On this day: April 8

Events on April 8

• 876 The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids. Wikipedia
• 876 Abbasid forces decisively defeated the Saffarid emir Ya'qub ibn Laith, forcing the latter to halt his advance into Iraq. Wikipedia
• 1139 Roger II of Sicily is excommunicated by Innocent II for supporting Anacletus II as pope for seven years, even though Roger had already publicly recognized Innocent's claim to the papacy. Wikipedia
• 1232 Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty. Wikipedia
• 1271 Crusades: The Knights Hospitaller surrendered the Krak des Chevaliers, a castle in present-day Syria, to the army of the Mamluk sultan Baybars. Wikipedia
• 1630 Kiliaen van Rensselaer purchased land near present-day Albany, New York, to establish Rensselaerswyck, which became the most successful patroonship under the Dutch West India Company. Wikipedia
• 1730 Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated. Wikipedia
• 1812 Czar Alexander I, the Russian Emperor and the Grand Duke of Finland, officially announces the transfer of the status of the Finnish capital from Turku to Helsinki. Wikipedia
• 1820 The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos. Wikipedia
• 1832 Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans. Wikipedia
• 1864 American Civil War: Late-arriving reinforcements helped Confederate forces rout the Union Army at the Battle of Mansfield. Wikipedia
• 1866 Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire. Wikipedia
• 1904 Longacre Square in Midtown Manhattan was renamed Times Square after the New York Times building. Wikipedia
• 1917 World War I: German naval officer Wilhelm Werner murdered 19 captured crew members of the British cargo ship Torrington by submerging U-55 when they were on deck. Wikipedia
• 1933 The Australian state of Western Australia voted to secede from the federation, but efforts to implement the result proved to be unsuccessful. Wikipedia
• 1933 The Australian state of Western Australia votes to secede from the federation in a non-binding referendum, although efforts to implement the result prove unsuccessful. Wikipedia
• 1942 World War II: The United States Army Air Forces flew its first mission from India over the Hump (the eastern end of the Himalayas) to deliver materiel to China. Wikipedia
• 1959 A team of computer scientists and others met to discuss the creation of a common business-oriented programming language, which became COBOL. Wikipedia
• 1959 A team of computer manufacturers, users, and university people led by Grace Hopper meets to discuss the creation of a new programming language that would be called COBOL. Wikipedia
• 1960 The Netherlands and West Germany sign an agreement to negotiate the return of German land annexed by the Dutch in return for 280 million German marks as Wiedergutmachung. Wikipedia
• 1961 A large explosion on board the MV Dara in the Persian Gulf killed 238 people. Wikipedia
• 2002 The Space Shuttle Atlantis is launched on mission STS-110, carrying the S0 truss to the International Space Station. Astronaut Jerry L. Ross also becomes the first person to fly on seven spaceflights. Wikipedia
• 2005 A solar eclipse occurs, visible over areas of the Pacific Ocean and Latin American countries such as Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia and Venezuela. Wikipedia
• 2010 U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sign the New START Treaty. Wikipedia
• 2020 Bernie Sanders ends his presidential campaign, leaving Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee. Wikipedia
• 2024 Solar eclipse: A total solar eclipse takes place at the Moon's ascending node, visible across North America. Wikipedia

Born on April 8

• 1605 Philip IV of Spain (died 1665) Wikipedia
• 1692 Giuseppe Tartini, Italian violinist and composer (died 1770) Wikipedia
• 1818 Christian IX, King of Denmark (died 1906) Wikipedia
• 1859 Edmund Husserl, German Jewish-Austrian mathematician and philosopher (died 1938) Wikipedia
• 1875 Albert I of Belgium (died 1934) Wikipedia
• 1892 Mary Pickford, Canadian-American actress, producer, screenwriter and co-founder of United Artists (died 1979) Wikipedia
• 1904 John Hicks, English economist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1989) Wikipedia
• 1911 Melvin Calvin, American chemist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1997) Wikipedia
• 1911 Emil Cioran, Romanian-French philosopher and academic (died 1995) Wikipedia
• 1912 Alois Brunner, Austrian-German SS officer (died 2001 or 2010) Wikipedia
• 1912 Sonja Henie, Norwegian-American figure skater and actress (died 1969) Wikipedia
• 1914 María Félix, Yaqui/Basque-Mexican actress (died 2002) Wikipedia
• 1918 Betty Ford, American wife of Gerald Ford, 40th First Lady of the United States (died 2011) Wikipedia
• 1919 Ian Smith, Zimbabwean lieutenant and politician, 1st Prime Minister of Rhodesia (died 2007) Wikipedia
• 1929 Jacques Brel, Belgian singer-songwriter and actor (died 1978) Wikipedia
• 1938 Kofi Annan, Ghanaian economist and diplomat, 7th Secretary-General of the United Nations (died 2018) Wikipedia
• 1941 Vivienne Westwood, English fashion designer (died 2022) Wikipedia
• 1950 Grzegorz Lato, Polish footballer and coach Wikipedia
• 1966 Robin Wright, American actress, director, producer Wikipedia
• 1968 Patricia Arquette, American actress and director Wikipedia
• 1974 Chris Kyle, American sniper and memoirist (died 2013) Wikipedia
• 1986 Igor Akinfeev, Russian footballer Wikipedia

Died on April 8

• 217 Caracalla, Roman emperor (born 188) Wikipedia
• 1364 John II, French king (born 1319) Wikipedia
• 1450 Sejong the Great, Korean king (born 1397) Wikipedia
• 1492 Lorenzo de' Medici, Italian ruler (born 1449) Wikipedia
• 1848 Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer (born 1797) Wikipedia
• 1906 Auguste Deter, German woman, first person diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease (born 1850) Wikipedia
• 1931 Erik Axel Karlfeldt, Swedish poet Nobel Prize laureate (born 1864) Wikipedia
• 1936 Róbert Bárány, Austrian physician and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1876) Wikipedia
• 1950 Vaslav Nijinsky, Polish dancer and choreographer (born 1890) Wikipedia
• 1973 Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor (born 1881) Wikipedia
• 1984 Pyotr Kapitsa, Russian physicist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1894) Wikipedia
• 1992 Daniel Bovet, Swiss-Italian pharmacologist and academic, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1907) Wikipedia
• 2013 Margaret Thatcher, English politician, first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1925) Wikipedia
• 2024 Peter Higgs, British physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (born 1929) Wikipedia

Holidays and observances

• Buddha's Birthday, also known as Hana Matsuri, "Flower Festival" (Japan) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Anne Ayres (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Blessed August Czartoryski Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Constantina Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Pope Dionysius of Alexandria Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Julie Billiart of Namur Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Perpetuus Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: Walter of Pontoise Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: William Augustus Muhlenberg (Episcopal Church (USA)) Wikipedia
• Christian feast day: April 8 (Eastern Orthodox liturgics) Wikipedia
• Earliest day on which Fast and Prayer Day can fall, while April 14 is the latest; celebrated on the second Friday in April (Liberia) Wikipedia
• International Romani Day Wikipedia

The events, births, deaths and observances above are from the English Wikipedia article “April 8” and the articles it links to (authors and history), retrieved 2026-10-09 through the Wikimedia “On this day” feed. They are licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0; this selection is shared under the same licence. We picked the 26 events, 22 births and 14 deaths with the widest coverage across Wikipedia's language editions (counted from Wikidata) and sorted them by year; the wording is unchanged apart from removing references to pictures.