46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in the battle of Thapsus.
774 – Charles the Great (Charlemagne) confirmed the gift to the Pope of the territories belonging to Ravenna made by his father Pepin the Short at Quiercy-sur-Loire in 753
1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.
1250 – Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
1483 – Raphael Sanzio, Urbino, Italy, Italian painter/master builder (Madonna Sistina and School of Athens) (birthday in the Julian calendar) was born.
1520 – Raphael [Sanzio], artist (Sistine Madonna), dies on his 37th birthday
1580 – One of the largest earthquakes recorded in the history of England, Flanders, or Northern France, takes place.
1652 – Cape Colony, the 1st European settlement in South Africa, established by Dutch East India Company under John of Riebeeck
1672 – France declares war on Netherlands
1707 – Willem Van de Velde, the Young, Dutch seascape painter, dies a 73
1712 – The New York Slave Revolt of 1712 begins near Broadway.
1722 – Peter the Great, Tsar of Russia, ends tax on men with beards
1776 – American Revolutionary War: Ships of the Continental Navy fail in their attempt to capture a Royal Navy dispatch boat.
1782 – Rama I succeeds King Taksin of Siam (modern day Thailand), who is overthrown in a coup d’état.
1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, that would eventually make him America’s first millionaire.
1815 – English militia shoots prisoners, 100’s killed
1830 – Church of Christ, the original church of the Latter Day Saint movement, is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and others at Fayette or Manchester, New York.
1841 – U.S. President John Tyler is sworn in, two days after having become President upon William Henry Harrison’s death.
1861 – First performance of Arthur Sullivan’s debut success, his suite of incidental music for The Tempest, leading to a career that included the famous Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins: In Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederate troops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sailor’s Creek: Confederate General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia fights and loses its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia during the Appomattox Campaign.
1866 – The Grand Army of the Republic, an American patriotic organization composed of Union veterans of the American Civil War, is founded. It lasts until 1956.
1866 – Joseph Lincoln Steffens, muckraker/journalist (Shame of the Cities) Born
1869 – Celluloid is patented.
1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London after losing a libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry.
1896 – 1st modern Olympic games open in Athens Greece [3/25 OS] American, James Connolly, wins 1st Olympic gold medal in mod history
1903 – In Holland, railroad and dock workers go out on strike, but the government passes anti-strike bills, calls out troops, and promptly ends the strike on the 13th April
1906 – 1st animated cartoon copyrighted
1909 – 1st credit union forms in US
1909 – North Pole reached by Americans Robert Peary & Matthew Henson
1912 – Electric starter 1st appeared in cars
1917 – WW1: Following the sinking of American liner Housatonic by a German U-boat and four more U.S. merchant ships President Wilson appeared before Congress and called for a declaration of war against Germany and on April 6th the United States formally declared war on Germany
1917 – Shakey, [Walter Horton], Miss, harmonicist (Everybody’s Fishin’) Born
1919 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi orders a general strike.
1920 – Jack Cover, American pilot and physicist, invented the Taser gun (d. 2009) was born.
1928 – James Watson, American chemist (co-discovered structure of DNA) Born
1930 – Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire,” beginning the Salt Satyagraha.
1930 – Hostess Twinkies invented by bakery executive James Dewar
1931 – Following the growth of popularity of Radio the first late afternoon radio serial for children ( Little Orphan Annie ) is transmitted and draws a huge following.
1937 – Billy Dee Williams, Harlem actor (Chiefs, Empire Strikes Back), born in NYC, New York – Born
1937 – Merle Haggard, Bakersfield California, country singer (Death Valley Days) Born
1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion of Greece).
1945 – Massive kamikaze attack on US battle fleet near Okinawa
1945 – Neal Boortz, American talk radio personality Birthed
1952 – Udo Dirkshneider, heavy metal rocker (Accept-Balls to the Wall, Udo) Born
1953 – Christopher Franke, German-American drummer and songwriter (Tangerine Dream and Agitation Free) was born.
1955 – Yemen: failed coup by Abdullah Seif el-Islam
1958 – 22nd Golf Masters Championship: Arnold Palmer wins, shooting a 284
1960 – Warren Haynes, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (The Allman Brothers Band, Gov’t Mule, and The Dead) was born.
