April 13

Events
Up to 1900
1111 - Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor is crowned.
1204 - Constantinople falls to the crusaders of the Fourth Crusade, temporarily ending the Byzantine Empire.
1598 - Henry V of France issues the Edict of Nantes, allowing religious freedom for Huguenots. The edict is repealed in 1685.
1742 - George Frideric Handel's oratorio Messiah has its world premiere in Dublin, Ireland.
1749 - A cyclone off Southeast India sinks British ships HMS Pembroke and HMS Namur, killing 850 people. Only 14 survive.
1777 - American Revolutionary War; American forces are ambushed and defeated in the Battle of Bound Brook, New Jersey.
1796 - The first elephant ever seen in the United States arrives from India.
1829 - Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom are granted the right to vote and are allowed to sit in parliament.
1849 - Hungary becomes a Republic.
1861 - American Civil War: Fort Sumter, South Carolina, surrenders to Confederate forces.
1868 - The Abyssynian War ends as British and Indian troops capture Maqdala.
1870 - New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art is founded.
1873 - The Colfax Massacre, in which over 60 African Americans are murdered, takes place in Colfax, Louisiana.
1901 2000
1904 - The Russian battleship Petropavlovsk of the Russian Pacific Fleet hits a Japanese mine and sinks. The painter Vasily Vereshchagin is among those who are killed in the incident.
1909 - The Turkish military reverses the Ottoman countercoup of 1909 to force the overthrow of Sultan Abdul Hamid II.
1919 - Establishment of the Provisional Government of Korea.
1919 - Jallianwala Bagh massacre: British troops gun down at least 379 unarmed demonstrators in Amritsar, India. 1,200 are injured.
1934 - While still under construction, the railway bridge in Saratov, Russia, collapses, killing 150 people.
1941 - The USSR and Japan sign a pact of neutrality.
1943 - The Thomas Jefferson Memorial is dedicated in Washington, DC.
1943 - World War II: The discovery of mass graves of Polish prisoners of war killed by Soviet forces in the Katyn massacre is announced. This causes a rift between the Polish Government-in-exile (based in London) and the Soviet Union, which denies responsibility.
1944 - The USSR and New Zealand establish diplomatic relations.
1945 - World War II: German troops kill over 1,000 political and military prisoners in Gardelegen, Germany.
1945 - World War II: Soviet and Bulgarian forces capture Vienna.
1948 - Hadassah medical convoy massacre: In an ambush, 79 Jewish doctors, nurses and medical students from Hadassah Hospital and a British soldier are massacred by Arabs in Sheikh Jarra near Jerusalem.
1960 - The US launches Transit 1-B, the world's first satellite navigation system.
1964 - Sidney Poitier becomes the first African American to win a Best Actor Oscar.
1970 - Houston, we've had a problem: An oxygen tank aboard Apollo 13 explodes, causing major damage, and putting the crew at risk. They safely return to Earth.
1972 - The Universal Postal Union decides to recognize the People's Republic of China instead of the Republic of China.
1975 - At least 17 people are killed in a gun battle between Palestinian Guerrillas and Christian militants in Beirut.
1984 - India annexes territory beyond the Line of Control.
1986 - Pope John Paul II becomes the first Pope to visit a Jewish place of worship when he visits a synagogue in Rome.
1987 - Portugal agrees to return Macau to China's control in 1999.
1992 - In the United Kingdom, the leader of the Labour Party, Neil Kinnock, announces his resignation.
1992 - Chicago is flooded.
1997 - Tiger Woods becomes the youngest golfer to win the US Masters tournament.
From 2001
2002 - Armenian anti-government protests are violently crushed.
2003 - The National Library in Baghdad is set on fire, with many historical documents being lost.
2013 - Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum is officially re-opened after a decade-long restoration.
2014 - A bus crash in Veracruz, Mexico, kills 36 people.
2017 - The United States drops its biggest-ever non-nuclear bomb in eastern Afghanistan.
