Events

Up to 1900 
193 - Septimius Severus is proclaimed Roman Emperor by the army in Illyricum.
1241 - Battle of Liegnitz: Mongol Empire forces defeat the German and Polish armies.
1388 - Despite being outnumbered 16 to 1, forces of the Old Swiss Confederacy are victorious over the Archduchy of Austria in the Battle of Nafels.
1413 - King Henry V of England is crowned.
1440 - Christopher of Bavaria is appointed King of Denmark.
1454 - The Treaty of Lodi is signed, establishing a balance of power among the northern Italian city states for almost 50 years.
1511 - Saint John's College, Cambridge, receives its charter.
1609 - Eighty Years' War: Spain and the Dutch Republic sign the Treaty of Antwerp.
1682 - Robert Cavelier de La Salle discovers the mouth of the Mississippi River.
1860 - On his phonautograph machine, Edouard-Leon Scott de Martinville makes the oldest-known recording of an audible human voice.
1865 – The American Civil War ends, as Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse in Virginia.
1867 – By a single vote, the United States Senate approves the treaty with Russia for the purchase of Russian America, present-day Alaska.

1901  2000 
1914 - Mexican Revolution: One of the world's first naval/air skirmishes takes place off the coast of western Mexico. 
1916 – World War I: Battle of Verdun - German forces launch their third offensive of the battle.
1917 - World War I: Battle of Arras - The battle begins when Canadian corps execute a massive assault on the Vimy Ridge.
1918 - The National Council of Bessarabia, in present-day Moldova, proclaims a union with Romania.
1939 – Marian Anderson sings at the Lincoln Memorial, after being denied the right to sing at Constitution Hall.
1940 – World War II: The Nazis invade Denmark and Norway.
1940 - World War II: Vidkun Quisling seizes power in Norway.
1942 - World War II: Bataan Death March - US forces surrender on the Bataan Peninsula.
1945 – World War II: The Battle of Königsberg, in East Prussia, ends.
1945 - The United States Atomic Energy Commission is formed.
1947 - The Glazier-Higgins-Woodward tornadoes kill 181 people in Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas.
1948 - President of Colombia Jorge Eliecer Gaitan is assassinated.
1948 - Fighters from the Irgun and Lehi Zionist paramilitary groups attack the Arab village of Deir Yassin near Jerusalem, killing over 100 people.
1952 - Hugo Gallivan's government is overthrown by the Bolivian National Revolution.
1957 – The Suez Canal opens to shipping.
1959 - Project Mercury: NASA announces the selection of the first seven US astronauts.
1961 - The Pacific Electric Railway in Los Angeles ends operations.
1963 – Winston Churchill becomes an honorary US citizen, becoming the first non-American to be given this honour.
1965 - The first indoor game of baseball is played.
1967 – The Boeing 737 makes its first flight.
1969 - The "Chicago Eight" plead not guilty to federal charges of conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.
1975 - The first game of the Philippine Basketball Association is played.
1981 - United States Navy nuclear submarine USS George Washington (SSBN-598) accidentally collides with Nissho Maru, a Japanese cargo ship, sinking it.
1989 – April 9 tragedy: In Tbilisi, in the then-Soviet Republic of Georgia, a peaceful pro-independence demonstration is broken up by the Soviet army, killing 20 people, and injuring hundreds.
1991 – The Republic of Georgia, under Zviad Gamsakhurdia, declares independence from the Soviet Union.
1992 – The British Conservative Party under John Major, wins a fourth term in office in the United Kingdom, defeating Neil Kinnock of the Labour Party. Kinnock resigns shortly after.
1992 - A US Federal Court finds Panama's former military leader Manuel Noriega guilty of drug and racketeering offences.
1999 – Niger's President Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara is overthrown, and killed at Niamey airport.

