What happened on 4 April?

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

1. 1968 Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. MLK assassinated in Memphis by James Earl Ray.
2. 1949 NATO founded Western military alliance against the Soviet bloc; cornerstone of the Cold War order.
3. 1975 Founding of Microsoft Bill Gates and Paul Allen found Microsoft.
4. 970 Al-Azhar founded Founded by Fatimids as a Shia learning centre; later becomes the most influential Sunni university and one of the world's oldest universities.
5. 1147 Foundation of Moscow The first chronicle mention of Moscow, the village that would grow into the heart of the Russian state.
6. 1914 Born: Marguerite Duras Novelist and filmmaker; author of The Lover.
7. 1660 The Declaration of Breda invites Charles II home From exile in the Netherlands, Charles II promises a general pardon, liberty of conscience and Parliament's say over confiscated lands — the soft terms that let a exhausted England
8. 1928 Born: Maya Angelou Poet and memoirist whose 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' reshaped American letters.
9. 1687 James II issues the Declaration of Indulgence By royal fiat James II suspends the penal laws against Catholics and Dissenters — toleration, but imposed by a Catholic king over Parliament's head. Anglican England reads it as th
10. 2023 Finland and Sweden join NATO Russia's invasion of Ukraine ends two centuries of Swedish neutrality and Finland's careful balancing act; the Nordic region aligns as one for the first time.
11. 1841 Presidency of John Tyler First VP to ascend to presidency; annexation of Texas (1845).
12. 1865 Crossness Pumping Station opened Bazalgette's southern sewer outfall — a landmark of Victorian engineering.