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This day in history

This day in history: 2 April

Events, births and deaths on this date, ordered by how many people look them up.

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Born on this day · Died on this day222 · 97

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Key facts

360 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 2 April.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2025: Liberation Day tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump announces sweeping worldwide tariffs.

Holidays and observances

Christian feast day: Abundius of Como

Christian feast day: Æbbe the Younger

Christian feast day: Amphianus of Lycia

Christian feast day: April 2 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Blessed Elisabetta Vendramini

Christian feast day: Blessed Laura Evangelista Alvarado Cardozo

Christian feast day: Blessed Nicholas Charnetsky

Christian feast day: Blessed Vilmos Apor

Christian feast day: Bronach of Glen-Seichis (Irish martyrology)

Christian feast day: Francisco Coll Guitart

Christian feast day: Francis of Paola

Christian feast day: Henry Budd (Anglican Church of Canada)

Events

2025Liberation Day tariffs: U.S. President Donald Trump announces sweeping worldwide tariffs.

2024Viertola school shooting: A 12-year-old pupil is killed and two others injured by a shooter of the same age in Vantaa, Finland.

2021A Capitol Police officer is killed and another injured when an attacker rams his car into a barricade outside the United States Capitol.

2021At least 49 people are killed in a train derailment in Taiwan after a truck accidentally rolls onto the track.

2020COVID-19 pandemic: The total number of confirmed cases reach one million.

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."

2015Gunmen attack Garissa University College in Kenya, killing at least 148 people and wounding 79 others.

2014A spree shooting occurs at the Fort Hood army base in Texas, with four dead, including the gunman, and 16 others injured.

2012A mass shooting at Oikos University in California leaves seven people dead and three injured.

2012UTair Flight 120 crashes after takeoff from Roshchino International Airport in Tyumen, Russia, killing 33 and injuring 10.

2011India wins the Cricket World Cup for the second time in history under the captaincy of MS Dhoni.

2006Over 60 tornadoes break out in the United States; Tennessee is hardest hit with 29 people killed.

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.

2002Israeli forces surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, into which armed Palestinians had retreated.

1992Forty-two civilians are massacred in the town of Bijeljina in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

1992In New York, Mafia boss John Gotti is convicted of murder and racketeering and is later sentenced to life in prison.

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.

1989Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev arrives in Havana, Cuba, to meet with Fidel Castro in an attempt to mend strained relations.

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.

1982Falklands War: Argentina invades the Falkland Islands.

1980United States President Jimmy Carter signs the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax Act.

1979A Soviet bio-warfare laboratory at Sverdlovsk accidentally releases airborne anthrax spores, killing 66 plus an unknown amount of livestock.

1976Prince Norodom Sihanouk resigns as leader of Cambodia and is placed under house arrest.

1975Vietnam War: Thousands of civilian refugees flee from Quảng Ngãi Province in front of advancing North Vietnamese troops.

1969LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 crashes into the Polica mountain near Zawoja, Poland, killing 53.

1930After the mysterious death of Empress Zewditu, Haile Selassie is proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia.

1921The Autonomous Government of Khorasan, a military government encompassing the modern state of Iran, is established.

1917American entry into World War I: President Wilson asks the U.S. Congress for a declaration of war on Germany.

1912The ill-fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.

1911The Australian Bureau of Statistics conducts the country's first national census.

1885Canadian Cree warriors attack the village of Frog Lake, killing nine.

1865American Civil War: Defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg forces the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederate government to abandon Richmond, Virginia.

1863American Civil War: The largest in a series of Southern bread riots occurs in Richmond, Virginia.

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.

1800Ludwig van Beethoven leads the premiere of his First Symphony in Vienna.

1792The Coinage Act is passed by Congress, establishing the United States Mint.

1755Commodore William James captures the Maratha fortress of Suvarnadurg on the west coast of India.

1725J. S. Bach's cantata Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6, is first performed in Leipzig on Easter Monday.

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.

1285Election of Pope Honorius IV following the death of Pope Martin IV.

