

The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.

The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.

King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.

Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.