On This Day in History - April 16 Lenin Returns to Russia

Once again, it should be reiterated, that this does not pretend to be a very extensive history of what happened on this day (nor is it the most original - the links can be found down below). If you know something that I am missing, by all means, shoot me an email or leave a comment, and let me know!

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

Apr 16, 1917: Lenin returns

On April 16, 1917, Vladimir Lenin, leader of the revolutionary Bolshevik Party, returns to Petrograd after a decade of exile to take the reins of the Russian Revolution. One month before, Czar Nicholas II had been forced from power when Russian army troops joined a workers' revolt in Petrograd, the Russian capital.  

Born Vladimir Ilich Ulyanov in 1870, Lenin was drawn to the revolutionary cause after his brother was executed in 1887 for plotting to assassinate Czar Alexander III. He studied law and took up practice in Petrograd (now St. Petersburg), where he associated with revolutionary Marxist circles. In 1895, he helped organize Marxist groups in the capital into the "Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Working Class," which attempted to enlist workers to the Marxist cause. In December 1895, Lenin and the other leaders of the Union were arrested. Lenin was jailed for a year and then exiled to Siberia for a term of three years.  

After the end of his exile, in 1900, Lenin went to Western Europe, where he continued his revolutionary activity. It was during this time that he adopted the pseudonym Lenin. In 1902, he published a pamphlet titled What Is to Be Done? which argued that only a disciplined party of professional revolutionaries could bring socialism to Russia. In 1903, he met with other Russian Marxists in London and established the Russian Social-Democratic Workers' Party (RSDWP). However, from the start there was a split between Lenin's Bolsheviks (Majoritarians), who advocated militarism, and the Mensheviks (Minoritarians), who advocated a democratic movement toward socialism. These two groups increasingly opposed each other within the framework of the RSDWP, and Lenin made the split official at a 1912 conference of the Bolshevik Party.  

After the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1905, Lenin returned to Russia. The revolution, which consisted mainly of strikes throughout the Russian empire, came to an end when Nicholas II promised reforms, including the adoption of a Russian constitution and the establishment of an elected legislature. However, once order was restored, the czar nullified most of these reforms, and in 1907 Lenin was again forced into exile.  

Lenin opposed World War I, which began in 1914, as an imperialistic conflict and called on proletariat soldiers to turn their guns on the capitalist leaders who sent them down into the murderous trenches. For Russia, World War I was an unprecedented disaster: Russian casualties were greater than those sustained by any nation in any previous war. Meanwhile, the economy was hopelessly disrupted by the costly war effort, and in March 1917 riots and strikes broke out in Petrograd over the scarcity of food. Demoralized army troops joined the strikers, and on March 15 Nicholas II was forced to abdicate, ending centuries of czarist rule. In the aftermath of the February Revolution (known as such because of Russia's use of the Julian calendar), power was shared between the ineffectual Provincial Government and the soviets, or "councils," of soldiers' and workers' committees.  

After the outbreak of the February Revolution, German authorities allowed Lenin and his lieutenants to cross Germany en route from Switzerland to Sweden in a sealed railway car. Berlin hoped (correctly) that the return of the anti-war Socialists to Russia would undermine the Russian war effort, which was continuing under the Provincial Government. Lenin called for the overthrow of the Provincial Government by the soviets, and he was condemned as a "German agent" by the government's leaders. In July, he was forced to flee to Finland, but his call for "peace, land, and bread" met with increasing popular support, and the Bolsheviks won a majority in the Petrograd soviet. In October, Lenin secretly returned to Petrograd, and on November 7 the Bolshevik-led Red Guards deposed the Provisional Government and proclaimed soviet rule.  

Lenin became the virtual dictator of the world's first Marxist state. His government made peace with Germany, nationalized industry, and distributed land but, beginning in 1918, had to fight a devastating civil war against czarist forces. In 1920, the czarists were defeated, and in 1922 the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) was established. Upon Lenin's death in early 1924, his body was embalmed and placed in a mausoleum near the Moscow Kremlin. Petrograd was renamed Leningrad in his honor. After a struggle of succession, fellow revolutionary Joseph Stalin succeeded Lenin as leader of the Soviet Union.















Apr 16, 2007: Massacre at Virginia Tech leaves 32 dead

On this day in 2007, in one of the deadliest shootings in U.S. history, 32 students and teachers die after being gunned down on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University by Seung Hui Cho, a student at the school who later dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.   