Born on this day

2007Brenda Fruhvirtová, Czech tennis player

2005Adrián Liso, Spanish footballer

2004Diana Shnaider, Russian tennis player

2002Emma Myers, American actress

2000Josip Stanišić, Croatian footballer

2000Rodrigo Riquelme, Spanish footballer

1997Abdelhak Nouri, Dutch footballer

1997Austin Riley, American baseball player

1997Dillon Bassett, American race car driver

1996André Onana, Cameroonian footballer

1996Zach Bryan, American singer-songwriter

1995Zack Steffen, American soccer player

1994Pascal Siakam, Cameroonian basketball player

1993Bruno Zuculini, Argentine footballer

1993Keshorn Walcott, Trinidadian javelin thrower

1991Quavo, American rapper

1990Amr El Solia, Egyptian footballer

1990Miralem Pjanić, Bosnian footballer

1990Yevgeniya Kanayeva, Russian gymnast

1988Ellen Adarna, Filipino actress, model and public figure

1988Jesse Plemons, American actor

1988Renée Good, American writer, poet and shooting victim (died 2026)

1987Pablo Aguilar, Paraguayan footballer

1987Shane Lowry, Irish Professional Golfer, winner of the 2019 Open Championship and European Team Member for the 2021 and 2023 Ryder Cups

1986Andris Biedriņš, Latvian basketball player

1986Drew Van Acker, American actor, model and producer

1986Ibrahim Afellay, Dutch footballer

1985Stéphane Lambiel, Swiss figure skater

1985Thom Evans, Zimbabwean-Scottish rugby player

1984Engin Atsür, Turkish basketball player

1984Jérémy Morel, French footballer

1984Miguel Ángel Moyá, Spanish footballer

1984Nóra Barta, Hungarian diver

1983Arthur Boka, Ivorian footballer

1983Maksym Mazuryk, Ukrainian pole vaulter

1982David Ferrer, Spanish tennis player

1982Marco Amelia, Italian footballer

1981Kapil Sharma, Indian stand-up comedian, television presenter and actor

1981Michael Clarke, Australian cricketer

1980Adam Fleming, Scottish journalist

Died on this day

2025Khamtai Siphandone, Laotian politician, 4th President of Laos (born 1924)

2024Christopher Durang, American playwright (born 1949)

2024Jerry Abbott, American country music songwriter and record producer (born 1942)

2024John Barth, American writer (born 1930)

2024John Sinclair, American poet (born 1941)

2024Juan Vicente Pérez, Venezuelan supercentenarian (born 1909)

2024Larry Lucchino, American attorney and baseball executive (born 1945)

2024Maryse Condé, Guadeloupean novelist, critic, and playwright (born 1934)

2022Estelle Harris, American actress and comedian (born 1928)

2021Simon Bainbridge, British composer (born 1952)

2017Alma Delia Fuentes, Mexican actress (born 1937)

2016Gallieno Ferri, Italian comic book artist and illustrator (born 1929)

2016Robert Abajyan, Armenian sergeant (born 1996)

2015Manoel de Oliveira, Portuguese actor, director, producer, and screenwriter (born 1908)

2015Robert H. Schuller, American pastor and author (born 1926)

2015Steve Stevaert, Belgian businessman and politician, Governor of Limburg (born 1954)

2014Urs Widmer, Swiss author and playwright (born 1938)

2013Fred, French author and illustrator (born 1931)

2013Jesús Franco, Spanish director, screenwriter, producer, and actor (born 1930)

2013Milo O'Shea, Irish-American actor (born 1926)

2012Elizabeth Catlett, American-Mexican sculptor and illustrator (born 1915)

2012Jesús Aguilarte, Venezuelan captain and politician (born 1959)

2012Mauricio Lasansky, American graphic designer and academic (born 1914)

2011John C. Haas, American businessman and philanthropist (born 1918)

2010Chris Kanyon, American wrestler (born 1970)

2009Albert Sanschagrin, Canadian bishop (born 1911)

2009Bud Shank, American saxophonist and flute player (born 1926)

2008Yakup Satar, Turkish World War I veteran (born 1898)

2007Henry L. Giclas, American astronomer and academic (born 1910)

2006Lloyd Searwar, Guyanese anthologist and diplomat (born 1925)

Quote of the day

“He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough.”

Lao Tzu

Questions people ask

Where do the entries come from?

From Wikipedia’s on-this-day pages for this language, updated once a day and ordered by how often each article is read.

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