Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A Timeline Of Events That Occurred On This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
April 15
| 1755 | English lexicographer Dr. Samuel Johnson publishes his Dictionary of the English Language. | |
| 1784 | The first balloon is flown in Ireland. | |
| 1813 | U.S. troops under James Wilkinson siege the Spanish-held city of Mobile in future state of Alabama. | |
| 1858 | At the Battle of Azimghur, the Mexicans defeat Spanish loyalists. | |
| 1871 | 'Wild Bill' Hickok becomes the marshal of Abilene, Kansas. | |
| 1861 | President Lincoln mobilizes Federal army. | |
| 1865 | Abraham Lincoln dies from John Wilkes Booth's assassination bullet. | |
| 1912 | With her band playing on the deck, the ocean liner Titanic sinks at 2:27 a.m. in the North Atlantic. | |
| 1917 | British forces defeat the Germans at the battle of Arras. | |
| 1919 | British troops kill 400 Indians at Amritsar, India. | |
| 1923 | Insulin becomes generally available for people suffering with diabetics. | |
| 1923 | The first sound films shown to a paying audience are exhibited at the Rialto Theater in New York City. | |
| 1940 | French and British troops land at Narvik, Norway. | |
| 1945 | President Franklin D. Roosevelt is buried on the grounds of his Hyde Park home. | |
| 1948 | Arab forces are defeated in battle with Israeli forces. | |
| 1952 | President Harry Truman signs the official Japanese peace treaty. | |
| 1955 | Ray Kroc starts the McDonald's chain of fast food restaurants. | |
| 1959 | Cuban leader Fidel Castro begins a U.S. goodwill tour. | |
| 1960 | The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organizes at Shaw University. | |
| 1971 | North Vietnamese troops ambush a company of Delta Raiders from the 101st Airborne Division near Fire Support Base Bastogne in Vietnam. The American troops were on a rescue mission. | |
| 1986 | U.S. warplanes attack Libya. | |
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Born on April 15 |
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| 1452 | Leonardo da Vinci, Italian painter, sculptor, scientist and visionary | |
| 1684 | Catherine I, empress of Russia | |
| 1741 | Charles Wilson Peale, portrait painter and inventor | |
| 1800 | Sir James Clark Ross, Scottish explorer who located the Magnetic North Pole. | |
| 1832 | Wilhelm Busch, German painter and poet, created the precursor to the comic strip. | |
| 1843 | Henry James, writer and critic. | |
| 1874 | George Harrison Shull, American botanist, developer of hybrid corn. | |
| 1874 | Johannes Stark, Novel Prize-winning German physicist. | |
| 1880 | Max Wertheimer, Czech-born psychologist. | |
| 1889 | Thomas Hart Benton, painter, muralist. | |
| 1889 | Asa Phillip Randolph, American labor leader and Civil Rights advocate. | |
| 1898 | Bessie Smith, American blues singer. | |
| 1904 | Arshile Gorky, abstract painter. | |
| 1922 | Harold Washington, first black mayor of Chicago | |
| 1922 | Neville Mariner, conductor. | |
| 1932 | Eva Figes, British novelist. | |
| 1940 | Jeffrey Archer, English novelist and politician (Kane and Abel, Honor Among Thieves). | |
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