On This Day in History for April 8
Events in History
- 217 Roman Emperor Caracalla is assassinated (and succeeded) by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus
- 1093 The new Winchester Cathedral is dedicated by bishop Walkelin in Winchester, England
- 1139 Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated
- 1149 Pope Eugene III takes refuge in the castle of Ptolemy II of Tusculum
- 1195 Alexius III Angelus drives out brother Isaak II as Byzantine emperor
- 1232 Mongol army under General Subedei begins the siege of Chinese Jin capital of Kaifeng - 1st occasion gunpowder used in a major engagement
- 1271 Krak des Chevaliers, the greatest fortress built by medieval crusaders in the Levant, is finally taken by the forces of Mamlūk sultan Baybars I
- 1341 Petrarch crowned a poet on the Capitoline Hill in Rome
- More Events in History
Juan Ponce de León
Philip IV
Betty Ford
Kofi Annan
Robert Allen LitchfieldWeddings in History
- 1716 Duke Karel Leopold of Mecklenburg-Schwerin signs covenant with Russia & marries Tsar Peter the Great's niece
- 1779 US Defector General Benedict Arnold (38) weds Peggy Shippen (18) at Shippen's townhouse in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- 1907 American industrialist Henry J. Kaiser (24) weds Bess Fosburgh in Boston, Massachusetts
Divorces in History
- 2005 Prince Joachim of Denmark (35) divorces Countess of Frederiksborg Alexandra (40) after 9 years of marriage
More Weddings & Divorces in History
Caracalla
Lorenzo de' Medici
Elisha Otis
Pablo Picasso
Omar Bradley
Margaret ThatcherApril in History
The Man Who Sold His Wife
Most modern readers believe Thomas Hardy was plunging into deep fiction when he wrote about a man selling his wife in, The Mayor of Casterbridge. He wasn't.
April 7, 1832
Step Aboard the Titanic – Las Vegas Style
Even by Las Vegas standards it was controversial, a $1.2 billion recreation of the doomed Titanic, along with the iceberg that caused its destruction.
April 8, 1999
Venus de Milo
Aphrodite of Milos, or better known as Venus de Milo
April 8, 1820
Anti Omar al-Bashir Protest
Alaa Salah during a protest against President Omar al-Bashir
April 8, 2019