16 April History


Month:                           Date:     

  • 69    -    Defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Otho commits suicide.
  • 556    -    Pelagius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope.
  • 1065    -    The Norman Robert Guiscard takes Bari, ending five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy.
  • 1705    -    Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton.
  • 1746    -    Prince Charles is defeated at the battle of Culloden, the last pitched battle fought in Britain.
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  • 1818    -    The U.S. Senate ratifies the Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border.
  • 1854    -    San Salvador is destroyed by an earthquake.
  • 1862    -    Confederate President Jefferson Davis approves a conscription act for white males between 18 and 35.
  • 1862    -    Slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia.
  • 1917    -    Vladimir Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution.
  • 1922    -    Annie Oakley shoots 100 clay targets in a row, setting a woman's record.
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  • 1942    -    The Island of Malta is awarded the George Cross in recognition for heroism under constant German air attack. It was the first such award given to any part of the British Commonwealth.
  • 1944    -    The destroyer USS Laffey survives horrific damage from attacks by 22 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa.
  • 1945    -    American troops enter Nuremberg, Germany.
  • 1947    -    A lens which provides zoom effects is demonstrated in New York City.
  • 1968    -    The Pentagon announces the "Vietnamization" of the war.
  • 1972    -    Two giants pandas arrive in the U.S. from China.
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  • 1977    -    The ban on women attending West Point is lifted.

  • 16 April Birthdays

  • 1660    -    Hans Sloane, physician, naturalist, founder of the British Museum.
  • 1728    -    Joseph Black, Scottish chemist and physicist.
  • 1786    -    Sir John Franklin, arctic explorer.
  • 1800    -    George Charles Bingham, British soldier, commanded the Light Brigade during the famous charge.
  • 1844    -    Anatole France, French writer.
  • 1850    -    Thomas Sidney Gilchrist, British metallurgist and inventor.
  • 1864    -    Flora Batson, African-American soprano-baritone singer.
  • 1867    -    Wilbur Wright, designer, builder and flyer of the first airplane.
  • 1871    -    John Millington Synge, dramatist and poet (Playboy of the Western World).
  • 1889    -    Charlie Chaplin, film actor and director.
  • 1919    -    Merce Cuningham, American dancer and choreographer.
  • 1922    -    Kingsley Amis, British author (Lucky Jim).
  • 1924    -    Henry Mancini, composer and conductor ("Moon River").
  • 1947    -    Lew Alcinder (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), professional basketball player.