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Historical Events in March || Listed by Year
These are some of many widely recognized historic events that occurred during the month of March, listed by year. Dates provided for earlier time events may be approximate. Select another month
900 BCE, March 12 - The approximate time when King Solomon is believed to have begun construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem.
950 BCE, March 5 - Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem is completed.
922 BCE, March 8 - Solomon's son Rehoboam ascends to the throne of the Kingdom of Judah after Solomon's death, leading to the division of the United Monarchy.
776 BCE, March 7 - The traditional founding date of the city of Rome by Romulus and Remus.
776 BCE, March 25 - The first recorded Olympic Games in ancient Greece take place in Olympia.
722 BCE, March 10 - Israel's northern kingdom, Samaria, falls to the Assyrians, leading to the exile of the Israelites.
597 BCE, March 16 - Babylonians capture Jerusalem and replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.
586 BCE, March 16 - The Babylonian siege of Jerusalem begins, leading to the eventual destruction of the First Temple.
486-483 BCE, Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, dies at the age of 80 in Kushinagar, India. More
324 BCE, March 21 - The Battle of Gaza occurs between Alexander the Great and Darius III of Persia, leading to Alexander's victory and the collapse of Persian rule.
221 BCE, March 29 - The founding of the Qin Dynasty in China marks the beginning of Imperial China.
202 BCE, March 19 - The Battle of Zama takes place, where Roman general Scipio Africanus defeats Carthaginian leader Hannibal, ending the Second Punic War.
49 BCE, March 9 - Julius Caesar crosses the Rubicon River with his army, initiating a civil war in Rome.
44 BCE, March 15 - Julius Caesar is assassinated by a group of Roman senators, including Brutus and Cassius, in the Roman Senate.
1 CE, March 15 - Germanic tribes led by Arminius defeat the Roman legions at the Battle of Idistaviso.
14 CE, March 18 - Roman Emperor Tiberius dies, and Caligula becomes Emperor.
37 CE, March 18 - Caligula, Roman Emperor, is assassinated, and Claudius becomes the new Emperor.
45 CE, March 20 - Roman Emperor Claudius is poisoned, and Nero ascends to the throne.
51 CE, March 18 - Nero, Roman Emperor, is given the title of Pontifex Maximus, the high priest of the College of Pontiffs.
64 CE, March 19 - The Great Fire of Rome begins, lasting for six days and destroying a significant portion of the city.
69 CE, March 15 - Roman Emperor Galba is assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, leading to the Year of the Four Emperors.
81 CE, March 13 - Roman Emperor Titus, famous for completing the Colosseum, dies.
98 CE, March 18 - Trajan becomes Roman Emperor after the death of Nerva, starting the golden age of the Roman Empire.
117 CE, March 25 - Roman Emperor Trajan dies, and Hadrian becomes Emperor.
180 CE, March 17 - Commodus, Roman Emperor, makes his son Commodus co-emperor.
193 CE, March 28 - Pertinax, Roman Emperor, is assassinated by the Praetorian Guard, leading to the Year of the Five Emperors.
222 CE, March 11 - Roman Emperor Elagabalus is assassinated, and Alexander Severus becomes emperor.
268 CE, March 20 - Pope Dionysius declares March 25 as the official date of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ (Christmas).
303 CE, March 7 - Roman Emperor Diocletian orders the persecution of Christians.
313 CE, March 1 - Roman Emperors Constantine the Great and Licinius issue the Edict of Milan, granting religious tolerance in the Roman Empire.
363 CE, March 5 - Roman Emperor Julian orders the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.
410 CE, March 18 - The Visigoths, led by Alaric, plunder Rome, marking the first time the city falls to invaders in over 800 years.
451 CE, March 20 - The Council of Chalcedon declares Jesus Christ to have two natures—fully divine and fully human.
476 CE, March 23 - Romulus Augustulus, the last Roman Emperor, is deposed by Odoacer, marking the fall of the Western Roman Empire.
536 CE, March 24 - A mysterious atmospheric event causes a dense fog over Europe and the Middle East, believed to have been caused by a volcanic eruption.
589 CE, March 7 - Reccared I, Visigothic King of Hispania, converts to Catholicism from Arianism, leading to the conversion of the Visigothic nobility.
632 CE, March 8 - The Islamic prophet Muhammad’s last sermon is delivered during his Farewell Pilgrimage in Mecca.
711 CE, March 26 - Tariq ibn Ziyad, a Muslim commander, crosses the Strait of Gibraltar, beginning the Muslim conquest of Hispania.
732 CE, March 3 - Battle of Poitiers: Frankish leader Charles Martel defeats the Islamic Umayyad Caliphate, halting the Muslim advance into Western Europe.