From 2001 
2003 – Baghdad falls to US forces, as Saddam Hussein's regime crumbles, while a statue of him is torn down in the centre of the city.
2005 – Charles, Prince of Wales marries Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. Their wedding had been postponed from the previous day, for the funeral of Pope John Paul II.
2009 – In Tbilisi, 60,000 people gather to protest against the Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
2011 – Seven people, including the gunman, are killed in a shooting at a mall, in Alphen an den Rijn, in the Netherlands.
2013 - Thirteen people are shot dead in a shooting rampage in a village south of Belgrade, Serbia.
2013 - Uhuru Kenyatta is formally sworn in as President of Kenya.
2017 - 2017 Palm Sunday church bombings occur in Tanta and Alexandria, Egypt, killing 45 people.
2019 - An election is held for the Israeli Knesset, with Prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking for a record fifth term in office.

Births

Up to 1900 
1283 – Margaret, Maid of Norway (d. 1290)
1336 – Tamerlane, also known as Timur, Turkic conqueror, in Transoxiana (d. 1405)
1498 - Jean, Cardinal of Lorraine (d. 1550)
1597 - John Davenport, English clergyman (d. 1670)
1686 - James Craggs the Younger, British politician (d. 1721)
1770 - Thomas Johann Seebeck, German physicist (d. 1831)
1773 – Étienne Aignan, translator, political writer, librettist, playwright, member of the Académie française (d. 1824)
1794 – Theobald Boehm, inventor of the modern flute.
1802 – Elias Lönnrot, Finnish physician and writer (d. 1884)
1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, British engineer (d. 1859)
1816 - Charles-Eugene Delaunay, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1872)
1817 - Alexander Thomson, Scottish architect (d. 1895)
1821 – Charles Baudelaire, French poet (d. 1867)
1830 – Eadweard Muybridge, English photographer, movie pioneer (d. 1904)
1834 - Edmond Laguerre, French mathematician (d. 1886)
1835 – King Leopold II of Belgium (d. 1909)
1846 - Paolo Tosti, Italian composer (d. 1916)
1848 – Helene Lange, German teacher (d. 1930)
1865 – Charles Proteus Steinmetz, German-born engineer and mathematician (d. 1923)
1865 - Adela Florence Nicolson, English poet (d. 1904)
1865 – Erich Ludendorff, German general in World War I (d. 1937)
1867 – Chris Watson, third Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1941)
1867 - Charles Winckler, Danish tug of war competitor (d. 1932)
1869 - Élie Cartan, French mathematician (d. 1951)
1872 – Léon Blum, Prime Minister of France (d. 1950)
1880 - Jan Letzel, Czech architect (d. 1925)
1882 - Frederick Francis IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1945)
1883 - Frank King, American cartoonist (d. 1969)
1888 – Sol Hurok, American impresario (d. 1974)
1889 – Efrem Zimbalist, Russian violinist (d. 1985)
1893 - Charles E. Burchfield, American painter (d. 1967)
1893 - Rahul Sankrityanan, Indian travel writer and scholar (d. 1962)
1895 - Michel Simon, French actor (d. 1975)
1897 – John B. Gambling, radio talk-show host (d. 1974)
1897 - Fred G. Aandahl, 23rd Governor of North Dakota (d. 1966)
1898 – Paul Robeson, American singer and political activist (d. 1976)
1898 – Curly Lambeau, American football coach, executive (d. 1965)

