- 30 Scholars' estimate for Jesus' crucifixion by Roman troops in Jerusalem [or April 3]
Sack of Metz
451 Attila the Hun plunders Metz in Northeastern France
Corpus Juris Civilis
529 First draft of Corpus Juris Civilis or the Justinian Code (a fundamental work in jurisprudence) is issued by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian I
- 611 Forces from Maya city Calakmul invade and conquer the neighbouring city of Palenque, holding it as a vassal state for five years
- 1118 Pope Gelasius II excommunicated by Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor, forcing him to flee Rome and rule in exile
- 1348 Prague University, first university in central Europe, formed by Charles IV
- 1456 Louis van Burbon becomes prince-bishop of Luik
- 1498 Crowd storms Savonarola's convent San Marco Florence, Italy
- 1509 France declares war on Venice
- 1521 Inquisitor-general Adrian Boeyens bans Lutheran books
Magellan Reaches Cebu
1521 Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan's fleet reaches Cebu
1st Jesuit Missionary
1541 Spanish missionary Francis Xavier leaves Lisbon for the Portuguese East Indies as the first Jesuit missionary
- 1584 Ieper surrenders to Duke of Parma
Wallenstein Supreme Commander
1625 Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed German supreme commander by Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand II
- 1645 Michael Cardozo becomes 1st Jewish lawyer in Brazil
Alexander VII
1655 Fabio Chigi replaces Pope Innocent X as Pope Alexander VII
St John Passion
1724 Johann Sebastian Bach's "St John Passion" premieres on Good Friday at St. Nicholas Church in Leipzig, Electorate of Saxony (now Germany)
Priestley Departs England
1794 English chemist and theologian Joseph Priestley departs England for America on board Sansom at Gravesend
France Adopts the Metre
1795 France adopts the metre as the basic measure of length
- 1798 Mississippi Territory organized
Lewis and Clark Expedition
1805 Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves Fort Mandan (on the Missouri River near what is now Washburn, North Dakota), beginning their journey to the Pacific Ocean
Eroica
1805 Premiere of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Eroica" (Symphony No. 3), at the Theater an der Wien, Vienna, conducted by the composer; contemporary reviews were mixed
First Seminole War
1818 General Andrew Jackson conquers Spanish Fort San Marcos (St Marks), in Spanish Florida during his pursuit of the Native American Seminole Tribe, in what would become known as the First Seminole War
- 1824 1st performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" in St. Petersburg, Russia
- 1827 English chemist John Walker sells the world's first friction matches, for 1s 2d (6 new pence) per 100 matches in a tin case with a piece of sandpaper [1]
Queen Victoria's Use of Chloroform
1853 Queen Victoria asks John Snow to administer chloroform during the delivery of her eighth child, Leopold, leads to wider acceptance of obstetrical anesthesia
- 1860 Grand duke Frederik I liberalizes laws in Bathe
- 1862 Grant defeats Confederates at Battle of Shiloh, Tenn, Island #10 falls
- 1863 Battle of Charleston, South Carolina failed Federal fleet attack on Fort Sumter
- 1865 Battle of Farmville, Virginia
- 1868 Thomas D'Arcy McGee, one of the Canadian Fathers of Confederation is assassinated by the Irish, in one of the few Canadian political assassinations, and only federal politician
- 1890 Completion of the first Lake Biwa Canal, Japan
- 1891 Nebraska introduces 8 hour work day
Nansen Almost Reaches Pole
1895 Polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen reaches record 86°13.6′N latitude north, expedition closest to the North pole
- 1896 American athlete Robert Garrett wins the throwing double at the Athens Olympics by taking out the shot putt (11.22m); wins the discus the previous day
First Olympic 1500m
1896 Australian athlete Edwin Flack wins gold in the first Olympic 1500m final at inaugural modern Games in Athens; goes on to win 800m two days later
Event of Interest
1917 J.M. Barrie's play "The Old Lady Shows Her Medals" premieres in London
- 1917 Manuel de Falla's ballet "El Sombrero de tres Picos" ("The Three-Cornered Hat") premieres at Teatro Eslava in Madrid, Spain
- 1919 1st parcel of land is purchased for Cleveland Metroparks
Sun Yat-sen President