843 CE, March 14 - The Treaty of Verdun divides the Carolingian Empire among three grandsons of Charlemagne, marking the foundation of France, Germany, and the Middle Kingdom (Lotharingia).
871 CE, March 23 - King Æthelred I of Wessex dies, and his brother Alfred the Great becomes King of Wessex.
922 CE, March 8 - Solomon's son Rehoboam ascends to the throne of the Kingdom of Judah after Solomon's death, leading to the division of the United Monarchy.
950 CE, March 5 - Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem is completed.
999 CE, March 25 - King Olaf Tryggvason of Norway is killed in the Battle of Svolder.
1000, CE, March 11 - Emperor Otto III issues a document establishing the Bishopric of Gniezno, Poland, as an archbishopric. during the Congress of Gniezno which was an amicable meeting between the Polish Duke Bolesław I the Brave and Emperor Otto III. Scholars disagree over the details of others decisions made at the convention, especially whether the ruler of Poland was pledged the king's crown or not.
1001, March 25 - Emperor Otto III of the Holy Roman Empire dies unexpectedly at the age of 22.
1009, March 13 - First known mention of Lithuania in historical chronicles.
1014, March 23 - Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, wins the Battle of Clontarf against the Vikings but dies in the battle.
1016, March 25 - Æthelred the Unready, King of England, dies and is succeeded by his son Edmund Ironside.
1027, March 12 - Pope John XIX crowns Conrad II as Holy Roman Emperor.
1034, March 19 - King Mieszko II Lambert of Poland dies, leading to a period of instability.
1040, March 17 - Harald Hardrada becomes King of Norway after the death of Magnus I.
1043, March 23 - Edward the Confessor becomes the King of England.
1054, March 23 - Pope Leo IX issues a papal bull excommunicating Michael I Cerularius, leading to the Great Schism between the Eastern and Western Christian churches.
1067, March 20 - Battle at the Tigris: Seljuk Turks defeat the Abbasids near Baghdad.
1071, March 24 - The Battle of Manzikert: The Seljuk Turks defeat the Byzantine Empire, opening the door for Turkish conquest of Asia Minor.
1080, March 7 - King Harald III of Denmark dies at the Battle of St. Alban's Priory.
1085, March 15 - Alfonso VI of Castile takes Toledo, Spain, from the Moors after a siege.
1093, March 24 - Robert Curthose, Duke of Normandy, tries to take England but is repelled by King William II.
1095, March 12 - Bertha of Savoy, wife of Emperor Henry IV, is crowned Holy Roman Empress.
1098, March 12 - Crusaders capture the fortress of Arqa from the Fatimids in the First Crusade.
1099, March 7 - Crusaders begin the siege of Jerusalem, part of the First Crusade.
1100, March 24 - Anselm of Canterbury becomes Archbishop of Canterbury.
1100, March 25 - Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Becket, is born in Cheapside, London.
1100, March 26 - Empress Matilda, future claimant to the English throne, is born.
1100, March 28 - Raymond IV, Count of Toulouse, dies.
1100, March 29 - Baldwin I of Jerusalem is crowned as the first King of Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
1100, March 31 - The University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world, is founded.
1101, March 13 - Crusaders besiege Sidon but fail to capture it during the Crusade of 1101.
1103, March 23 - Crusaders lay siege to the city of Tripoli in modern-day Lebanon during the Crusade of 1101.
1105, March 16 - Maginulfo is elected as the Antipope Sylvester IV, challenging Pope Paschal II.
1107, March 8 - Edgar, King of Scotland, dies.
1107, March 17 - King Baldwin I of Jerusalem dies.
1111, March 7 - Pope Paschal II crowns Henry V as Holy Roman Emperor.
1113, March 11 - Baldwin II becomes the King of Jerusalem.
1118, March 19 - Pope Gelasius II excommunicates Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.
1120, March 25 - The Council of Nablus is convened by King Baldwin II of Jerusalem.
1126, March 8 - Alfonso VII becomes the King of Galicia, Leon, and Castile.
1133, March 8 - King Henry II of England marries Eleanor of Aquitaine.
1138, March 13 - Conrad III is crowned as the King of Germany.
1142, March 9 - Pierre Abélard, a French philosopher, dies.
1144, March 1 - The Second Crusade: Bernard of Clairvaux preaches in favour of a crusade at Vézelay.
1147, March 31 - The Second Crusade: Crusaders begin the Siege of Damascus.
1152, March 18 - Frederick I Barbarossa becomes the Holy Roman Emperor.
1153, March 7 - Stephen, King of England, agrees to the Treaty of Winchester, naming Henry Plantagenet as his heir.
1155, March 31 - Alfonso VII, Emperor of Spain, dies.
1158, March 23 - Vladislaus II becomes the King of Bohemia.
1160, March 25 - Victor IV is elected as Antipope by the Holy Roman Empire.
