Historical Events on April 2

  • 1801: The Danish Fleet is captured by British forces during the French Revolutionary War.
  • 1851: Rama IV becomes Thailand’s King.
  • 1863: The largest out of a number of Southern Bread Riots start on this day in Richmond, Virginia during the American Civil War.
  • 1865: The Confederate government and the Army of Northern Virginia have to abandon the city of Richmond in Virginia because of the strong defeat at the Third Battle of Petersburg during the American Civil War.
  • 1885: Frog Lake Village is attacked by Canadian Cree and 9 people are killed.
  • 1900: The Foraker Act is passed by the U.S Congress. This act essentially gives Puerto Rico the ability to rule themselves.
  • 1902: The first full-time operational modern movie theater opens in Los Angeles, California in the United States.
  • 1911: The first national census of Australia is undertaken by the Australian Bureau of Statistics on this day.
  • 1912: The RMS Titanic starts trials to see if it is sea worthy before it goes out on its ill-fated voyage.
  • 1917:S President Woodrow Wilson asks the U.S Congress if they would issue a declaration of war on Germany.
  • 1972: After being labeled a communist during the 1950s Red Scare and leaving the country, Charlie Chaplin finally returns back to the U.S on this day.
  • 1973: LexisNexis launches publicly.
  • 1975: As North Vietnamese troops advance on the Quang Ngai Province, thousands of civilian refugees flee the area.
  • 1979: Airborne anthrax spores are accidentally released at a bio-weapons lab in Sverdlovsk that’s owned by the Soviet Union. Over 60 people are killed, as well as an unknown amount of livestock.

Famous Birthdays on April 2

  • Italian author, explorer and ladies man, Giacomo Casanova is born in 1725.
  • German poet August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben is born in 1798.
  • Danish novelist, poet and short story writer, Hans Christian Andersen is born in 1805.
  • German-Irish actor and producer, Michael Fassbender is born in 1977.
  • American author Scott Lynch is born in 1978.