1962 – 7 Men have been arrested by Cuban Authorities and investigated for possible spying activities , the men were all frogmen diving off the coast of Cuba, American Authorities have confirmed 7 men have been reported missing who were diving for treasure .
1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
1968 – In Richmond, Indiana’s downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
1968 – The Violence and Race Riots continue in cities throughout the US following the assassination of black civil rights leader Martin Luther King on 4 April. Curfews have put in place around the country and National Guard Soldiers have been mobilized to keep control. The death toll from arson attacks is 19 and the looting and shooting continue. The cities worst affected include Chicago, Washington DC, Pittsburgh, Detroit and at another 75 cities around the country.
1968 – Bobby Hutton, US Black Panther leader, shot to death
1970 – Sam Sheppard, American accused murderer (b. 1923) Dies
1969 – Paul Rudd, American actor, producer, and screenwriter was born.
1972 – The Scarman Tribunal Report, an inquiry into the causes of violence during the summer of 1969 in N Ireland, is published, finding that the Royal Ulster Constabulary had been seriously at fault
1973 – US launches Pioneer 11 to Jupiter & Saturn
1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter. (Yankee Ron Blomberg becomes 1st designated hitter, he walks)
1974 – 200,000 attend rock concert “California Jam” in Ontario
1975 – Chiang Kai-shek, Nationalist Chinese leader, dies at 87
1976 – 1st quadrophonic movie track: “Ladies & Gentlemen the Rolling Stones”
1977 – Judge rules Beatles 1962 Hamburg album can be released
1977 – Kingdome opens, Seattle Mariners 1st game, loses to Angels 7-0
1983 – Ana Maria, Salvador guerilla leader, murdered
1984 – Members of Cameroon’s Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
1985 – Sudan suspends constitution after coup under general Swarreddahab
1987 – Sugar Ray Leonard upsets Marvelous Marvin Hagler
1987 – Al Campanis appears on ABCs Nightline saying blacks may not be equipped to be in baseball management, sparking a racial controversy
1989 – Orel Hershiser ends his record 59 consecutive scoreless streak
1991 – Former child actor Adam Rich arrested for breaking into a pharmacy
1992 – Isaac Asimov, Sci-Fi author (I Robot), dies from kidney failure at 72
1992 – US Supreme Court rules a Nebraska farmer was entrapped by postal agents into buying mail-order child pornography
1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian president Cyprien Ntaryamira is shot down. (UN Peace keepers stand by a watch..)
1994 – Dick Cary, jazz musician, dies at 77
1998 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
1998 – Tammy Wynette, American country singer, dies at 55
1998 – Wendy O. Williams, American singer (Plasmatics) (b. 1949) Dies
1999 – Red Norvo, American jazz vibraphonist (b. 1908) dies
2003 – David Bloom, American reporter (b. 1963) (Dies of Anthrax Vaccine?)
2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from the post by impeachment.
2004 – Niki Sullivan, American guitarist (The Crickets) (b. 1937) Dies
2005 – Rainier III, Prince of Monaco (1949-2005), dies at 81
2008 – The 2008 Egyptian general strike starts led by Egyptian workers later to be adopted by April 6 Youth Movement and Egyptian activities.
2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L’Aquila, Italy, killing at least 253.
2010 – Wilma Mankiller, Native-American activist, chief of the Cherokee Nation (b. 1945) Dies
2010 – The Muslim cleric that is tied to the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound airliner has become the first U.S. citizen to be added to the list of suspected terrorists that the C.I.A. is authorized to kill. Anwar al-Aulaqi, who currently lives in Yemen, was previously placed on the target list that is maintained by the U.S. military’s Joint Special Operations Command. He has survived at least one strike carried out by Yemeni forces with U.S. assistance, and said that it is god’s will that he survives.
2010 – Corin Redgrave, British actor and political activist (b. 1939) Dies
2011 – In San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico, over 193 bodies were exhumed from several mass graves made by Los Zetas.
2012 – US F-18 Hornet crashes into side of apartment building in Virginia with no fatalities
2012 – Fang Lizhi, Chinese astrophysicist/dissident, dies at 76
2012 – Thomas Kinkade, American artist, dies from acute intoxication at 54
2014 – Mickey Rooney, American Emmy award-winning actor (Boys Town, The Black Stallion), dies at 93