1921 Revolutionary leader, Sun Yat-sen is elected President of China at Canton, though China remains divided into north and south and subject to rivalries of warlords
Teapot Dome Scandal
1922 Warren G. Harding's Interior Secretary, Albert B. Fall, leases the Teapot Dome oil reserves to Harry Sinclair, setting in motion the Teapot Dome scandals
1st Long Distance TV Transmission
1927 First long distance television transmission: An image of Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover sent from Washington, D.C. to NYC by AT&T
- 1928 44-year old NY Rangers GM Lester Patrick replaces his injured goaltender in a Stanley Cup game and beats Montreal Maroons, 2-1 in OT; Rangers go on to win series, 3-2
- 1931 Seals Stadium opens in San Francisco
- 1933 'National Beer Day" Cullen-Harrison act comes into effect legalising sale of low alcohol beer
- 1933 1st 2 NAZI anti-Jewish laws, bars Jews from legal & public service
- 1933 University Bridge, Seattle opens for traffic
Gandhi Ends Civil Disobedience
1934 In India, Mahatma Gandhi suspends his campaign of civil disobedience
- 1939 Italy invades Albania
Booker T. Washington Stamp
1940 US Post Office issues first postage stamp of African American educator Booker T. Washington
- 1941 British generals O'Connor & Neame captured in North Africa
Axis Conference
1943 Adolf Hitler & Benito Mussolini met for an Axis conference in Salzburg
- 1943 British and US troops make contact at Wadi Akarit, South-Tunisia
- 1943 German Lt colonel Claus von Stauffenberg seriously wounded at allied air raid
- 1943 NFL adopts free substitution rule; helmets made mandatory and 10-game schedule for all teams approved
- 1945 Battle of Okinawa: Massive kamikaze attack of around 110 Japanese aircraft damages three US battleships off Okinawa island
- 1945 Battle of Okinawa: US planes intercept Japanese fleet heading for Okinawa on a suicide mission, super battleship Yamato and four destroyers are sunk
- 1945 Kuniaki Koiso resigns as Prime Minister of Japan after the US invasion of Okinawa; he is replaced by Kantaro Suzuki
- 1945 Sonderkommando Elbe, special Luftwaffe units designed to destroy Allied planes by ramming them mid-air, are sent on their first and only mission of World War II
- 1946 Part of East Prussia incorporated into Russian SFSR
- 1946 Syria's independence from France is officially recognised.
- 1948 A Buddhist monastery burns in Shanghai, China, leaving twenty monks dead
- 1948 World Health Organization is formed by the United Nations
- 1951 American Bowling Congress begins 1st masters tournament
- 1951 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Enewetak Atoll
- 1953 1st west-to-east jet transatlantic nonstop flight
Election of Interest
1953 UN General Assembly begins session that will elect Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden as Secretary-General
- 1954 German government refuses to recognize DDR
Conference of Interest
1954 US President Dwight D. Eisenhower in a news conference is first to voice fear of a "domino-effect" of communism in the Indo-China region
- 1954 WALB TV channel 10 in Albany, GA (NBC/ABC) begins broadcasting
- 1956 France officially relinquished its protectorate in Morocco., Spain follows suit for regions of her protectorate in northern Morocco
- 1957 Last of NY's electric trolleys completes its final run
- 1958 Dodgers erect 42-foot screen in left field at LA Coliseum to cut down on home runs, since it is only 250 feet down the line
- 1959 Oklahoma ends prohibition, after 51 years
- 1959 Radar 1st bounced off Sun, Stanford Calif
- 1962 Indian cricketer Polly Umrigar slams 172 not out vs West Indies at Port-of-Spain in 248 minutes
Event of Interest
1962 Yugoslav ex-president Milovan Djilas returns to jail
- 1963 Public stock offering of 115,000 shares in Milwaukee Braves withdrawn after only 13,000 shares are sold to 1,600 new investors
- 1963 Yugoslavia proclaimed a Socialistic republic
- 1964 IBM announces the System/360 mainframe computer
- 1965 Bevan Congdon makes a stumping as 12th man NZ v Pakistan
- 1966 US recovers a lost hydrogen bomb from the Mediterranean sea floor (whoops)
- 1967 Israeli Syrian border fights
- 1967 Tom Donahue, San Francisco DJ begins new radio format - Progressive (KMPX-FM)
Event of Interest
1968 Gangsters Henry Hill and Tommy DeSimone commit the Air France robbery, stealing $420,000 from cargo terminal at New York City's JFK International Airport