Births
Up to 1900
1506 - Peter Faber, French theologian (d. 1546)
1519 - Catherine of Medici, Queen of France (d. 1589)
1570 - Guy Fawkes, English conspirator (d. 1606)
1573 - Christina of Holstein-Gottorp (d. 1625)
1593 - Thomas Wentworth, 1st Earl of Stratford, English politician (d. 1641)
1732 - Frederick North, Lord North, Prime Minister of Great Britain (d. 1792)
1735 - Isaac Low, American merchant and politician (d. 1791)
1743 - Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States (d. 1826)
1747 - Louis II, Duke of Orleans (d. 1793)
1771 - Richard Trevithick, Cornish engineer (d. 1833)
1780 - Alexander Mitchell, Irish engineer (d. 1868)
1784 - Friedrich Graf von Wrangel, Prussian field marshal (d. 1877)
1802 - Leopold Fitzinger, Austrian zoologist (d. 1884)
1808 - Antonio Meucci, Italian inventor (d. 1889)
1816 - Sterndale Bennett, English composer, pianist and conductor (d. 1875)
1825 - Thomas D'Arcy McGee, Canadian journalist and politician (d. 1868)
1832 - Juan Montalvo, Ecuadorean writer (d. 1889)
1850 - Arthur Matthew Weld Downing, Irish astronomer (d. 1917)
1852 - Frank Winfield Woolworth, American businessman (d. 1919)
1860 - James Ensor, Belgian painter (d. 1949)
1864 - Bertha Zuckerkandl, Austrian writer and journalist (d. 1945)
1866 - Butch Cassidy, American outlaw (d. 1908)
1872 - Jan Szczepanik, Polish chemist and inventor (d. 1926)
1872 - John Cameron, Scottish footballer (d. 1935)
1873 - John W. Davis, American politician (d. 1955)
1875 - Ray Lyman Wilbur, American doctor, academic and politician (d. 1949)
1885 - Georg Lukacs, Hungarian philosopher and critic (d. 1971)
1890 - Frank Murphy, 56th United States Attorney General (d. 1949)
1891 - Nella Larsen, American author (d. 1964)
1891 - Robert Scholl, German politician (d. 1973)
1892 - Robert Watson-Watt, Scottish inventor (d. 1973)
1894 - Arthur Fadden, 13th Prime Minister of Australia (d. 1973)
1897 - Werner Voss, German pilot (d. 1917)
1899 - Alfred Mosher Butts, American architect and inventor of Scrabble (d. 1993)
1899 - Alfred Schutz, Austrian philosopher (d. 1959)
1900 - Pierre Molinier, French painter and photographer (d. 1976)
1901 1950
1906 - Samuel Beckett, Irish playwright (d. 1989)
1906 - Gabriel Ramanantsoa, President of Madagascar (d. 1979)
1907 - Harold Stassen, American politician, 25th Governor of Minnesota (d. 2001)
1909 - Stanislaw Ulam, Ukrainian-American mathematician (d. 1984)
1911 - Ico Hitrec, Croatian footballer (d. 1946)
1917 - Bill Clements, American politician, 42nd Governor of Texas (d. 2011)
1919 - Madalyn Murray O'Hair, American activist, founder of American Atheists (d. 1995)
1919 - Howard Keel, American actor (d. 2004)
1920 - Roberto Calvi, Italian banker (d. 1982)
1920 - Liam Cosgrave, Irish Taoiseach (d. 2017)
1920 - Claude Cheysson, French politician (d. 2012)
1921 - Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza, Dutch-Swiss businessman (d. 2002)
1921 - Dona Ivone Lara, Brazilian singer and composer (d. 2018)
1922 - John Braine, English novelist (d. 1986)
1922 - Julius Nyerere, 1st President of Tanzania (d. 1999)
1923 - Don Adams, American actor (d. 2005)
1924 - Stanley Donen, American director and choreographer (d. 2019)
1925 - Michael Halliday, English-Australian linguist (d. 2018)
1926 - John Spencer-Churchill, 11th Duke of Marlborough, English aristocrat and businessman (d. 2014)
1927 - Maurice Ronet, French actor and director (d. 1983)
1928 - Alan Clark, English politician (d. 1999)
1929 - Marilynn Smith, American golfer (d. 2019)
1930 - Sergiu Nicolaescu, Romanian director, screenwriter and politician (d. 2013)
1931 - Robert Enrico, French director and screenwriter (d. 2001)
1931 - Jon Stone, American screenwriter and producer (d. 1997)
1932 - Orlando Letelier, Chilean-American economist, politician and educator (d. 1976)
