On this day
Revisit the news, notable people, and historical moments connected to this date.
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USSR bars US and Brit mil trains passage through USSR zone to Berlin without special inspection by USSR troops
Asst Sec Gen Price stresses need for accord between UN and regional systems, Bogota conf
BERLIN, Thursday, April 1 -- The United States Military Government rejected last night Soviet proposals presented Tuesday night to put traffic to and from Berlin under virtually complete Russian control.
Govt reptd to have instructed delegation negotiating pact with USSR to refuse USSR right to decide when mutual aid clauses are to be used
1948Javier Irureta, Spanish footballer and manager[†]
Javier Iruretagoyena Amiano, Irureta for short, is a Spanish retired football attacking midfielder and manager.
1948Peter Law, Welsh politician and independent Member of Parliament (died 2006)[†]
Peter John Law was a Welsh politician. For most of his career Law sat as a Labour councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly member (AM) for Blaenau Gwent. Latterly he sat as an independent member of Parliament (MP) and AM for the same constituency.
1948Cold War: Communist forces respond to the introduction of the Deutsche Mark by attempting to force the western powers to withdraw from Berlin.[†]
The Cold War was a period of global geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which began in the aftermath of the Second World War and ended with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. The term cold war is used because there was no direct fighting between the two superpowers, though each supported opposing sides in regional conflicts known as proxy wars. In addition to the struggle for ideological and economic influence and an arms race in both conventional and nuclear weapons, the Cold War was expressed through technological rivalries such as the Space Race, espionage, propaganda campaigns, embargoes, and sports diplomacy.
1948Faroe Islands gain autonomy from Denmark.[†]
The Faroe Islands are an archipelago in the North Atlantic Ocean and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. Located between Iceland, Norway, and the United Kingdom, the islands have a population of 54,900 as of June 2025 and a land area of 1,393 km². The official language is Faroese, which is partially mutually intelligible with Icelandic. The terrain is rugged, dominated by fjords and cliffs with sparse vegetation and few trees. As a result of their proximity to the Arctic Circle, the islands experience perpetual civil twilight during summer nights and very short winter days; nevertheless, they experience a subpolar oceanic climate and mild temperatures year-round due to the Gulf Stream. The capital, Tórshavn, receives the fewest recorded hours of sunshine of any city in the world at only 840 per year.