On this day: 04/01/-46

Julius Caesar fights Titus Labienus in the Battle of Ruspina.

On this day: 04/01/871

Battle of Reading: Æthelred of Wessex and his brother Alfred are defeated by a Danish invasion army.

On this day: 04/01/1649

English Civil War: The Rump Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial.

On this day: 04/01/1717

The Netherlands, Great Britain, and France sign the Triple Alliance in an attempt to maintain the Treaty of Utrecht; Britain having signed a preliminary alliance with France on November 28 (November 17, 1716).

On this day: 04/01/1762

Great Britain declares war on Spain, which meant the entry of Spain into the Seven Years' War.

On this day: 04/01/1798

Constantine Hangerli arrives in Bucharest, Wallachia, as its new Prince, invested by the Ottoman Empire.

On this day: 04/01/1853

After having been kidnapped and sold into slavery in the American South, Solomon Northup regains his freedom; his memoir Twelve Years a Slave later becomes a national bestseller.

On this day: 04/01/1854

The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the Samarang.

On this day: 04/01/1863

The New Apostolic Church, a Christian and chiliastic church, is established in Hamburg, Germany.

On this day: 04/01/1878

Russo-Turkish War (1877-78): Sofia is liberated from Ottoman rule and designated the capital of Liberated Bulgaria.