Year retrospective · 1990s

1996

1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1996th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 996th year of the 2nd millennium, the 96th year of the 20th century, and the 7th year of the 1990s decade.

Recorded events

10

top entries

Notable births

30

Notable deaths

30

Decade

1990s

Timeline

Defining events of 1996

  1. 1996 Two women and four children are killed after an Israeli helicopter fires rockets at an ambulance in Mansouri, Lebanon.

    1996 Israeli attack

    The Mansouri attack occurred on 13 April 1996, when an Israel Defence Forces helicopter attacked an ambulance in Mansouri, a village in Southern Lebanon, killing two women and four children.

  2. 1996 The Israeli military commits the Qana massacre in a deliberate shelling of a United Nations compound near the village of Qana in southern Lebanon, killing 106 Lebanese civilians who were taking shelter there and wounding over 100 more.

    1996 attack on civilians by the Israeli Defense Forces in Qana, Lebanon

    The Qana massacre took place on April 18, 1996, near Qana, a village in then Israeli-occupied Southern Lebanon, when the Israeli military fired artillery shells at a United Nations compound, which was sheltering around 800 Lebanese civilians, killing 106 and injuring around 116. Four Fijian United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon soldiers were also seriously injured.

  3. 1996 Four people are killed and 75 are injured in a train accident in Jokela, Finland.

    Train accident in Tuusula, Finland, on 21 April 1996

    The Jokela rail accident occurred on 21 April 1996, at 07:08 local time in Tuusula, Finland, approximately 50 kilometres (30 mi) north of Helsinki. Four people were killed and 75 injured when express train P82 from Oulu, bound for Helsinki, derailed in heavy fog. The overnight sleeper train was carrying 139 passengers and five crew members.

  4. 1996 In the United States, the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 is passed into law.

    United States law

    The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), Pub. L. 104–132 (text) (PDF), 110 Stat.

  5. 1996 Whitewater controversy: President Bill Clinton gives a 41⁄2 hour videotaped testimony for the defense.

    1990s U.S. political controversy

    The Whitewater controversy, Whitewater scandal, or simply Whitewater, was an American political controversy during the 1990s, surrounding the Whitewater Development Corporation, a real estate company owned by President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton and their associates, Jim and Susan McDougal.

  6. 1996 Port Arthur massacre, Tasmania: A gunman, Martin Bryant, opens fire at the Broad Arrow Cafe in Port Arthur, Tasmania, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others.

    1996 mass shooting in Tasmania, Australia

    The Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 28 April 1996 at Port Arthur, a tourist town in the Australian state of Tasmania. The perpetrator, Martin Bryant, murdered 35 people and wounded 23 others, in the deadliest massacre in modern Australian history. The attack led to fundamental changes in Australia's gun laws.

  7. 1996 Suspected "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski is captured at his Montana cabin in the United States.
  8. 1996 A United States Air Force Boeing T-43 crashes near Dubrovnik Airport in Croatia, killing 35, including Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown.
  9. 1996 Comet Hyakutake is imaged by the USA Asteroid Orbiter Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous.
  10. 1996 Greek Cypriot refugee Solomos Solomou is shot and killed by a Turkish security officer while trying to climb a flagpole in order to remove a Turkish flag from its mast in the United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus.

Arrivals

Born in 1996

Sophia Hutchins 1996– American socialite (1996–2025)
Andreas Christensen 1996– Danish footballer (born 1996)
Dele Alli 1996– English footballer (born 1996)
Summer Walker 1996– American singer (born 1996)
Jan Bednarek 1996– Polish footballer (born 1996)
Matteo Berrettini 1996– Italian tennis player (born 1996)
Marko Grujić 1996– Serbian footballer (born 1996)
Abigail Breslin 1996– American actress (born 1996)
Anya Taylor-Joy 1996– Actress (born 1996)
Taylor Townsend 1996– American tennis player (born 1996)
Lorna Fitzgerald 1996– British actress
Caitlin Parker 1996– Australian boxer (born 1996)

Farewells

Died in 1996

Mário Viegas Portuguese actor and poetry reciter (1948–1996)
Leila Mackinlay English author and educator (born 1910)
Piet Hein Danish polymath (1905–1996)
Trần Văn Trà North Vietnamese commander
Abdul Hafeez Kardar Pakistani cricketer and politician
Jimmy Snyder American horse racing announcer & television sports announcer (1918–1996)
Erma Bombeck American humorist and writer (1927–1996)
Jug McSpaden American professional golfer (1908–1996
Saul Bass American graphic designer (1920–1996)
Stirling Silliphant American screenwriter (1918–1996)
William Colby Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 1973 to 1976
Gilles Grangier French film director (1911–1996)

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Culture of 1996

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