On This Day: 16 April

Battle of Megiddo (likely date) – the first battle to be described in reliable detail: Ancient Egyptians led by Pharaoh Thutmose III defeat a large Canaanite coalition, in what is now northern Israel

Marcus Salvius Otto, Roman Emperor, commits suicide		69
The Jewish fortress of Masada falls to the Romans after several months of siege, ending the Great Jewish Revolt		73
Dusan the Mighty, King of Serbia, proclaimed Emperor of the Serbs, Bulgarianns, Greeks and Albanians, establishing Serbia as the major power in the Balkans		1346
Roman Catholic mass banned in Zurich as the Lutheran reformation sweeps across Europe		1515
Martin Luther arrives at the Diet of Worms		1521
Isaac Newton becomes the first scientist to be knighted		1705
Battle of Culloden: Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, defeated by the Duke of Cumberland (son of George II)		1746
US Senate ratifies the Rush–Bagot Treaty, establishing the border with Canada		1818
The accidental shooting of a Maori by an English sailor results in the opening of the Wanganui Calpaign of the New Zealand land wars		1847
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway opens India's first passenger rail service, from Bori Bunder to Thane		1853
Declaration of Paris signed, outlawing privateering		1856
Tsar Alexander II of Russia survives Karakozov's assassination attempt		1866
Bat Masterson, Sheriff of Dodge City, Kansas, fights his last gun battle		1881
Paul Kruger becomes president of the South African Republic		1883
The world's first book of stamps issued in the USA		1900
Over 20,000 rally in Dublin to protest against British government legislation		1902
Harriet Quimby (USA) becomes the first woman to fly across the English Channel		1912
Turkey signs an armistice with Bulgaria		1913
Vladimir Ilich Lenin returns to Russia, after three years' exile in Zurich, to lead the revolution		1917
Gandhi organises a day of "prayer and fasting" in response to the Jallian Bagh (Amritsar) massacre of three days earlier		1919
Germany restores relations with the USSR		1922
Kurdish uprising in Turkey ends		1925
10 killed in bombing raid on Rhodes		1934
George VI awards the George Cross to Malta		1942
Albert Hofmann accidentally discovers the hallucinogenic effects of LSD		1943
Oflag IV–C (Colditz) liberated by the US Army		1945
Fire on the US ship Grandcamp in Galveston Bay, Texas City, Texas, sets off toxic fumes and explosions; 512 killed, thousands injured		1947
US statesman and millionaire financier Bernard Baruch coins the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union		1947
In a nationally broadcast speech, Fidel Castro declares that he is a Marxist–Leninist and that Cuba is to become a Communist state		1961
Organisation for European Economic Co–Operation (EEC) established		1948
British submarine Affray sinks in the English Channel; 75 die		1951
Royal yacht Britannia launched		1953
Britain's first stock–car race meeting held at the Old Kent Road Stadium, London		1954
Great Train Robbers sentenced; Geraldine Mock becomes the first woman to fly around the world solo		1964
Ian Smith announces that diplomatic relations between Rhodesia and Britain will be broken off		1966
Desmond Dekker, with Israelites, becomes the first Jamaican artist to top the British charts		1969
Apollo 16 launched		1972
Khmer Rouge capture Phnom Penh		1975
Malcolm MacDonald scores all five goals as England beat Cyprus 5–0		1975
Minimum marriage age raised in India in an attempt to curb population growth		1976
Kalid Al–Wazir, military commander of the PLO, assassinated		1988
Nelson Mandela's tribute concert at Wembley		1990
'Ph1ne Day': British phone numbers have a 1 inserted after the 0 (Easter Day)		1995
The entire Dutch government resigns after intense public criticism in the wake of a report that blamed it for failing to prevent the massacre of over 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995		2002
Mrs. Angela Cannings jailed for life at Winchester Crown Court for the murder of her two sons, Jason and Matthew, in separate incidents (1991 and 1999) which she claimed were cot deaths		2002
The Treaty of Accession is signed in Athens, admitting ten new member states to the European Union		2003
Virginia Tech massacre: Cho Seung–Hui kills 32 people, and injures 17, before turning his gun on himself		2007
The trial of Anders Behring Breivik, perpetrator of the terrorist attacks of 22 July 2011, begins in Oslo		2012
South Korean ferry MV Sewol capsizes and sinks near Jindo Island, killing 304 passengers and crew and leading to widespread criticism of the government, media and shipping authorities		2014

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On This Day: 16 April