1901  1950 
1902 - Theodore Monod, French naturalist, explorer and scholar (d. 2000)
1903 – Ward Bond, actor (d. 1960) 
1904 – Sharkey Bonano, jazz musician (d. 1972)
1905 – J. William Fulbright, former Senator from Arkansas (d. 1995)
1906 - Hugh Gaitskell, British politician (d. 1963)
1906 - Rafaela Aparicio, Spanish actress (d. 1996)
1906 – Antal Dorati, Hungarian conductor (d. 1988)
1908 – Victor Vasarely, painter (d. 1997)
1910 – Abraham Ribicoff, American politician (d. 1998)
1912 – Lev Kopelev, Russian writer and humanist (d. 1997)
1914 - Koichi Oita, Japanese footballer (d. 1996)
1915 - Daniel Johnson, Sr., Canadian politician, 20th Premier of Quebec (d. 1968)
1917 – Brad Dexter, American actor (d. 2002)
1917 - Johannes Bobrowski, German poet (d. 1965)
1917 - Rolf Kauka, German comics creator and publisher (d. 2000)
1918 – Jørn Utzon, Danish architect (d. 2008)
1919 – J. Presper Eckert, inventor of the ENIAC computer (d. 1995)
1920 - Jorge Pacheco Areco, President of Uruguay (d. 1998)
1921 - Yitzhak Navon, 5th President of Israel (d. 2015)
1921 - Frankie Thomas, American actor (d. 2006)
1925 – Heinz Nixdorf, industrialist (d. 1985)
1925 - Virginia Gibson, American actress, singer and dancer (d. 2013)
1925 - Art Kane, American photographer (d. 1995)
1926 – Hugh Hefner, American editor and publisher (d. 2017)
1928 – Tom Lehrer, American musician, mathematician and satirist
1928 - Aubrey Woods, American actor and singer (d. 2013)
1929 - Manuel Jiménez de Parga, Spanish politician (d. 2014) 
1930 - Wallace McCain, Canadian businessman (d. 2001)
1930 - Alphonse Alley, President of Benin (d. 1987)
1930 - Nathaniel Branden, Canadian-American psychologist (d. 2014)
1931 - Leone Frollo, Italian comic book artist (d. 2018)
1931 - Richard Hatfield, Canadian politician, 26th Premier of New Brunswick (d. 1991) 
1932 – Carl Perkins, country and rockabilly musician (d. 1998)
1932 – Jim Fowler, American naturalist
1933 – Jean-Paul Belmondo, French actor
1933 - René Burri, Swiss photographer (d. 2014)
1935 – Avery Schreiber, actor (d. 2002)
1935 – Josef Fritzl, Austrian criminal
1936 - Valerie Solanas, American feminist writer (d. 1988)
1937 - Valerie Singleton, British television presenter
1937 – Marty Krofft, children's television producer
1938 - Aziz Asli, Iranian footballer (d. 2015)
1938 – Viktor Chernomyrdin, Russian politician (d. 2010)
1939 – Michael Learned, American actress
1940 - Jimmy Roberts, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 2015)
1941 - Hannah Gordon, Scottish actress
1942 – Brandon De Wilde, American actor (d. 1972)
1942 - Petar Nadoveza, Croatian footballer
1945 – Peter Gammons, American baseball sportswriter, journalist
1945 - Steve Gadd, American musician
1946 - Sara Parkin, Scottish activist and politician
1948 - Jaya Bachchan, Indian actress and politician
1948 - Michel Parizeau, Canadian ice hockey player and coach
1948 - Patty Pravo, Italian singer

1951  1975 
1952 - Jerzy Szmajdzinski, Polish politician (d. 2010)
1953 – Hal Ketchum, American country musician
1954 – Dennis Quaid, actor (The Right Stuff, Any Given Sunday, Traffic)
1954 – Iain Duncan Smith, British politician
1955 - Yanina Benguigui, French director and politician
1956 - Michael Hashim, American saxophonist
1956 - Miguel Angel Russo, Argentine footballer and coach
1956 - Marina Zueva, Russian ice dancer and coach
1957 – Seve Ballesteros, Spanish golfer (d. 2011)
1958 - Nigel Slater, English chef and cookery writer
1959 - Bernard Jenkin, English politician
1962 - Jeff Turner, American basketball player and broadcasting announcer
1963 - Marc Jacobs, American fashion designer
1964 - Doug Ducey, American politician, 23rd Governor of Arizona
1964 - Akihiro Nagashima, Japanese footballer
1965 - Paulina Porizkova, Czech-American actress and model
1965 – Jeff Zucker, American television executive
1965 - Mark Pellegrino, American actor
1966 - John Hammond, English weather presenter
1966 – Cynthia Nixon, American actress
1967 - Sam Harris, American philosopher and writer
1970 - Tricia Penrose, English actress and singer
1971 – Jacques Villeneuve, French-Canadian racing driver
1972 - Alain Berset, Swiss politician
1972 - Neve McIntosh, Scottish actress
1973 - Spencer Rice, Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter
1974 – Alexander Pichushkin, Russian serial killer
1974 – Jenna Jameson, American pornographic actress
1975 – Robbie Fowler, English footballer (soccer)
1975 - Balzhinima Tsyrempilov, Russian archer

