- 1671 – Irish-born Colonel Thomas Blood (pictured) was caught trying to steal the English Crown Jewels from the Tower of London.
- 1901 – The first Parliament of Australia opened in the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne.
- 1945 – End of World War II in Europe: The signing of a second German Instrument of Surrender by General Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, specifying the military surrender of all German forces to the high commands of the Soviet Army and Allied Expeditionary Force, was announced.
- 1950 – French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman presented the Schuman Declaration, a proposal to place France's and West Germany's coal and steel industries under joint management, triggering a series of events that eventually led to the founding of the European Union.
- 1950 – Speculative fiction author L. Ron Hubbard's Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health was first published, describing his self-improvement techniques known as Dianetics.