The violence began around 7:15 a.m., when Cho, a 23-year-old senior and English major at Blacksburg-based Virginia Tech, shot a female freshman and a male resident assistant in a campus dormitory before fleeing the building. Police were soon on the scene; unaware of the gunman’s identity, they initially pursued the female victim’s boyfriend as a suspect in what they believed to be an isolated domestic-violence incident. However, at around 9:40 a.m., Cho, armed with a 9-millimeter handgun, a 22-caliber handgun and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, entered a classroom building, chained and locked several main doors and went from room to room shooting people. Approximately 10 minutes after the rampage began, he committed suicide. The attack left 30 people dead and another 17 wounded. In all, 27 students and five faculty members died as a result of Cho’s actions.  

Two days later, on April 18, NBC News received a package of materials from Cho with a time stamp indicating he had mailed it from a Virginia post office between the first and second shooting attacks. Contained in the package were photos of a gun-wielding Cho, along with a rambling video diatribe in which he ranted about wealthy “brats,” among other topics.  

In the aftermath of the massacre, authorities found no evidence that Cho, who was born in South Korea and moved to America with his family in 1992, had specifically targeted any of his victims. The public soon learned that Cho, described by ex-classmates as a loner who rarely spoke to anyone, had a history of mental-health problems. It was also revealed that angry, violent writings Cho made for certain class assignments had raised concern among some of his former professors and fellow students well before the events of April 16.  

In 2011, Virginia Tech was fined by the U.S. Department of Education for failing to issue a prompt campus-wide warning after Cho shot his first two victims. School officials sent an email notification about the dorm shooting to students and faculty at 9:26 that morning. According to the Department of Education, the message was vague and did not indicate there had been a murder or that the gunman was still at large.

Here's a more detailed look at events that transpired on this date throughout history:

1178 BC - A solar eclipse may have marked the return of Odysseus, legendary King of Ithaca, to his kingdom after the Trojan War.

73 - Masada, a Jewish fortress, falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Jewish Revolt.

556 - Pelagius I begins his reign as Catholic Pope

1071 - Bari falls to Robert Guiscard, ending Byzantine rule in Italy.

1346 - The Serbian Empire is proclaimed in Skopje at an Easter assembly and Stephen Uroš IV Dušan crowned Emperor over much of the Balkans.

1395 - Azzo X d'Este is defeated at the Battle of Portomaggiore by Venetian-Ferrarese troops.

1509 - French army under Louis XII enters Alps

1521 - Martin Luther arrives at Diet of Worms

1582 - Spanish conquistador Hernando de Lerma founds the settlement of Salta, Argentina.

1632 - Albrecht von Wallenstein appointed supreme commander

1705 - Queen Anne of England knights Isaac Newton at Trinity College

1724 - 1st Easter observed (OS=Apr 9)

1746 - Battle at Culloden: Troops of George II of Great Britain defeat Charles Stuart

1777 - Battle of Bennington-New England's Green Mountain Boys rout British

1780 - The University of Münster in Münster, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany is founded.

1787 - 1st American comedy, "The Contrast," made its debut in NYC

1789 - George Washington heads for 1st presidential inauguration

1799 - Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor - Napoleon drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.

1818 - Senate ratifies Rush-Bagot amendment (unarmed US-Canada border)

First US President George WashingtonFirst US President George Washington 1849 - Giacomo Meyerbeer's opera Le prophète, premieres in Paris

1853 - The first passenger rail opens in India, from Bori Bunder, Bombay to Thane.

1854 - Franz Liszt's "Mazeppa" premieres

1854 - San Salvador destroyed by earthquake

1854 - Steamer "Long Beach" sinks off Long Beach NY, 311 die

1858 - The Wernerian Natural History Society, a former Scottish learned society, is wound up.

