1 April in World History

Although for most people 1 April is associated with April Fools' Day and people enjoy playing pranks on each other, looking back not so far into the past one can find other interesting events too. With this article I am launching a month-long series, aiming to inform iinuu.lv readers each day about significant, unusual, curious and fascinating facts on that day in world history. Stay tuned!

On 1 April 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his participation in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich - but by 20 December the putsch participants had already received an amnesty, which allowed Hitler to leave prison as well. In prison he wrote his autobiography "Mein Kampf," which was published in 1925.

On 1 April 1981, the USSR introduced the switch to summer time.

On 1 April 1976, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak founded Apple Computer in California. "You know, Apple was created on April Fools' Day 1976. At the time we thought it was funny," Jobs said in an interview. From today's perspective, the first Apple computer in its wooden case and without a monitor (see image) looks a little amusing as well.

On 1 April 2001, the Netherlands legalised same-sex marriage, becoming the first country in the world to do so.

Materials from Wikipedia.org were used in writing this article.