Today in History: April 4

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503 BC – Roman consul Agrippa Menenius Lanatus celebrated a triumph for a military victory over the Sabines. 1147 – First historical record of Moscow. 1268 – A five-year Byzantine–Venetian peace treaty is concluded between Venetian envoys and Emperor Michael VIII Palaiologos. 1460 – Basel University is founded. 1581 – Francis Drake is knighted for completing a circumnavigation of the world. 1660 – Declaration of Breda by King Charles II of Great Britain. 1721 – Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first British prime minister. 1768 – In London, Philip Astley stages the first modern circus. 1796 – Georges Cuvier delivers the first paleontological lecture. 1812 – United States President James Madison enacts a ninety-day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom. 1814 – Napoleon abdicates for the first time and names his son Napoleon II as Emperor of the French. 1818 – The United States Congress, affirming the Second Continental Congress, adopts the flag of the United States with 13 red and white stripes and one star for each state (20 at that time). 1841 – William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia, becoming the first President of the United States to die in office, and setting the record for the briefest administration. Vice President John Tyler succeeds Harrison as President. 1850 – A large part of the English village of Cottenham burns to the ground in suspicious circumstances. 1850 – Los Angeles is incorporated as a city. 1859 – Bryant's Minstrels debut "Dixie" in New York City in the finale of a blackface minstrel show. 1865 – American Civil War: A day after Union forces capture Richmond, Virginia, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln visits the Confederate capital. 1866 – Alexander II of Russia narrowly escapes an assassination attempt by Dmitry Karakozov in the city of Saint Petersburg. 1873 – The Kennel Club is founded, the oldest and first official registry of purebred dogs in the world. 1875 – Vltava, composed by Czech composer Bedřich Smetana and also known by its German name Die Moldau, premiered in Prague. 1887 – Argonia, Kansas elects Susanna M. Salter as the first female mayor in the United States. 1905 – In India, an earthquake hits the Kangra Valley, killing 20,000, and destroying most buildings in Kangra, McLeod Ganj and Dharamshala. 1913 – First Balkan War: Greek aviator Emmanouil Argyropoulos becomes the first pilot to die in the Hellenic Air Force when his plane crashes. 1923 – Warner Bros. Pictures opens its doors and is now open for business with the four founders of the company: Jack Warner, Harry Warner, Albert Warner and Sam Warner. 1925 – The Schutzstaffel (SS) is founded under Adolf Hitler's Nazi party in Germany. 1933 – U.S. Navy airship USS Akron is wrecked off the New Jersey coast due to severe weather. 1939 – Faisal II becomes King of Iraq. 1944 – World War II: First bombardment of oil refineries in Bucharest by Anglo-American forces kills 3000 civilians. 1945 – World War II: American troops liberate Ohrdruf forced labor camp in Germany. 1945 – World War II: American troops capture Kassel. 1945 – World War II: Soviet troops liberate Hungary from German occupation and occupy the country itself. 1949 – Cold War: Twelve nations sign the North Atlantic Treaty creating the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 1958 – The CND peace symbol is displayed in public for the first time in London. 1960 – France agrees to grant independence to the Mali Federation, a union of Senegal and French Sudan. 1964 – The Beatles occupy the top five positions on the Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. 1965 – The first model of the new Saab Viggen fighter aircraft is unveiled. 1967 – Martin Luther King Jr. delivers his "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" speech in New York City's Riverside Church. 1968 – Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at a motel in Memphis, Tennessee. 1968 – Apollo program: NASA launches Apollo 6. 1968 – A.E.K. Athens B.C. becomes the first Greek team to win the European Basketball Cup. 1969 – Dr. Denton Cooley implants the first temporary artificial heart. 1973 – The Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City are officially dedicated. 1973 – A Lockheed C-141 Starlifter, dubbed the Hanoi Taxi, makes the last flight of Operation Homecoming. 1975 – Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen in Albuquerque, New Mexico. 1975 – Vietnam War: A United States Air Force Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transporting orphans, crashes near Saigon, South Vietnam shortly after takeoff, killing 172 people. 1979 – Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan is executed. 1981 – Iran–Iraq War: The Islamic Republic of Iran Air Force mounts an attack on H-3 Airbase and destroys about 50 Iraqi aircraft. 1983 – Space Shuttle program: Space Shuttle Challenger makes its maiden voyage into space. 1984 – President Ronald Reagan calls for an international ban on chemical weapons. 1988 – Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona is convicted in his impeachment trial and removed from office. 1991 – Senator John Heinz of Pennsylvania and six others are killed when a helicopter collides with their airplane over an elementary school in Merion, Pennsylvania. 1991 – The current flag of Hong Kong is adopted for post-colonial Hong Kong during the Third Session of the Seventh National People's Congress. 1994 – Marc Andreessen and Jim Clark found Netscape Communications Corporation under the name Mosaic Communications Corporation. 1996 – Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous. 2002 – The Angolan government and UNITA rebels sign a peace treaty ending the Angolan Civil War. 2009 – France returns to being a member of NATO. 2013 – More than 70 people are killed in a building collapse in Thane, India.