From 1976 
1977 – Gerard Way, American rock band frontman (My Chemical Romance)
1978 – Jorge Andrade, Portuguese footballer
1978 – Rachel Stevens, English singer
1979 – Keshia Knight Pulliam, American actress (Rudy Huxtable, The Cosby Show)
1979 – Mario Matt, Austrian skier
1979 - Albert Hammond, Jr., American guitarist (The Strokes)
1980 – Jerko Leko, Croatian footballer
1980 - Isabelle Severino, French gymnast and actress
1980 - Rachel Specter, American actress
1981 - Ireneusz Jelen, Polish footballer
1981 – Eric Harris, one of the gunmen at Columbine (d. April 20 1999)
1981 - Albin Pelak, Bosnian footballer
1982 - Jay Maruchel, Canadian actor, filmmaker and musician
1985 - Antonio Nocerino, Italian footballer
1985 – Nichole Arsenault, model
1986 - Leighton Meester, American actress
1986 - Brian Larsen, American singer, musician and record producer
1987 – Jesse McCartney, American actor and singer
1990 – Kristen Stewart, American actress
1998 – Elle Fanning, American actress
1999 - Isaac Hempstead Wright, English actor
2000 – Jackie Evancho, American singer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
585 - Emperor Jimmu of Japan
93 - Yuan An, Chinese statesman
436 - Tan Daoji, Chinese statesman
491 – Zeno, Byzantine Emperor
654 - Matei Basarab, Romanian prince (b. 1588)
715 – Pope Constantine
1024 – Pope Benedict VIII
1137 – William X, Duke of Aquitaine (b. 1099)
1483 – King Edward IV of England (b. 1442)
1484 – Edward of Middleham, Prince of Wales (b. 1473)
1492 - Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian statesman (b. 1449)
1553 – François Rabelais, French writer
1557 – Mikael Agricola, Finnish scholar (b. 1510)
1626 – Sir Francis Bacon, English philosopher, statesman, and essayist (b. 1561)
1693 – Roger de Rabutin, Comte de Bussy, French writer (b. 1618)
1739 – Nicolas Saunderson, English scientist and mathematician (b. 1682)
1747 – Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, Scottish clan chief
1754 – Christian Wolff, German philosopher (b. 1679)
1761 – William Law, English minister (b. 1686)
1768 - Sarah Fielding, British writer (b. 1710)
1804 – Jacques Necker, French statesman (b. 1732)
1806 – William V of Orange, Stadtholder of the Dutch Republic
1872 - Erastus Corning, American businessman and politician (b. 1794)
1876 - Charles Goodyear, American politician (b. 1804)
1882 - Dante Gabriel Rossetti, English painter, illustrator and poet (b. 1828)
1889 – Michel Eugène Chevreul, French chemist (b. 1786)