1164, March 20 - Thomas Becket is exiled from England by King Henry II.
1167, March 7 - Battle of El-Babein: A Crusader force led by King Amalric of Jerusalem defeats the Fatimids.
1173, March 15 - Pope Alexander III canonizes Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury.
1179, March 19 - The Third Lateran Council opens in Rome under Pope Alexander III.
1180, March 25 - Murasaki Shikibu, author of "The Tale of Genji," dies in Japan.
1181, March 9 - Emperor Takakura of Japan abdicates the throne in favor of his son, Emperor Antoku.
1188, March 29 - Emperor Antoku of Japan abdicates the throne and is succeeded by his mother, Taira no Tokuko.
1190, March 10 - Third Crusade: Crusaders massacre the Jewish population of York, England.
1199, March 6 - Richard I of England is wounded by a crossbow bolt while besieging the castle of Châlus-Chabrol and dies days later.
1201, March 15 - King Afonso II of Portugal is born.
1204, March 1 - Sack of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade: Crusaders breach the walls and take control of the city.
1205, March 27 - King Amalric II of Jerusalem dies.
1208, March 18 - Pope Innocent III places England under an interdict as part of the dispute with King John.
1212, March 16 - The Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: Christian forces decisively defeat the Almohads in Spain.
1217, March 19 - Pope Honorius III issues the papal bull Religiosam vitam initiating the Fifth Crusade.
1223, March 18 - Mongol invasion of Central Asia: The Battle of the Kalka River takes place between the Mongol Empire and Kievan Rus'.
1226, March 14 - King Louis IX of France becomes of age and begins to rule independently.
1227, March 18 - Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire, dies.
1238, March 18 - The Mongols under Batu Khan capture the city of Vladimir, Russia.
1241, March 30 - Battle of Liegnitz: Mongols defeat a Polish army under Henry II the Pious during their invasion of Poland.
1244, March 12 - Siege of Montségur during the Albigensian Crusade: The Cathar stronghold falls to the Crusaders.
1253, March 7 - William of Rubruck departs on his journey to the Mongol Empire.
1258, March 13 - The Mongols under Hulagu Khan capture and sack Baghdad, effectively ending the Abbasid Caliphate.
1260, March 3 - Hulagu Khan's Mongol army defeats the Mamluks at the Battle of Ain Jalut in Palestine, marking the first Mongol defeat.
1266, March 23 - Battle of Benevento: Charles of Anjou defeats Manfred, King of Sicily.
1270, March 30 - King Louis IX of France dies while on the Eighth Crusade, leading to his son, Philip III, becoming king.
1274, March 13 - The Second Council of Lyon opens under Pope Gregory X.
1279, March 19 - The Reign of the Song Dynasty which ruled parts of China ends after ruling for more than three centuries when a Mongol fleet defeated a Song fleet in the Battle of Yamen and completed its conquest of China. More
1282, March 30 - The Sicilian Vespers: A rebellion breaks out against the rule of Charles I of Naples in Sicily.
1286, March 28 - King Alexander III of Scotland dies, leading to a succession crisis.
1290, March 18 - Eleanor of Castile, wife of Edward I of England, dies.
1296, March 28 - Edward I of England sacks the Scottish town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, beginning the First War of Scottish Independence.
1297, March 26 - Robert the Bruce resigns as Guardian of Scotland.
1298, March 27 - Edward I of England issues the Edict of Expulsion, expelling Jews from England.
1300, March 19 - Edmund Crouchback, son of Henry III of England, is created Earl of Lancaster.
1302, March 18 - Battle of the Golden Spurs: Flemish militia decisively defeat the French knights near Kortrijk, Belgium.
1303, March 23 - Battle of Roslin: Scots under Sir Simon Fraser ambush and defeat an English force.
1305, March 18 - William Wallace, Scottish knight and leader of the resistance against England, is captured near Glasgow.
1306, March 20 - Robert the Bruce murders John Comyn, a rival claimant to the Scottish throne, at Greyfriars Church in Dumfries.
1306, March 27 - Robert the Bruce is crowned King of Scotland at Scone.
1309, March 26 - Pope Clement V moves the papal headquarters to Avignon, beginning the period known as the Avignon Papacy.
1314, March 24 - Jacques de Molay, the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar, is burned at the stake.
1316, March 16 - Louis X becomes King of France upon the death of his father, King Philip IV.
1322, March 16 - Battle of Boroughbridge: Edward II of England defeats rebellious barons, capturing Thomas of Lancaster.
1323, March 20 - Treaty of Paris: England recognizes Scotland as an independent kingdom with Robert the Bruce as its king.
1328, March 23 - Treaty of Edinburgh-Northampton: England recognizes Scottish independence and Robert the Bruce as King.
