The United Kingdom Terrorism Act 2006 becomes a law.

Space Shuttle program: STS-3 Mission is completed with the landing of ''Columbia'' at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

President Ronald Reagan is shot in the chest outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John Hinckley, Jr.

Airey Neave, a British Member of Parliament, is killed by a car bomb as he exits the Palace of Westminster. The Irish National Liberation Army claims responsibility.

Vietnam War: The Easter Offensive begins after North Vietnamese forces cross into the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) of South Vietnam.

Vietnam War: A car bomb explodes in front of the US Embassy, Saigon, killing 22 and wounding 183 others.

The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs is signed at New York.

The Yonge Street subway line opens in Toronto. It is the first subway in Canada.

A riot breaks out in Austurvöllur square in Reykjavík, when Iceland joins NATO.

World War II: Soviet Union forces invade Austria and take Vienna; Polish and Soviet forces liberate Gdańsk.

World War II: a defecting German pilot delivers a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1 to the Americans.

Sino-Japanese War: Japan declares Nanking capital of a new Chinese puppet government, nominally controlled by Wang Ching-wei.

The Heinkel He 100 fighter sets a world airspeed record of 463 mph.

First flight of the Australian C.A.C. CA-16 Wirraway.

Outburst of bloody March Events in Baku and other locations of Baku Governorate.

Sultan Abdelhafid signs the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.

The Mississippi Legislature founds The University of Southern Mississippi.

The Queensboro Bridge opens, linking Manhattan and Queens.

The Battle for Kushka triggers the Pandjeh Incident which nearly gives rise to war between the British Empire and Russian Empire.

Texas is readmitted to the Union following Reconstruction.

Alaska is purchased from Russia for $7.2 million, about 2 cent/acre ($4.19/km²), by United States Secretary of State William H. Seward. The media call this Seward's Folly.

Danish prince Wilhelm Georg is chosen as King George of Greece.

Hymen Lipman patents a pencil with an attached eraser.

The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.

Origins of the American Civil War: Bleeding Kansas

One of the most important battles of the Dominican War of Independence from Haiti takes place near the city of Santiago de los Caballeros.

Anesthesia is used for the first time, in an operation by Dr. Crawford Long.

The Florida Territory is created in the United States.

Napoleonic Wars: Sixth Coalition forces march into Paris.

Joachim Murat issues the Rimini Declaration which would later inspire Italian Unification.

Edward I sacks Berwick-upon-Tweed, during armed conflict between Scotland and England.

The people of Sicily rebel against the Angevin king Charles I, in what becomes known as the Sicilian Vespers.