Today in History: April 6

1965: President Lyndon B. Johnson authorizes the use of ground troops in combat operations.

1941:  German forces invade Greece and Yugoslavia.

1938: The United States recognizes Nazi Germany's conquest of Austria.

1924: Four planes leave Seattle on the first successful flight around the world.

1917: The United States declares war on Germany and enters World War I on Allied side.

1909: Americans Robert Peary and Matthew Henson become the first men to reach the North Pole.

1903: French Army Nationalists are revealed to have forged documents to guarantee a conviction for Alfred Dryfus.

1896: Pierre, baron de Coubertin, a founder of the International Olympic Committee and its president from 1896 to 1925, realized his goal of reviving the Olympics when the first modern Games opened in Athens this day in 1896.

1868: The Japanese emperor Meiji issued the Charter Oath, which served to modernize the country during the Meiji Restoration.

1865: At the Battle of Sailer's Creek, a third of Lee's army is cut off by Union troops pursuing him to Appomattox.

1862: Union troops clashed with Confederates in southwestern Tennessee at the Battle of Shiloh, the second great engagement of the American Civil War.

1830: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was formed by American prophet Joseph Smith at Fayette, New York.

1814: Granted sovereignty in the island of Elba and a pension from the French government, Napoleon Bonaparte abdicates at Fountainebleau. He is allowed to keep the title of emperor.

1789: The First U.S. Congress begins regular sessions at Federal Hall in New York City.

1348: The woman said to be Laura, the beloved muse of the Italian poet Petrarch, died.

1199: English King Richard I is killed by an arrow at the siege of the castle of Chaluz in France.