1330, March 18 - King Edmund of Woodstock, son of Edward I of England, is executed by order of Roger Mortimer, the de facto ruler of England.
1337, March 6 - Edward, the Black Prince, son of Edward III of England, is created Duke of Cornwall, the first Duke in England.
1338, March 12 - Battle of Arnemuiden: The English defeat a French fleet near the coast of Holland during the Hundred Years' War.
1340, March 29 - Edward III of England is declared King of France, initiating the Hundred Years' War.
1345, March 29 - The Order of the Garter is founded by King Edward III of England.
1351, March 20 - Combat of the Thirty: Thirty Breton knights led by Robert Bemborough fight thirty English knights in Brittany.
1355, March 30 - The St. Scholastica Day riot in Oxford leads to a confrontation between students and townspeople, resulting in numerous deaths.
1360, March 8 - Treaty of Brétigny: End of the first phase of the Hundred Years' War between England and France.
1367, March 10 - Battle of Nájera: English forces under Edward the Black Prince defeat a Franco-Castilian army during the Hundred Years' War.
1371, March 17 - King Robert II of Scotland is crowned, beginning the Stuart dynasty.
1378, March 27 - Gregory XI, the last French pope of the Avignon Papacy, is elected.
1382, March 17 - Siege of Falaise: English forces under Richard II fail to capture the town of Falaise in Normandy.
1385, March 14 - Battle of Aljubarrota: Portuguese forces under King John I defeat the Castilians, ensuring Portugal's independence.
1387, March 16 - Battle of Castagnaro: Verona is captured by Padua in a battle of the War of the Venetian Succession.
1393, March 18 - Treaty of Salynas: The Teutonic Order cedes Samogitia to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1394, March 31 - King Charles VI of France announces the end of the Crusade against the Ottoman Empire.
1397, March 29 - Geoffrey Chaucer tells The Canterbury Tales for the first time at the court of Richard II.
1399, March 20 - King Richard II of England relinquishes the throne to Henry IV.
1400, March 20 - Rebellion against Henry IV: Welsh rebel leader Owain Glyndŵr is proclaimed Prince of Wales.
1401, March 31 - Turko-Mongol leader Tamerlane defeats the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I at the Battle of Ankara.
1405, March 10 - The Chinese admiral Zheng He sets sail on his first voyage to explore the Indian Ocean.
1401, March 20 - Turko-Mongol leader Tamerlane defeats the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I at the Battle of Ankara.
1402, March 17 - Tamerlane captures the city of Damascus, strengthening his influence in the region.
1403, March 23 - The Battle of Shrewsbury in England takes place between King Henry IV and rebellious forces led by Henry Percy, known as Hotspur.
1404, March 30 - King Henry IV of England grants the bishopric of Dorpat (Tartu) in Livonia to Margrave William of Meissen.
1405, March 10 - The Chinese admiral Zheng He sets sail on his first voyage to explore the Indian Ocean.
1406, March 14 - King James I of Scotland is captured by pirates led by Henry Sinclair, Earl of Orkney.
1407, March 27 - A rebellion in England led by the Earl of Northumberland against King Henry IV begins.
1408, March 20 - The Council of Pisa opens to discuss the Great Schism in the Catholic Church.
1409, March 6 - The Council of Pisa elects Alexander V as the new pope, further deepening the Great Schism.
1410, March 15 - A peace treaty between Poland and the Teutonic Knights ends the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War.
1411, March 25 - The Battle of Harlaw takes place in Scotland between Highlanders and Lowlanders.
1412, March 23 - The Medici family is expelled from Florence, Italy, due to political conflicts.
1413, March 20 - King Henry IV of England dies, and his son becomes King Henry V.
1414, March 6 - The Council of Constance is convened by Pope John XXIII, aiming to resolve the Great Schism.
1415, March 19 - Preparations for Henry V's invasion of France begin in England.
1416, March 15 - The Council of Constance condemns the teachings of Jan Hus and orders his execution.
1417, March 11 - Pope Gregory XII resigns, ending the Western Schism in the Catholic Church.
1418, March 4 - The Council of Constance elects Pope Martin V, officially ending the Great Schism.
1419, March 20 - The Hussite Wars in Bohemia begin with the First Defenestration of Prague.
1420, March 9 - The Council of Basel is convened to address reforms within the Catholic Church.
1421, March 23 - The Siege of Domrémy in France occurs during the Hundred Years' War.
1422, March 21 - King Henry V of England dies, leaving his infant son, Henry VI, as king.
1423, March 25 - The Treaty of Amiens is signed between England and France, temporarily ending hostilities during the Hundred Years' War.
1424, March 28 - James I of Scotland returns to Scotland after 18 years of captivity in England.
