Events

• 43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum between the forces of Mark Antony, and legions loyal to the Roman Senate under the overall command of consul Gaius Pansa.
• 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome.
• 966 – After his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state.
• 1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong.
• 1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne.
• 1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle.
• 1639 – Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz.
  • The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Years’ War and allows them to advance into Bohemia.
• 1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion.
  • For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados.
• 1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader.
• 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of 15 April).
• 1931 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic.
• 1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later.
• 1941 – World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk in Libya.
• 1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbour kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds.
• 1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroyed the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes.
• 1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows President of Togo Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new president, a title he would hold for the next 38 years.
• 1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will.
• 1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan.
• 1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union.
• 1994 – In a US friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people.
• 1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed.
• 2002 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country’s military.
• 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%.
• 2003 – US troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985.

People (Births)

• 1669 – Magnus Julius De la Gardie, Swedish general and politician (d. 1741).
• 1769 – Barthélemy Catherine Joubert, French general (d. 1799).
• 1812 – George Grey, Portuguese-New Zealand soldier, explorer, and politician, 11th Prime Minister of New Zealand (d. 1898).
• 1827 – Augustus Pitt Rivers, English general, ethnologist, and archaeologist (d. 1900).
• 1925 – Rod Steiger, American soldier and actor (d. 2002).
• 1931 – Geoffrey Dalton, English admiral (d. 2020).
• 1935 – Susan Cunliffe-Lister, Baroness Masham of Ilton, English table tennis player, swimmer, and politician.
• 1936 – Frank Serpico, American-Italian soldier, police officer and lecturer.
• 1962 – Guillaume Leblanc, Canadian athlete.
• 1975 – Anderson Silva, Brazilian mixed martial artist and boxer.
• 1976 – Nadine Faustin-Parker, Hatian hurdler.
• 1978 – Roland Lessing, Estonian biathlete.
• 1987 – Wilson Kiprop, Kenyan runner.
• 1988 – Eliška Klučinová, Czech heptathlete.

People (Deaths)

• 1322 – Bartholomew de Badlesmere, 1st Baron Badlesmere, English soldier and politician, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (b. 1275).
• 1471 – Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, English commander and politician (b. 1428).
• 1943 – Yakov Dzhugashvili, Georgian-Russian lieutenant (b. 1907).
• 2014 – Mick Staton, American soldier and politician (b. 1940).