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“There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no really insurmountable barrier save our own inherent weakness of purpose.”
~ Kin Hubbard
Wikiquote (Kin Hubbard (September 1, 1868 - December 26, 1930) an American cartoonist, humorist, and journalist better known by his pen name "Kin" Hubbard.)
April 2nd, 1513
Conquistador:
1513 - Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León first sights land in what is now Florida.
Wikipedia Image: Conquistadors (Spanish "conquerors") were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish Empire (sailing beyond Europe, conquering territory and opening trade routes, colonizing much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries)
● Christopher Columbus setting foot in the New World in 1492
● Conquistadors praying before a battle
● Conquistadors and their Tlaxcalan allies enter Tenochtitlan
● The surrender of Granada in 1492. Muhammad XII before Ferdinand and Isabella
● Detail of Velázquez's Portrait of Juan de Pareja a contemporary morisco Spaniard, slave and afterwards freedman, assistant and trust man of Diego Velazquez
● Conquistador, jQuey-deviantart.
April 2nd, 1755
Commodore William James captures the pirate fortress of Suvarnadurg on west coast of India.
Wikipedia Image: Arial view of the Suvarnadurg Fort, situated on the west coast of Maharashtra
April 2nd, 1792
The Coinage Act of 1792 is passed establishing the United States Mint.
Wikipedia Photo: Second United States Mint in San Francisco, California
April 2nd, 1800
Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.
Wikipedia Painting: Portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820; Dead world of aural nothingness - Ludwig van Beethoven.by Abigail Lebrecht.
April 2nd, 1801
French Revolutionary Wars / Napoleonic Wars:
1801 - Battle of Copenhagen; The British capture the Danish fleet.
Wikipedia Painting: Battle of Trafalgar: The British HMS Sandwich fires to the French flagship Bucentaure (completely dismasted) in the battle of Trafalgar;
Napoleon in Berlin (Meynier). After defeating Prussian forces at Jena, the French Army entered Berlin on 27 October 1806;
Battle of the Bridge of Arcole Napoleon Bonaparte leading his troops over the bridge of Arcole, by Horace Vernet;
Napoleon as King of Italy (Appiani);
Napoleon Crossing the Alps (David). In 1800 Bonaparte took the French Army across the Alps, eventually defeating the Austrians at Marengo;
Charge of the Russian Imperial Guard cavalry against French cuirassiers at the Battle of Friedland, 14 June 1807;
Battle of Borodino as depicted by Louis Lejeune. The battle was the largest and bloodiest single-day action of the Napoleonic Wars;
Napoleon's withdrawal from Russia, a painting by Adolph Northen;
Wellington at Waterloo by Robert Alexander Hillingford;
Napoleon is often represented in his green colonel uniform of the Chasseur à Cheval, with a large bicorne and a hand-in-waistcoat gesture.
Battle of the Nile (Battle of Aboukir Bay).
April 2nd, 1851
Rama IV is crowned King of Thailand.
Wikipedia Image: Thailand (officially the Kingdom of Thailand, formerly known as Siam) is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula in Southeast Asia.
April 2nd, 1863
American Civil War:
1863 - Richmond Bread Riot; Food shortages incite hundreds of angry women to riot in Richmond, Virginia and demand that the Confederate government release emergency supplies.
1865 - Siege of Petersburg; is broken - Union troops capture the trenches around Petersburg, Virginia, forcing Confederate General Robert E. Lee to retreat.
1865 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis and most of his Cabinet flee the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia.
Wikipedia Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.
April 2nd, 1885
American Indian Wars:
1885 - Frog Lake Massacre; Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, North-West Territories, Canada.
Wikipedia Photos: American Indians - Chief Crazy Horse, Tashunca-uitco (1849 - 1877) ● Geronimo Apache Chief (1829 - 1909) ● Indian Chief 'Two Eagles'; Crow Indian Chief ● Snake Cheif ● Band of Chiricahua Apache Indians, followers of legendary renegade Geronimo, attending a peace negotiation after a long struggle against U.S. government attempts to force them onto reservations - Tombstone, Arizona (1886), Life Magazine ● American Horse - Oglala ● Native American Arapaho Indian ● Washakie, Shoshone leader ● Arapaho American Indian Chief.
