📜 This Day in History

April 16

• 69After defeat by Vitellius' troops at Bedriacum, Roman emperor Otho killed himself.
• 1799French Revolutionary Wars: Severely outnumbered French forces repulsed an Ottoman attack at the Battle of Mount Tabor in present-day Israel.
• 1917World War I: Several French army corps began a massive assault against the German-occupied Chemin des Dames ridge, south of Laon, France.
• 1945Second World War: British and Canadian forces concluded the Liberation of Arnhem in the Netherlands from German occupation.
• 1963In response to an open letter written by white clergymen, Martin Luther King Jr. wrote the Letter from Birmingham Jail in defence of the strategy of nonviolent resistance against racism.
• 2014The ferry MV Sewol capsized and sank off Donggeochado, South Korea, killing 306 people, mainly students from Danwon High School.

Born on this day

• 1844Anatole France, French journalist, novelist, and poet, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1924)
• 1889Charlie Chaplin, English actor, director, producer, screenwriter, and composer (died 1977)
• 1927Pope Benedict XVI (died 2022)
• 1971Selena, American singer-songwriter, actress, and fashion designer (died 1995)