1707 Acts of Union comes into force, uniting England and Scotland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain.
1840 "Penny Black", the world's first adhesive postage stamp issued by Great Britain.
1915 British liner Lusitania leaves NY for Liverpool on its last fateful journey.
1919 British naval officer David Beatty is promoted to Admiral of the Fleet.
1923 Adolf Hitler and Ernst Rohm attempt to break up socialist May Day demonstrations, inviting Nazis from as far away as Nuremberg to take part in the violence.
1924 German automobile manufacturers Daimler-Motoren-Gesellschaft and Benz & Cie begin their first joint venture (later merge into Mercedes-Benz)
1931 Empire State Building opens in New York City - world's tallest building until the World Trade Center in 1970
1943 German plane sinks the British ship SS Erinpura in the Mediterranean with the loss of 799 lives.
1944 Messerschmitt Me 262 Sturmvogel, 1st jet bomber, makes 1st flight.
1945 About 1,000 citizens of Demmin in Germany, commit suicide provoked by occupation by Soviet Red Army.
1945 Admiral Karl Doenitz forms German government.
1946 Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery appointed British supreme commander.
1960 Russia shoots down Francis Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane over Sverdlovsk.
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