1519 Leonardo da Vinci, Italian sculptor, scientist and painter of the "Mona Lisa" and the "Last Supper", died.

1813 - During the Leipzig campaign of the Napoleonic wars, the French were victorious at the battle of Lutzen.

1863 - The battle of Chancellorsville commenced in the American Civil War. In the battle, General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was accidentally fired on by his own men and died shortly afterwards.

1933 - Adolf Hitler banned trade unions in the continuing crackdown in Germany.

1936 - Emperor Haile Selassie and his family fled Addis Ababa, three days before its capture by the Italians.

1945 - Berlin surrendered to the 1st White Russian and 1st Ukrainian armies; Hamburg opened negotiations for the surrender of the city.

1951 - The Council of Europe admitted Germany as a full member.

1951 - Under pressure by nationalist prime minister Mohammad Mosaddeq and the public opinion, the Shah of Iran signed decrees approving the nationalization of the country's oil industry, which was under British control for years.

1953 - In Jordan, King Hussein formally acceded to the throne after his father King Talal, was deposed. In Iraq, King Feisal II assumed power.

1957 - Senator Joe McCarthy, U.S. politician and Republican senator famous for his anti-communist witch-hunts, died.

1965 - The first communications satellite for relaying television pictures went into operation; the "Early Bird" transmitted to 24 countries.

1967 - The Bertrand Russell International War Crimes Tribunal began in Stockholm; it subsequently found the United States guilty of aggression in Vietnam.

1972 - John Edgar Hoover, founder and director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation since 1924, died in Washington.

1982 - In the Falklands War, the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by the British submarine Conqueror; over 350 men were killed.

1992 - The Yugoslav Army seized Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic after fierce fighting in Sarajevo.

1994 - President F.W. de Klerk conceded victory to Nelson Mandela in the country's historic all-race elections.

1996 - Emile Habibi, noted Arab author, died. His most renowned work was a novel titled "Strange Events in the Disappearance of Said Abu al-Nahs al-Mutashael."