Wikipedia:Selected anniversaries/March
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| An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Main Page 2007 day arrangement |
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March 1: Fast of Esther in Judaism (2007); Saint David's Day in Wales, Mărţişor in Romania and Moldova, Martenitsa in Bulgaria.
- 1700 - Sweden introduced its own Swedish calendar in an attempt to reform into the Gregorian calendar.
- 1872 - Yellowstone National Park, the first national park in the world, was established.
- 1896 - Ethiopia won the decisive Battle of Adowa over Italy, ending the First Italo-Abyssinian War.
- 1919 - Korea under Japanese rule: The Samil Movement began with numerous peaceful protests in Korea, but was brutally suppressed by the Japanese police and army.
- 1954 - The 15-megaton hydrogen bomb Castle Bravo was detonated (pictured) on Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, resulting in one of the worst cases of radioactive contamination ever caused by nuclear testing.
Recent days: February 28 – February 27 – February 26
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March 2: Independence Day in Morocco (1956)
- 1836 - The Mexican state of Texas declared its independence from Mexico, establishing the Republic of Texas
- 1943 - World War II: Australian and American air forces attacked and destroyed a large convoy of the Japanese Navy in the Battle of the Bismarck Sea.
- 1962 - A military coup d'état led by General Ne Win seized power in Burma (now Myanmar).
- 1970 - Rhodesia formally broke its links with the British crown and declared itself a republic.
- 1978 - Aboard the Soviet spacecraft Soyuz 28 (insignia patch pictured), Czech Vladimír Remek became the first person not from the Soviet Union or the United States to go into space.
Recent days: March 1 – February 28 – February 27
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March 3: Total lunar eclipse begins at 20:18 UTC (2007); Liberation Day in Bulgaria (1878); Hinamatsuri in Japan.
- 1776 - Samuel Nicholas (pictured) and the Continental Marines successfully landed on New Providence and captured Nassau in the Bahamas.
- 1878 - The signing of the Treaty of San Stefano established Bulgaria as an autonomous principality in the Ottoman Empire.
- 1918 - Bolshevist Russia signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Central Powers and exited from World War I.
- 1931 - "The Star-Spangled Banner" officially became the national anthem of the United States.
- 1958 - Nuri as-Said became the Prime Minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
Recent days: March 2 – March 1 – February 28
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March 4: Purim in Judaism, Dhulandi (Holi) in Hinduism, Daeboreum in Korea, and Lantern Festival in the Chinese lunar calendar (2007); Saint Casimir's Day in Lithuania.
- 1461 - Wars of the Roses in England: Lancastrian King Henry VI (pictured) was deposed by his Yorkist cousin, who then became King Edward IV.
- 1681 - King Charles II of England granted William Penn a charter for the Pennsylvania Colony.
- 1825 - Despite having lost in both the electoral and popular votes in the 1824 presidential election, John Quincy Adams was inaugurated as the sixth President of the United States.
- 1980 - Robert Mugabe of the Zimbabwe African National Union was elected to head the first government in Zimbabwe.
Recent days: March 3 – March 2 – March 1
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March 5: Casimir Pulaski Day in Illinois (2007).
- 1770 - Boston Massacre: The pelting of British soldiers with snowballs during a military occupation soon escalated into a riot in Boston.
- 1872 - George Westinghouse patented the air brake for trains to stop more reliably.
- 1918 - Bolshevist Russia moved its capital from Petrograd to Moscow.
- 1946 - Winston Churchill (pictured) used the term "Iron Curtain" in a speech at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, USA.
- 1970 - The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty entered into force.
Recent days: March 4 – March 3 – March 2
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March 6: Independence Day in Ghana (1957).
- 1521 - Ferdinand Magellan (pictured) and his crew reached Guam and were greeted by the Chamorros.
- 1836 - Texas Revolution: Mexican forces captured the Alamo after a 13-day siege.
- 1869 - Dmitri Mendeleev presented the first Periodic Table of Elements to the Russian Chemical Society.
