Calendar date · April

What happened on April 8

On April 8, 217: Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

Events

36

across history

Notable births

50

Notable deaths

50

Zodiac

Aries

Featured moment · 217

Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

The Roman emperor was the ruler and monarchical head of state of the Roman Empire, starting with the granting of the title augustus to Octavian in 27 BC. The title of imperator, originally a military honorific, was usually used alongside caesar, originally a cognomen. When a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it generally reflects his accession as augustus, and later as basileus.

People

Born on April 8

Big Justice 2013– American father-and-son social media duo
Zaccharie Risacher 2005– French basketball player (born 2005)
Jamie Drysdale 2002– Canadian ice hockey player (born 2002)
Viktória Forster 2002– Slovak athlete (born 2002)
Skai Jackson 2002– American actress (born 2002)
CeeDee Lamb 1999– American football player (born 1999)
Lavinia Valbonesi 1998– First Lady of Ecuador since 2023
Kim Woo-jin 1997– South Korean singer (born 1997)
Saygrace 1997– Australian singer (born 1997)
Show 9 more — notable births on April 8
Roquan Smith 1997– American football player (born 1997)
Arno Verschueren 1997– Belgian footballer (born 1997)
Keira Walsh 1997– English footballer (born 1997)
Anna Korakaki 1996– Greek sport shooter (born 1996)
Forrest Frank 1995– American singer-songwriter and producer (born 1995)
Cedi Osman 1995– Turkish basketball player (born 1995)
Josh Chudleigh 1994– Australian rugby league footballer
Viktor Arvidsson 1993– Swedish ice hockey player (born 1993)
TBJZL 1993– English YouTuber (born 1993)

People

Died on April 8

Nelsy Cruz Dominican Republic politician (1982–2025)
Keith Barnes Welsh-Australian rugby league footballer (1934–2024)
Peter Higgs British theoretical physicist (1929–2024)
Ralph Puckett U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient (1926–2024)
Mimi Reinhardt Austrian secretary (1915–2022)
Rick May Canadian-American voice and theatre actor (1940–2020)
Abdul Momin Imambari Bangladeshi Islamic scholar (1930–2020)
Josine Ianco-Starrels Romanian-born American art curator (1926–2019)
Jayakanthan Indian writer, journalist, filmmaker
Show 9 more — notable deaths on April 8
Rayson Huang Hong Kong chemist
Sergei Lashchenko Ukrainian kickboxer (1987–2015)
David Laventhol American newspaper editor and publisher (1933–2015)
Jean-Claude Turcotte Canadian Roman Catholic cardinal (1936–2015)
Emmanuel III Delly Head of the Chaldean Catholic Church from 2003 to 2012
Karlheinz Deschner German writer and activist (1924–2014)
Ivan Mercep New Zealand architect (1930–2014)
Mikhail Beketov Russian journalist (1958–2013)
Annette Funicello American actress and singer (1942–2013)

Timeline

Every April 8 on record

  1. 217 Roman emperor Caracalla is assassinated and is succeeded by his Praetorian Guard prefect, Marcus Opellius Macrinus.

    Ruler of the Roman Empire

    The Roman emperor was the ruler and monarchical head of state of the Roman Empire, starting with the granting of the title augustus to Octavian in 27 BC. The title of imperator, originally a military honorific, was usually used alongside caesar, originally a cognomen. When a given Roman is described as becoming emperor in English, it generally reflects his accession as augustus, and later as basileus.

  2. 876 The Battle of Dayr al-'Aqul saves Baghdad from the Saffarids.

    876 battle in present-day Iraq

    The Battle of Dayr al-Aqul was fought on 8 April 876, between forces of the Saffarid ruler Ya'qub ibn Laith and the Abbasid Caliphate. Taking place some 80 km southeast (downstream) of Baghdad, the battle ended in a decisive victory for the Abbasids, forcing Ya'qub to halt his advance into Iraq.

  3. 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.

    King of Sicily from 1130 to 1154

    Roger II or Roger the Great was King of Sicily and Africa, son of Roger I of Sicily and successor to his brother Simon. He began his rule as Count of Sicily in 1105, became Duke of Apulia and Calabria in 1127, then King of Sicily in 1130 and King of Africa in 1148.

  4. 1143 Manuel I Komnenos succeeds his father John II Komnenos as Byzantine Emperor.

    Byzantine emperor from 1143 to 1180

    Manuel I Komnenos was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history of Byzantium and the Mediterranean. His reign saw the last flowering of the Komnenian restoration, during which the Byzantine Empire experienced a resurgence of military and economic power and enjoyed a cultural revival.

  5. 1232 Mongol–Jin War: The Mongols begin their siege on Kaifeng, the capital of the Jin dynasty.

    1211–1234 campaign in northern China

    The Mongol conquest of the Jin dynasty, also known as the Mongol–Jin War, was fought between the Mongol Empire and the Jurchen-led Jin dynasty in Manchuria and North China. The war, which started in 1211, lasted over 23 years and ended with the complete conquest of the Jin dynasty by the Mongols in 1234.

  6. 1250 Seventh Crusade: Ayyubids of Egypt capture King Louis IX of France in the Battle of Fariskur.
  7. 1271 Fall of Krak des Chevaliers: In Syria, sultan Baibars conquers the Krak des Chevaliers.
  8. 1605 The city of Oulu, Finland, is founded by Charles IX of Sweden.
  9. 1730 Shearith Israel, the first synagogue in continental North America, is dedicated.
  10. 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.
  11. 1820 The Venus de Milo is discovered on the Aegean island of Milos.
  12. 1832 Black Hawk War: Around 300 United States 6th Infantry troops leave St. Louis, Missouri to fight the Sauk Native Americans.
  13. 1866 Austro-Prussian War: Italy and Prussia sign a secret alliance against the Austrian Empire.
  14. 1886 William Ewart Gladstone introduces the first Irish Home Rule Bill into the British House of Commons.
  15. 1895 In Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. the Supreme Court of the United States declares unapportioned income tax to be unconstitutional.
Show 15 earlier entries from April 8
  1. 1904 The French Third Republic and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland sign the Entente cordiale.
  2. 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.
  3. 1940 The Central Committee of the Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party elects Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal as General Secretary, marking the beginning of his 44-year-long tenure as de facto leader of Mongolia.
  4. 1954 A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair Harvard collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair North Star over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, killing 37 people.
  5. 1954 South African Airways Flight 201: A de Havilland DH.106 Comet 1 crashes into the sea during night killing 21 people.
  6. 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.
  7. 1959 The Organization of American States drafts an agreement to create the Inter-American Development Bank.
  8. 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.
  9. 1968 BOAC Flight 712 catches fire shortly after takeoff. As a result of her actions in the accident, Barbara Jane Harrison is awarded a posthumous George Cross, the only GC awarded to a woman in peacetime.
  10. 1970 Bahr El-Baqar primary school bombing: Israeli bombers strike an Egyptian school. Forty-six children are killed.
  11. 1974 Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth as the all-time leader in career home runs by hitting his 715th home run off of Al Downing at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
  12. 1975 Voyageurs National Park is established by the U.S. Congress.
  13. 1990 The conservative New Democracy party of Constantine Mitsotakis is elected in the Greek parliamentary election.
  14. 1993 The Space Shuttle Discovery is launched on mission STS-56.
  15. 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.

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