As of today, April 1, 2023

What happened like today in Greece and the world.

334 BC: Alexander the Great crosses the Hellespont and begins his campaign in the East.

527: The Byzantine emperor, Justin I, designates his nephew, Justinian I, as co-regent and successor.

1748: In Italy, the archaeological dig stops at the ruins of Pompeii.

1789: In New York, the House of Representatives (US) meets for the first time in a quorum.

1822: The establishment of a Regular Greek Army is decided by law. The General Headquarters is assigned to the German general, Charles Norman.

1822: With their letter to the Ministry of Economy, the workers of the Administration Printing Office (Government Newspaper we would say today) are asking for a few grands, “because according to them the Easter holidays have arrived and we want to buy another pair of shoes, some socks and some other things, therefore we ask the Ministry to give us a few grands to spend these festive days, meeting our needs”. It is the first reference to the Easter gift.

1824: Georgios Karaiskakis is on trial in Aitoliko on the charge of colluding with the Turks. He will be condemned the next day as “a traitor to the country and a traitor”.

1849: Richard Wagner conducts Beethoven’s 9th Symphony in Dresden. Among the listeners is the “pope” of Anarchism, Mikhail Bakunin, who, congratulating the conductor after the concert, tells him: “Even if all things are destroyed in the future, this work of art must remain intact, even with risk of our lives”.

1867: Singapore becomes a colony of the British Empire.

1912: During the Panhellenic Games, held at the Panathinaikos Stadium, Konstantinos Tsiklitiras breaks the world record for the length of a straight leg with 3.47 meters, held by the American Yuri. The previous day he had jumped 1.67 in the height without wearing.

1914: Emmanuel Benakis takes over as mayor of Athens.

1918: The British Royal Air Force (RAF) is established, with a fleet of 998 aircraft.

1924: In Germany, a court in Munich sentences Adolf Hitler to five years in prison for high treason for his participation in an unsuccessful coup known as the “Beerhouse Putsch” that took place on 8/11/1923. He remains in prison for only nine months.

1947: The Greek flag is raised in the Governorate of Rhodes, after the union of the Dodecanese with Greece.

1951: The Greek Parliament approves the bill for women’s suffrage.

1955: In Cyprus, EOKA begins the armed struggle against English rule.

1957: April Fool’s prank in England, which will leave an era. BBC news presenter Richard Dimbleby presents a visual report on the spring spaghetti harvest in Italy and it’s believable!

1976: Steven Wozniak and Steven Jobs found Apple Computers and revolutionized the field of computing with the creation of the first personal computer ‘Apple I’.

1979: The theocratic state of Iran is established, after the Iranian revolution under Ayatollah Khomeini.

1992: The Portuguese presidency of the European Union, through the Minister of Foreign Affairs, João Pinheiro, proposes a compromise with the acceptance by Greece of a complex name for the state of Skopje, with the predominant name being “Novomacedonia” (“New Macedonia”).

1994: The property of the deposed king, Constantine Glixburg, is transferred to the Greek state, and his and his family’s Greek citizenship and passports are taken away, according to a bill by the Ministry of Finance.

2001: The former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, is handed over to the Special Forces to be tried as a war criminal.

2002: The Dutch Parliament votes to legalize euthanasia. It becomes the only state in the world to take such an action.

2020: For the first time since World War II, Wimbledon has been postponed to 2020 due to the UK’s COVID-19 pandemic.

Births

1282 – Louis IV of Bavaria, Holy Roman Emperor

1347 – Ingeborg of Denmark, Duchess of Mecklenburg

1753 – Joseph de Maistre, French philosopher

1776 – Sophie Germain, French mathematician

1809 – Nikolai Gogol, Russian writer

1815 – Otto von Bismarck, German politician

1868 – Edmond Rostan, French writer

1873 – Sergei Rachmaninoff, Russian composer and pianist

1883 – Lon Chaney, American actor

1885 – Wallace Beery, American actor

1894 – Ruqiye Sabiha Sultan, Ottoman princess

1902 – Maria Polydouri, Greek poet

1908 – Abraham Maslow, American psychologist

1913 – Memos Makris, Greek sculptor

1918 – Jan Kantar, Slovak director

1918 – Dimitrios Obolensky, Russian historian

1920 – Toshiro Mifune, Japanese actor

1927 – Ferenc Puskas, Hungarian football player

1929 – Milan Kundera, Czech writer

1934 – Pascal Rakotomavo, Prime Minister of Madagascar

1937 – Yilmaz Guney, Turkish actor and director

1946 – Nikitas Kaklamanis, Greek politician

1947 – Christina Spyraki, Greek doctor and politician

1949 – Jill Scott-Hiron, American musician

1963 – Yannis Savvidakis, Greek singer and actor

1976 – Clarence Zeendorff, Dutch football player

1976 – David Oyelowo, English actor

1978 – Antonio de Nigris, Mexican soccer player

1980 – Randy Orton, American wrestler

1981 – Antonis Fotsis, Greek basketball player

1982 – Andreas Torkildsen, Norwegian javelin thrower

1983 – Sergey Lazarev, Russian singer

Deaths

305 – Pope Marcellinus

996 – Pope John XI

1046 – Godfrey, Count of Gatineau

1205 – Amor II, king of Jerusalem

1412 – Albert, King of Sweden

1441 – Lefki I, Queen of Navarre

1547 – Marie of Luxembourg, Countess of Vendôme, French noblewoman

1548 – Sigismund I, King of Poland

1709 – Henry III, Prince of Comte

1865 – Antonios Kriezis, Greek politician and campaigner

1865 – Giudita Pasta, Italian treble player

1890 – Alexander Mozaisky, Russian admiral

1901 – François-Marie Raoult, French chemist

1918 – Pavel von Rennenkampf, Russian soldier

1920 – Eumenios Xiroudakis, Metropolitan of Crete

1922 – Charles I, Emperor of Austria-Hungary

1947 – George II, King of Greece

1952 – Ferenc Molnar, Hungarian writer

1968 – Lev Landau, Russian physicist

1972 – Thanasis Apartis, Greek sculptor

1976 – Max Ernst, German artist

1984 – Marvin Gaye, American singer

1987 – Dimitris Ioannopoulos, Greek playwright, director and screenwriter

1988 – Dimitris Malavetas, Greek actor

1993 – Juan, Count of Barcelona

1996 – Nikos Tzoias, Greek actor

2002 – Simo Heihe, Finnish shooter

2004 – Yannis Kyrastas, Greek football player and coach

2006 – Marika Botsi, Greek politician

2010 – Tzannis Tzannetakis, Greek politician

2013 – Karen Muir, South African swimmer

2014 – Jacques Le Goff, French historian and writer

2015 – Misao Okawa, Japanese centenarian

2017 – Yevgeny Yeftushenko, Russian writer.