“History is not a burden on the memory but an illumination of the soul,” said Lord Acton. People who do not know and understand true history are stumbling about in darkness, incapable of making truly informed decisions in the present, which is why the study of history is so important. Below are some of the important deaths, births, and events that occurred this past week in history.
March 31
1146 – St. Bernard of Clairvaux preaches the Second Crusade at Vezelay, Burgundy, in a famous speech that convinces the French king and his nobles present there to go on crusade to reclaim the Holy Land from the Muslims.
1492 – King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castille (Spain) issue their Alhambra Decree expelling all Jews from their kingdoms. The Spanish monarchs had successfully reconquered Spain for the Christians from the Muslims, but unfortunately having imbibed too much of the anti-Semitism of the day the monarchs then turned on the Jews too.
1596 – French mathematician and philosopher Rene Descartes, most famous for the dictum “I think, therefore I am,” is born.
1685 – German composer Johann Sebastian Bach is born. “A magnificent baroque-era composer, Johann Sebastian Bach is revered through the ages for his work’s musical complexities and stylistic innovations.”
1727 – Influential English physicist and mathematician Isaac Newton dies.
1855 – Charlotte Brontë, English novelist famous for her book “Jane Eyre,” dies during her first pregnancy.
1889 – The famous Eiffel Tower, designed by Gustave Eiffel, is dedicated and opened in Paris.
1980 – American track and field star Jesse Owens, who won four gold medals at the 1936 Olympic games in Berlin (much to the chagrin of racist Hitler and his Nazis, who despised black people), dies.
April 1
1204 – Eleanor of Aquitaine, a powerful medieval royal, dies. She “was the queen consort of both Louis VII of France (1137–52) and Henry II of England (1152–1204) and mother of Richard I (the Lionheart) and John of England.”
1748 – A Spanish engineer and team rediscover the ruins of the ancient Roman city of Pompeii, destroyed in the first century AD by erupting volcano Mt. Vesuvius but also thereby preserved and frozen in time. It was a major find for archaeologists.
1815 – Otto von Bismarck is born, the German military leader and chancellor famous for unifying German states into one nation.
1917 – American composer Scott Joplin, the “King of Ragtime,” dies.
1930 – Ras Tafari of Ethiopia declares himself emperor as Haile Selassie I.
1979 – Murderous dictator Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declares victory on a referendum and the formation of an Islamic “republic” in Iran.
2001 – The Netherlands becomes the first country to legalize homosexual “marriage”; it seems appropriate that this blatant violation of nature and morality should have occurred on April Fools’ Day.
April 2
742 – Estimated date of the birth of Charlemagne (“Charles the Great”), the Frankish king who became the first Holy Roman Emperor.
1792 – The Coinage Act establishes a U.S. Mint.
1801 – The British and Danes engage at the naval Battle of Copenhagen; they were not officially at war and, though the Danes were hard hit, the conflict quickly ended and resulted in an armistice.
1982 – Argentina invades the Falklands Islands to seize them from the British.
2005 – Pope John Paul II dies. While he unfortunately took some theologically questionable actions as pope, and did not properly address the clerical sex scandal, he was a major force in helping bring down the evil Soviet Union.
April 3
1367 – “[History Maps] The Battle of Nájera, also known as the Battle of Navarrete, was fought on 3 April 1367 near Nájera, in the province of La Rioja, Castile. It was an episode of the first Castilian Civil War which confronted King Peter of Castile with his half-brother Count Henry of Trastámara who aspired to the throne; the war involved Castile in the Hundred Years’ War.”
1783 – Brilliant and satirical writer Washington Irving, “known for his biographical works and such stories as ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,’” is born in New York City to Scottish-English immigrant parents. One of the most talented and iconic American writers.
1860 – The famous Pony Express debuts, with horse and rider relay teams taking mail from Missouri to California (about 1800 miles) in ten days, a new standard of speed for mail delivery. Unfortunately, the Pony Express was short-lived and not profitable, but it has continued to capture the imaginations of Americans to this day.
1882 – Famous Wild West bank and train robber Jesse James is killed by being shot in the back of the head by one of his partners-in-crime who wanted the reward money.
1897 – German composer Johannes Brahms dies.
1922 – Joseph Stalin takes control of Russia’s Soviet Communist Party; he went on to be one of history’s worst mass murderers.
1948 – U.S. President Truman signs what would become known as the Marshall Plan, providing generous economic assistance to rebuild Europe post-WWII.
