April 2

Historic Events

2025

Liberation Day tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump announces sweeping worldwide tariffs. ›

2024

Viertola school shooting: A 12-year-old pupil is killed and two others injured by a shooter of the same age in Vantaa, Finland. ›

2021

At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track. ›

2021

A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol. ›

2020

COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million. ›

2015

Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others. ›

2015

Four 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." ›

2014

A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured. ›

2012

A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured. ›

2012

UTair Flight 120 crashes after takeoff from Roshchino International Airport in Tyumen, Russia, killing 33 and injuring 10. ›

2011

India wins the Cricket World Cup for the second time in history under the captaincy of MS Dhoni. ›

2006

Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed. ›

2004

Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE near Madrid; the attack is thwarted. ›

2002

Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated. ›

1992

In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison. ›

1992

Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. ›

1991

Rita Johnston becomes the first female Premier of a Canadian province when she succeeds William Vander Zalm (who had resigned) as Premier of British Columbia. ›

1989

Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations. ›

1986

Alabama 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. ›

1982

Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands. ›

1980

United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act. ›

1979

A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock. ›

1976

Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest. ›

1975

Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops. ›

1969

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 crashes into the Polica mountain near Zawoja, Poland, killing 53. ›

1930

After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia. ›

1921

The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established. ›

1917

American entry into World War I: President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany. ›

1912

The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials. ›

1911

The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census. ›

1885

Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine. ›

1865

American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia. ›

1863

American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia. ›

1801

French 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. ›

1800

Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna. ›

1792

The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint. ›

1755

Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on the west coast of India. ›

1725

J. S. Bach's cantata Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, is first performed in Leipzig on Easter Monday. ›

1513

Having 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. ›

1285

Election of Pope Honorius IV following the death of Pope Martin IV. ›

1107

Seljuq sultan Muhammad I Tapar begins the siege of Shahdiz, a fortress of the Nizari Ismailis. ›