1425, March 7 - The Siege of Stirling Castle in Scotland begins, part of the ongoing conflicts between England and Scotland.
1426, March 15 - The Council of Siena convenes to discuss church reforms and address corruption.
1427, March 19 - The Siege of Montargis in France takes place during the Hundred Years' War.
1428, March 23 - Joan of Arc arrives at the court of Charles VII of France, seeking support for her mission.
1429, March 12 - The city of Orléans in France is placed under siege by English forces during the Hundred Years' War.
1492, March 31 - Spain King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castille issue the Alhambra Decree, mandating that all Jews be expelled from the country. The decree came shortly freeing Spain from Muslim rule after nearly 800 years.
1501, March 15 - Michelangelo begins work on his famous statue of David.
1502, March 15 - Cesare Borgia captures Urbino after a long siege.
1503, March 11 - Pope Julius II is elected.
1504, March 13 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain from his fourth and final voyage to the Americas.
1507, March 25 - The world map containing the name "America," by Martin Waldseemüller, is published.
1513, March 25 - Spaniard Juan Ponce de León sights Florida.
1516, March 10 - Duke Charles of Habsburg becomes Charles I of Spain.
1517, March 19 - Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor, dies.
1519, March 13 - Cortés lands in Mexico.
1521, March 18 - Ferdinand Magellan sights the Philippines.
1522, March 14 - Magellan's expedition circumnavigates the globe, arriving in Spain.
1525, March 24 - Battle of Pavia: Charles V's Imperial army defeats the French, capturing King Francis I of France.
1528, March 3 - Treaty of Delft is signed, formalizing an alliance between the Holy Roman Empire and England against France.
1530, March 28 - English King Henry VIII's request for a divorce with Catherine of Aragon is denied by Pope Clement VII.
1531, March 9 - Henry VIII recognized as Supreme Head of the Church of England.
1534, March 3 - Pope Paul III opens the first session of the Council of Trent.
1535, March 10 - The Galapagos Islands are discovered by chance when the Bishop of Panama, Dominican friar Fray Tomas de Berlanga, was on his way to Peru by order of the Spanish monarch, Charles V, to arbitrate in a dispute between Francisco Pizarro and his subordinates after the conquest of the Inca empire. The combination of calm and strong currents dragged the ship of the Bishop to the Galapagos.
1536, March 23 - The first English-language Bible, translated by William Tyndale, is printed in Antwerp.
1545, March 10 - The Council of Trent reconvenes, addressing the Church's need for reform.
1547, March 28 - Edward VI is crowned King of England at Westminster Abbey.
1556, March 10 - Thomas Cranmer, former Archbishop of Canterbury, is executed for treason under Mary I of England.
1558, March 17 - Ferdinand I succeeds his father, Charles V, as Holy Roman Emperor.
1561, March 13 - A transit of Venus occurs, observed by a small group of astronomers.
1568, March 23 - Peace of Longjumeau ends the Second War of Religion in France.
1571, March 24 - Queen Elizabeth I prohibits foreign vessels from fishing in English waters.
1578, March 25 - Death of Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia.
1584, March 12 - King John II Casimir of Poland abdicates the throne.
1590, March 22 - John White, governor of the Roanoke Colony, returns to England and finds the settlement deserted.
1599, March 24 - Miguel de Cervantes is released after five years as a captive in Algiers.
1600, March 15 - Giordano Bruno is burned at the stake for heresy in Rome.
1601, March 15 - The first recorded St. Patrick’s Day parade in the U.S. takes place on the Catholic Feast Day of St. Patrick, in the Spanish colony of modern-day St. Augustine, Florida. More than a century later, Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched in Boston in in 1737 and in New York City in 1762. #History">More
1601, March 24 - Treaty of Lyons: France, Savoy, and Spain agree to end hostilities.
1603, March 24 - Queen Elizabeth I of England dies; James VI of Scotland ascends to the English throne as James I.
1607, March 14 - English colonists in Jamestown, Virginia, are attacked by Powhatan warriors, leading to the beginning of the First Anglo-Powhatan War.
1611, March 13 - Johannes Fabricius discovers sunspots.
1617, March 15 - Sweden and Russia sign the Treaty of Stolbovo, ending the Ingrian War.
1621, March 22 - Native American leader Samoset walks into the settlement of Plymouth Colony and greets the Pilgrims in English.
1629, March 4 -The Massachusetts Bay Colony is granted a Royal Charter.
1634, March 29 - The first settlers arrive in Maryland, landing at St. Clements Island in today's St. Mary’s County. On this island, the first Roman Catholic Mass in the English-speaking colonies was celebrated. The colony of Maryland was founded so that the English Catholics could have a place to live where they could escape the intolerance of the English monarchy. Officially the colony is said to be named in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, the wife of King Charles I although some Catholic scholars believe that George Calvert, who was a publicly declared Catholic named the province after Mary, the mother of Jesus. The name in the charter was phrased Terra Mariae, anglice, Maryland. Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore never travelled to Maryland. More
1638, March 1 - Scottish National Covenant is signed, opposing Charles I's religious policies.
