What happened on 3 April?

21 events from the Ever-When timeline, ranked by how much they mattered.

1. 33 The Crucifixion The Gospels: Golgotha, the place of the skull — darkness at noon, "Father, forgive them", the Temple veil torn in two.
2. 1721 Walpole's premiership Sir Robert Walpole serves as de-facto first Prime Minister; sets the pattern of cabinet government.
3. 33 Crucifixion of Jesus Jesus of Nazareth is executed under Pontius Pilate in Roman Judaea, most often dated to 30 or 33 CE; foundational event of Christianity.
4. 1721 Walpole becomes first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole is widely regarded as Britain's first prime minister (formally First Lord of the Treasury).
5. 1948 Marshall Plan American aid programme to rebuild war-torn Western Europe.
6. 33 The trial before Pontius Pilate John 18–19: "What is truth?" — Pilate finds no fault, washes his hands, releases Barabbas, and hands Jesus over to be crucified.
7. 1175 BCE Odysseus at the court of Alcinous Odyssey 7–12: the blind bard sings of Troy and the stranger weeps into his cloak — "I am Odysseus, son of Laertes" — and the whole tale of the wanderings is told.
8. 1940 Katyn massacre Soviet NKVD executed around 22,000 Polish officers, intelligentsia and police.
9. 1849 Prussia's king refuses the German crown The Frankfurt Parliament offers Frederick William IV the crown of a united, constitutional Germany — and he turns it down, privately sneering at a 'crown from the gutter' offered b
10. 1963 Birmingham campaign MLK and SCLC campaign in Birmingham; police use fire hoses and dogs on children; photos shock the nation.
11. 1919 The flu strikes the peace conference At the height of the Paris negotiations, Woodrow Wilson is felled by influenza — and returns to the table days later visibly diminished, abruptly conceding points to Clemenceau he
12. 1312 Suppression of the Templars Pope Clement V dissolves the Knights Templar at the Council of Vienne; Grand Master Jacques de Molay burned in 1314.
13. 1934 Born: Jane Goodall The primatologist whose study of wild chimpanzees transformed our understanding of animals and conservation.
14. 1922 Stalin becomes General Secretary The Bolsheviks give Stalin the seemingly dull job of running the party's apparatus — the post from which he will outmanoeuvre Trotsky and every other rival.
15. 2016 Panama Papers A leak of 11.5 million files exposes how the global elite use offshore shells to hide wealth, toppling several leaders.
16. 1968 King's 'I've Been to the Mountaintop' speech In Memphis to support striking sanitation workers, King tells a storm-night rally 'I may not get there with you' — the night before he is shot.
17. 1964 The Ballot or the Bullet Weeks after leaving the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X tells a Cleveland church audience that Black Americans will win the vote one way or the other — his most famous speech.
18. 1897 Vienna Secession founded Klimt leads nineteen artists out of the Vienna establishment — 'to every age its art, to art its freedom' — and modernism gets a house style.
19. 1367 Battle of Nájera Intervening in a Castilian civil war, the Black Prince routs Henry of Trastámara and Bertrand du Guesclin in Spain — but the campaign bankrupts him and ruins his health.
20. 1919 Habsburg Law exiles the dynasty The new Austrian republic banishes the family, confiscates its property and abolishes its titles; Habsburgs may return only as private citizens renouncing all claims.
21. 1957 Beckett's Endgame A blind master and his servant play out the end of the world in a bare room — Beckett's bleakest and, he thought, best play, premiered in French in London.