On This Day — 1 April
2000s
2026
The Artemis II lunar flyby mission launches, marking the first crewed flight above low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
Artemis II
2016
The 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict begins along the Nagorno-Karabakh Line of Contact.
2016 Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
2011
After protests against the burning of the Quran turn violent, a mob attacks a United Nations compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in the deaths of fourteen people, including seven UN workers.
Dove World Outreach Center Quran-burning controversy
2006
Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) of the Government of the United Kingdom is enforced, but later merged into National Crime Agency on 7 October 2013.
Serious Organised Crime Agency
2004
Google launches its Email service Gmail.
2001
An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Chinese pilot ejected but is subsequently lost. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.
Lockheed EP-3
2001
Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
President of Yugoslavia
2001
Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
Same-sex marriage in the Netherlands
1900s
1999
Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
Nunavut
1997
Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.
Comet Hale–Bopp
1993
NASCAR champion Alan Kulwicki is killed in a plane crash near the Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Blountville, Tennessee.
NASCAR
1989
Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.
Margaret Thatcher
1986
Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal)
1984
Singer Marvin Gaye is shot to death by his father in his home in Arlington Heights, Los Angeles, California.
Marvin Gaye
1979
Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
Iran
1976
Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak found Apple Computer, Inc.
Steve Jobs
1974
The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.
Local Government Act 1972
1973
Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.
Project Tiger
1971
Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre more than a thousand people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
Bangladesh Liberation War
1970
President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law.
Richard Nixon
1970
A Royal Air Maroc Sud Aviation Caravelle crashes near Berrechid, Morocco, killing 61.
Royal Air Maroc
1969
The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force.
Hawker Siddeley Harrier
1964
The British Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry are replaced by a unified Defence Council of the United Kingdom.
Admiralty (United Kingdom)
1960
The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.
Television Infrared Observation Satellite
1955
The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of unifying with Greece.
EOKA
1954
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
1949
Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
Chinese Civil War
1949
The Government of Canada repeals Japanese-Canadian internment after seven years.
Government of Canada
1948
Cold War: Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.
Cold War
1948
Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.
Faroe Islands
1947
The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.
1947 Royal New Zealand Navy mutinies
1946
The 8.6 Mw Aleutian Islands earthquake shakes the Aleutian Islands with a maximum Mercalli intensity of VI (Strong). A destructive tsunami reaches the Hawaiian Islands resulting in dozens of deaths, mostly in Hilo, Hawaii.
1946 Aleutian Islands earthquake
1946
The Malayan Union is established. Protests from locals led to the establishment of the Federation of Malaya two years later.
Malayan Union
1945
World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.
Tenth United States Army
1944
World War II: Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
World War II
1941
Fântâna Albă massacre: Between two hundred and two thousand Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.
Fântâna Albă massacre
1941
A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of 'Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.
1941 Iraqi coup d'état
1939
Spanish Civil War: Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
Generalissimo
1937
Aden becomes a British crown colony.
Aden
1937
The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.
Royal New Zealand Air Force
1935
India's central banking institution, the Reserve Bank of India, is formed.
Reserve Bank of India
1933
The recently elected Nazis under Julius Streicher organize a one-day boycott of all Jewish-owned businesses in Germany, ushering in a series of anti-Semitic acts.
Nazism
1924
Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years fortress confinement for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch" but spends only nine months in jail.
Adolf Hitler
1924
The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
Royal Canadian Air Force
1922
In newly formed Northern Ireland, six Catholics are murdered in the Arnon Street killings, one week after six others were killed in the McMahon killings.
Northern Ireland
1918
The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
Royal Air Force
1908
The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
Territorial Force
1900
Prince George becomes absolute monarch of the Cretan State.
Prince George of Greece and Denmark
1800s
1873
The White Star steamer SS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.
White Star Line
1867
Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
Singapore
1865
American Civil War: Union troops led by Philip Sheridan decisively defeat Confederate troops led by George Pickett, cutting the Army of Northern Virginia's last supply line during the Siege of Petersburg.
American Civil War
1833
The Convention of 1833, a political gathering of settlers in Mexican Texas to help draft a series of petitions to the Mexican government, begins in San Felipe de Austin.
Convention of 1833
Before 1800
1789
In New York City, the United States House of Representatives achieves its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.
United States House of Representatives
1725
J. S. Bach's later Easter Oratorio in its first version is performed at the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig on Easter Sunday.
Johann Sebastian Bach
1572
In the Eighty Years' War, the Watergeuzen capture Brielle from the Seventeen Provinces, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
Eighty Years' War
1081
Alexios I Komnenos overthrows the Byzantine emperor Nikephoros III Botaneiates, and, after his troops spend three days extensively looting Constantinople, is formally crowned on April 4.
Alexios I Komnenos
527
Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
List of Byzantine emperors
285
Roman emperor Diocletian names Maximian his co-emperor ("Augustus").
Roman emperor