This Day In European History
1st April
Events1509: The League of Cambrai - comprised of Spain, France, the Holy Roman Empire, the Pope and others - declares war on Venice.
1918: Britain forms the Royal Air Force (RAF) from the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.
1948: Soviet forces cut off West Berlin from West Germany, beginning the Berlin Blockade.
Births
1753: Joseph de Maistre, French author.
1578: William Harvey, English physician.
1815: Otto von Bismarck, founder and first Chancellor of the German Empire.
1868: Edmond Rostand, French dramatist and author of 'Cyrano de Bergerac'.
1873: Sergey Rachmaninov, Russian composer and pianist.
Deaths
1204: Eleanor of Aquitaine, Queen of England and France.
1548: King Sigismund I, the old, of Poland.
