Sun · 27 SepMoon 99%Field Kp 4 · active Quote · Marcus Aurelius Riddle of the day Card of the dayHow today feels →

This day in history

This day in history: 8 April

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

Share

← Previous day7 Apr

Events36

Born on this day · Died on this day242 · 102

Next day →9 Apr

Key facts

380 historical events, births and deaths are listed for 8 April.
Entries come from Wikipedia’s day pages and are ordered by page views.
2026: Operation Eternal Darkness: Hours after a ceasefire to the Iran war, Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill at least 357 and injures more than 1200 people in the largest airstrikes of the Lebanon war.

Holidays and observances

Buddha's Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, "Flower Festival" (Japan)

Christian feast day: Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA))

Christian feast day: April 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics)

Christian feast day: Blessed August Czartoryski

Christian feast day: Constantina

Christian feast day: Julie Billiart of Namur

Christian feast day: Perpetuus

Christian feast day: Pope Dionysius of Alexandria

Christian feast day: Walter of Pontoise

Christian feast day: William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA))

Earliest day on which Fast and Prayer Day can fall, while April 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Friday in April (Liberia)

International Romani Day

Events

2026Operation Eternal Darkness: Hours after a ceasefire to the Iran war, Israeli attacks on Lebanon kill at least 357 and injures more than 1200 people in the largest airstrikes of the Lebanon war.

2024Solar eclipse: A total solar eclipse takes place at the Moon's ascending node, visible across North America.

2020Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee.

2014Windows XP reaches its standard End Of Life and is no longer supported.

2010U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty.

2005A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela.

2002The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-110, carrying the S0 truss to the International Space Station. Astronaut Jerry L. Ross also becomes the first person to fly on seven spaceflights.

1993The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56.

1990The conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis is elected in the Greek parliamentary election.

1975Voyageurs National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.

1974Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth as the all-time leader in career home runs by hitting his 715th home run off of Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.

1970Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.

1968BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.

1960The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung.

1959A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL.

1959The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.

1954A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.

1954South African Airways Flight 201: A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.

1940The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.

1933The Australian state of Western Australia votes to secede from the federation in a non-binding referendum, although efforts to implement the result prove unsuccessful.

1904The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.

1895In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.

1886William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.

1866Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire.

1832Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.

1820The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.

1812Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki.

1730Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated.

1605The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.

1271Fall of Krak des Chevaliers: In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers.

1250Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.

1232Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty.

1143Manuel I Komnenos succeeds his father John II Komnenos as Byzantine Emperor.

1139Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy.

876The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.

217Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

Born on this day

2013Big Justice, American social media personality

2005Zaccharie Risacher, French basketball player

2002Jamie Drysdale, Canadian ice hockey player

2002Skai Jackson, American actress

2002Viktória Forster, Slovak track and field athlete

1999CeeDee Lamb, American football player

1998Lavinia Valbonesi, Ecuadorian nutritionist, businesswoman and First Lady of Ecuador

1997Arno Verschueren, Belgian footballer

1997Keira Walsh, English footballer

1997Kim Woo-jin, South Korean singer

1997Roquan Smith, American football player

1997Saygrace, Australian singer and songwriter

1996Anna Korakaki, Greek Olympic shooter

1995Cedi Osman, Turkish professional basketball player

1995Forrest Frank, American singer-songwriter

1994Josh Chudleigh, Australian rugby league player

1993TBJZL, English YouTuber

1993Viktor Arvidsson, Swedish ice hockey player

1992Jeff McNeil, American baseball player

1990Kim Jong-hyun, South Korean singer (died 2017)

1989Matty Healy, English singer-songwriter and producer

1988Jenni Asserholt, Swedish ice hockey player

1987Elton John, Trinidadian footballer

1987Jeremy Hellickson, American baseball player

1987Royston Drenthe, Dutch footballer

1987Sam Rapira, New Zealand rugby league player

1986Carlos Santana, Dominican baseball player

1986Félix Hernández, Venezuelan baseball player

1986Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer

1985Patrick Schliwa, German rugby player

1985Yemane Tsegay, Ethiopian runner

1984Ezra Koenig, American singer-songwriter and guitarist

1984Michelle Donelan, British politician

1984Pablo Portillo, Mexican singer and actor

1984Taran Noah Smith, American actor

1983Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova, Russian runner

1982Allu Arjun, Indian actor

1982Brett White, Australian rugby league player

1982Gennady Golovkin, Kazakhstani boxer

1981Frédérick Bousquet, French swimmer

Died on this day

2025Nelsy Cruz, Dominican politician, governor of Monte Cristi (born 1982)

2024Keith Barnes, Welsh-Australian rugby league player and coach (born 1934)

2024Peter Higgs, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929)

2024Ralph Puckett, American Army officer, Medal of Honor recipient (born 1926)

2022Mimi Reinhardt, Jewish Austrian secretary (born 1915)

2020Abdul Momin Imambari, Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (born 1930)

2020Rick May, American-Canadian voice actor (born 1940)

2019Josine Ianco-Starrels, Romanian-born American art curator (born 1926)

2015David Laventhol, American journalist and publisher (born 1933)

2015Jayakanthan, Indian journalist and author (born 1934)

2015Jean-Claude Turcotte, Canadian cardinal (born 1936)

2015Rayson Huang, Hong Kong chemist and academic (born 1920)

2015Sergei Lashchenko, Ukrainian kick-boxer (born 1987)

2014Emmanuel III Delly, Iraqi patriarch (born 1927)

2014Ivan Mercep, New Zealand architect, designed the Te Papa Tongarewa Museum (born 1930)

2014Karlheinz Deschner, German author and activist (born 1924)

2013Annette Funicello, American actress and singer (born 1942)

2013José Luis Sampedro, Spanish economist and author (born 1917)

2013Margaret Thatcher, English politician, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1925)

2013Mikhail Beketov, Russian journalist (born 1958)

2013Sara Montiel, Spanish-Mexican actress and singer (born 1928)

2012Blair Kiel, American football player and coach (born 1961)

2012Jack Tramiel, Polish-American businessman, founded Commodore International (born 1928)

2012Janusz K. Zawodny, Polish-American soldier, historian, and political scientist (born 1921)

2011Hedda Sterne, Romanian-American painter and photographer (born 1910)

2010Antony Flew, English philosopher and academic (born 1923)

2010Malcolm McLaren, English singer-songwriter (born 1946)

2010Teddy Scholten, Dutch singer (born 1926)

2009Piotr Morawski, Polish mountaineer (born 1976)

2009Richard de Mille, American Scientologist, author, investigative journalist, and psychologist (born 1922)

Quote of the day

“The mind is everything. What you think you become.”

attributed to the Buddha

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.

This day in history

Every question has its own page

Journal

What you should know, before others do

Weekly insights. One article. One practice. No noise.

Cookies

We use essential cookies to run the platform. Analytics and marketing cookies are only turned on once you consent — you can change your choice at any time.