1934 - John Muckler, Canadian ice hockey player, coach and manager
1937 - Berge Furre, Norwegian politician, historian and theologian (d. 2016)
1939 - Seamus Heaney, Irish writer (d. 2013)
1939 - Paul Sorvino, American actor
1940 - J. M. G. Le Clezio, French writer
1940 - Max Mosley, English racing executive
1940 - Jim McNab, Scottish footballer (d. 2006)
1941 - Michael Stuart Brown, American geneticist
1941 - Margaret Price, Welsh soprano (d. 2011)
1942 - Bill Conti, American composer and conductor
1946 - Al Green, American singer
1948 - Juan Taverna, Argentine footballer (d. 2014)
1949 - Christopher Hitchens, British journalist, writer and critic (d. 2011)
1950 - Ron Perlman, American actor
1951 1975
1951 - Peter Davison, British actor
1951 - Joachim Streich, East German footballer
1951 - Kaci Kullmann Five, Norwegian politician (d. 2017)
1951 - Max Weinberg, American drummer
1951 - Peabo Bryson, American singer
1953 - Stephen Byers, British politician
1953 - Brigitte Macron, French teacher, wife of Emmanuel Macron
1955 - Ole von Beust, German politician, former Mayor of Hamburg
1960 - Rudi Voller, German footballer
1962 - Edivaldo Martins Fonseca, Brazilian footballer (d. 1993)
1962 - Hillel Slovak, Israeli-born guitarist (d. 1988)
1963 - Garry Kasparov, Russian chess player
1964 - Caroline Rhea, Canadian actress
1964 - Andy Goram, Scottish footballer
1964 - John Swinney, Scottish politician
1964 - Davis Love III, American golfer
1966 - Ali Boumnijel, Tunisian footballer
1968 - Margrethe Vestager, Danish politician
1970 - Rick Schroder, American actor and director
1972 - Mariusz Czerkawski, Polish ice hockey player
1974 - David Zdrilic, Australian footballer
1974 - Marta Jandova, Czech singer
From 1976
1976 - Valentina Cervi, Italian actress
1976 - Yoo Ji-tae, South Korean actor and director
1978 - Carles Puyol, Spanish-Catalan footballer
1978 - James Jordan, English dancer and choreographer
1979 - Meghann Shaugnessy, American tennis player
1979 - Tony Lundon, Irish singer-songwriter, producer and dancer (Liberty X)
1980 - Quentin Richardson, American basketball player
1980 - Jason Maguire, Irish jockey
1980 - Alan Melikdjanian, Latvian-American actor, director and producer
1981 - Gemma Doyle, Scottish politician
1981 - Courtney Peldon, American actress
1983 - Nicole Cooke, Welsh road racing cyclist
1983 - Schalk Burger, South African rugby player
1983 - Claudio Bravo, Chilean footballer
1983 - Heidi Anderson, American voice actress
1984 - Anders Lindegaard, Danish footballer
1985 - Anna Jennings-Edquist, Australian actress, director and producer
1987 - Brandon Hardesty, American actor
1987 - Allison Weiss, American singer-songwriter
1988 - Petteri Kopponen, Finnish basketball player
1988 - Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira, Brazilian footballer
1989 - Nastassia Mionchyk-Ivanova, Belarussian long jumper
1990 - Alyssa Mendonsa, Indian singer
1992 - George North, Welsh rugby player
1993 - Hannah Marks, American actress
Deaths
Up to 1900
548 - Ly Nam De, Emperor of Vietnam (b. 503)
814 - Krum, Bulgarian ruler
1093 - Prince Vsevolod of Kiev (b. 1030)
1138 - Simon I, Duke of Lorraine (b. 1076)
1592 - Bartolomeo Ammannati, Italian architect and sculptor (b. 1511)
1605 - Tsar Boris Godunov of Russia (b. 1551)
1794 - Nicolas Chamfort, French playwright (b. 1741)
1853 - Leopold Gmelin, German chemist (b. 1788)
1853 - James Iredell, Jr., American politician, 23rd Governor of North Carolina (b. 1788)
1868 - Tewodros II, Emperor of Ethiopia (b. 1818)
1880 - Robert Fortune, Scottish botanist (b. 1813)
1882 - Bruno Bauer, German historian and philosopher (b. 1809)
1901 2000
1904 - Vasily Vereshchagin, Russian painter (b. 1842)
1904 - Stepan Makarov, Russian naval commander (b. 1849)
1911 - John McLane, Scottish-American politician, 50th Governor of New Hampshire (b. 1852)
