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“If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” ~ George Berkeley
“If a man speaks in the woods and there is no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?” ~ Anonymous
Wikipedia (Anonymous derived from the Greek word ἀνωνυμία, anonymia, meaning “without a name” or “namelessness”. It commonly refers to the state of an individual's personal identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown.)
April 1st, 286
Roman Empire:
286 - Roman 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.
457 - Majorian is acclaimed emperor by the Roman army
Wikipedia Image: Relief from a 3rd-century sarcophagus depicting a battle between Romans and Germanic warriors; the central figure is perhaps the emperor Hostilian / Depiction of the Menorah on the Arch of Titus in Rome.
April 1st, 325
China:
325 - Crown Prince Jin Chengdi age 4, succeeds his father Jin Mingdi as emperor of the Eastern Jin Dynasty.
Wikipedia Photo: China from NASA Wordwind Satellite; © Great Wall of China, credit National Geographic; LongJi Terrace, credit National Geographic; Great Bear Rainforest, credit Paul Nicklen, National Geographic; Platoons of clay soldiers were buried with China's first emperor, Qin Shi Huang Di, (required a labor force of 700,000 to build), credit O. Louis Mazzatenta, National Geographic.
April 1st, 527
Byzantine Empire (East Roman Empire):
527 - Byzantine Emperor Justin I names his nephew Justinian I as co-ruler and successor to the throne.
Wikipedia Image: The Baptism of Constantine painted by Raphael's pupils (1520–1524, fresco, Vatican City, Apostolic Palace); Mural of Saints Cyril and Methodius, 19th century, Troyan Monastery, Bulgaria; Justinian I depicted on one of the famous mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna; The Greek fire was first used by the Byzantine Navy during the Byzantine-Arab Wars (from the Madrid Skylitzes, Biblioteca Nacional de España, Madrid); Alexios I, founder of the Komnenos dynasty.
April 1st, 1572
Eighty Years' War:
1572 - Watergeuzen; capture Brielle from the Spaniards, gaining the first foothold on land for what would become the Dutch Republic.
Wikipedia Painting: Siege of the Schenkenschans by Gerrit van Santen; Relief of Leiden after the siege, (1574); Frederick Henry and Ernst Casimir at the siege of 'sHertogenbosch by Pauwels van Hillegaert; Disarming the waardgelders in Utrecht, 31 July 1618, by Joost Cornelisz. Droochsloot; Swearing of the Peace of Münster by Gerard ter Borch.
Battle off Lizard Point: Battle between Dutch and Spanish men-of-war. Oil on copper, Naval Museum of Madrid.
April 1st, 1789
In New York City, the United States House of Representatives holds its first quorum and elects Frederick Muhlenberg.
Wikipedia Image: The first United States Congress meets ● Frederick Muhlenberg, first Speaker of the ● New York's Federal Hall, the first capital.
April 1st, 1826
Samuel Morey patents the internal combustion engine.
Wikipedia Image: 1885 Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler's motorcycle ● 2012 Mercedes-Benz Twin-Turbo 5.5L V8
April 1st, 1833
Republic of Texas:
1833 - Texas Revolution: 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 Mexico, and creating the San Felipe de Austin.
Wikipedia Image: San Felipe de Austin site was chosen by Stephen F. Austin.
April 1st, 1833
Charles Dickens' Hard Times begins serialisation in his magazine, Household Words.
Wikipedia Image: Charles Dickens' Hard Times.
April 1st, 1865
American Civil War:
1865 - Battle of Five Forks.
Wikipedia Image: ● Lincoln Memorial; an American national monument built to honor the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln - located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. across from the Washington Monument.
● The northern army led by George McClellan and the southern army led by Robert E. Lee met at Antietam Creek, Maryland in September, 1862. It was a bloody battle where 13,000 Confederates and 12,000 Union troops died in just one day. McClellan had hesitated to attack before the battle thus letting the southern troops regroup. Also, he had saved reserves and refused to use them at the end of the battle thinking that Lee was holding reserves for a counterattack, even though those reserves didn't exist. The Union victory stopped Lee's northward advance and was a turning point in the war.
● Battle of Antietam / Stone Bridge at Antietam Battlefield - Sharpsburg, Maryland
● First Battle Between Ironclads: CSS Virginia/Merrimac (left) vs. USS Monitor, in 1862 at the Battle of Hampton Roads.
● Although photography was still in its infancy, war correspondents produced thousands of images, bringing the harsh realities of the frontlines to those on the home front in a new and visceral way. The Atlantic.
April 1st, 1867
Singapore becomes a British crown colony.
Wikipedia Image: Singapore (officially the Republic of Singapore - an island country made up of 63 islands); is a southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator.
April 1st, 1891
Wrigley Company is founded in Chicago, Illinois.
Wikipedia Photo: Wrigley Building ● Wrigley Field.
