April 2Birthdays & History

On this day: April 2 in history

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

1. 1107Seljuq sultan Muhammad I Tapar begins the siege of Shahdiz, a fortress of the Nizari Ismailis.Middle East
2. 1285Election of Pope Honorius IV following the death of Pope Martin IV.Europe
3. 1513Having spotted land on March 27, Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León comes ashore on what is now the U.S. state of Florida, landing somewhere between the modern city of St. Augustine and the mouth of the St. Johns River.EuropeNorth America
4. 1725J. S. Bach's cantata Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, is first performed in Leipzig on Easter Monday.Europe
5. 1755Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on the west coast of India.Asia
6. 1792The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint.North America
7. 1800Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.Europe
8. 1801French Revolutionary Wars: In the Battle of Copenhagen a British Royal Navy squadron defeats a hastily assembled, smaller, mostly-volunteer Dano-Norwegian Navy at high cost, forcing Denmark out of the Second League of Armed Neutrality.Europe
9. 1863American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.North America
10. 1865American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.North America
11. 1885Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.North America
12. 1911The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census.Oceania
13. 1912The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.Europe
14. 1917American entry into World War I: President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.North AmericaEurope
15. 1921The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.Middle East
16. 1930After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.Africa
17. 1969LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 crashes into the Polica mountain near Zawoja, Poland, killing 53.Europe
18. 1975Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.Asia
19. 1976Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.Asia
20. 1979A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.Europe
21. 1980United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.North America
22. 1982Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.Latin America
23. 1986Alabama governor George Wallace, a former segregationist, best known for the "Stand in the Schoolhouse Door", announces that he will not seek a fifth four-year term and will retire from public life upon the end of his term in January 1987.North America
24. 1989Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.EuropeLatin America
25. 1991Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia.North AmericaEurope
26. 1992In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.North America
27. 1992Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.Europe
28. 2002Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated.Middle East
29. 2004Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted.Europe
30. 2006Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.North America
31. 2011India wins the Cricket World Cup for the second time in history under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.Asia
32. 2012UTair Flight 120 crashes after takeoff from Roshchino International Airport in Tyumen, Russia, killing 33 and injuring 10.Europe
33. 2012A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.North America
34. 2014A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.North America
35. 2015Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.Africa
36. 2015Four men steal items worth up to £200 million from an underground safe deposit facility in London's Hatton Garden area in what has been called the "largest burglary in English legal history."Europe
37. 2020COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million.World
38. 2021At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track.Asia
39. 2021A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol.North America
40. 2024Viertola school shooting: A 12-year-old pupil is killed and two others injured by a shooter of the same age in Vantaa, Finland.Europe
41. 2025Liberation Day tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump announces sweeping worldwide tariffs.North America

Source: Wikipedia "April 2" / CC BY-SA 4.0