April 2nd, 1900
The United States Congress passes the Foraker Act, giving Puerto Rico limited self-rule.
Wikipedia Photo: Puerto Rico; Old San Juan aerial view ● Garita at fort San Felipe del Morro ● Culebra Island, Puerto Rico.
● El Yunque National Forest, is a forest located in northeastern Puerto Rico (It is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System); Lizard on a Leaf, by Brian Stinga, National Geographics; Puerto Rican Parrots, rare birds in the forest.
April 2nd, 1912
The ill fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.
Wikipedia Image: RMS Titanic was a British passenger liner that sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912 after colliding with an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, UK to New York City, US. The sinking of Titanic caused the deaths of 1,502 people in one of the deadliest peacetime maritime disasters in modern history.
April 2nd, 1917
World War I:
1917 - United States President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.
Post World War I:
1921 - The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran is established.
Wikipedia Photo: Trenches on the Western Front; a British Mark IV Tank crossing a trench; Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the Battle of the Dardanelles; a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks, and German Albatros D.III biplanes. National Archives and Records Administration.
April 2nd, 1956
As the World Turns and The Edge of Night premiere on CBS-TV. (The two soaps become the first daytime dramas to debut in the 30-minute format.)
Wikipedia Image: As the World Turns and The Edge of Night on CBS-TV.
April 2nd, 1975
Vietnam War:
1975 - Thousands of civilian refugees flee from the Quang Ngai Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.
Wikipedia Photo: Vietnam_War; Side view of an HH-53 helicopter of the 40th Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron as seen from the gunner's position on an A-1 of the 21st Specialist Operations Squadron. (USAF Photo by Ken Hackman), Boston Globe;
Boeing B-52 Stratofortress, credit Free Republic;
Vietnam War: The Big Picture / Boston Globe.
April 2nd, 1975
Construction of the CN Tower is completed in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (It reaches 553.33 metres (1,815.4 ft) in height, becoming the world's tallest free-standing structure.)
Wikipedia Photo: CN Tower in Toronto.
April 2nd, 1982
Falklands War: Invasion of the Falkland Islands; Argentine invades the Falkland Islands.
Wikipedia Image: Falkland Islands; Map Falkland Islands and Patagonia; Perito Moreno glacier and Lago Argentino, credit Wideview.it (Falkland Islands and Patagonia), New York Times.
April 2nd, 2002
Modern conflicts in the Middle East:
2002 - Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem into which armed Palestinians had retreated - a siege ensues.
2004 - Islamist terrorists involved in the March 11th, 2004 Madrid train bombings attempt to bomb the Spanish high-speed train AVE (high-speed rail) near Madrid.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)
April 2nd, 2006
Tornadoes:
2006 - Central United States tornado outbreak of 2006; Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; hardest hit is in Tennessee with 29 people killed.
Wikipedia Photo: Weather Front System; Tornado near Anadarko, Oklahoma; North Dakota Tornado; F3 Category Tornado Swirls Across A South Dakota Prairie by Carsten Peter; A waterspout parallels a lightning strike over Lake Okeechobee in Florida, by Fred K. Smith, National Geographics, Extream Instability.
April 2nd, 2012
Oikos University shooting: A mass shooting at Oikos University at Oakland, California leaves 7 people dead and three injured.
Wikipedia Photo: he Oikos University shooting occurred on April 2, 2012, when a gunman shot at people inside Oikos University, a Korean Christian college in Oakland, California, United States.
April 2nd, 2014
Fort Hood shooting: A shooting at the Fort Hood Army Base near the town of Killeen, Texas with reports of at least four deaths, including the gunman, and 14 injuries.
Wikipedia Photo: he Oikos University shooting occurred on April 2, 2012, when a gunman shot at people inside Oikos University, a Korean Christian college in Oakland, California, United States.
April 2nd, 2015
Modern conflicts in the Middle East:
2015 - Garissa University College attack; Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)