13 April 861

A Wednesday in history

Weekday

Wednesday

Season

Spring (N. Hemisphere)

Century

9th century

Records

369

  1. 2017

    War in Afghanistan: In an airstrike in Nangarhar Province, the U.S. military dropped the most powerful conventional bomb used in combat.

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  2. 2011

    The board of Rosendale, New York, voted 3–2 to approve the purchase of Joppenbergh Mountain.

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  3. 2009

    Twenty-three people died in a fire at a homeless hostel in Kamień Pomorski; it was Poland's deadliest fire since 1980.

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  4. 2009

    Andrew Hussie's webcomic Homestuck debuted, and later concluded on the same day in 2016.

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  5. 1997

    In golf, 21-year-old Tiger Woods became the youngest player to win the Masters Tournament, breaking the record for the lowest four-round score.

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  6. 1996

    An Israel Defense Forces helicopter fired rockets at an ambulance, killing two women and four children in Mansouri, Lebanon.

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  7. 1976

    Forty people died in an explosion at an ammunition factory in Lapua, Finland.

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  8. 1973

    Catch a Fire, the landmark reggae album by Bob Marley and the Wailers, was released.

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  9. 1958

    In the midst of the Cold War, American pianist Van Cliburn won the inaugural International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

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  10. 1956

    The Vietnamese National Army captured Ba Cụt, a military commander of the religious sect Hòa Hảo, which ran a de facto state in South Vietnam in opposition to Prime Minister Ngô Đình Diệm.

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  11. 1953

    Ian Fleming's novel Casino Royale was published as the first work to feature the British spy character James Bond.

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  12. 1953

    The CIA began Project MKUltra, an illegal, covert human research program into mind control.

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  13. 1946

    Nakam, a Jewish organization seeking revenge for the Holocaust, attempted to poison thousands of SS prisoners at Langwasser internment camp, but did not kill anyone.

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  14. 1943

    The Neoclassical Jefferson Memorial (pictured) in Washington, D.C., was formally dedicated on the 200th anniversary of Thomas Jefferson's birth.

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  15. 1943

    World War II: German news announced the discovery of a mass grave of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in Katyn, Russia, causing a diplomatic rift between the Polish government-in-exile and the Soviet Union.

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  16. 1942

    Austrian soldier Anton Schmid was executed for rescuing Jews from the Ponary massacre in Vilnius.

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  17. 1930

    C. Rajagopalachari led the non-violent Vedaranyam March from Trichinopoly towards Vedaranyam.

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  18. 1829

    The Roman Catholic Relief Act received royal assent, removing the most substantial restrictions on Catholics in the United Kingdom.

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  19. 1777

    American Revolutionary War: British and Hessian forces conducted a surprise attack against a Continental Army outpost at Bound Brook, New Jersey.

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  20. 1742

    The first performance of the oratorio Messiah by George Frideric Handel (pictured) took place in Dublin.

    Source

Photo archive

24 historic images from this day — tap to open the gallery.

What was life like?

Prices, jobs, food, music and everyday routine — the world as it felt to live in.

Sources & fact check

Every claim is traced to primary sources, archives, universities and the press — with an explicit confidence rating. Dossiers are generated once and cached permanently.