April 16 in History

Historical Events on April 16

1862 American Civil War: Battle at Lee's Mills in Virginia.

1919 Mohandas Gandhi organizes a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the killing of Indian protesters in the Jallianwala Bagh massacre by the British colonial troops three days earlier.

1919 Polish-Soviet War: The Polish army launches the Vilna offensive to capture Vilnius in modern Lithuania.

1941 World War II: The Italian-German Tarigo convoy is attacked and destroyed by British ships.

1944 World War II: Allied forces start bombing Belgrade, killing about 1,100 people. This bombing fell on the Orthodox Christian Easter.

1961 In a nationally broadcast speech, Cuban leader Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist-Leninist and that Cuba is going to adopt Communism.

1963 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pens his Letter from Birmingham Jail while incarcerated in Birmingham, Alabama for protesting against segregation.

2001 India and Bangladesh begin a five-day border conflict, but are unable to resolve the disputes about their border.

2014 The South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the South Korean government, media, and shipping authorities.

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Famous Birthdays on April 16

1889 Charlie Chaplin

1927 Pope Benedict XVI

1947 Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

1985 Taye Taiwo

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Famous Deaths on April 16

1689 Aphra Behn

1859 Alexis de Tocqueville

1947 Rudolf Höss

1992 Andy Russell (singer)

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