1901  2000 
1917 – James Hope Moulton, English scholar of Classical Greek (b. 1863)
1936 – Ferdinand Tönnies, German sociologist (b. 1855)
1940 – Mrs. Patrick Campbell, English actress (b. 1865)
1944 – Evgeniya Rudneva, Russian World War II heroine (executed) (b. 1920)
1945 - German resistance activists executed:
Wilhelm Canaris, German admiral (b. 1887)
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, German theologian (executed) (b. 1906)
Hans von Dohnanyi, German jurist (b. 1902)
Georg Elser, German carpenter (b. 1903)
Hans Oster, German army general (b. 1887)
Karl Sack, German jurist (b. 1896)
1948 – Jorge Eliécer Gaitán, Colombian politician (b. 1903).
1948 - George Carpenter, 5th General of the Salvation Army (b. 1872)
1959 – Frank Lloyd Wright, American architect (b. 1867)
1961 – King Zog of Albania (b. 1895)
1963 – Eddie Edwards, American jazz trombonist (b. 1891)
1970 - Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-American illustrator (b. 1896)
1976 – Phil Ochs, American singer (b. 1940)
1980 - Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, Iraqi cleric and philosopher (b. 1935)
1982 - Wilfrid Pelletier, Canadian conductor (b. 1896)
1988 – Brook Benton, American actor (b. 1931)
1991 – Martin Hannett, record producer (b. 1948)
1996 – Richard Condon, American novelist (b. 1915)
1996 – James W. Rouse, American real estate developer, activist, and philanthropist (b. 1914)
1997 – Laura Nyro, American singer and songwriter (b. 1947)
1999 – Ibrahim Baré Maïnassara, Niger politician and general (b. 1949)

From 2001 
2001 – Willie Stargell, American baseball player (b. 1940)
2002 – Leopold Vietoris, Austrian mathematician (b. 1891)
2002 - Pat Flaherty, American racing driver (b. 1926)
2004 - Harry Babbitt, American singer (b. 1933)
2005 – Andrea Dworkin, American feminist and writer (b. 1946)
2009 - Nick Adenhart, American baseball player (b. 1986)
2010 – Meinhardt Raabe, American actor (b. 1915)
2011 – Sidney Lumet, American movie director (b. 1924)
2011 – Daniel Catan, Mexican composer (b. 1949)
2013 - Paolo Soleri, Italian-American architect (b. 1919)
2014 - A. N. R. Robinson, 3rd President of Trinidad and Tobago (b. 1926)
2014 - Norman Girvan, Jamaican economist, educator and politician (b. 1941)
2014 - Jos Chabert, Belgian politician (b. 1933)
2015 - Nina Companeez, French movie director and screenwriter (b. 1937)
2015 - Paul Almond, Canadian moviemaker (b. 1931)
2015 - Alexander Dalgarno, British physicist (b. 1928)
2015 - John Toohey, Australian judge (b. 1930)
2016 - Arthur Anderson, American voice actor (b. 1922)
2016 - Duane Clarridge, American spy (b. 1932)
2016 - Tony Conrad, American musician, composer, video artist and professor (b. 1940)
2016 - Juris Ekmanis, Latvian academic (b. 1941)
2016 - Will Smith, American football player (b. 1981)
2017 - Knut Borge, Norwegian journalist (b. 1949)
2017 - Peter Hansen, American actor (b. 1921)
2017 - Harry Huskey, American computer scientist (b. 1916)
2017 - Kim Young-ae, South Korean actress (b. 1951)
2017 - Dieter Kottysch, German boxer (b. 1943)
2017 - John Clarke, New Zealand-Australian novelist, actor, screenwriter, comedian and satirist (b. 1948)
2017 - Carme Chacón, Spanish politician (b. 1971)
2017 - Jean Périmony, French actor and theatre director (b. 1931)
2018 - Felix Chen, Taiwanese conductor (b. 1942)
2018 - Edelgard Huber von Gersdorff, German supercentenarian (b. 1905)
2019 - Richard E. Cole, American Air Force officer (b. 1915)
2019 - Nikolai Gorbachev, Belarussian sprint canoeist (b. 1948)
2019 - Leif Haraldseth, Norwegian trade unionist and politician (b. 1929)
2019 - James D. Hudnall, American comic book writer (b. 1957)
2019 - K. M. Mani, Indian politician (b. 1933)
2019 - Marilynn Smith, American golfer (b. 1929)
2019 - Charles Van Doren, American educator, writer and television quiz show contestant (b. 1926)
2021 - Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, member of the British royal family and consort of Queen Elizabeth II (b.1921)

Observances 
 Martyrs' Day (Tunisia)
 Day of National Unity in Georgia
 Day of the Finnish language
 Day of Valour (Philippines)
 Constitution Day (Kosovo)
 Vimy Ridge Day (Canada)

April 09