Martin Luther King Assassination Riots
1968 Riots continue in over 100 US cities following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.
- 1969 Dodgers' Bill Singer is credited with 1st official save, against Reds
- 1969 Supreme Court strikes down laws prohibiting private possession of obscene material
Sports History
1969 Ted Williams begins managing Washington Senators, they lose to Yanks 8-4
- 1969 The Internet's symbolic birth date: publication of RFC 1
Academy Awards
1970 42nd Academy Awards: "Midnight Cowboy" - Best Picture, John Wayne (True Grit), and Maggie Smith (The Prime of Miss Jane Brody) win
- 1970 MLB Milwaukee Brewers (former Seattle Pilots) 1st game, lose to Angels 12-0
Sports History
1971 Dismissal of Curt Flood's free agency suit against baseball is upheld by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit [1]
Event of Interest
1971 US President Richard Nixon orders lt Calley (Mi Lai) free
- 1971 WCJB TV channel 20 in Gainesville, FL (ABC/NBC) begins broadcasting 3-judge US Circuit Court of Appeals
- 1972 Three members of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) die in a premature bomb explosion in Belfast
- 1973 Cleveland sets day-game & opening-game attendance records of 74,420
- 1973 Doug Walters' best Test Cricket bowling, 5-66 v WI Georgetown
- 1974 Herb Gardner's "Thieves" premieres in NYC
- 1975 Preliminary meeting in Paris on world economic crisis between oil-exporting, oil-importing, and non-oil Third World countries
Event of Interest
1976 Chinese Politburo fires vice-premier Deng Xiaoping
- 1977 Consumer Product Safety Commission bans "TRIS" flame-retardant
- 1977 German Federal Prosecutor Siegfried Buback and his driver are shot dead by two Red Army Faction members, starting the "German Autumn"
- 1977 MLB Toronto Blue Jays 1st game, they beat Chicago 9-5
- 1978 Guttenberg bible sells for $2,000,000 in New York City
Sports History
1978 US Court of Appeals upholds Commissioner Bowie Kuhn's voiding of attempted player sales by A's owner Charlie Finley in June 1976
Event of Interest
1978 US President Jimmy Carter defers production of neutron bomb
- 1979 Henri La Mothe dives 28' into 12 3/8" of water
Sports History
1979 Houston Astro Ken Forsch no-hits Atlanta Braves, 6-0, becoming with his brother Bob Forsch the only MLB siblings to accomplish the feat
Sports History
1979 NHL New York Islanders Mike Bossy scores 4 goals on his first 4 shots in 9-2 win over visiting Philadelphia Flyers
- 1980 US President Jimmy Carter breaks relations with Iran during hostage crisis
Street Songs
1981 "Street Songs" 5th studio album by Rick James is released (Billboard Album of the Year 1981)
- 1981 Willem Klein mentally extracts 13th root of a 100-digit # in 29 sec
- 1982 Iran minister of Foreign affairs Ghotbzadeh arrested
- 1983 Oldest human skeleton, aged 80,000 years, discovered in Egypt
- 1983 STS-6 specialist Story Musgrave & Don Peterson perform the 1st STS spacewalk
- 1983 WIBC Championship Tournament in Las Vegas, attracts 75,480 women bowlers for 83-day event
Sports History
1984 Detroit Tiger Jack Morris no-hits Chicago White Sox, 4-0
- 1985 1st live telecast of Easter Parade in New York
- 1985 Nabisco Dinah Shore Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Alice Miller shoots a final round 67 (−5) to win her only major title, 3 strokes ahead of Jan Stephenson of Australia
- 1985 New Jersey General Hershel Walker rushes for USFL record 233 yards
- 1987 Al Campanis, Dodger executive for more than 40 years, resigns, after making racial remarks on "Nightline"
- 1987 National Museum of Female Physicians opens in Washington, D.C.
- 1988 Murderer of Gerrit Jan Heijns, Ferdi Elsas, arrested in the Netherlands
- 1988 Russia announces it will withdraw its troops from Afghanistan
- 1988 US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site
- 1989 NY Supreme Court takes America's Cup away from SD Yacht Club for using a catamaran against NZ. Appeals court eventually overrules
- 1989 Soviet sub sinks in Norwegian Sea, with about a dozen deaths
- 1990 BPAA US Open by Ron Palombi Jr
- 1990 Fire kills 110 on a ferry in Norway, in an unrelated event, 30 die in a ferry flip over in Burma
- 1990 John Poindexter (US National Security Advisor) found guilty of five counts of lying to Congress and obstruction regarding the Iran-Contra scandal
- 1990 Michael Milken pleads innocent to security law violations
- 1990 NY Rangers beat NY Islanders 5-2, Rangers lead 2-0 in preliminary
- 1991 Compton Gamma Ray Observatory orbits Earth
- 1991 George Washington Bridge (connecting New York City with Fort Lee, New Jersey, over the Hudson River) raises toll from $3.00 to $4.00
Golf Tournament
1991 Tradition Senior Men's Golf, GC at Desert Mountain: Jack Nicklaus wins his second of 4 event titles by 1 stroke from Jim Colbert, Jim Dent & Phil Rodgers
- 1992 Republika Srpska (aka the Bosnian Serb Republic) announces its independence.