1911 - George Washington Glick, American politician, 9th Governor of Kansas (b. 1827)
1912 - Ishikawa Takuboku, Japanese writer (b. 1886)
1918 - Lavr Georgevich Kornilov, Russian general (b. 1870)
1927 - Georg Voigt, German politician (b. 1866)
1936 - Konstantinos Demertzis, 129th Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1876)
1938 - Grey Owl, English-Canadian conservationist (b. 1888)
1941 - Annie Jump Cannon, American astronomer (b. 1863)
1942 - Anton Uesson, Estonian engineer and politician (b. 1879)
1945 - Ernst Cassirer, German philosopher (b. 1874)
1954 - Samuel Jones, American high jumper (b. 1880)
1954 - Angus Lewis Macdonald, Canadian politician, 12th Premier of Nova Scotia (b. 1890)
1956 - Emil Nolde, German painter (b. 1867)
1962 - Culbert Olson, American politician, 29th Governor of California (b. 1876)
1966 - Georges Duhamel, French writer (b. 1884)
1966 - Abdul Salam Arif, 2nd President of Iraq (b. 1921)
1972 - Johannes Sveinsson Kjarval, Icelandic painter (b. 1885)
1975 - Larry Parks, American actor (b. 1914)
1975 - Francois Tombalbaye, 1st President of Chad (b. 1918)
1981 - Prince Asaka Yasuhiko of Japan (b. 1887)
1984 - Richard Hurndall, British actor (b. 1910)
1999 - Ortvin Sarapu, New Zealand chess player (b. 1924)
1999 - Willi Stoph, East German politician (b. 1914)
2000 - Giorgio Bassani, Italian writer (b. 1916)
From 2001
2002 - Desmond Titterington, Northern Irish racing driver (b. 1928)
2004 - Caron Keating, English-Irish television host (b. 1962)
2006 - Muriel Spark, Scottish writer (b. 1918)
2008 - Mark Speight, English children's television presenter (b. 1965) (body found on this date)
2008 - John Archibald Wheeler, American theoretical physicist (b. 1911)
2011 - Buster Martin, French-British marathon runner (b. 1906 or 1913)
2013 - Lin Yang-kang, Chinese-Taiwanese politician (b. 1927)
2014 - Ernesto Laclau, Argentine political theorist (b. 1935)
2014 - Peter Drummond-Murray of Mastrick, Scottish herald and banker (b. 1929)
2015 - Ronnie Carroll, Northern Irish singer and politician (b. 1934)
2015 - Thelma Coyne Long, Australian tennis player (b. 1918)
2015 - Herb Trimpe, American comic book artist (b. 1939)
2015 - Eduardo Galeano, Uruguayan journalist, novelist and writer (b. 1940)
2015 - Gunter Grass, German novelist (b. 1927)
2015 - Orma Slack, Canadian supercentenarian (b. 1903)
2016 - Mariano Mores, Argentine tango composer and pianist (b. 1918)
2016 - Manouchehr Sotodeh, Iranian geographer (b. 1913)
2016 - Gareth Thomas, Welsh actor (b. 1945)
2016 - Ray Thornton, American attorney and politician (b. 1928)
2016 - Nera White, American basketball player (b. 1935)
2017 - Fred Goldsmith, Australian football player (b. 1932)
2017 - David Mwiraria, Kenyan politician (b. 1938)
2017 - Dan Rooney, American football executive and diplomat (b. 1932)
2017 - K. S. Chandrasekharan, Indian-Swiss mathematician (b. 1920)
2018 - Art Bell, American author and radio host (b. 1945)
2018 - Joy Laville, English-Mexican sculptor, painter and potter (b. 1923)
2018 - Milos Forman, Czech-American film director and screenwriter (b. 1932)
2019 - Francisca Aguirre, Spanish poet (b. 1930)
2019 - Tony Buzan, English author (b. 1942)
2019 - Neus Catala, Spanish Resistance fighter and Holocaust survivor (b. 1915)
2019 - Paul Greengard, American neuroscientist (b. 1925)
2019 - Norio Kaifu, Japanese astronomer (b. 1943)
2019 - D. Babu Paul, Indian civil servant (b. 1941)
2019 - Paul Raymond, English musician (b. 1945)
2019 - S. K. Shivakumar, Indian rocket scientist (b. 1953)
2019 - Lydia Wideman, Finnish cross-country skier (b. 1920)
2019 - Yvette Williams, New Zealand athlete (b. 1929)
Observances
Songkan (Laos)
Songkran (Thailand)
Cambodian New Year
Thomas Jefferson's birthday (United States)
Days of the year