April 3 in Military History — On This Day

The Peace of Cateau-Cambrésis

Bankrupt and frightened of the Protestant movements growing in both kingdoms, France renounced every claim in Italy it had pursued for sixty-five years. Spain kept Milan, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. To seal it, Henry II married his daughter to Philip II — and was killed weeks later in a tournament celebrating the wedding, a lance splinter through the eye.

Sixty-five years, hundreds of thousands of dead, three bankruptcies, and France ended with less than it began. Spain held Italy for a century and a half and Italy stayed under foreign rule until 1861. Henry's death opened the French succession crisis that became the Wars of Religion, and the two exhausted monarchies turned from fighting each other to fighting their own Protestants. The last knight-king of France was killed by a lance in a ceremony celebrating the end of the age of lances.

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⚔️📍 Richmond, Virginia1865

Richmond Falls — Confederate Capital Abandoned

Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his government evacuated Richmond after Grant's breakthrough at Petersburg. Retreating Confederate soldiers set fire to warehouses and armories; the fires spread and burned much of the city before Union troops arrived.

The fall of Richmond was the psychological death blow to the Confederacy; Lee surrendered six days later at Appomattox.

Outcome

Union forces occupy Richmond; war ends in 6 days