April 16
1457 BC - The Battle of Megiddo was fought between Egyptian forces under the command of Pharaoh Thutmose III and a large rebellious coalition of Canaanite vassal states led by the king of Kadesh. It is the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. Megiddo is also the first recorded use of the composite bow and the first body count. All details of the battle come from Egyptian sources—primarily the hieroglyphic writings on the Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, Thebes (now Luxor), by the military scribe Tjaneni.
73 - In one of the final events in the First Jewish–Roman War, Romans finally breach the wall of Masada only to find the 960 Sicarii rebels occupying the fortress had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and had killed each other.
1947 - A giant explosion occurs during the loading of fertilizer onto the freighter Grandcamp at a pier in Texas City, Texas. Nearly 600 people lost their lives and thousands were injured when the ship was literally blown to bits. The blast was heard 150 miles away and was so powerful that the ship’s 1.5 ton anchor was found two miles away.
1457 BC - The Battle of Megiddo was fought between Egyptian forces under the command of Pharaoh Thutmose III and a large rebellious coalition of Canaanite vassal states led by the king of Kadesh. It is the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail. Megiddo is also the first recorded use of the composite bow and the first body count. All details of the battle come from Egyptian sources—primarily the hieroglyphic writings on the Hall of Annals in the Temple of Amun-Re at Karnak, Thebes (now Luxor), by the military scribe Tjaneni.
73 - In one of the final events in the First Jewish–Roman War, Romans finally breach the wall of Masada only to find the 960 Sicarii rebels occupying the fortress had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and had killed each other.
1947 - A giant explosion occurs during the loading of fertilizer onto the freighter Grandcamp at a pier in Texas City, Texas. Nearly 600 people lost their lives and thousands were injured when the ship was literally blown to bits. The blast was heard 150 miles away and was so powerful that the ship’s 1.5 ton anchor was found two miles away.