TODAY IN HISTORY

TODAY IS THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018

On this day in history: 1242 - Russian troops repelled an invasion attempt by the Teutonic Knights.

1614 - Pocahontas married English colonist John Rolfe in Virginia.

1621 - The Mayflower sailed from Plymouth, MA, on a return trip to England.

1843 - Queen Victoria proclaimed Hong Kong to be a British crown colony.

1895 - Playwright Oscar Wilde lost his criminal libel case against the Marquess of Queensberry. Wilde had been accused of homosexual practices.

1908 - The Japanese Army reached the Yalu River as the Russians retreated.

1919 - Eamon de Valera became president of Ireland.

1930 - Mahatma Ghandi defied British law by making salt in India.

1932 - Australia’s best-known racehorse, Phar Lap, dies under suspicious circumstances. 1941 - German commandos secured docks along the Danube River in preparation for Germany’s invasion of the Balkans.

1953 - Jomo Kenyatta was convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison for orchestrating the Mau-Mau rebellion in Kenya. 1955 - Winston Churchill resigned as British prime minister.

1979 - Kakadu National Park is proclaimed.

1986 - A discotheque in Berlin was bombed by Libyan terrorists. The US attacked Libya with warplanes in retaliation on April 15, 1986.

1989 - In Poland, accords were signed between Solidarity and the government that set free elections for June 1989. The eight-year ban on Solidarity was also set to be lifted.

1998 - The Akashi Kaikyo Bridge in Japan opened becoming the largest suspension bridge in the world. It links Shikoku and Honshu. The bridge cost about $3.8 billion.

1999 - Two Libyans suspected of bombing a Pan Am jet in 1988 were handed over so they could be flown to the Netherlands for trial. 270 people were killed in the bombing.

2004 - Near Mexico City’s international airport, lightning struck the jet Mexican President Vicente Fox was on.

2009 - North Korea launched the Kwangmyongsong-2 rocket, prompting an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council.