April 6 - Events

Events

• 46 BC – Julius Caesar defeats Caecilius Metellus Scipio and Marcus Porcius Cato (Cato the Younger) in thebattle of Thapsus.
• 402 – Stilicho stymies the Visigoths under Alaric in the Battle of Pollentia.
• 1199 – King Richard I of England dies from an infection following the removal of an arrow from his shoulder.
• 1320 – The Scots reaffirm their independence by signing the Declaration of Arbroath.
• 1327 – The poet Petrarch first sees his idealized love, Laura, in the church of Saint Clare in Avignon.
• 1385 – John, Master of the Order of Aviz, is made king John I of Portugal.
• 1453 – Mehmed II begins his siege of Constantinople (Istanbul), which falls on May 29.
• 1652 – At the Cape of Good Hope, Dutch sailor Jan van Riebeeck establishes a resupply camp that eventually becomes Cape Town .
• 1667 – An earthquake devastates Dubrovnik, then an independent city-state.
• 1782 – Rama I of Siam (modern day Thailand) founds the Chakri dynasty.
• 1793 – During the French Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety becomes the executive organ of the republic, and the period known as the Reign of Terror begins.
• 1808 – John Jacob Astor incorporates the American Fur Company, eventually leading him to become America's first Millionaire.
• 1812 – British forces under the command of the Duke of Wellington assault the fortress of Badajoz. This would be the turning point in thePeninsular War against Napoleon led France.
• 1814 – Nominal beginning of the Bourbon Restoration — anniversary date that Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba. (Rule by the Bourbon's was delayed a few weeks, though allies held most key locales of France.)
• 1830 – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is organized by Joseph Smith, Jr. and others at Fayette or Manchester, New York.
• 1832 – Indian Wars: The Black Hawk War begins – the Sauk warrior Black Hawk begins a war with the United States.
• 1860 – The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—later renamed Community of Christ—is organized by Joseph Smith III and others at Amboy, Illinois
• 1862 – American Civil War: The Battle of Shiloh begins – in Tennessee, forces under Union General Ulysses S. Grant meet Confederatetroops led by General Albert Sidney Johnston.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Sayler's Creek – Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia fights its last major battle while in retreat from Richmond, Virginia.
• 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.
• 1869 – Celluloid is patented.
• 1888 – Thomas Green Clemson dies, bequeathing his estate to the State of South Carolina to establish Clemson Agricultural College.
• 1893 – Salt Lake Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is dedicated by Wilford Woodruff.
• 1895 – Oscar Wilde is arrested in the Cadogan Hotel, London after losing a libel case against the John Sholto Douglas, 9th Marquess of Queensberry.
• 1896 – In Athens, the opening of the first modern Olympic Games is celebrated, 1,500 years after the original games are banned byRoman Emperor Theodosius I.
• 1903 – The Kishinev pogrom in Kishinev (Bessarabia) begins, forcing tens of thousands of Jews to later seek refuge in Israel and theWestern world.
• 1909 – Robert Peary and Matthew Henson allegedly reach the North Pole.
• 1911 – Dedë Gjon Luli Dedvukaj, leader of the Malësori Albanians, raises the Albanian flag in the town of Tuzi, Montenegro, for the first time after Gjergj Kastrioti (Skenderbeg).
• 1917 – World War I: The United States declares war on Germany (see President Woodrow Wilson's address to Congress).
• 1919 – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi orders a general strike.
• 1923 – The first Prefects Board in Southeast Asia is formed in Victoria Institution, Malaysia.
• 1926 – Varney Airlines makes its first commercial flight (Varney is the root company of United Airlines).
• 1929 – Huey P. Long Governor of Louisiana is impeached by the Louisiana House of Representatives.
• 1930 – Gandhi raises a lump of mud and salt and declares, "With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire." beginning theSalt Satyagraha.
• 1936 – Tupelo-Gainesville tornado outbreak: Another tornado from the same storm system as the Tupelo tornado hits Gainesville, Georgia, killing 203.
• 1941 – World War II: Nazi Germany launches Operation 25 (the invasion of Kingdom of Yugoslavia) and Operation Marita (the invasion ofGreece).
• 1945 – World War II: Sarajevo is liberated from the German and Croatian Nazis by the Yugoslav Partisans.
• 1947 – The first Tony Awards are presented for theatrical achievement.
• 1957 – Greek shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis buys the Hellenic National Airlines (TAE) and founds Olympic Airlines.
• 1962 – Leonard Bernstein causes controversy with his remarks from the podium during a New York Philharmonic concert featuring Glenn Gould performing Brahms' First Piano Concerto.
• 1965 – Launch of Early Bird, the first communications satellite to be placed in geosynchronous orbit.
• 1965 – The British Government announces the cancellation of the TSR-2 aircraft project.
• 1968 – In Richmond, Indiana's downtown district, a double explosion kills 41 and injures 150.
• 1970 – Newhall Incident: Four California Highway Patrol officers are killed.
• 1972 – Vietnam War: Easter Offensive – American forces begin sustained air strikes and naval bombardments.
• 1973 – Launch of Pioneer 11 spacecraft.
• 1973 – The American League of Major League Baseball begins using the designated hitter.
• 1982 – Estonian Communist Party bureau declares "fight against bourgeois TV" — meaning Finnish TV — a top priority of the propagandists of Estonian SSR
• 1984 – Members of Cameroon's Republican Guard unsuccessfully attempt to overthrow the government headed by Paul Biya.
• 1994 – The Rwandan Genocide begins when the aircraft carrying Rwandan president Juvénal Habyarimana and Burundian presidentCyprien Ntaryamira is shot down.
• 1998 – Pakistan tests medium-range missiles capable of reaching India.
• 1998 – Travelers Group announces an agreement to undertake the $76 billion merger between Travelers and Citicorp, and the merger is completed on October 8, of that year, forming Citibank.
• 2004 – Rolandas Paksas becomes the first president of Lithuania to be peacefully removed from office by impeachment.
• 2005 – Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani becomes Iraqi president; Shiite Arab Ibrahim al-Jaafari is named premier the next day.
• 2009 – A 6.3 magnitude earthquake strikes near L'Aquila, Italy, killing 307.