1644, March 29 - English Civil War: The Battle of Cheriton ends in Parliamentarian victory.
1649, March 17 - England's House of Commons passes an act abolishing the House of Lords.
1655, March 24 - Christiaan Huygens discovers Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
1658, March 7 - Louis XIV is crowned King of France.
1665, March 20 - English King Charles II announces a state of emergency due to the plague in London.
1669, March 11 - The largest - recorded eruption of Mount Etna erupts in Sicily takes place causing considerable damage. After several weeks of increasing seismic activity that damaged the town of Nicolosi and other settlements. Several more fissures became active during 11 March, erupting pyroclastics and tephra that fell over Sicily and accumulated to form the Monti Rossi scoria cone. More
1671, March 29 - Royal Observatory in Greenwich, London, is established by Charles II.
1675, March 19 - The rebuilt Greenwich Observatory is completed by Sir Christopher Wren.
1681, March 4 - England's King Charles II grants a charter to William Penn for the area that will later become Pennsylvania.
1687, March 20 - Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explores the Mississippi River.
1692, March 1 - Salem witch trials: Sarah Goode, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba are accused of witchcraft in Salem Village, Massachusetts.
1697, March 26 - Spanish King Charles II ratifies the Treaty of Ryswick, ending the Nine Years' War.
1700, March 8 - Swedish King Charles XII begins a campaign to conquer Russia during the Great Northern War.
1701, March 28 - France, Cologne, and Bavaria sign the Treaty of Rastatt, ending the War of Spanish Succession.
1702, March 8 - Queen Anne ascends to the throne of England after the death of William III.
1703, March 5 - The first regular English-language newspaper, "The Daily Courant," is published in London.
1706, March 2 - The first formal French-language newspaper, "Le Mercure Galant," is published in France.
1709, March 22 - The first edition of "Tatler" magazine is published by Richard Steele in London.
1712, March 16 - British privateers assault French and Spanish ships in Cartagena, Colombia, in the Battle of Cartagena.
1702, March 8 - Anne becomes the Queen of England following the death of William III.
1707, March 16 - The Acts of Union 1707 are passed, uniting the Kingdoms of England and Scotland to create the Kingdom of Great Britain.
1713, March 30 - Spain cedes Gibraltar to Britain under the Treaty of Utrecht.
1721, March 19 - Sir Robert Walpole becomes the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
1727, March 20 - Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist and mathematician, dies.
1733, March 22 - Joseph Priestley, English scientist and clergyman, is born.
1739, March 10 - Treaty of Belgrade: Austria cedes Belgrade to the Ottoman Empire.
1746, March 10 - The Battle of Fort Prince George: British forces defeat the French during King George's War.
1753, March 25 - Voltaire's "Philosophical Letters" is banned in Paris.
1760, March 18 - British forces capture Montreal during the French and Indian War.
1766, March 18 - The British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act.
1770, March 5 - The Boston Massacre: British troops kill five civilians in Boston, Massachusetts.
1775, March 23 - During a speech before the second Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry responds to the increasingly oppressive British rule over the American Colonies by declaring, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!. Patrick Henry served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia. More
1776, March 17 - British forces evacuate Boston during the American Revolutionary War.
1776, March 31 - Abigail Adams writes a letter to her husband John Adams. saying in part "...."I long to hear that you have declared an independency -- and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation....." More
1781. March 1 - The Articles of Confederation came into force after being ratified by all 13 states.
1781, March 13 - Astronomer William Herschel Identifies Uranus as the Seventh Planet More
1781, March 15 - Battle of Guilford Courthouse: American forces under Nathanael Greene defeat the British in North Carolina.
1782, March 8 - The Gnadenhutten Massacre takes place. Pennsylvania militiamen, led by Col. David Williamson, murdered 96 Christian Indians including 39 children, 29 women and 28 men. The unarmed, Native Americans, who by all accounts were pacifists and held no allegiance in the war and had played no role in any attack. More
1783, March 20 - The USS Alliance defeats the HMS Sybil in the last naval action of the American Revolutionary War.
1789, March 4 - The first session of the U.S. Congress is held in New York City and the general government was replaced with the Federal government under the present Constitution.
1791, March 4 - Vermont is admitted as the 14th U.S. state.
1792, March 16 - King Gustav III of Sweden is shot by Count Jacob Johan Anckarström during a masked ball at the Opera; he died on March 29'
1793, March 1 - French Revolutionary War: France declares war on Great Britain and the Netherlands.
