Events on April 1 60
Year 286
Emperor Diocletian elevates his general Maximian to co-emperor with the rank of Augustus and gives him control over the Western regions of the Roman Empire.
Year 325
Crown Prince Jin Chengdi, age 4, succeeds his father Jin Mingdi as emperor of the Eastern Jin dynasty.
Year 457
Majorian is acclaimed emperor by the Roman army after defeating 900 Alemanni near Lake Maggiore (Italy).
Year 527
Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
Year 528
The daughter of Emperor Xiaoming of Northern Wei was made the "Emperor" as a male heir of the late emperor by Empress Dowager Hu, deposed and replaced by Yuan Zhao the next day; she was the first female monarch in the History of China, but not widely recognised.
Year 1293
Robert Winchelsey leaves England for Rome, to be consecrated as Archbishop of Canterbury.
Year 1340
Niels Ebbesen kills Gerhard III, Count of Holstein-Rendsburg in his bedroom, ending the 1332-1340 interregnum in Denmark.
Year 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.
Year 1625
A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch-Portuguese War.
Year 1789
In New York City, the United States House of Representatives holds its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg of Pennsylvania as its first Speaker.
Year 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
Year 1854
Charles Dickens' novel Hard Times begins serialisation in his magazine Household Words.
Year 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.
Year 1873
The White Star steamer RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.
Year 1889
The University of Northern Colorado was established, as the Colorado State Normal School.
Year 1908
The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
Year 1918
The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
Year 1924
Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years imprisonment for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch" but spends only nine months in jail.
Year 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.
Year 1937
Spanish Civil War: Jaén, Spain is bombed by German fascist forces, supporting Francoist Nationalists.
Year 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.
Year 1941
Fântâna Albă massacre: Between 200 and 2,000 Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.
Year 1941
A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of 'Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.
Year 1944
Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
Year 1945
World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.
Year 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.
Year 1948
Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.
Year 1949
Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
Year 1949
The Government of Canada repeals Japanese-Canadian internment after seven years.
Year 1954
United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
Year 1955
The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of unifying with Greece.
Year 1970
President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertising on television and radio in the United States, effective 1 January 1971.
Year 1971
Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre over 1,000 people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
Year 1973
Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.
Year 1976
Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak, and Ronald Wayne in Cupertino, California, USA.
Year 1978
The Philippine College of Commerce, through a presidential decree, becomes the Polytechnic University of the Philippines.
Year 1979
Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
Year 1986
Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
Year 1989
Margaret Thatcher's new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the "poll tax"), is introduced in Scotland.
Year 1999
Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
Year 2001
An EP-3E United States Navy surveillance aircraft collides with a Chinese People's Liberation Army Shenyang J-8 fighter jet. The Navy crew makes an emergency landing in Hainan, China and is detained.
Year 2001
Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
Year 2001
Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
Year 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 thirteen people, including eight foreign workers.
Year 2016
Nagorno-Karabakh clashes: The Four Day War or April War, began along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact on April 1.