1861 - US president Lincoln outlaws business with confederate states

1862 - Slavery abolished in District of Columbia

1862 - US Confederate Congress approves conscription act for all white males (18-35 years)

1865 - Battle of Columbus & West Point, GA (Ft Tyler)

1866 - Karakozov attempts to assassinate Tsar Alexander II of Russia

1866 - Nitroglycerine at Wells Fargo & Co office explodes

1868 - Louisiana voters approve new constitution

1869 - Ebenezer Bassett, 1st US Negro diplomat, begins service in Haiti

1870 - Vaudeville Theatre Strand opens in London

Composer/Pianist Franz LisztComposer/Pianist Franz Liszt 1871 - German Empire ends all anti-Jewish civil restrictions

1874 - Dr David Livingstones corpse arrives in Southampton

1881 - In Dodge City, Kansas, Bat Masterson fights his last gun battle.

1883 - Paul Kruger chosen president of Transvaal

1888 - Drentse & Friese peat cutters go on strike

1900 - US Post Office issues 1st books of postage stamps

1908 - Natural Bridges National Monument forms (Lake Powell Utah)

1912 - Harriet Quimby becomes 1st woman pilot to cross English Channel

1912 - Pirates turn a rare 5-3-7 doubleplay (left fielder covers 2nd base)

1917 - Lenin returns to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution

1921 - Liberal Freedom League forms in The Hague

1922 - Annie Oakley sets women's record by breaking 100 clay targets in a row

1922 - German-Russia treaty signed in Italy, Soviet Union recognized

1924 - 1st radio-transmission of wireless: Mattheus Passion

1924 - Child labor laws strengthened in Holland

Sharp Shooter Annie OakleySharp Shooter Annie Oakley 1925 - During the Communist St Nedelya Church assault in Sofia, 150 are killed and 500 are wounded.

1926 - Book of the Month Club sends out its 1st selections "Lolly Willowes" & "Loving Huntsman" by Sylvia Townsend Warner

1929 - Cleve Indian Earl Averill, becomes 1st AL to hit a HR on 1st at bat

1929 - NY Yankees become 1st team to wear uniform numbers

1935 - 1st radio broadcast of "Fibber McGee & Molly"

1935 - Babe Ruth's 1st NL game, for Boston Braves, included a HR

1938 - Great-Britain recognizes Italian annexation of Abyssinia

1939 - Stalin requests British, French & Russian anti-nazi pact

1939 - Stanley Cup: Boston Bruins beat Toronto Maple Leafs, 4 games to 1

1940 - 1st televised baseball game, WGN-TV, (White Sox vs Cubs exhibition)

1940 - Cleve Indian Bob Feller hurls an opening day no-hitter vs Chic, 1-0

1940 - Heitor Villa-Lobos' opera "Izaht" premieres in Rio de Janeiro

1941 - Little Theater at Adelphi Strand closes

1942 - Japanese occupying army on Java installs film censorship

1943 - 40 NZ bombers attack Haarlem Neth (85 killed)

Soviet Union Premier Joseph StalinSoviet Union Premier Joseph Stalin 1943 - Dr. Albert Hofmann discovers the psychedelic effects of LSD.

1945 - German troops in Groningen surrender

1945 - Red Army begins Battle of Berlin

1945 - US troops enter Nuremberg, Germany, during WW II

1945 - US troops land on He Shima Okinawa

1946 - 1st US launch of captured V-2 rocket, White Sands, NM; 8 km alt

1946 - NSB mayor of Rotterdam Neth, FE Muller sentence to 100 years in jail

1947 - -17] Explosions & fire on French ship Grandcamp

1947 - Lens to provide zoom effects demonstrated (NYC)

1947 - Massive explosion & fire kills 522 in Texas City, Tx

1948 - Organization for European Economic Cooperation (EEC) forms in Paris

1949 - Stanley Cup: Toronto Maple Leafs sweep Detroit Red Wings in 4 games

1951 - British submarine Affray sank in English Channel, killing 75

1952 - "4 Saints in 3 Acts" opens at Broadway Theater NYC for 15 performances

1953 - British royal yacht Britannia launched by Queen Elizabeth II

Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth IIQueen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II 1953 - Jackie Pung wins LPGA Palm Springs Golf Open