- 1945 - Petru Groza of the Ploughmen's Front, a party closely associated with the Communists, became Prime Minister of Romania.
- 1987 - British ferry M/S Herald of Free Enterprise capsized while leaving the harbour of Zeebrugge, Belgium, killing 193 on board.
Recent days: March 5 – March 4 – March 3
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March 7: Teachers' Day in Albania
- 161 - Following the death of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus agreed to become co-Emperors in an unprecedented arrangement in the Roman Empire.
- 1862 - American Civil War: Union forces won the Battle of Pea Ridge and cemented their control in Missouri.
- 1936 - Germany re-occupied the demilitarized Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties.
- 1950 - The Soviet Union issued a statement denying that German nuclear physicist Klaus Fuchs had served as a Soviet spy.
- 1965 - African-American Civil Rights Movement: Civil rights demonstrators marching from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama (pictured) were brutally attacked by police on Bloody Sunday.
Recent days: March 6 – March 5 – March 4
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March 8: International Women's Day; Mother's Day in various European countries.
- 1702 - Princess Anne (pictured) became the queen of England, Scotland and Ireland.
- 1782 - Almost 100 Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio died at the hands of Pennsylvanian militiamen in a mass murder known as the Gnadenhütten massacre.
- 1844 - Oscar I acceded to the throne of Sweden-Norway.
- 1966 - Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar with a statue of Lord Nelson on top in Dublin, Ireland, was destroyed by a bomb.
Recent days: March 7 – March 6 – March 5
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March 9: Baron Bliss Day in Belize
- 1841 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that captive Africans who seized control of La Amistad, the trans-Atlantic slave-trading ship carrying them, had been taken into slavery illegally.
- 1842 - Nabucco, an opera by Giuseppe Verdi, premiered at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.
- 1862 - Ironclad warships USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fought to a draw in the Battle of Hampton Roads.
- 1945 - World War II: A bomb raid on Tokyo started a firestorm (pictured), killing 100,000.
- 1959 - Barbie, the world's best-selling doll, debuted at the American International Toy Fair in New York City.
Recent days: March 8 – March 7 – March 6
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March 10: Arba'een in Shi'a Islam (2007)
- 241 BC - Rome defeated Carthage in the Battle of the Aegates Islands, ending the First Punic War.
- 1831 - The French Foreign Legion was established by King Louis-Philippe (pictured) to support his war in Algeria.
- 1861 - Toucouleur forces led by El Hadj Umar Tall seized Ségou and conquered the Bambara Empire in present-day Mali.
- 1906 - More than a thousand coal miners were killed in the Courrières mine disaster in Northern France.
- 1952 - Forbidden by law to seek re-election, former President Fulgencio Batista staged a coup d'état to resume control in Cuba.
Recent days: March 9 – March 8 – March 7
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March 11: Independence Day in Lithuania (1990).
- 1801 - Russian Tsar Paul I of Russia was assassinated, leading the way for his son Alexander I to accede the throne.
- 1917 - World War I: British forces led by Sir Stanley Maude captured Baghdad, the southern capital of the Ottoman Empire.
- 1966 - In power since World War II, President Sukarno of Indonesia was ousted by Suharto and the military.
- 1996 - John Howard (pictured) took office as the 25th Prime Minister of Australia.
- 2003 - The International Criminal Court held its inaugural session.
Recent days: March 10 – March 9 – March 8
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March 12: Commonwealth Day (2007); Independence Day in Mauritius (1968); Arbor Day in China.
- 1881 - Andrew Watson made his debut with the Scotland national football team and became the world's first black international football player.
- 1930 - Mahatma Gandhi began the Dandi March (pictured), a 24-day, 320-km walk to defy the British tax on salt in colonial India.
- 1938 - Anschluss Österreichs: Austria was occupied by the Wehrmacht, and subsequently became Ostmark, a province within the German Reich.
- 1940 - The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, ending the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.
- 2003 - Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Đinđić was assassinated in Belgrade.
Recent days: March 11 – March 10 – March 9
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- 1781 - William Herschel discovered the planet Uranus, thinking it was a comet.
