Events
of the day
711
– Islamic conquest of Hispania: Moorish troops
led by Tariq ibn-Ziyad land at Gibraltar to begin
their invasion of the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus).
1091 – Battle of Levounion: The Pechenegs are
defeated by Byzantine Emperor Alexius I.
1429 – Joan of Arc arrives to relieve the Siege
of Orleans.
1483 – Gran Canaria, the main island of the Canary
Islands is conquered by the Kingdom of Castile.
1587 – Francis Drake leads a raid in the Bay of
Cádiz, sinking at least 23 ships of the Spanish
fleet.
1672 – Franco-Dutch War: Louis XIV of France invades
the Netherlands.
1770 – James Cook arrives at and names Botany
Bay, Australia.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: British and
French ships clash in the Battle of Fort Royal
off the coast of Martinique.
1832 – Évariste Galois is released from prison.
1861 – American Civil War: Maryland's House of
Delegates votes not to secede from the Union.
1862 – American Civil War: New Orleans, Louisiana
falls to Union forces under Admiral David Farragut.
1864 – Theta Xi fraternity is founded at Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute, the only fraternity to
be founded during the Civil War.
1882 – The "Elektromote" – forerunner
of the trolleybus – is tested by Ernst Werner
von Siemens in Berlin.
1903 – A 30 million cubic-metre landslide kills
70 in Frank, Alberta, Canada.
1910 – The Parliament of the United Kingdom passes
the People's Budget, the first budget in British
history with the expressed intent of redistributing
wealth among the British public.
1916 – World War I: The British 6th Indian Division
surrenders to Ottoman Forces at the Siege of Kut
in one of the largest surrenders of British forces
up to that point.
1916 – Easter Rising: Martial law in Ireland is
lifted and the rebellion is officially over with
the surrender of Irish nationalists to British
authorities in Dublin.
1945 – World War II: The German army in Italy
unconditionally surrenders to the Allies.
1945 – World War II: Start of Operation Manna.
1945 – World War II: The Captain class frigate
HMS Goodall K479 is torpedoed by U-286 outside
the Kola Inlet becoming the last ship of the Royal
Navy sunk in the European theatre of World War
II.
1945 – World War II – Fuehrerbunker: Adolf Hitler
marries his longtime partner Eva Braun in a Berlin
bunker and designates Admiral Karl Dönitz as his
successor. Both Hitler and Braun commit suicide
the following day.
1945 – The Dachau concentration camp is liberated
by United States troops.
1945 – The Italian commune of Fornovo di Taro
is liberated from German forces by Brazilian forces.
1946 – The International Military Tribunal for
the Far East convenes and indicts former Prime
Minister of Japan Hideki Tojo and 28 former Japanese
leaders for war crimes.
1946 – Father Divine, a controversial religious
leader who claims to be God, marries the much-younger
Edna Rose Ritchings, a celebrated anniversary
in the International Peace Mission movement.
1951 – Tibetan delegates to the Central People's
Government arrive in Beijing and draft a Seventeen
Point Agreement for Chinese sovereignty and Tibetan
autonomy.
1953 – The first U.S. experimental 3D-TV broadcast
showed an episode of Space Patrol on Los Angeles
ABC affiliate KECA-TV.
1965 – Pakistan's Space and Upper Atmosphere Research
Commission (SUPARCO) successfully launches its
seventh rocket in its Rehber series.
1967 – After refusing induction into the United
States Army the day before (citing religious reasons),
Muhammad Ali is stripped of his boxing title.
1968 – The controversial musical Hair opens on
Broadway.
1970 – Vietnam War: United States and South Vietnamese
forces invade Cambodia to hunt Viet Cong.
1974 – Watergate Scandal: President Richard Nixon
announces the release of edited transcripts of
White House tape recordings relating to the scandal.
1975 – Vietnam War: Operation Frequent Wind: The
U.S. begins to evacuate U.S. citizens from Saigon
prior to an expected North Vietnamese takeover.
U.S. involvement in the war comes to an end.
1986 – A fire at the Central library of the City
of Los Angeles Public Library damages or destroys
400,000 books and other items.
1991 – A cyclone strikes the Chittagong district
of southeastern Bangladesh with winds of around
155 miles per hour (249 km/h), killing at least
138,000 people and leaving as many as 10 million
homeless.
1992 – Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles,
California, following the acquittal of police
officers charged with excessive force in the beating
of Rodney King. Over the next three days 53 people
are killed and hundreds of buildings are destroyed.
1997 – The Chemical Weapons Convention of 1993
enters into force, outlawing the production, stockpiling
and use of chemical weapons by its signatories.
1999 – The Avala TV Tower near Belgrade is destroyed
in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
2004 – Dick Cheney and George W. Bush testify
before the 9/11 Commission in a closed, unrecorded
hearing in the Oval Office.
2004 – Oldsmobile builds its final car ending
107 years of production.
2005 – Syria completes withdrawal from Lebanon,
ending 29 years of occupation.
2011 – Wedding of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
and Kate Middleton.
Holidays
and observances
Christian
Feast Day:
Catherine of Siena
Endelienta (Roman Catholic and Anglican Church)
Hugh of Cluny
Robert of Molesme
Torpes of Pisa
April 29 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)
International Dance Day (International)
Queen's Night (the Netherlands)
ShĹŤwa Day, traditionally the start of the Golden
Week holiday period. (Japan)
The beginning of Arita Ceramic Fair (Arita, Saga,
Japan)
The ninth day of Ridván (Bahá'à Faith)
Day of Remembrance for all Victims of Chemical
Warfare
For details, contact Datacentre