April 1st, 1922
Irish War of Independence:
1922 - Arnon Street killings; Six Irish Catholic civilians are shot and beaten-to-death by a gang of policemen in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
Wikipedia Photo: British troops in Dublin City 1920's during the Irish War of Independence; Not everyone was a separatist in Ireland in 1919. Here the Union Jack flies over Trinity College at the Victory Parade for the First World War in Dublin; It believe the story behind the headlinesin the photo was with the shooting by members of Michael Collins squad of a high-ranking official of the G. N. R. (The Great Northern Railway) on the Southside of Dublin.
April 1st, 1924
Adolf Hitler is sentenced to five years in jail for his participation in the "Beer Hall Putsch". However, he spends only nine months in jail, during which he writes Mein Kampf.
Wikipedia Image: Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf: (December 20th, 1924, Adolf Hitler publishes his personal manifesto Mein Kampf) People “could have known” what was coming if they read Mein Kampf, said teacher Annette Zschatzsch, looking at the display with her students. But people did not read it.”
April 1st, 1924
Pre World War II:
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.
World War II:
1937 - Aden becomes a British crown colony - Bombing of Jaén; Bombing of Jaén, Spain by Nazi forces.
1939 - Generalísimo Francisco Franco of the Spanish State announces the end of the Spanish Civil War, when the last of the Republican forces surrender.
1941 - Blockade Runner Badge for the German navy is instituted.
1941 - Iraqi coup d'état; A military coup in Iraq, overthrows the regime of 'Abd al-Ilah and installs Rashid Ali as Prime Minister.
1944 - Navigation errors lead to an accidental American bombing of the Swiss city of Schaffhausen.
1945 - Operation Iceberg; United States troops land on Okinawa in the last campaign of the war.
Wikipedia Photo: Bombing of Dresden in World War II; August Schreitmüller's sculpture 'Goodness' surveys Dresden after a firestorm started by Allied bombers in 1945.
USS Bunker Hill was hit by kamikazes piloted by Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa and another airman on 11 May 1945. 389 personnel were killed or missing from a crew of 2,600; Ensign Kiyoshi Ogawa, who flew his aircraft into the USS Bunker Hill during a Kamikaze mission on 11 May 1945; Kamikaze Missions - Lt Yoshinori Yamaguchi's Yokosuka D4Y3 (Type 33 Suisei) "Judy" in a suicide dive against USS Essex. The dive brakes are extended and the non-self-sealing port wing tank is trailing fuel vapor and/or smoke 25 November 1944.
German V1 flying-bomb and V2 Rockets - Preparations for a Salvo Launch of V-2 Rockets in the Heidelager near Blizna (Poland) (1944), credit German History in Documents and Images GHDI.
Eastern Front (World War II); Germans race towards Stalingrad. August 1942; Soviet children during a German air raid in the first days of the war, June 1941, by RIA Novosti archive; Soviet sniper Roza Shanina in 1944. About 400,000 Soviet women served in front-line duty units Caucasus Mountains, winter 1942/43; Finnish ski patrol: the invisible enemy of the Soviet Army with an unlimited supply of skis; Men of the German Engineers Corps cross a river which is swollen after the first autumn rains, to strengthen bridges linking the German positions on the central front in Russia. by Keystone / Getty Images. October 1942; Russian snipers fighting on the Leningrad front during a blizzard. Photo by Hulton Archive / Getty Images, 1943; German soldiers surrendering to the Russians in Stalingrad, the soldier holding the white flag of surrender is dressed in white so that there could be no doubt of his intentions, a Russian soldier is on the right of the photograph. by Keystone / Getty Images, January 1943.
April 1st, 1946
Earthquake:
1946 - Aleutian Island earthquake; A 7.8 magnitude earthquake near the Aleutian Islands creates a tsunami that strikes the Hawaiian Islands killing 159, mostly in Hilo.
Wikipedia Image: Preliminary Determination of Epicenters / Aleppo Syria; Anchorage, Alaska - March 28, 1964 Prince William Sound USA earthquake and tsunami; 8.9 Mega Earthquake Strikes Japan; Tsunami Swirls Japan's Ibaraki Prefecture March 12 2011. credit NOAA / NGDC, NOAA National Geophysical Data Center, USGS, National Geographics.
April 1st, 1948
Cold War:
1948 - Berlin Airlift; Military forces, under direction of the Russian-controlled government in East Germany, set-up a land blockade of West Berlin.
Wikipedia Photo: Berlin Blockade, Berliners watching a C-54 land at Tempelhof Airport (1948).
April 1st, 1949
Chinese Civil War:
1949 - The Communist Party of China holds unsuccessful peace talks with the Kuomintang in Beijing, after three years of fighting.
Wikipedia Photo: In 1934, Mao Zedong headed the Long March. The Long March was when the Chinese Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, forced the Chinese Communists, led by Mao Zedong, on a march to the caves of Shaanxi. (colorized); Government soldiers train with modern machine guns; People's Liberation Army attacking government defensive positions in Shangtang; US diplomat Patrick J. Hurley, Chiang Ching-kuo, Chiang Kai-shek, Chang Ch'ün, Wang Shi Jie (王世杰), Mao Zedong; A Communist leader addressing Long March survivors; The PLA enters Beijing in the Pingjin Campaign and control the later capital of PRC.