1953 - Phillie's Connie Ryan gets 6 hits in a game

1953 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 4 games to 1

1953 - WAND TV channel 17 in Decatur, IL (ABC) begins broadcasting

1954 - KVAL TV channel 13 in Eugene, OR (CBS) begins broadcasting

1954 - Stanley Cup: Detroit Red Wings beat Montreal Canadiens, 4 games to 3

1956 - 1st solar powered radios go on sale

1957 - Stanley Cup: Montreal Canadiens beat Boston Bruins, 4 games to 1

1957 - USSR performs atmospheric nuclear test

1958 - French government of Gaillard falls due to Tunisia crisis

1959 - "Party with Comden & Green" opens at John Golden NYC for 44 perfs

1959 - Datu Abdul Rozak inaugurated as premier of Malaysia federation

1959 - NY Yankees unveil their 1st message scoreboard

1959 - Phils' Dave Philley gets a major league record 9th straight pinch hit

1961 - 15th Tony Awards: Becket & Bye Bye Birdie win

1961 - Louise Suggs wins LPGA Dallas Civitan Golf Open

1961 - Stanley Cup: Chicago Blackhawks beat Detroit Red Wings, 4 games to 2

1962 - Brazil nationalizes US businesses

Broadcast Journalist Walter CronkiteBroadcast Journalist Walter Cronkite 1962 - Walter Cronkite begins anchoring CBS Evening News

1964 - 9 men sentenced 25-30 years for Britain's 1963 "Great Train Robbery"

1965 - Test flight of heavy Saturn S-1C-rocket

1966 - Rhodesian PM Ian Smith breaks diplomatic relations with Britain

1967 - "Walking Happy" closes at Lunt Fontanne Theater NYC after 161 perfs

1967 - Yankees beat Boston 7-6 in 18 innings

1970 - 70 die in a snow crush (France)

1972 - "That's Entertainment" closes at Edison Theater NYC after 4 perfs

1972 - 1st Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Championship won by Jane Blalock

1972 - 2 giants pandas arrive in US, from China

1972 - Apollo 16 launched; 5th manned lunar landing (Decartes Highlands)

1972 - Chicago Cub Burt Hooton no-hits Phillies, 1-0

1972 - China sends 2 giant pandas to US

1974 - "Words & Music" opens at John Golden Theater NYC for 127 performances

1974 - USSR performs nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh/Semipalitinsk USSR

1975 - Cambodian Red Khmer occupy Phnom Penh

1977 - Alex Haley finds his Roots in Juffure, Gambia

1978 - "History of the American Film" closes at ANTA NYC after 21 perfs

1978 - Hollis Stacy wins LPGA Birmingham Golf Classic

1978 - St Louis Card Bob Forsch no-hits Phillies, 5-0

1979 - 15th Mayor's Trophy Game, Yanks & Mets tie 1-1

1979 - 83rd Boston Marathon won by Bill Rodgers of Mass in 2:09:27

Writer Alex HaleyWriter Alex Haley 1979 - 8th Boston Women's Marathon won by Joan Benoit Samuelson in 2:35:15

1979 - Failed Palestinian attack on Zaventem Airport in Belgium

1979 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Sam Shepard for "Buried child"

1980 - Arthur Ashe retires from professional tennis

1980 - Delhi beat Bombay by 240 runs to win Ranji Trophy final

1980 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

1981 - "Copperfield" opens at ANTA Theater NYC for 13 performances

1982 - Queen Elizabeth proclaims Canada's new constitution

1983 - Steve Garvey sets NL record by playing in 1,118 consecutive games

1984 - 13th Boston Women's Marathon won by Lorraine Moller of NZ in 2:29:28

1984 - 88th Boston Marathon won by Geoff Smith of Great Britain in 2:10:34

1984 - Oakland A Dave Kingman hits 3 HRs including a grand slam

1984 - Pulitzer prize awarded to Mary Oliver for "American Primitive"

1985 - "Grind" opens at Mark Hellinger Theater NYC for 79 performances

1985 - Caps 1-Isles 2-Patrick Div Semifinals-Isle win series 3-2

1986 - To dispel rumors he's dead, Moammar Gadhafi appears on TV

1986 - West Indies complete 5-0 demolition of England

1987 - August Wilson's "Fences" wins 1987 Pulitzer Prize for drama

1987 - FCC imposes a broader definition of indecency over airwaves

1987 - Howard Stern & Infinity Broadcasting are warned by FCC

1987 - Michael Jordon becomes 2nd NBA to score 3000 points in a season

1987 - Peter Taylor's "Summons to Memphis" wins Pulitzer Prize for fiction

1987 - Pulitzer prize awarded to August Wilson for "Fences"

1987 - British Conservative MP Harvey Proctor appears at Bow Street Magistrates' Court in London charged with gross indecency.