- 1881 - Tsar Alexander II of Russia was assassinated in a Nihilist plot by Ignacy Hryniewiecki (pictured).
- 1921 - Mongolia, under Roman Ungern von Sternberg, proclaimed its independence from China.
- 1954 - Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap unleashed a massive artillery barrage on the French military to begin the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, the final battle in the First Indochina War.
- 1996 - Dunblane massacre: A spree killer in Dunblane, Scotland shot 16 children and a teacher at a primary school to their death and then committed suicide.
Recent days: March 12 – March 11 – March 10
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March 14: New Year's Day in the Sikh Nanakshahi calendar, White Day in Japan, Pi Day.
- 1590 - French Wars of Religion: Henry of Navarre and the Huguenots decisively defeated the forces of the Catholic League under the Duc de Mayenne in the Battle of Ivry.
- 1757 - Admiral John Byng of the British Royal Navy was executed by firing squad for breaching the Articles of War at the start of the Seven Years' War.
- 1794 - Eli Whitney (pictured) patented the cotton gin.
- 1984 - Gerry Adams, leader of Sinn Féin, was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in central Belfast, Northern Ireland.
- 1991 - The "Birmingham Six", wrongly convicted of murder and bombing pubs in Birmingham, England, were released after 16 years in prison.
Recent days: March 13 – March 12 – March 11
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March 15: National Day in Hungary, Hōnen Matsuri in Japan.
- 44 BC - Julius Caesar of the Roman Republic was stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
- 1311 - The Catalan Company defeated Walter V of Brienne in the Battle of Halmyros and took control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece.
- 1877 - History of cricket: Cricketers representing England and Australia began the first match in Test cricket at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
- 1917 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (pictured) was forced to abdicate in the February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
- 1939 - German troops began the occupation of Czechoslovakia; the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia was proclaimed the following day.
Recent days: March 14 – March 13 – March 12
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- 1815 - William I proclaimed himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
- 1872 - In the first ever final of the FA Cup (current trophy pictured), the world's oldest football competition, Wanderers F.C. defeated Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at The Oval in Kennington, London.
- 1935 - Conscription was re-introduced in Nazi Germany, and the German military was renamed Wehrmacht.
- 1968 - Vietnam War: American soldiers killed 347 civilians in My Lai, Vietnam.
- 2006 - The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to establish the UN Human Rights Council.
Recent days: March 15 – March 14 – March 13
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- 45 BC - Julius Caesar scored his final military victory in the Battle of Munda, defeating the Optimate forces of Titus Labienus and Pompey the Younger.
- 624 - History of Islam: Muslims of Medina defeated the Quraish of Mecca in the Battle of Badr.
- 1950 - The discovery of californium, a radioactive transuranium element, was announced.
- 1958 - Vanguard 1 (pictured), the first solar-powered satellite, was launched. It is the oldest human-launched object still in Earth orbit today.
- 1969 - Golda Meir of the Labor Party became the fourth Prime Minister of Israel.
Recent days: March 16 – March 15 – March 14
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March 18: Mothering Sunday in the United Kingdom and Laetare Sunday in Western Christianity (2007); Flag Day in Aruba (1976).
- 1229 - Sixth Crusade: Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II declared himself King of Jerusalem.
- 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg became King of the Romans in the Holy Roman Empire.
- 1921 - The Polish-Soviet War, which determined the borders between the Republic of Poland and Soviet Russia, formally concluded with the signing of the Peace of Riga.
- 1922 - Mahatma Gandhi was sentenced to six years in prison for civil disobedience.
- 1965 - Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov donned a spacesuit and ventured outside the Voskhod 2 spacecraft (mission insignia shown), becoming the first person to walk in space.
Recent days: March 17 – March 16 – March 15
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March 19: Saint Joseph's Day in Catholicism; Father's Day in various countries. Canberra Day in the Australian Capital Territory (2007).
- 1279 - The Song Dynasty in Imperial China ended with a Mongolian victory in the Battle of Yamen.