April 4
188 – Roman emperor Caracalla is born. He is considered one of the most vicious and bloodthirsty tyrants in the history of Rome.
527 – Justinian, later one of the most influential Byzantine emperors, is made co-emperor of the Eastern Roman Empire with his uncle Justin.
1655 – Battle of Porto Farina, in which a British fleet defeated Barbary pirates.
1884 – Yamamoto Isoroku is born. Famous as the imperial Japanese admiral who came up with the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor that brought America into WWII.
1968 – Civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated. While he inspired many in the civil rights movement with his speeches and activism, King was personally very corrupt.
1975 – Bill Gates and Paul Allen launch what is now the highly successful and insidious tech giant Microsoft. Gates and Microsoft have funded and furthered many evil projects over the years, including forced sterilizations, the Covid-19 “vaccines,” and biased censorship.
April 5
1242 – The “Battle on the Ice” occurred on a frozen lake between the Teutonic and Livonian Knights and the Russian Novgorod army led by Prince Alexander Nevsky. Nevsky won a decisive victory and ended Teutonic challenges in that area.
1794 – French Revolutionary Georges Danton is executed. While he was initially one of the main movers of the bloody and destructive French Revolution with the other Jacobins, Danton was not radical enough for Maximilien Robespierre, who was primarily responsible for the mass murdering Reign of Terror. Danton was eventually arrested and guillotined. Before his death, after falling in love with a Catholic woman, Danton converted and became Catholic too. His conversion drove the change in his violent views that ended up leading to his death.
1856 – Booker T. Washington was born a slave on April 5, 1856, but grew up to be one of the foremost educators and thinkers of his time. He founded the Tuskegee Institute and believed black Americans could improve their situation and thrive best through personal responsibility, hard work, and education, rather than government handouts and brooding on the past. Read inspirational quotes from this brilliant American HERE.
1879 – The War of the Pacific begins over disputed territory, as Chile declares war on Peru and Bolivia.
1923 – Nguyen Van Thieu, the president of South Vietnam from 1967 till just before the Communist Viet Cong won the war in 1975, is born.
1964 – Douglas MacArthur dies. “MacArthur fought in World War I, and in World War II was the commander of Allied forces in the Pacific. When he criticized President Harry Truman’s handling of the Korean War, he was relieved of his command.” He famously promised the Philippines during WWII, “I shall return,” and fulfilled his promise with the liberation of the Philippines from Japanese control. He received the Congressional Medal of Honor.
2008 – Charlton Heston dies. An award-winning actor, civil rights champion, gun rights activist, and National Rifle Association president, he delivered memorable performances in films including “The Ten Commandments,” “Ben-Hur,” “The Big Country,” “El Cid,” and “Planet of the Apes.”
April 6
46 BC – Estimated date of the Battle of Thapsus during a period of Roman civil war between Pompey and Julius Caesar; Caesar not only won but he and his soldiers massacred surrendering soldiers, even Caesar’s cousin, in a marked display of brutality. The casualties were possibly as much as 10,000 on Pompey’s side with very few on Caesar’s.
1453 – Muslim Mehmed II and his forces begin what would ultimately be a successful siege on Byzantine capital Constantinople.
1483 – Artist Raphael is born in Urbino. “[Biography] A leading figure of Italian High Renaissance classicism, Raphael is best known for his ‘Madonnas,’ including the Sistine Madonna, and for his large figure compositions in the Palace of the Vatican in Rome.”
1917 – The United States officially enters WWI by declaring war on Germany with Congressional approval.
1994 – “[Britannica] On the evening of April 6, 1994, a plane carrying Habyarimana and Burundian Pres. Cyprien Ntaryamira was shot down over Kigali, Rwanda’s capital; the ensuing crash killed everyone on board. Although the identity of the person or group who fired upon the plane has never been conclusively determined, Hutu extremists were originally thought to be responsible. Later there were allegations that RPF leaders were responsible. The organized killing of Tutsi and moderate Hutu began that night, led by Hutu extremists.”
Did I miss any important events? Let me know in the comments.
Click this link for the original source of this article.
Author: Catherine Salgado
This content is courtesy of, and owned and copyrighted by, https://catherinesalgado.substack.com and its author. This content is made available by use of the public RSS feed offered by the host site and is used for educational purposes only. If you are the author or represent the host site and would like this content removed now and in the future, please contact USSANews.com using the email address in the Contact page found in the website menu.