April 03

Saturday 03, 2004:

Islamist terrorists involved in the 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks are trapped by the police in their apartment and kill themselves with explosives.

Monday 03, 2000:

United States v. Microsoft: Microsoft is ruled to have violated United States antitrust laws by keeping "an oppressive thumb" on its competitors.

Thursday 03, 1997:

Thalit massacre begins in Algeria; all but 1 of the 53 inhabitants of Thalit are killed by guerrillas.

Wednesday 03, 1996:

An Air Force 737 carrying United States Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown crashes in Croatia, killing 35 of the 36 on-board, including Brown.

Thursday 03, 1986:

IBM unveils the PC Convertible, their first laptop computer.

Saturday 03, 1976:

In The Hague, Netherlands, Brotherhood of Man wins the twenty-first Eurovision Song Contest for the United Kingdom singing "Save Your Kisses For Me".

Thursday 03, 1975:

Bobby Fischer refuses to play in a chess match against Anatoly Karpov, giving Karpov the title.

Wednesday 03, 1974:

The Super Outbreak occurs, with 148 tornadoes affecting 13 states and 1 Canadian province in 18 hours, the biggest tornado outbreak in recorded history. The death toll is 315, with nearly 5,500 injured.

Monday 03, 1972:

The first ever Mobile phone call is placed by Martin Cooper, in New York City

Saturday 03, 1971:

In Dublin, Ireland, Séverine wins the sixteenth Eurovision Song Contest for Monaco singing "Un banc, un arbre, une rue" (A bench, a tree, a street).

Thursday 03, 1969:

U.S. Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird announces that the United States will start to "Vietnamize" the war effort.

Wednesday 03, 1968:

Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "mountaintop" speech.

Sunday 03, 1955:

The American Civil Liberties Union announces it will defend Allen Ginsberg's book Howl against obscenity charges.

Friday 03, 1953:

TV Guide debuts.

Saturday 03, 1948:

On Jeju, locals simultaneously raid the island's police stations, marking the start of a civil-war-like period of violence and human rights abuses known as the Jeju massacre.

Wednesday 03, 1946:

Japanese Lt. General Masaharu Homma is executed outside Manila in the Philippines for leading the Bataan Death March.

Friday 03, 1942:

World War II: Japanese forces begin an all-out assault on the United States and Filipino troops on the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan falls on April 9 and the Bataan Death March began.

Thursday 03, 1941:

Hungarian and German troops march into Yugoslavia.

Friday 03, 1936:

Richard Bruno Hauptmann is executed for the kidnapping and death of Charles Augustus Lindbergh III, the baby son of Anne and world-famous pilot Charles Lindbergh.

Monday 03, 1922:

Joseph Stalin succeeds Vladimir Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.

Friday 03, 1896:

first publication of La Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper in Italy.

Wednesday 03, 1895:

The libel trial instigated by Oscar Wilde against the Marquess of Queensbury begins, eventually resulting in Wilde's arrest, trial and imprisonment on charges of homosexuality.

Friday 03, 1885:

Gottlieb Daimler is granted a German patent for his engine design.

Monday 03, 1882:

American Old West outlaw Jesse James is shot in the back and killed in Saint Joseph, Missouri by Robert Ford for a $5,000 reward.

Monday 03, 1865:

American Civil War: Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, the capital of the break-away Confederate States of America.

Tuesday 03, 1860:

The first successful Pony Express run from Saint Joseph, Missouri to Sacramento, California begins, and is completed on April 13).

Friday 03, 1559:

The treaty, Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis, is signed, ending the Italian Wars.

Tuesday 03, 1077:

Creation of the first Parliament of Friuli

Sunday 03, 33:

Crucifixion of Jesus (traditional date)

More on April, 03

• People Born on April, 03
• They left us on April, 03