- 1687 - The search for the mouth of the Mississippi River led by French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle ended with a mutiny and his murder in present-day Texas.
- 1915 - Pluto was photographed for the first time, 15 years before it was eventually discovered by Clyde Tombaugh at the Lowell Observatory.
- 1916 - Ten days after Pancho Villa (pictured) and his cross-border raiders attacked Columbus, New Mexico, U.S. General John J. Pershing led a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue Villa.
- 1982 - Argentine forces led by Alfredo Astiz occupied South Georgia, precipitating the Falklands War against the United Kingdom.
Recent days: March 18 – March 17 – March 16
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March 20: Independence Day in Tunisia (1956).
- 1602 - The Dutch East India Company was established.
- 1852 - Uncle Tom's Cabin, a novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe (pictured) about slavery in the United States before the Civil War, was first published.
- 1883 - The Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, one of the first intellectual property treaties, was signed.
- 1987 - The antiretroviral drug AZT became the first antiviral medication approved for use against HIV and AIDS.
- 1995 - The Aum Shinrikyo sect carried out a poison gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, killing 12 people and injuring more than 6,000 with sarin.
Recent days: March 19 – March 18 – March 17
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March 21: Equinox and Chunfen (00:07 UTC, 2007); International Earth Day, Norouz in Iran and various Central Asian countries and in Zoroastrianism (2007); Naw-Rúz in the Bahá'í calendar, Benito Juárez Day in Mexico, World Poetry Day.
- 1556 - Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Cranmer (pictured) was burnt at the stake in Oxford, England.
- 1800 - Pius VII was crowned Pope in Venice with a temporary papal tiara made of papier-mâché.
- 1804 - Code Napoléon was adopted as French civil law.
- 1933 - The construction of the first Nazi German concentration camp at Dachau was completed.
- 1990 - Formerly known as South-West Africa, Namibia gained independence from South Africa, with Sam Nujoma swearing in as the first President.
Recent days: March 20 – March 19 – March 18
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- 238 - Gordian I and Gordian II were proclaimed Roman Emperors.
- 1784 - The Emerald Buddha of Thailand was installed at the Wat Phra Kaew on the grounds of the Grand Palace in Bangkok.
- 1849 - After capturing the fortress town of Mortara, forces led by Austrian General Joseph Radetzky von Radetz routed Piedmontese troops at the Battle of Novara.
- 1963 - Please Please Me, the first album recorded by The Beatles, was released.
- 1995 - Russian cosmonaut Valeriy Polyakov (pictured) of the Soyuz programme returned from the Mir space station after 437 days in space, setting a record for the longest spaceflight.
Recent days: March 21 – March 20 – March 19
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March 23: Republic Day in Pakistan (1956)
- 1775 - American Revolution: Patrick Henry made his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses.
- 1801 - Tsar Alexander I acceded to the Russian throne after his father Paul I was murdered.
- 1940 - Pakistan Movement: The All India Muslim League adopted the Lahore Resolution.
- 1978 - The first UNIFIL troops arrived in Lebanon for a peacekeeping mission along the Blue Line.
- 1996 - Lee Teng-hui (pictured) was elected President of the Republic of China in the first direct presidential election in Taiwan.
Recent days: March 22 – March 21 – March 20
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March 24: World Tuberculosis Day
- 1882 - Robert Koch (pictured) announced the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, a bacterium that causes tuberculosis.
- 1944 - World War II: Captured Allied soldiers began "the Great Escape", breaking out of the German prison camp Stalag Luft III.
- 1976 - Dirty War: President Isabel Perón of Argentina was kidnapped and deposed in a bloodless coup d'état.
- 1999 - Kosovo War: NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia, marking the first time NATO has attacked a sovereign country.
Recent days: March 23 – March 22 – March 21
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March 25: Independence Day in Greece (1821), Feast of the Annunciation in Western Christianity.
- 1306 - Robert the Bruce was crowned King of Scotland at Scone Palace (pictured) in Perth.
- 1634 - The English colony of Maryland was founded by Lord Baltimore and a group of Catholic settlers.
