Martin Luther defends his church reforms at the Diet of Worms (1521), and Virginia's convention votes to leave the United States (1861). Born on this day: Sirimavo Bandaranaike, Victoria Beckham and Jennifer Garner. Died: Gabriel García Márquez, Benjamin Franklin and Jean Perrin.
31 events, 56 births and 49 deaths on this date.
Summoned before the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and assembled princes at Worms, Luther refused to withdraw his writings unless shown scriptural error. He left the city under threat, and the emperor soon declared him an outlaw.
Lucas Cranach the Elder · Public domainDelegates meeting in Richmond voted to take Virginia out of the Union, a decision that made it one of the most important states to join the Confederacy. The vote came days after the attack on Fort Sumter, which pushed the upper South toward war.
Soldiers opened fire on a strike at a goldfield in the far northeast, leaving at least 150 dead. The Russian Empire, which ended in 1917, was then in its final years.
David Benioff and D. B. Weiss's fantasy drama, adapted from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels, began its run on HBO. It went on to become one of the most-watched and most-awarded series in television history.
Lucas started a 13-page treatment that would grow into the story of Luke Skywalker and the rebellion against the Empire. Its arrival marked the first concrete step toward a film that reshaped Hollywood blockbusters.
The area was split from the State of Mexico and granted statehood, becoming the nation's 27th state. It is named after José María Morelos y Pavón, who defended Cuautla against royalist forces during the Mexican War of Independence.
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Sirimavo Bandaranaike became the world's first democratically elected woman prime minister when she won Ceylon's 1960 election. She went on to serve three non-consecutive terms, the longest of any Sri Lankan prime minister.
Centralna Agencja Fotograficzna · Public domain
Victoria Beckham is an English fashion designer and former Spice Girl, known as Posh Spice. She has since built a fashion label bearing her own name, which has won praise from critics and the fashion press.
Owl Bridge Media · CC BY 3.0
American actress best known for playing secret agent Sydney Bristow in the ABC thriller Alias, and for romantic comedies such as 13 Going on 30. She is also a campaigner for early childhood education and co-founded the organic baby food company Once Upon a Farm.
Nan Palmero · CC BY 2.0
Colombian writer and journalist who popularised magic realism, in which dreamlike events slip into everyday life. His novel One Hundred Years of Solitude has been read by tens of millions worldwide, and in 1982 he won the Nobel for literature.
Gorup de Besanez · CC BY-SA 4.0
Franklin was an American polymath, printer and diplomat who helped draft the Declaration of Independence and later secured vital French support for the American Revolution. He is remembered as one of the Founding Fathers of the United States.
Joseph-Siffred Duplessis · Public domain
French physicist whose experiments on tiny particles drifting in liquids confirmed Einstein's explanation and convinced many that matter is made of atoms. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1926.
Agence de presse Meurisse · Public domain
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