April 21: Today in History – Historical Events
Early Centuries – April 21 Historic Events – Before the 1700s
1. 21st April 753 BC: Romulus and Remus founded Rome on this day, and today is the traditional date of the foundation of Rome.
2. 21st April 43 BC: Marcus Antonius was defeated by Octavian near Modena in Italy.
3. 21st April 1526: In the Battle of Panipat, Babur defeats Sultan Ibrahim Lodi, establishing the Mughal Empire in India.
4. 21st April 1572: France and England sign an anti-Spanish military covenant today.
5. 21st April 1649: The Maryland Toleration Act was passed that allowed freedom of worship to all.
6. 21st April 1654: A trade agreement was signed between England and Sweden today.
7. 21st April 1689: William III and Mary II were jointly crowned king and queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland.
18th Century – What Happened on April 21 – The 1700s
8. 21st April 1739: Spain & Naples-Austria sign peace accord.
9. 21st April 1789: John Adams was today sworn in as the first Vice President of the United States of America.
10. 21st April 1792: Brazilian revolutionary Tiradentes, is hanged, drawn, and quartered in Rio De Janeiro.
11. 21st April 1796: At the Battle of Mondovi, the Piedmontese were defeated by Napoleon and the French.
19th Century – April 21 This Day That Year – The 1800s
12. 21st April 1836: At the Battle of San Jacinto, which decided the independence of Texas, General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna.
13. 21st April 1856: A Railway train crossed the Mississippi River for the first time from Davenport to Rock Island.
14. 21st April 1857: Alexander Douglas gets a patent for the bustle today.
15. 21st April 1862: The US Congress today established the US Mint in Denver.
16. 21st April 1865: The funeral train of US President Abraham Lincoln left Washington today.
17. 21st April 1878: New York today installed the 1st firehouse pole.
18. 21st April 1878: Pope Leo XIII publishes an encyclical Inscrutablili.
19. 21st April 1878: Lucy Hayes, the First Lady begins egg rolling contest on the White House lawn.
20. 21st April 1878: Ship Azor leaves Charleston for Liberia with 206 blacks on board.
21. 21st April 1892: In the Golden Gate Park the first Buffalo was born today.
22. 21st April 1892: In St Louis, Mo, black longshoremen went on strike for higher wages.
23. 21st April 1895: The first movie projector developed in the United States the Panopticon was today demonstrated by Woodville Latham and his sons.
24. 21st April 1898: This day marks the beginning of the Spanish-American War.
20th Century – Important Events On This Day April 21st – The 1900s
25. 21st April 1905: The elective assembly of Crete proclaims the union of Greece.
26. 21st April 1913: The German passenger ship Imperator runs aground.
27. 21st April 1914: Vera Cruz in Mexico was today occupied by the US Marines. The troops stayed for six months.
28. 21st April 1916: Sir Roger Casement an ardent Irish nationalist, lands on the coast from a German submarine and attempts to get German aid for an uprising against the British.
29. 21st April 1916: Sir Roger Casement is discovered at McKenna’s Fort and is arrested by the Royal Irish Constabulary.
30. 21st April 1916: The infamous “last train robber”, Bill Carlisle robbed a train in Hanna, WY.
31. 21st April 1916: The Aud, carrying a cargo of 20,000 rifles to assist Irish republicans in staging what would have been the 1916 Rising, is captured by the British Royal Navy and forcibly diverted towards Cork Harbour.
32. 21st April 1918: During the World War I, German fighter ace Manfred von Richthofen, “The Red Baron” was shot down and killed.
33. 21st April 1922: The first Aggie Muster is held as a remembrance for fellow Aggies who had died in the previous year.
34. 21st April 1925: Chuvash Autonomous Region in RSFSR becomes Chuvash ASSR.
35. 21st April 1930: There was a fire at Ohio State Penitentiary which killed 322 people.
36. 21st April 1935: King Boris of Bulgaria forbids all political parties.
37. 21st April 1940: “Take It or Leave It” premiered today on CBS Radio.
38. 21st April 1941: Today Greece surrendered to Nazi Germany.
39. 21st April 1943: U.S. President Franklin D Roosevelt today announced that several Doolittle pilots had been executed by the Japanese.
40. 21st April 1945: US 7th army today reached Nuremberg.
41. 21st April 1945: The Allied troops, today occupied the German nuclear laboratory.
42. 21st April 1945: The Soviet army arrives at the outskirts of Berlin.
43. 21st April 1945: He Shima Okinawa conquered in 5 days and at a loss of 5000 lives.
44. 21st April 1946: Socialistic Einheitspartei Germany forms in East Germany.
45. 21st April 1952: BOAC begins 1st passenger service with jets on the London-Rome route.
46. 21st April 1953: The Dada exhibition was held today at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York.
47. 21st April 1954: The US Air Force flies a French battalion to Vietnam.
48. 21st April 1954: Gregori Malenkov becomes the premier of the USSR.
49. 21st April 1955: Minas Gerais Argentina tunnel caves in killing 30 people.
50. 21st April 1956: 10-year-old Leonard Ross, became the youngest prizewinner on “The Big Surprise”. He won $100,000.
51. 21st April 1957: Pope Pius XII publishes encyclical Fidei Donum.
