April 21
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
[change] Births
[change] Deaths
[change] Events
- 753 BC - Romulus founds Rome (traditional).
- 1792 - Tiradentes, a revolutionary who was leading a movement for Brazil's independence, is hanged.
- 1836 - Texas Revolution: Battle of San Jacinto – Republic of Texas forces under Sam Houston defeat troops under Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna.
- 1863 - Bahá'u'lláh is proclaimed as the head of the Bahá'í Faith.
- 1863 - Quantrill's Raiders launch a reprisal raid Lawrence, Kansas in the Battle of Lawrence, killing a number of civilians.
- 1894 - Norway formally adopts the Krag-Jørgensen rifle as the main arm of its armed forces, a weapon that would remain in service for almost 50 years.
- 1898 - Spanish-American War: The U.S. Congress, on April 25, recognizes that a state of war exists between the United States and Spain as of this date.
- 1912 - The New York Giants and New York Yankees play an exhibition game to benefit survivors of the RMS Titanic.
- 1918 - World War I: German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, known as "The Red Baron," is shot down and killed by Allied fire over Vaux sur Somme in France.
- 1930 - A fire at a Columbus, Ohio, USA, penitentiary kills 320 people.
- 1944 - Women in France receive the right to vote.
- 1945 - World War II: Soviet Union forces south of Berlin at Zossen attack the German High Command headquarters.
- 1952 - Secretaries Day (now Administrative Professionals' Day) is first celebrated.
- 1955 - Bob Hope's radio program airs its last segment.
- 1956 - Elvis Presley's song "Heartbreak Hotel" becomes the "King's" first song to reach the top of the Cash Box magazine [1] music charts.
- 1960 - Brasília, Brazil's capital, is officially inaugurated. At 9:30 am the Three Powers of the Republic are simultaneously transferred from the old capital, Rio de Janeiro.
- 1960 - Founding of the Orthodox Baha'i faith in Washington, DC.
- 1965 - The 1964-1965 New York World's Fair opens for its second and final season.
- 1966 - Rastafari movement: Haile Selassie of Ethiopia visits Jamaica, an event now celebrated as Grounation Day.
- 1967 - A few days before the general election in Greece, Colonel George Papadopoulos leads a coup d'état, establishing a military regime that lasts for seven years.
- 1975 - Vietnam War: President of South Vietnam Nguyen Van Thieu flees Saigon, as Xuan Loc, the last South Vietnamese outpost blocking a direct North Vietnamese assault on Saigon, falls.
- 1985 - Ayrton Senna wins the first of 41 Formula One championship races at the Portuguese Grand Prix in Estoril.
- 1986 - Geraldo Rivera opens Al Capone's vault on live television and finds nothing.
- 1987 - The Tamil Tigers is blamed for a car bomb that explodes in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo, killing 106 people.
- 1989 - Tiananmen Square Protests of 1989: In Beijing, around 100,000 students gather in Tiananmen Square to commemorate the late Chinese reform leader Hu Yaobang.
- 1992 - U.S. death penalty: After 13 years on death row, convicted murderer Robert Alton Harris is executed in California's gas chamber.
- 1994 - The first discoveries of extrasolar planets are announced by astronomer Alexander Wolszczan.
- 2005 - John Negroponte becomes the first United States Director of National Intelligence.