On This Day - What happened 2 April

After Richard's death (Richard of Cornwall) in 1272, Rudolf I of Germany, a minor pro-Staufen count, was elected. He was the first of the Habsburgs to hold a royal title, but he was never crowned emperor.

Constantinople by this stage was underpopulated and dilapidated. The population of the city had collapsed so severely that it was now little more than a cluster of villages separated by fields. On 2 April 1453, Sultan Mehmed's army of 80,000 men and large numbers of irregulars laid siege to the city.

The Sénat passed the Acte de déchéance de l'Empereur ("Emperor's Demise Act"), which declared Napoleon deposed. Napoleon had advanced as far as Fontainebleau when he learned that Paris was lost. When Napoleon proposed the army march on the capital, his senior officers and marshals mutinied.

Mendeleev's divorce from Leshcheva was finalized one month after he had married Popova on 2 April 1882. Even after the divorce, Mendeleev was technically a bigamist, the state of entering a marriage with one person while still legally married to another, where the Russian Orthodox Church required at least seven years before lawful remarriage.

Titanic's sea trials began at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, 2 April 1912, just two days after her fitting out was finished and eight days before she was due to leave Southampton on her maiden voyage.

Wilson (USA presedint) called for war on Germany on 2 April 1917, which the US Congress declared 4 days later.

Einstein visited New York City for the first time on 2 April 1921, where he received an official welcome by Mayor John Francis Hylan, followed by three weeks of lectures and receptions.

Libya concludes five weeks of negotiations with Western oil companies in Tripoli on behalf of itself, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Iraq. The agreement raises posted prices of oil delivered to the Mediterranean from $2.55 to $3.45 per barrel; provides for a 2.5 percent annual price increase plus inflation allowance; raises the tax rate from a range of 50-58 percent to 60 percent of the posted price.

Following the invasion on 2 April, after an emergency meeting of the cabinet, approval was given to form a task force to retake the islands. This was backed in an emergency session of the House of Commons the next day.

The conflict began on 2 April, when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands, followed by the invasion of South Georgia the next day, in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it had claimed over them.

Microsoft released its version of OS/2 to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) on April 2, 1987.

On the next night's Raw Is War, during a steel cage title rematch, Triple H attacked The Rock, allying with McMahon and Austin and helping Austin retain the championship. Austin and Triple H then formed a tag team called The Power Trip, while The Rock was indefinitely suspended in storyline. Johnson used this time off to act in The Scorpion King.

The 2003 Constitution granted the Chechen Republic a significant degree of autonomy, but still tied it firmly to Russia and Moscow's rule, and went into force on 2 April 2003.

On April 2, Chinese medical officials began reporting the status of the SARS outbreak. China's southern Guangdong province reported 361 new infections and 9 new deaths, increasing the total Mainland China figures previously reported at end-February.

On Saturday, 2 April 2005, at approximately 15:30 CEST, John Paul II spoke his final words in Polish, "Pozwólcie mi odejść do domu Ojca" ("Allow me to depart to the house of the Father"), to his aides, and fell into a coma about four hours later.

On April 2, 2010, Bryant signed a three-year contract extension worth $87 million.

On 2 April 2010, James Gosling, the creator of Java, resigned from Oracle, at the age of 55.

Kohli played in every match of India's successful World Cup campaign. In the next four group matches he had low scores of 8, 34, 12 and 1 against England, Ireland, Netherlands and South Africa respectively. Having returned to form with 59 against the West Indies, he scored only 24 and 9 in the quarter-final against Australia and semi-final against Pakistan respectively. In the final against Sri Lanka at Mumbai, he scored 35, sharing an 83-run partnership with Gambhir for the third wicket after India had lost both openers within the seventh over chasing 275. This partnership is regarded as "one of the turning points in the match", as India went on to win the match by six wickets and lift the World Cup for the first time since 1983.

The following night on Raw, The Rock praised Cena, calling their match "an honor". He then vowed to once again become WWE Champion.

Phil Jackson believed O'Neal underachieved in his career, saying he "could and should have been the MVP player for 10 consecutive seasons." The Lakers retired his No. 34 jersey on April 2, 2013.

On 2 April per report, 950 people died in a 24-hour period. This was, at the time, the most by any country during the pandemic in a single day.

On 2 April, the World Bank launched emergency support operations for developing countries.

Ferdinand I the Righteous, King of Aragon and Sicily, passed away at the age of 52.

Christian Tag, a German composer, was born in Beierfeld, Germany.

The German composer, Johann Heinrich Buttstett, was born in Erfurt, Germany in 1735.