April 21 in History

The traditional founding date of Rome, April 21, 753 BC, was calculated by the Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro in the 1st century BC and became the basis for the Roman dating system of ab urbe condita (from the founding of the city). Archaeological evidence suggests the Palatine Hill was settled as early as 1000 BC, but Varro's date anchored the mythology of Romulus and Remus to a specific year. The date coincided with the Parilia festival, a pastoral celebration of the goddess Pales involving bonfires and ritual purification. Romans celebrated the anniversary as the Natale di Roma. The founding myth served political purposes: it gave Rome divine origins through Mars, the god of war, and justified expansion as the destiny of a city born from divine will.

Sam Houston's 800 Texan soldiers attacked General Santa Anna's 1,360 Mexican troops during their afternoon siesta at San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The battle lasted just 18 minutes. The Texans, shouting "Remember the Alamo! Remember Goliad!" killed 630 Mexican soldiers and captured 730, including Santa Anna himself, who was found hiding in a marsh wearing a private's uniform. Texan casualties were 9 killed and 30 wounded. The captured Santa Anna signed the Treaties of Velasco, recognizing Texas independence and ordering Mexican troops to withdraw south of the Rio Grande. Mexico repudiated the treaties, but could not recapture Texas. The Republic of Texas existed as an independent nation for nine years before joining the United States in 1845.

Brasilia was inaugurated on April 21, 1960, as Brazil's new capital, replacing Rio de Janeiro after just 41 months of construction. President Juscelino Kubitschek had promised "fifty years of progress in five" and the new city was the centerpiece. Architects Oscar Niemeyer and Lucio Costa designed a modernist urban plan shaped like an airplane or cross, with government buildings along a central axis. The construction effort employed 60,000 workers, many from the impoverished northeast, who built the city from bare cerrado grassland. Critics called it sterile and inhuman, a city designed for cars rather than pedestrians. Brasilia is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site with 3 million residents, though Brazilian cultural and economic life still centers on Sao Paulo and Rio.

Pro-democracy demonstrations began in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on April 15, 1989, initially as mourning gatherings for the reformist leader Hu Yaobang. By mid-May, over a million students and workers occupied the square demanding political reform, press freedom, and an end to corruption. On the night of June 3-4, the People's Liberation Army moved in with tanks and automatic weapons, clearing the square and surrounding streets. Casualty estimates range from several hundred to several thousand. The Chinese government censored all discussion of the events. A lone protester standing before a column of tanks became one of the most iconic photographs of the 20th century. The crackdown ended China's political reform movement and consolidated the party's control for decades.

Mark Twain was born when Halley's Comet was visible in 1835 and predicted he would die when it returned. 'It will be the greatest disappointment of my life if I don't go out with Halley's Comet,' he wrote. He died on April 21, 1910, one day after the comet reached perihelion. He had gone bankrupt in 1894 investing in a typesetting machine and spent five years on a world lecture tour paying back every creditor in full, which he wasn't legally required to do. He lost his daughter Susy to meningitis while he was abroad. His wife died in 1904. His daughter Jean drowned on Christmas Eve, 1909. He died four months later, describing himself as 'the most conspicuously & persistently lied-about man in the world.'

South Vietnamese President Nguyen Van Thieu delivered a bitter televised resignation on April 21, 1975, denouncing the United States as untrustworthy allies who had abandoned his country. The speech lasted 90 minutes. Thieu had held power since 1967 with massive American military and financial support. When Congress cut off further aid in 1975, the South Vietnamese military collapsed in weeks. Thieu fled Saigon on April 25 with 15 tons of luggage reportedly containing gold bars. He flew to Taiwan, then Britain, and eventually settled in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts, where he lived in quiet obscurity until his death in 2001. Saigon fell to North Vietnamese forces nine days after his resignation.