1989 - 1st Seniors Golf Tradition: Don Bies wins

1989 - Berendrechtsluis opens in Antwerp, biggest flood lock in world

1989 - Costa Rica beats US 1-0, in 3rd round of 1990 world soccer cup

1989 - Pat Bradley wins LPGA AI Star/Centinela Hospital Golf Classic

1989 - Zeleka Metaferia wins 3rd World Cup marathon (2:10:28)

1990 - "Piano Lesson" opens at Walter Kerr Theater NYC for 320 performances

1990 - 19th Boston Women's Marathon won by Rosa Mota of Portugal in 2:25:23

1990 - 94th Boston Marathon won by Gelindo Bordin of Italy in 2:08:19

1990 - Maximum NY State unemployment benefits raised to $260 per week

1990 - Supreme Court rejects appeal from retarded man, Dalton Prejean, condemned to death for murdering a Louisiana state trooper in 1977

1991 - M Leander & E Seago's musical "Matador," premieres in London

1991 - St Louis Blues becomes 8th NHL team in Play-off to come back from a 3-1 deficit as they beat the Detroit Red Wings 3-2 in game 7

1992 - "Metro" opens at Minskoff Theater NYC for 13 performances

1992 - 1st concrete is poured at new ballpark at Gateway (Jacobs Field)

1992 - Afghanistan president Najibullah resigns

1992 - NY Rangers win team record 50th game

1992 - The Katina P. runs aground off of Maputo, Mozambique. 60,000 tons of crude oil spill into the ocean.

Victim of Police Violence Rodney KingVictim of Police Violence Rodney King 1993 - Jury reaches guilty verdict in Federal case against cop who beat Rodney King, but the verdict is not read until April 17th

1994 - Circus performers Marissa Young (24) & Matt Richardson (21) wed

1995 - 56th PGA Seniors Golf Championship: Ray Floyd wins

1997 - Howard Stern Radio Show premieres in Minneapolis/St Paul on WRQC 100.3 FM

2003 - The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens admitting 10 new member states to the European Union.

2004 - The super liner Queen Mary 2 embarks on her first Trans-Atlantic crossing, linking the golden age of ocean travel to the modern age of ocean travel.

2007 - Virginia Tech massacre: The deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. The gunman, Seung-Hui Cho, shoots 32 people to death and injures 23 others before committing suicide.

2007 - 41st CMT Music Awards: Carrie Underwood & Kenny Chesney wins

2008 - Start of Papal Journey of Pope Benedict XVI to the United States

2012 - At least 55 people are killed in the Syrian uprising despite UN presence to oversee ceasefire

2012 - For the first time since 1977 no Pulitzer Prize is awarded for fiction

2013 - 37 people are killed by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Khash country, Iran