April 1st, 1949
The 26 counties of the Irish Free State become the Republic of Ireland.
Wikipedia Photo: Ireland is an island to the north-west of continental Europe. (Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland, which covers just under five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, a part of the United Kingdom, which covers the remainder and is located in the north-east of the island.)
● The Nine Years' War (Ireland from 1594 to 1603): It was fought between the forces of Gaelic Irish chieftains Hugh O'Neill of Tír Eoghain, Hugh Roe O'Donnell of Tír Chonaill and their allies, against English rule in Ireland.
April 1st, 1957
April Fools' Day - Spaghetti tree hoax: The BBC broadcasts the spaghetti tree hoax on its current affairs programme Panorama.
Wikipedia Photo: Spaghetti tree hoax; a famous 3-minute hoax report broadcast on April Fools' Day 1957 by the BBC current affairs programme Panorama.
April 1st, 1960
Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS-1) satellite transmits the first television picture from space.
Wikipedia Photo: Television Infrared Observation Satellite (TIROS-1) satellite transmission from space.
April 1st, 1970
United States President Richard Nixon signs the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act into law, requiring the Surgeon General's warnings on tobacco products and banning cigarette advertisements on television and radio in the United States, starting on January 1, 1971.
Wikipedia Image: On January 1st, 1971, Cigarette advertisements are banned on American television - 1950's Lucky Strike cigarette ad, courtesy of Cornelia Cotton Gallery; The Marlboro Man is assuredly the most successful and most controversial manly brand icon on the list. Created in 1954 by advertiser Leo Burnett, the Marlboro Man was a lone, rugged cowboy who always had a Marlboro cigarette coolly dangling from his lips; In the 1950s and 1960s, cigarettes as Christmas gifts, Ronald Reagan touting Chesterfield cigarettes; Camel cigarettes, picture of the typical “cool guy” from around the fifties; Camel 1993 Cigarette Ad - Joe Camel Lights Hanging by the Convertible.
April 1st, 1971
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971: Bangladesh Liberation War;
1971 - Jinjira massacre - The Pakistan Army massacre over 1,000 people in Keraniganj Upazila, Bangladesh.
Wikipedia Image: Map Satellite India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet AR, Bangladesh.
April 1st, 1976
Conrail takes over operations from six bankrupt railroads in the Northeastern U.S.
Wikipedia Picture: Conrail SD40 Satre, Pennsylvania, 1984 Scot Lawrence.
April 1st, 1976
Apple Inc. is formed by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
Wikipedia Picture: Apple is incorporated.
April 1st, 1979
Iran becomes an Islamic Republic by a 99% vote, officially overthrowing the Shah.
Wikipedia Image: Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
April 1st, 1992
Yugoslav Wars:
1992 - Start of the Bosnian war.
2001 - Former President Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milošević surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on war crimes charges.
2009 - Croatia and Albania join NATO.
Wikipedia Map: Kingdom of Yugoslavia; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; A twilight moon rises above the Kamniske mountains and Slovenia’s Sava River Valley, Slovenia, credit National Geographic; Yugoslavia, November 1977, credit National Geographic.
Photo: 1995 NATO bombing campaign in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Aug. 30, 1995 by Oleg Stjepanovic (AP) ● Smoke rises from an ammunition depot in Bosnian Serb stronghold Pale near Sarajevo after NATO air strikes ● CK building in the moments after bombing ● Serbia marks the 10th anniversary of the Nato-led bombing campaign ● U.S. F-117 Nighthawk taxis to the runway before taking off from Aviano Air Base, Italy, on March 24, 1999.
April 1st, 2011
War in Afghanistan: 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.
Wikipedia Photo: Afghanistan, Boston Globe, The Big Picture.
April 1st, 2016
Modern conflicts in the Middle East:
2016 - Nagorno-Karabakh clashes; The Four Day War or April War, began along the Nagorno-Karabakhline of contact on April 1.
Wikipedia Photo: Middle East satellite image, NASA. ● Camels are seen early morning on a beach in the Marina area of Dubai October 16, 2008. (Steve Crisp, Reuters) ● A portrait of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad burns during clashes between rebels and Syrian troops in Selehattin, near Aleppo, on July 23, 2012. (Bulent Kilic, AFP / GettyImages) ● Egyptians gather in their thousands in Tahrir Square to mark the one year anniversary of the revolution on Jan. 25, 2012 in Cairo Egypt. Tens of thousands have gathered in the square on the first anniversary of the Arab uprising which toppled President Hosni Mubarak. (Jeff J Mitchell, Getty Images) ● Black smoke rises above the Tehran skyline as supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi burn tires and other material in the streets as they fight running battles with police to protest the declared results of the Iranian presidential election in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 13, 2009. (Ben Curtis, AP) ● The Iron Dome defense system fires to interecpt incoming missiles from Gaza in the port town of Ashdod, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012. (Tsafrir Abayov, AP)