- 1655 - Christiaan Huygens discovered Titan, the largest natural satellite of the planet Saturn.
- 1931 - The Scottsboro Boys were arrested and charged with rape.
- 1957 - West Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy, France and Belgium signed the Treaty of Rome, establishing the European Economic Community.
Recent days: March 24 – March 23 – March 22
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March 26: Independence Day in Bangladesh (1971).
- 1027 - Pope John XIX crowned Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
- 1484 - William Caxton, the first printer of books in English, printed his translation of Aesop's Fables.
- 1971 - East Pakistan declared its independence from Pakistan to form Bangladesh (original 1971 flag pictured), starting the Bangladesh Liberation War.
- 1995 - The Schengen Agreement, a 1985 treaty to abolish systematic border controls between participating European countries, went into effect.
- 1999 - The Melissa computer worm was released, infecting e-mail systems around the world.
Recent days: March 25 – March 24 – March 23
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March 27: Feast day of Rupert of Salzburg in the Roman Catholic Church.
- 1513 - Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León (pictured) first sighted Florida, purportedly while searching for the Fountain of Youth in the New World.
- 1794 - The United States Navy was established.
- 1958 - Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the Soviet Union.
- 1964 - The Good Friday Earthquake and subsequent tsunamis devastated Anchorage, Alaska.
- 1977 - Two Boeing 747 airliners collided in the Tenerife disaster on Tenerife of the Canary Islands, killing 583 people and resulting in the worst aircraft accident in aviation history.
Recent days: March 26 – March 25 – March 24
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March 28: Teachers' Day in the Czech Republic
- 193 - Praetorian Guards assassinated Roman Emperor Pertinax and sold the throne in an auction to Didius Julianus.
- 845 - Viking raiders, probably under Ragnar Lodbrok, captured Paris and held the city for a huge ransom.
- 1862 - American Civil War: An invasion of New Mexico Territory by the Confederate States Army was halted in the Battle of Glorieta Pass.
- 1979 - A nuclear reactor at Three Mile Island (pictured) near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania suffered a loss of coolant and a partial meltdown.
Recent days: March 27 – March 26 – March 25
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- 1638 - Swedish settlers founded New Sweden near Delaware Bay, the first Swedish colony in America.
- 1809 - At the Diet of Porvoo, the Four Estates of Finland pledged allegiance to Tsar Alexander I of Russia, commencing the secession of the Grand Duchy of Finland from Sweden.
- 1831 - Bosniak general Husein Gradaščević began an uprising against Sultan Mahmud II and the Ottoman Empire.
- 1871 - The Royal Albert Hall (pictured) in Albertopolis was officially opened by Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.
- 1974 - NASA spaceprobe Mariner 10 flew by the planet Mercury.
Recent days: March 28 – March 27 – March 26
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March 30: Education and Sharing day in the United States (2007); Spiritual Baptist Shouter Liberation Day in Trinidad and Tobago.
- 1867 - U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward negotiated the purchase of Alaska for US$7.2 million from Russia.
- 1912 - Sultan Abdelhafid signed the Treaty of Fez, making Morocco a French protectorate.
- 1940 - World War II: Wang Jingwei (pictured) was installed by Japan as head of the puppet government in China.
- 1961 - The Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, an international treaty aimed against the illicit manufacture and trafficking of narcotic drugs, was signed.
- 1981 - John Hinckley, Jr. shot and wounded U.S. President Ronald Reagan and three others outside the Washington Hilton Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Recent days: March 29 – March 28 – March 27
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March 31: Mawlid in Sunni Islam (2007); César Chávez Day in various U.S. states, Freedom Day in Malta.
- 1854 - Commodore Matthew Perry of the U.S. Navy signed the Treaty of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
- 1889 - The Eiffel Tower (pictured) was inaugurated in Paris.
- 1917 - The Danish West Indies became the U.S. Virgin Islands after the United States paid Denmark US$25 million for the Caribbean islands.
- 1930 - Hollywood movie studios instituted the Production Code to avoid government censorship.
Recent days: March 30 – March 29 – March 28
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