12 History Lessons + 6 Births & 5 Deaths for April 9, 2025
Today’s History:
- 1413 – Henry V is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
- 1682 – Robert Cavelier de La Salle claims the Mississippi River basin for France, naming it Louisiana.
- 1865 – Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, effectively ending the American Civil War.
- 1867 – The U.S. Senate ratifies the treaty to purchase Alaska from Russia.
- 1917 – The Battle of Vimy Ridge begins, with Canadian forces achieving a key World War I victory.
- 1940 – Nazi Germany invades Denmark and Norway during World War II.
- 1945 – The German concentration camp Buchenwald is liberated by U.S. forces.
- 1959 – NASA announces the first seven astronauts for the Mercury program.
- 1967 – The first Boeing 737 makes its maiden flight.
- 2003 – Saddam Hussein’s statue is toppled in Baghdad during the Iraq War.
- 2005 – Prince Charles marries Camilla Parker Bowles.
- 2019 – Scientists reveal the first-ever image of a black hole, taken by the Event Horizon Telescope.
Today’s Birthdays:
- 1954 – Dennis Quaid, actor (The Right Stuff, The Parent Trap) (71)
- 1967 – Cynthia Nixon, actress and activist (Sex and the City) (58)
- 1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, Formula 1 driver and 1997 world champion (54)
- 1981 – Leighton Meester, actress and singer (Gossip Girl) (44)
- 1987 – Jesse McCartney, singer and actor (Beautiful Soul) (38)
- 1998 – Elle Fanning, actress (Maleficent, The Great) (27)
Today’s Deaths:
- 1626 – Francis Bacon, English philosopher and scientific method pioneer (65)
- 1945 – Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian and anti-Nazi dissident (39)
- 1981 – Omar Bradley, U.S. Army General and WWII commander (88)
- 2005 – Andrea Dworkin, feminist writer and activist (58)
- 2011 – Sidney Lumet, director (12 Angry Men, Network) (86)
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