Historically September 1st is famous for...

September the 1st is probably most well know for being the date in 1939 when the Nazi's invaded Poland, bombed Westerplatte and kicked off events that would begin World War II.

However, depending on which period in history you prefer it might also be noted that several other things happened in history on this date.

In 1532 Lady Anne Boleyn was made Marchioness of Pembroke by her fiance King Henry VIII. He created this title for his mistress, who would become his second wife. He had her beheaded in 1536 after she was investigated and found to be guilty of high treason.

This date in 1715 saw the death of King Louis XIV of France. He died of gangrene at age 76 and had ruled for 72 years (+110 days). The longest recorded reign of any European monarch.

Emma Nutt became the worlds first female telephone operator on this date in 1878. Emma Nutt was recruited by Alexander Graham Bell himself to work for the Boston Telephone Dispatch Company. Hours later her sister, Stella Nutt became the worlds second female telephone operator.

In 1923 an estimated 105,000 (although the number is thought to be higher as those who were missing were presumed dead) people died as the Great Kanto earthquake devastated much of Tokyo and Yokohama.  The quake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and reportedly lasted for anything up to 10 minutes.

A 1969 revolution in Libya brought Muammar Aby Minyar al-Gaddafi (better known as Colonol Gaddafi) into power.  He remains in power today.  Gaddafi led a small coup against King Idris while he was out of the country seeking medical treatment.

In 2004 armed terrorists took children and adults hostage in School Number One in Beslan, North Ossetia, Russia.  It was the beginning of a siege which last 3 days.  A total of 1,100 people were taken hostage by terrorists, 777 of them were children.  By the end of the siege 300 people had lost their lives leading people to name the event as the Beslan School Massacre.

Luxembourg became the fist country to successful make the switch to all digital broadcasting in 2006.  The Netherlands followed a few months later and on September 1st 2007 Finland switched over too.  Much of Europe and the rest of the world continue to make the transition.