1794, March 14 - Eli Whitney receives a patent for the cotton gin, revolutionizing the cotton industry.
1796, March 1 - Napoleon Bonaparte marries Josephine de Beauharnais.
1797, March 17 - Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with British troops during the French Revolutionary Wars.
1798, March 22 - The British Royal Navy defeats the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, led by Admiral Horatio Nelson.
1800, March 2 - The Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland is passed, creating the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
1801, March 4 - Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third President of the United States.
1802, March 16 - The U.S. Military Academy established by Congress at West Point, the site of a Revolutionary-era fort built to protect the Hudson River Valley from British attack.
1802, March 27 - The Treaty of Amiens is signed, temporarily ending hostilities between France and the United Kingdom during the Napoleonic Wars.
1803, March 1 - Ohio is admitted into the United States Union as the 17th State/
1804, March 1 - Napoleon Bonaparte becomes Emperor of the French.
1807, March 2 - The U.S. Congress passes the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, banning the importation of slaves into the United States.
1807, March 25 - The British Parliament abolishes the slave trade throughout the British Empire; establishing a penalty of £120 per slave for ship captains violating the law. However, slaves in the colonies (excluding areas ruled by the East India Company) were not freed until 1838 – and only after slave-owners, rather than the slaves themselves, received compensation. More
1808, March 29 - Charles IV of Spain abdicates in favor of his son Ferdinand VII.
1809, March 17 - The Kingdom of Bavaria becomes the first German state to adopt a constitution.
1811, March 1 - Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from the University of Oxford for publishing "The Necessity of Atheism."
1812, A massive 7.7 earthquake on the Richter scale hits Caracas, Venezuela, destroying 90% of Caracas and killing an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people.
1815, March 1 - Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba and begins his "Hundred Days" rule.
1817, March 5 - The New York Stock Exchange is founded.
1820, March 6 - The Missouri Compromise is enacted, allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free State. so as not to upset the balance between slave and free states in the nation. It also outlawed slavery above the 36º 30' latitude line in the remainder of the Louisiana Territory. In 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in its Dred Scott v. Sandford decision that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and upheld slavery in United States territories, denied the legality of black citizenship in America.
1820. March 15 - Maine is admitted into the United States Union as the 23rd State.
1824, March 4 - James Monroe is inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States.
1836, March 2 - The Republic of Texas formally declares independence from Mexico at the convention of Washington-on-the-Brazos which was attended by 45 delegates, representing 21 municipalities. Over the next ten days, delegates prepared a constitution for the Republic of Texas; David G. Burnet was elected president. The new constitution explicitly legalized slavery which Mexico had officially abolished slavery in Texas in 1829. Texas was annexed by the United States in 1845 and became the 28th state on December 29, 1845. On March 2, 1861, Texas becomes the seventh state to secede from the Union. More
1837, March 4 - Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth President of the United States.
1839. March 23 - The initials OK came into the lime light when they were published by the Boston Morning Post as part of a joke. The initials stood for "oll korrect." Just as todays teenagers, younger, educated circles during the late 1830s intentionally misspelled words and then abbreviate them to use them as slang. However ,the term has also been attributed to the Native American Indian tribe known as the Choctaw. The Choctaw word okeh means the same as the American word okay. Experts say early explorers in the American West spoke the Choctaw language and spread the term. More
1841, March 4 - William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth President of the United States.
1845, March 1 - U.S. President John Tyler signs a resolution to annex the Republic of Texas.
1845, March 3 - Florida is admitted into the United States Union as the 27th State
1848, March 13 - The German composer Richard Strauss is born.
1852, March 18 - Henry Wells and William George Fargo found the Wells, Fargo & Company to handle the banking and transportation business prompted by the nescient California Gold Rush. After several mergers and acquisitions, Wells Fargo is now a major multinational financial services company.
1854, March 30 - The Crimean War begins with Britain and France declaring war on Russia.
1854, March 31 - The treaty of Kanagawa. between Japan and the United States is signed. Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. on an elaborately planned mission to open Japan and an unwavering policy by Japan's government of forbidding commerce with foreign nations found a way to reach agreement. More
1857, March 6 - The Supreme Court delivers its decision in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case, ruling against Dred Scott's freedom.
1861, March 4 - Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th President of the United States.
1864, March 10 - President Abraham Lincoln promotes Ulysses S. Grant, to lieutenant-general and assigns him to the command of the Armies of the United States. He relieved General-in-Chief Henry Halleck.
1865, March 4 - Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated for his second term as President of the United States. -
1867, March 1 - Nebraska is admitted into the United States Union as the thirty seven State.
