History Events on April 04

Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French.

#Napoleon

Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

#Cold_War

American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital.

#American_Civil_War

Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space.

#Space_Shuttle_program

The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in Germany.

#Schutzstaffel

A five-year Byzantine-Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos.

#Byzantine-Venetian_treaty_of_1268

Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world.

#Francis_Drake

The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London.

#Campaign_for_Nuclear_Disarmament

Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture.

#Georges_Cuvier

Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrates a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines.

#Roman_consul

Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.

#Comet_Hyakutake

Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people.

#Vietnam_War

France returns to being a member of NATO.

#France

World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country itself.

#Hungary

Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed.

#Zulfikar_Ali_Bhutto

The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time).

#United_States_Congress

A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances.

#Cottenham

Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6.

#Apollo_program

The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress.

#Flag_of_Hong_Kong

World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians.

#World_War_II

In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus.

#Philip_Astley

The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart.

#The_Beatles

William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President.

#William_Henry_Harrison

World War II: American troops capture Kassel.

#Battle_of_Kassel_(1945)

France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan.

#France

United States President James Madison enacts a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.

#James_Madison

Iran-Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft.

#Iran-Iraq_War

First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes.

#First_Balkan_War

More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.

#2013_Thane_building_collapse

Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation.

#Marc_Andreessen

The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War.

#Angola

A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming.

#Lockheed_C-141_Starlifter

Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States.

#Argonia,_Kansas

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church.

#Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated.

#World_Trade_Center_(1973-2001)

Los Angeles is incorporated as a city.

#Los_Angeles

President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons.

#Ronald_Reagan

U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather.

#Airship

In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala.

#1905_Kangra_earthquake

Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

#Microsoft

Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee.

#Assassination_of_Martin_Luther_King_Jr.

Faisal II becomes King of Iraq.

#Faisal_II_of_Iraq

Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania.

#John_Heinz

Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister.

#Robert_Walpole

Moscow is mentioned for the first time in the historical record, when it is named as a meeting place for two princes.

#Moscow

Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart.

#Denton_Cooley

Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg.

#Alexander_II_of_Russia

Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office.

A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup.

The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled.

World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany.

Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bed?ich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague.

The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world.

Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show.

Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain promises, among other things, a general pardon to all royalists for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum.

Basel University is founded.