43 BC Battle of Forum Gallorum:Mark Antony, besieging Julius Caesar's assassin Decimus Junius Brutus in Mutina, defeats the forces of the consul Pansa, who is killed.

193Lucius Septimius Severus crowned Emperor of Rome

1028 German emperorConrad II the Sailor crowns his son Henry III, king

1536 English KingHenry VIII expropriates minor monasteries

1574 Battle of Mookerheyde: Spanish forces of D'Avila defeat Dutch mercenary force led byLouis of Nassau

1828 First American Dictionary: its authorNoah Webster registers its copyright for publication

1841 1st detective story published,Edgar Allan Poe's "Murders in Rue Morgue" (April 1841)

1858 AbolitionistJohn Brown meetsHarriet Tubman at a Constitutional Convention convened in Chatham, Ontario

1860 1st Pony Express rider arrives in San Francisco from St Joseph, Missouri

1861 Formal Union surrender of Fort Sumter (US Civil War)

1865 U.S. Secretary of StateWilliam H. Seward and his family are attacked in his home by Lewis Powell as part of the same conspiracy to assassinateAbraham Lincoln

1865 US PresidentAbraham Lincoln is shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater in Washington; he dies a day later

1894 1st public showing ofThomas Edison's kinetoscope (moving pictures)

1902James Cash Penney opens his first store, The Golden Rule Store, in Kemmerer, Wyoming

1904 NY Highlanders' future Baseball HOF pitcherJack Chesbro's first of 41 wins this season; pitches complete game and beats Boston Americans, 8-2 at Hilltop Park, NYC

1906 US PresidentTheodore Roosevelt denounces "muckrakers" in US press, taken fromJohn Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress

1910 US PresidentWilliam Howard Taft begins tradition of throwing ceremonial first pitch on Opening Day of baseball season

1912RMS Titanic, the world's largest ocean liner, hits an iceberg at 11.40pm off Newfoundland, sinks in the early hours of April 15

1914 US head ofFirestone Tire and Rubber Company Stacy G. Carkhuff patents non-skid tire pattern

1931 Spain becomes a republic with the overthrow of KingAlfonso XIII

1931 Stanley Cup Final, Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec: Montreal Canadiens beat Chicago Blackhawks, 2-0 for a 3-2 series win; Canadiens' back-to-back Championships

1932 Léonide Massine & Joan Miro's adaptation for dance ofGeorges Bizet's "Jeux d'Enfants" premieres with the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo, at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo

1936 French singer Édith Piaf questioned after nightclub owner and her patron Louis Leplée murdered in Paris

1939John Steinbeck's novel "The Grapes of Wrath" is published

1943 American intelligence intercepts and decrypts a JN-25 message detailing forthcoming visit by Japanese Navy Marshal AdmiralIsoroku Yamamoto to Balalae Airfield, near Bougainville in the Solomon Islands; results in his plane shot down 4 days later[1]

1943 Generals Alexander,Eisenhower, Anderson and Bradley discuss assault on Tunis

1944 1st Jews transported from Athens arrive atAuschwitz

1955 26-year-old catcher/outfielderElston Howard becomes first African-American to play for NY Yankees; hits single with 1 RBI in 8-4 loss to Boston Red Sox

1958 Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2 with space dog Laika aboard burns up during reentry into Earth's atmosphere

1960 American record company Motown, founded byBerry Gordy Jr, is incorporated as Motown Record Corporation in Detroit. Michigan

1962Georges Pompidou becomes Prime Minister of France after the resignation of Michel Debré

1963 Quiet BeatleGeorge Harrison is impressed by unsigned British blues band "Rolling Stones"

1964 LA Dodgers' future Baseball Hall of Fame pitcherSandy Koufax throws his 9th complete game without allowing a walk in 4-0 Opening Day win over St. Louis Cardinals

1967 GeneralGnassingbé Eyadéma becomes President of Togo

1969 41st Academy Awards: "Oliver",Cliff Robertson &Katharine Hepburn andBarbra Streisand win (1st ever tie for best actress)

1971 US PresidentRichard Nixon ends blockade against People's Republic of China

1980 52nd Academy Awards: Best Picture "Kramer vs Kramer",Dustin Hoffman &Sally Field win

1980 Pulitzer prize awarded toNorman Mailer (Executioner's Song)

1983 EMI America Records releasesDavid Bowie's 15th studio album, "Let's Dance"; co-produced by Bowie and Nile Rodgers, it becomes his biggest commercial success with sales of nearly 11 million units, topping the charts in 9 countries, and introduces guitaristStevie Ray Vaughan to a larger audience

1983 US PresidentRonald Reagan signs $165 billion Social Security rescue

1986Desmond Tutu elected Anglican Archbishop of Capetown, South Africa

1989 In the Iran-Contra trial,Oliver North's case goes to the jury

1993 "Bill Nye the Science Guy" starring Bill Nye debuts on KCTS-TV in the US

1994Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis operated on for a bleeding ulcer

1994 Turner Classic Movies cable channel launches; media mogulTed Turner hosts ceremony in NYC's Times Square district at 6PM marking "the exact centennial anniversary of the first public movie showing in New York City"

2000Metallica file a lawsuit against P2P sharing phenomenon Napster. This lawsuit eventually leads the movement against file-sharing programs.

2002 66th US Masters Tournament, Augusta National GC:Tiger Woods becomes the 3rd player to claim back-to-back Masters, 3 strokes ahead of Retief Goosen of South Africa

2002 Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military

2007 At least 200,000 demonstrators in Ankara, Turkey protest against the possible candidacy of incumbent Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan

2012 27th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: TheBeastie Boys; Donovan; Guns N' Roses; Laura Nyro; The Red Hot Chili Peppers; The (Small) Faces; The Blue Caps; The Comets; The Crickets; The Famous Flames; The Midnighters; The Miracles; Freddie King; Don Kirshner; Tom Dowd; Glyn Johns; and Cosimo Matassa

2012J. K. Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels, launches her website "Pottermore"

2013 ComedianKevin Hart is arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in California

2013Justin Trudeau, son of long-serving Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, is elected leader of the Liberal Party of Canada

2017 "The Fate of the Furious" directed by F. Gary Gray, starringVin Diesel and The Rock opens worldwide - highest-grossing weekend at $532 million

2017Kendrick Lamar releases his fourth studio album "DAMN." (2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music)

2018 33rd Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees:Nina Simone; Sister Rosetta Tharpe; Bon Jovi; The Cars; Dire Straits; and Moody Blues

2018Beyoncé is the first black woman to headline the Coachella Music Festival, her performance on this day the most-watched performance ever on YouTube