This Day in History - April 15th

1912: Titanic sinks

On this day, the luxury liner R.M.S. Titanic sinks just two hours after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic. When it first left port at Southampton, England the Titanic barely escaped a collision with the steamer New York. The regal ship, which carried 2,200 passengers and crew, was considered the most luxurious ever built and unsinkable. However, just before midnight on 14th April 1912, the Titanic collided with an iceberg about 400 miles from the coast of Newfoundland. Slightly over two hours later, in the early hours of 15th April, the ship sank. The ship was woefully unprepared for such an emergency, with more than 1,500 people dieing aboard the ship as it went down, or freezing to death in the icy North Atlantic waters. Most of the 700 survivors were women and children.

Also On This Day

2006

Pro-democracy protests are staged across Nepal against King King Gyanendra control of the country.

2000

As the political situation deteriorates in Zimbabwe, a white farmer is hot dead by so-called “war veterans”, who are seeking to claim land for the black majority in the country.

1998

Former leader of Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, Pol Pot, dies.

1994

More than 120 countries around the world finally sign the new GATT World Trade Treaty after negotiations which lasted for seven years.

1992

Vietnam adopts a new constitution, the fourth in the countries history.

1989

Britain's worst football disaster at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield; 96 football fans are crushed to death shortly after the start of the FA Cup semi-final match between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest. Most of those killed are from Liverpool.

1989

The Tiananmen Square protests begin in Beijing, China.

1959

Fidel Castro visits the United States but President Eisenhower refuses to meet him.

1955

The first McDonald's restaurant opens in Illinois, America.

1953

Reis Leming, as U.S. soldier stationed in Britain, is awarded the George Medal following his heroic savour of 27 people caught in dangerous flooding in East Angela.

1945

The Second World War: British troops liberate the Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen in Germany.

1942

The Second World War: Following months of attack from the Luftwaffe, Britain awards the people of Malta the George Cross in recognition of their bravery.

1927

The first footprints left by Hollywood starts are made outside Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

1755

Samuel Johnson's, A Dictionary of the English Language, is published in London, England.

1450

The Hundred Years’ War: French forces decisively defeat the English at the Battle of Formigny in northern France.