April 13Birthdays & History

On this day: April 13 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 989The death of Bardas Phokas the Younger in the battle of Abydos ends his second rebellion against Byzantine Emperor Basil II.Europe
2. 1055Election of Pope Victor II following the death of Pope Leo IX in the previous year.Europe
3. 1111Henry V, King of Germany, is crowned Holy Roman Emperor by pope Paschal II.Europe
4. 1175Saladin routs his Muslim opponents, the Zengids, in the battle of the Horns of Hama, consolidating his control over Syria except for Aleppo.Middle East
5. 1204Constantinople falls to the Crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.Middle EastEurope
6. 1455Thirteen Years' War: the beginning of the Battle for Kneiphof.Europe
7. 1612Samurai Miyamoto Musashi defeats Sasaki Kojirō in a duel at Funajima island.Asia
8. 1613Samuel Argall, having captured Pocahontas in Passapatanzy, Virginia, sets off with her to Jamestown with the intention of exchanging her for English prisoners held by her father.North AmericaEurope
9. 1699The Sikh religion is formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints – by Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar.Asia
10. 1742George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah makes its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland.Europe
11. 1777American Revolutionary War: American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.North America
12. 1829The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 gives Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom the right to vote and to sit in Parliament.Europe
13. 1849Lajos Kossuth presents the Hungarian Declaration of Independence in a closed session of the National Assembly.Europe
14. 1861American Civil War: Union forces surrender Fort Sumter to Confederate forces.North America
15. 1865American Civil War: Raleigh, North Carolina is occupied by Union forces.North America
16. 1870The New York City Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded.North America
17. 1873The Colfax massacre: More than 60 to 150 black men are murdered in Colfax, Louisiana, while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan.North America
18. 1909The 31 March Incident leads to the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.Middle East
19. 1919Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British Indian Army troops led by Brigadier-General Reginald Dyer kill approximately 379–1,000 unarmed demonstrators including men and women in Amritsar, India. Approximately 1,500 are injured.EuropeAsia
20. 1924A.E.K., a major Greek multi-sport club, is established in Athens by Greek refugees from Constantinople.EuropeMiddle East
21. 1941A pact of neutrality between the USSR and Japan is signed.EuropeAsia
22. 1943World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyń Forest Massacre is announced, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile in London and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.Europe
23. 1943The Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C., on the 200th anniversary of President Thomas Jefferson's birth.North America
24. 1945World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna.Europe
25. 1945World War II: German troops kill more than 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany.Europe
26. 1948In an ambush, 78 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital, and a British soldier, are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarrah. This event came to be known as the Hadassah medical convoy massacre.EuropeMiddle East
27. 1953CIA director Allen Dulles launches the mind-control program Project MKUltra.North America
28. 1960The United States launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.North America
29. 1964At the Academy Awards, Sidney Poitier becomes the first African-American man to win the Best Actor award for the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.AfricaNorth America
30. 1970At 10:08 PM EST an oxygen tank aboard the Apollo 13 Service Module explodes, putting the crew in great danger and causing major damage to the Apollo command and service module (codenamed "Odyssey") while en route to the Moon.North America
31. 1972Vietnam War: The Battle of An Lộc begins.Asia
32. 1972The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese representative, effectively expelling the Republic of China administering Taiwan.Asia
33. 1975Beirut bus massacre: A confrontation between Phalangist paramilitaries and PLO militia marks the start of the 15-year Lebanese Civil War.Middle East
34. 1976The United States Treasury Department reintroduces the two-dollar bill as a Federal Reserve Note on Thomas Jefferson's 233rd birthday as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration.North America
35. 1976Forty workers die in the Lapua Cartridge Factory explosion, the deadliest industrial accident in modern Finnish history.Europe
36. 1996Two women and four children are killed after an Israeli helicopter fires rockets at an ambulance in Mansouri, Lebanon.Middle East
37. 1997Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the Masters Tournament.North America
38. 2006The United Front for Democratic Change's attack on the Chadian capital of N'Djamena is repelled by the Chadian armyAfrica
39. 2009A fire destroys a homeless hostel and kills at least 22 people in Kamień Pomorski, Poland.Europe
40. 2013Salam Fayyad resigns as Prime Minister of the Palestinian National Authority following an ongoing dispute with President Mahmoud Abbas.Middle East
41. 2013Lion Air Flight 904 crashes on approach to Ngurah Rai International Airport in Denpasar, Indonesia, injuring 40 people.Asia
42. 2014Three people are killed in a shooting in Overland Park, Kansas.North America
43. 2023The house of Jack Teixeira is raided in an investigation into leaked Pentagon documents; he is arrested on the same day.North America
44. 2024Six people and the perpetrator are killed and twelve others injured in a mass stabbing at Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre in Sydney, Australia.Oceania
45. 2025Rory McIlroy wins the Masters Tournament, becoming just the sixth person to complete the Grand Slam in golf.North America

Source: Wikipedia "April 13" / CC BY-SA 4.0