- 1993 Dante Bichette hits the 1st Colo Rockie HR (Shea Stadium NY)
- 1994 1st night game at Cleveland's Jacobs Field, Indians 6 Seattle 2
- 1994 American soul singer Percy Sledge pleads guilty to tax evasion; receives sentence of six months in a halfway house, five years of probation, and ordered to pay $96,000 in back taxes and penalties
Rwandan Genocide
1994 Beginning of the Rwandan Genocide; the Presidential Guard begins killing moderate politicians and public figures in Kigali, including Prime Minister Agathe Uwilingiyimana
Sports History
1996 Sri Lanka's Sanath Jayasuriya hits fastest ODI fifty off 17 balls v Pakistan, Singapore
- 1996 The Tradition Senior Men's Golf, GC at Desert Mountain: Defending champion Jack Nicklaus wins his 4th event title by 3 strokes from Hale Irwin
- 1997 Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Ft Myers FL on WRXK 96.1 FM
- 1999 The World Trade Organization rules in favor of the United States in its long-running trade dispute with the European Union over bananas
- 2000 1st regular season MLB game at Enron Field (now Minute Maid Park) in Houston, Texas; visiting Philadelphia Phillies beat Astros 4-1, Phillies third baseman Scott Rolen hits first homer at new park
Cricket History
2000 South African cricket captain Hansie Cronje is charged by Delhi police with fixing One Day International matches against India
- 2001 Mars Odyssey is launched
Event of Interest
2003 U.S. troops capture Baghdad; Saddam Hussein's regime falls two days later.
Event of Interest
2005 Head of government of the Federal District, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, faces an impeachment process at the Mexican Congress
Fujimori Sentenced
2009 Former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori is sentenced to 25 years in prison for ordering killings and kidnappings by security forces
Golf Major
2013 Kraft Nabisco Championship Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Inbee Park wins her 2nd major title, 4 strokes ahead of fellow South Korean So Yeon Ryu; first of Park's 3 straight major victories in 2013
- 2013 Sweden wins the 2013 World Men's Curling Championship defeating Canada
- 2016 Longest-ever captured python found on Penang Island in Malaysia (26ft/8m)
- 2017 Smurfs: The Lost Village is released in the United States
- 2017 Truck driven into a department store in Stockholm, killing 4 in a terror attack
Event of Interest
2017 US President Donald Trump orders missile strike on Syrian airfield after chemical weapons attack on Khan Sheikhoun
- 2018 Suspected gas attack on Douma by Syrian government airforce kills more than 40 people and injuries more than 500
- 2018 Vegas Golden Knights suffer a 7-1 end of regular season defeat at Calgary but finish with an NHL expansion team record 51 victories; previous record 33 by Anaheim Ducks & Florida Panthers 1993-94
- 2019 ANA Inspiration Women's Golf, Mission Hills CC: Ko Jin-young wins her first major title by 3 strokes over fellow South Korean Lee Mi-hyang
- 2019 Rebel force the Libyan National Army under General Khalifa Haftar begins advancing on Tripoli with 21 killed and 27 injured over next few days as they try to take the capital
NBA Record
2019 Retiring NBA legends Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas) and Dwyane Wade (Miami) play their final home games, both victories; Magic Johnson sensationally quits as LA Lakers president of basketball operations; Houston Rockets convert NBA record 27 three-point field goals in 149-113 win over Phoenix
- 2019 Rwanda marks 25 years and the beginning of 100 days of mourning since the genocide that killed 800,000 people
- 2019 US President Donald Trump announces Kirstjen Nielsen, Secretary of Homeland Security is leaving her position
- 2020 Australia's highest court overturns the child sexual abuse conviction of Catholic Cardinal George Pell
- 2020 China ends its lockdown of Wuhan, the city at the center of the COVID-19 pandemic after 76 days as the country reports no new deaths for the 1st time
- 2020 US Acting-Secretary of the Navy Thomas Modly resigns after calling USN Capt. Brett Crozier of aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN71) "too naive and too stupid", in an address to the ship's crew
- 2020 Wisconsin holds its Democratic primary with in-person voting in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, after a mail-in voting rejected by the Wisconsin Legislature
- 2021 UK COVID-19 variant B.1.1.7 (Alpha) now the dominant variant in the US according to the CDC, as 108 million Americans have received at least one vaccine dose [1]
- 2022 Ketanji Brown Jackson becomes the first black woman to be confirmed by the US Senate to the Supreme Court in 53-47 vote [1]
- 2022 MLB Cleveland Guardians lose in first game under their new name, 3-1 to the Royals in Kansas City
- 2022 Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi transfers power to an eight-member council to negotiate with the Houthis in attempt to end country's seven-year civil war [1]
- 2023 U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk suspends Food and Drug Administration's approval of key abortion pill mifepristone, leading to US government request for legal appeal to stop nationwide ban [1]
- 2024 British charity fundraiser Russ Cook the "Hardest Geezer" runs the length of Africa, arriving at Ras Angela, Tunisia, almost a year after setting off from Cape Agulhas, South Africa [1]
Curb Your Enthusiasm
2024 Larry David's comedy TV show "Curb Your Enthusiasm" ends after 12 seasons
- 2024 New York region hit by a 4.8 magnitude earthquake, with multiple aftershocks. One of the largest earthquakes for a century in the area. [1]