52. 21st April 1959: Alf Dean caught a 16 foot 10 inches white shark weighing 2,664 pounds with a rod and reel. It was the largest catch with rod and reel then.
53. 21st April 1960: The Orthodox Baha’i Faith was founded in Washington, D.C. today.
54. 21st April 1960: Today Brasilia became the capital of Brazil.
55. 21st April 1961: Maj Robert M White of the US Air Force today took X-15 to 32,000m.
56. 21st April 1961: The French Army in Algeria revolted today.
57. 21st April 1962: Century 21 Exposition opens today in Seattle, Washington.
58. 21st April 1962: In the 9th National Film Awards (India), “Bhagini Nivedita” wins Golden Lotus.
59. 21st April 1963: Beatles meet Rolling Stones for the 1st time today.
60. 21st April 1963: The Universal House of Justice of the Baha’i Faith is elected for the first time.
61. 21st April 1965: The New York World’s Fair reopens for 2nd and final season.
62. 21st April 1966: Haile Selassie, Emperor of Ethiopia visits Kingston in Jamaica today.
63. 21st April 1967: Svetlana Alliluyeva daughter of Joseph Stalin (Svetlana Stalin), defected in New York City today.
64. 21st April 1967: Evangelical Broadcasting begins in the Netherlands today.
65. 21st April 1967: Army colonels took over the government in Athens and installed Constantine Kollias as premier.
66. 21st April 1969: Following a series of bombings in Northern Ireland, the Ministry of Defense in London today announced that British troops would be used in Northern Ireland to guard key public installations.
67. 21st April 1970: The Principality of Hutt River, previously known as Hutt River Province, secedes from Australia. It remains unrecognized by Australia and other nations.
68. 21st April 1970: The Alliance party of Northern Ireland was formed today. It attempts to appeal to Catholics and Protestants to unite in support of moderate policies.
69. 21st April 1972: The Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 4 (Copernicus) was launched today.
70. 21st April 1972: John Young and Charles Duke, astronauts of Apollo 16 explored the surface of the moon.
71. 21st April 1975: President Nguyen Van Thieu of South Vietnam resigned today condemning the United States.
72. 21st April 1976: USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR.
73. 21st April 1976: Swine Flu vaccine, for non-epidemic, enters testing phase.
74. 21st April 1977: Zia Ur-Rahman was today appointed president of Bangladesh.
75. 21st April 1981: US furnishes $1 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia.
76. 21st April 1982: Dr. Michaled E Bakey performed the 1st successful heart implant today.
77. 21st April 1982: Dutch Queen Beatrice addresses the US Congress today.
78. 21st April 1983: 1 pound coil was today introduced in the United Kingdom.
79. 21st April 1984: It was announced today in France that doctors had found a virus that is believed to cause AIDS.
80. 21st April 1984: “Nightline” reverts from 1 hour to ½ hour.
81. 21st April 1985: Bomb attacks in NATO/AEG-Telefunken building in Brussels.
82. 21st April 1985: A cease-fire in Nicaragua was proposed today by Manuel Ortega.
83. 21st April 1987: Special occasion stamps were today offered for the first time by the United States Postal Service. “Happy Birthday” and “Get Well” were among the first to be offered.
84. 21st April 1987: Tamil bomb attack in Colombo Sri Lanka kills 115 people.
85. 21st April 1989: The Game Boy handheld video game device was released in Japan today.
86. 21st April 1989: Thousands of Chinese crowd into Beijing Tiananmen Square cheering students demanding greater political freedom.
87. 21st April 1992: Robert Alton Harris was today put to death for the 1978 murder of two teenage boys. He became the first person to be executed by the state of California in 25 years.
88. 21st April 1993: Brazil votes against the monarchy.
89. 21st April 1994: Jackie Parker today became the first woman to qualify to fly an F-16 combat aircraft.
90. 21st April 1998: In Washington, astronomers today announced that they had discovered possible signs of a new family of planets orbiting a star 220 light-years away.
21st Century – April 21 This Day In History – The 2000s
91. 21st April 2000: A man chased his estranged girlfriend through the town in Sinking Spring, PA, and forced her car into the path of an oncoming train. The woman and her three passengers were killed.
92. 21st April 2000: Researchers in North Carolina today announced that the heart of a 66 million-year-old dinosaur was more like a mammal or bird than that of a reptile.
93. 21st April 2000: Today the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act came into effect.
94. 21st April 2002: In a bomb attack on a department store in the city of General Santos, 14 people were killed and 69 injured. The attack was blamed on Muslim extremists.
95. 21st April 2003: North Korea and South Korea today agreed to hold Cabinet-level talks the following week.
96. 21st April 2008: The United States Air Force retires the F-117 Nighthawk.
97. 21st April 2009: The World Digital Library, an international digital library operated by UNESCO and the United States Library of Congress, was today launched by UNESCO.
98. 21st April 2013: A conflict between Islamic extremists and the Nigerian military today resulted in the death of 185 people.
99. 21st April 2016: US President Barack Obama begins a 4-day visit to the US with Michelle Obama.
100. 21st April 2017: Taliban today attacked an army base at Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan. More than 100 people were killed in the attack.
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