Today In History. What Happened This Day In History
A chronological timetable of historical events that occurred on this day in history. Historical facts of the day in the areas of military, politics, science, music, sports, arts, entertainment and more. Discover what happened today in history.
April 1
| 1572 | The Sea Beggars under Guillaume de la Marck land in Holland and capture the small town of Briel. | |
| 1778 | Oliver Pollock, creates the dollar sign. | |
| 1863 | The first wartime conscription law goes into effect in the United States. | |
| 1865 | At the Battle of Five Forks, Gen. Robert E. Lee begins his final offensive. | |
| 1868 | The Hampton Institute is founded in Hampton, Va. | |
| 1905 | Berlin and Paris are linked by telephone. | |
| 1918 | England's Royal Air Force is formed. | |
| 1920 | Germany's Workers Party changes its name to the Nationalist Socialist German Worker's Party (Nazis). | |
| 1924 | Adolf Hitler sentenced to five years in prison for the "Beer Hall Putsch." | |
| 1928 | China's Chiang Kai-shek begins attacks on communists. | |
| 1929 | The yo-yo is introduced in the United States by Louie Marx. | |
| 1939 | The Spanish Civil War effectively ends with the official recognition of Franco's government. | |
| 1942 | The U.S. Navy begins a partial convoy system in the Atlantic. | |
| 1945 | U.S. forces launch invasion of Okinawa. | |
| 1946 | A miner's strike in the U.S. idles 400,000 workers. | |
| 1948 | The Berlin Airlift begins, relieving the surrounded city from the Soviet siege. | |
| 1951 | United Nations forces again move northward across the 38th Parallel in Korea. | |
| 1954 | The U.S. Air Force Academy is founded in Colorado. | |
| 1968 | The U.S. Army launches Operation Pegasus, the reopening of a land route to the besieged Khe Sanh Marine base. | |
| 1970 | The U.S. Army charges Captain Ernest Medina for his role in the My Lai massacre. | |
| 1982 | The United States transfers control of the Panama Canal Zone to Panama. | |
| Born on April 1 | ||
| 1578 | William Harvey, English physician and biologist. | |
| 1815 | Otto Von Bismarck, chancellor of Germany. | |
| 1868 | Edmond Rostand, French dramatist (Cyrano de Bergerac). | |
| 1883 | Lon Chaney, film actor. | |
| 1883 | William Manchester, U.S. historian and biographer. | |
| 1895 | Alberta Hunter, blues singer. | |
| 1919 | Joseph E. Murray, transplant physician. | |
| 1929 | Milan Kundera, Czech writer (The Farewell Party, The Unbearable Lightness of Being). | |
