- 33 – According to one historian’s account, Jesus Christ‘s Last Supper is held.[1][2]
- 527 – Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
- 1545 – Potosí, Bolivia, is founded after the discovery of huge silver deposits in the area.
- 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.
- 1625 – A combined Spanish and Portuguese fleet of 52 ships commences the recapture of Bahia from the Dutch during the Dutch–Portuguese War.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 1867 – Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
- 1873 – The White Star steamer RMS Atlantic sinks off Nova Scotia, killing 547 in one of the worst marine disasters of the 19th century.
- 1908 – The Territorial Force (renamed Territorial Army in 1920) is formed as a volunteer reserve component of the British Army.
- 1918 – The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
- 1924 – Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years imprisonment for his participation in the “Beer Hall Putsch” but spends only nine months in jail.
- 1924 – The Royal Canadian Air Force is formed.
- 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.
- 1935 – India’s central banking institution, The Reserve Bank of India, is formed.
- 1937 – Aden becomes a British crown colony.
- 1937 – The Royal New Zealand Air Force is formed as an independent service.
- 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.
- 1941 – Fântâna Albă massacre: Between 200 and 2,000 Romanian civilians are killed by Soviet Border Troops.
- 1941 – A military coup in Iraq overthrows the regime of ‘Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali al-Gaylani as Prime Minister.
- 1944 – Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
- 1945 – World War II: The Tenth United States Army attacks the Thirty-Second Japanese Army on Okinawa.
- 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.
- 1947 – The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.
- 1948 – Cold War: Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.
- 1948 – Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.
- 1949 – Chinese Civil War: The Chinese Communist Party holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Nationalist Party in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
- 1949 – The Government of Canada repeals Japanese-Canadian internment after seven years.
- 1954 – United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower authorizes the creation of the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado.
- 1955 – The EOKA rebellion against the British Empire begins in Cyprus, with the goal of unifying with Greece.
- 1960 – The TIROS-1 satellite transmits the first television picture from space.
- 1964 – The British Admiralty, War Office and Air Ministry are replaced by a unified Defence Council of the United Kingdom.[3]
- 1969 – The Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational fighter aircraft with Vertical/Short Takeoff and Landing capabilities, enters service with the Royal Air Force.
- 1970 – President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law.
- 1971 – Bangladesh Liberation War: The Pakistan Army massacre over 1,000 people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
- 1973 – Project Tiger, a tiger conservation project, is launched in the Jim Corbett National Park, India.
- 1974 – The Local Government Act 1972 of England and Wales comes into effect.
- 1979 – Iran becomes an Islamic republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
- 1986 – Communist Party of Nepal (Mashal) cadres attack a number of police stations in Kathmandu, seeking to incite a popular rebellion.
- 1989 – Margaret Thatcher‘s new local government tax, the Community Charge (commonly known as the “poll tax”), is introduced in Scotland.
- 1997 – Comet Hale–Bopp is seen passing at perihelion.
- 1999 – Nunavut is established as a Canadian territory carved out of the eastern part of the Northwest Territories.
- 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.
- 2001 – Former President of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
- 2001 – Same-sex marriage becomes legal in the Netherlands, the first contemporary country to allow it.
- 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.
- 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.
- 2016 – Nagorno-Karabakh clashes: The Four Day War or April War begins along the Nagorno-Karabakh line of contact on April 1.
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