2013 - 16 people are killed after a gold mine collapses in Kyekyewere, Ghana




0069 - Otho committed suicide after being defeated by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum.   0556 - Pelagius I began his reign as Catholic Pope.   1065 - The Norman Robert Guiscard took Bari. Five centuries of Byzantine rule in southern Italy ended.   1175 - Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, signed the Treaty of Montebello with the Lombard League.   1705 - Queen Anne of England knighted Isaac Newton.   1746 - The Duke of Cumberland defeated Bonnie Prince Charlie (and his Jacobites) at the battle of Culloden.   1818 - The U.S. Senate ratified Rush-Bagot amendment to form an unarmed U.S.-Canada border.   1851 - A lighthouse was swept away in a gale at Minot’s Ledge, MA.   1854 - San Salvador was destroyed by an earthquake.   1862 - Confederate President Jefferson Davis approved conscription act for white males between 18 and 35.   1862 - In the U.S., slavery was abolished by law in the District of Columbia.   1883 - Paul Kruger became president of the South African Republic.   1900 - The first book of postage stamps was issued. The two-cent stamps were available in books of 12, 24 and 48 stamps.   1905 - Andrew Carnegie donated $10,000,000 of personal money to set up the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.   1912 - Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel.   1917 - Vladimir Ilyich Lenin returned to Russia to start Bolshevik Revolution after years of exile.   1922 - Annie Oakley shot 100 clay targets in a row, to set a women's record.   1922 - The Soviet Union and Germany signed the Treaty of Rapallo under which Germany recognized the Soviet Union and diplomatic and trade relations were restored.   1935 - "Fibber McGee and Molly" premiered.   1940 - The first no-hit, no-run game to be thrown on an opening day of the major league baseball season was earned by Bob Feller. The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox 1-0.   1942 - The Island of Malta was awarded the George Cross in recognition for heroism under constant German air attack.   1943 - In Basel, Switzerland, chemist Albert Hoffman accidently discovered the the hallucinogenic effects of LSD-25 while working on the medicinal value of lysergic acid.   1944 - The destroyer USS Laffey survived immense damage from attacks by 22 Japanese aircraft off Okinawa.   1945 - American troops entered Nuremberg, Germany.   1947 - The Zoomar lens, invented by Dr. Frank Back, was demonstrated in New York City. It was the first lens to exhibit zooming effects.   1947 - In Texas City, TX, the French ship Grandcamp, carrying ammonium nitrate fertilizer, caught fire and blew up. The explosions and resulting fires killed 576 people.   1948 - In Paris, the Organization for European Economic Co-operation was set up.   1951 - 75 people were killed when the British submarine Affray sank in the English Channel.   1953 - The British royal yacht Britannia was launched.   1962 - Walter Cronkite began anchoring "The CBS Evening News".   1968 - The Pentagon announced that troops would begin coming home from Vietnam.   1968 - Major league baseball's longest night game was played when the Houston Astros defeated the New York Mets 1-0. The 24 innings took six hours, six minutes to play.   1972 - Apollo 16 blasted off on a voyage to the moon. It was the fifth manned moon landing.   1972 - Two giants pandas arrived in the U.S. from China.   1975 - The Khmer Rouge Rebels won control of Cambodia after a five years of civil war. They renamed the country Kampuchea and began a reign of terror.   1978 - In Orissa, India, 180 people died when a tornado hit.   1982 - Queen Elizabeth proclaimed Canada's new constitution in effect. The act severed the last colonial links with Britain.   1983 - China shelled the Vietnam border in retaliation for raids.   1983 - Brazil detained four Libyan planes en route to Nicaragua after finding weapons, explosives and ammunition on the planes.   1985 - Mickey Mantle was reinstated after being banned from baseball for several years.   1987 - The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) sternly warned U.S. radio stations to watch the use of indecent language on the airwaves.   1987 - The U.S. Patent Office began allowing the patenting of new animals created by genetic engineering.   1992 - Italian financier Carlo de Benedetti and 32 others were convicted of fraud in connection with the 1982 collapse of Banco Ambrosiano.  1992 - The House ethics committee listed 303 current and former lawmakers who had overdrawn their House bank accounts.   1995 - The European Union and Canada agreed to protect threatened fish stocks in the north Atlantic.   1996 - Britain's Prince Andrew and his wife, Sarah, the Duchess of York, announced that they were in the process of getting a divorce.   1996 - An Italian court found former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi guilty on charges of corruption. He was sentenced to eight years and three months in prison.   1999 - Wayne Gretzky announced his retirement from the National Hockey League (NHL).   2002 - The U.S. Supreme Court overturned major parts of a 1996 child pornography law based on rights to free speech.   2007 - In Blacksburg, VA, a student killed 33 people at Virginia Tech before killing himself.




1746 The Jacobite uprising in England ends when Charles “Bonnie Prince Charlie” Stuart is defeated by the Duke of Cumberland. 1912 Harriet Quimby became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. 1917 Lenin returned to Russia after 10 years in exile in Switzerland. 1947 Financier Bernard Baruch coined the term “cold war” in a speech in South Carolina. 1947 Most of Texas City, Tex., destroyed when French ship Grandcamp exploded. 1972 China sent President Nixon two giant pandas as a gift. 1999 Hockey great Wayne Gretzky announced his retirement. 2007 A male student, Cho Seung-Hui, killed two in a Virginia Tech dorm, then killed 30 more 2 hours later in a classroom building. His suicide brought the death toll to 33, making the shooting rampage the most deadly in U.S. history. Fifteen others were wounded.


The following links are to web sites that were used to complete this blog entry:

http://www.historyorb.com/today/events.php

http://on-this-day.com/onthisday/thedays/alldays/apr16.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history

http://www.infoplease.com/dayinhistory