April 4 - Events

Events

• 1081 – Alexios I Komnenos is crowned Byzantine emperor at Constantinople, beginning the Komnenian dynasty.
• 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.
• 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of England.
• 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole enters office as the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom under King George I.
• 1812 – U.S. President James Madison enacted a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
• 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time.
• 1818 – The United States Congress adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (then 20).
• 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia becoming the first President of the United States to die in office and the one with the shortest term served.
• 1850 – The Great Fire of Cottenham, a large part of the Cambridgeshire village (England) is burnt to the ground under suspicious circumstances.
• 1850 – Los Angeles, California is incorporated as a city.
• 1859 – Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.
• 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.
• 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt in the city of Kiev.
• 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.
• 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.
• 1905 – In India, the 1905 Kangra earthquake hits the Kangra valley, kills 20,000, and destroys most buildings in Kangra, Mcleodganj andDharamshala.
• 1913 – The Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot victim of the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.
• 1918 – World War I: Second Battle of the Somme ends.
• 1930 – The Communist Party of Panama is founded.
• 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.
• 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.
• 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.
• 1945 – World War II: Soviet Army takes control of Hungary.
• 1949 – Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
• 1958 – The CND Peace Symbol displayed in public for the first time in London.
• 1960 – Senegal independence day.
• 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.
• 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft plane is unveiled.
• 1967 – Martin Luther King, Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church.
• 1968 – Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.
• 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.
• 1968 – AEK Athens BC becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.
• 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.
• 1973 – The World Trade Center in New York is officially dedicated.
• 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico
• 1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Baby Lift – A United States Air Force C-5A Galaxy crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, transporting orphans – 172 die.
• 1976 – Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.
• 1979 – President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.
• 1979 – The 2nd Congress of the Communist Youth of Greece starts.
• 1983 – Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space (STS-6).
• 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.
• 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.
• 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their plane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.
• 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name "Mosaic Communications Corporation".
• 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.
• 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.
• 2007 – 15 British Royal Navy personnel held in Iran are released by the Iranian President.
• 2008 – In a raid on the FLDS's YFZ Ranch in Texas, 401 children and 133 women are taken into state custody.