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8 April| 8 April 1378 | Papal States [administration] | On the death of Pope Gregory XI the Italian churchman Bartolomeo Prignano is elected Pope Urban VI in Rome, a position he holds until 1389. When he refuses to move to Avignon in France (where the papal court has been since 1309) his election is declared void and the Swiss churchman Robert of Geneva is elected Pope (in effect Antipope) Clement VII in Avignon, a position he holds until 1394. This marks the beginning of the Great Schism, when there are two Popes, which lasts until 1417. | | 8 April 1455 | Papal States [administration] | The College of Cardinals in Rome, Italy, elects the Spanish compromise candidate, Alfonso de Borgia, as pope, in order to satisfy both the Roman Orsini and Colonna factions. Taking the name Calixtus III, he succeeds Nicholas V, who died a fortnight earlier. | | 8 April 1759 | UK, India, France, Mogul Empire [Seven Years War (1754–62)] | An expedition dispatched by Robert Clive, governor of the British East India Company's Bengal possessions, and led by Colonel Francis Forde, second in command to Clive in Bengal, seizes Masulipatam, southeast India, with a small force and drives the French from the Deccan, South India. | | 8 April 1838 | UK [ships and shipping] | English engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel's ship Great Western is launched. The largest ship in the world (65m/212 ft long), and the first steamship built specifically for oceanic service, it crosses the Atlantic in half the time (15 days) sailing ships take. | | 8 April 1866 | Italy, Prussia [political events] | An offensive and defensive alliance is signed between Prussia and Italy. | | 8 April 1904 | United Kingdom, France [treaties] | The Entente Cordiale settles British–French differences in Morocco, Egypt, and the Newfoundland fishery, and Britain recognizes the Suez Canal Convention and surrenders its claim to Madagascar. | | 8 April 1906 | Morocco [diplomacy] | The Act of Algeciras is signed, ending the Moroccan crisis. It gives France and Spain chief control in Morocco under a Swiss inspector, and respects the sultan's authority. | | 8 April 1968 | North Vietnam, South Vietnam, USA [Vietnam War (1954–75)] | The USA and its South Vietnamese allies launch Operation Complete Victory, involving some 100,000 US troops, designed to put a definitive end to the Tet offensive. | | 8 April 1973 | Spain, France [births and deaths] | Pablo Picasso, Spanish painter and sculptor who, along with Georges Braque, founded cubism, dies in Mougins, France (91). | | 8 April 1987 | Paraguay [law and government] | The state of siege in Paraguay, in force since 1947, is finally allowed to lapse by the administration of General Alfredo Stroessner. |
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