1867, March 16 - The "Lancet" publishes an article by Doctor Joseph Lister which outlined the discovery of antiseptic surgery. Lister was a prominent British surgeon and medical scientist who established the study of antisepsis. Applying Louis Pasteur's germ theory of fermentation on wound putrefaction. He promoted the idea of sterilization in surgery using carbolic acid (phenol) as an antiseptic. Lister performed the first antiseptic surgery on August 12, 1865 More
1867, March 30 - The United States purchases Alaska from Russia in what is known as the Alaska Purchase. More
1871, March 4 - President Ulysses S. Grant takes office for his first term.
1872, March 1 - President Grant signs the bill creating the first U.S. national park at Yellowstone. The 2.2 Million acres National Park offers unique hydrothermal and geologic features, the opportunity to observe wildlife in an intact ecosystem. It also contains about half the world’s active geysers and the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. More
1876, March 10 - Alexander Graham Bell makes the first transmission of intelligible speech over electrical wires . He called out to his assistant Thomas Watson, “Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you.” This transmission took place in their attic laboratory located in a near here at 5 Exeter Place. Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first words by telephone, to his assistant in another room. Bell had received his patent for for the telephone, three days earlier on 7 March 1876, More
1877, March 5 - Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th President of the United States.
1881, March 4 - James A. Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th President of the United States.
1881, March 13 - Alexander II, the Emperor of Russia, is assassinated in Saint Petersburg, Russia on his way back to the Winter Palace from Mikhailovsky Manège. The assassination was planned and executed by the Narodnaya Volya ("People's Will") organization. The assassination is popularly considered to be the most successful action by the Russian nihilist movement of the 19th century.
1882, March 24 - Robert Koch publishes his findings on Tuberculosis, stating that the disease was infectious and caused by a bacterium. The believe at the time was that tuberculosis was an inherited disease. He presented his findings before the German Physiological Society at Berlin, that the causative agent of the disease was the slow-growing Mycobacterium tuberculosis. More
1885, March 4 - Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd President of the United States.
1888, March 12 - The Great Blizzard of 1888, one of the most severe snowstorms in U.S. history reaches the East Coast of the United States. More
1889, March 31 - The main structural work of the Eiffel Tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France.is completed in time for the opening of the 1889 world's fair (Exposition Universelle), Gustave Eiffel celebrated by leading a group of government officials, accompanied by representatives of the press, to the top of the tower. More
1894, March 12 - Coca-Cola is sold in bottles for the first time.
1896, March 1 - Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity.
1897, March 4 - William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th President of the United States.
1899, March 4 - President William McKinley signs a bill authorizing the U.S. flag to have 45 stars for Utah's admission to the Union.
1899, March 6 - Aspirin, probably the best known brand in medicine is entered in the trademark register of the Kaiserliches Patentamt (Imperial Patent Office) in Berlin by the German company Bayer, after being first successfully synthesized. Salicin, which is converted into salicylic acid in the body, is found in the bark of willows. Its therapeutic effect has been known since time immemorial. The progenitor of all physicians, Hippocrates of Kos, described it around 400 B.C. as a medicine against fever and pain; Teutons and Celts cooked a broth from willow bark as medicine. More
1900, March 14 - Gold is discovered in Nome, Alaska, leading to a gold rush.
1901, March 4 - Theodore Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 26th President of the United States following the assassination of William McKinley.
1905, March 3 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia grants civil liberties and forms a legislative assembly called the Duma in response to the Russian Revolution of 1905.
1912, March 10 - China becomes a republic after the abdication of the last Emperor, Puyi.
1912. March 27 - The U.S. first lady Helen Herron Taft and the Viscountess Iwa Chinda, wife of the Japanese ambassador, plant the first two cherry trees from a gift of 3,020 trees from Mayor Yukio Ozaki of Tokyo to Washington, D.C. The two first trees were planted on the northern bank of the Potomac River Tidal Basin. The ceremonial event is now commemorated at the annual Washington’s National Cherry Blossom Festival. After the end of the 2024 spring’s National Cherry Blossom Festival, the National Park Service will cut down 158 cherry trees from the nearly 3,700 total to reconstruct a seawall around the Tidal Basin, fortifying the area against sea level rise and extreme precipitation events. More
1913, March 4 - Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as the 28th President of the United States.
1917, March 15 - Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the throne, leading to the end of the Romanov dynasty. More
1920, March 18 - The United States Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time, preventing U.S. entry into the League of Nations.
1921, March 4 - Warren G. Harding is inaugurated as the 29th President of the United States.
1926, March 16 - Physicist Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket.
1929, March 4 - Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st President of the United States.
1931, March 3 - President Herbert Hoover signed a Public Law that made the "Star-Spangled Banner” the official U.S. national anthem of the United states. The words are from a poem written by Francis Scott Key in 1814. During the War of 1812, on September 13, 1814, Key watched a night-time battle between Great Britain and America that took place in Baltimore, Maryland at Fort McHenry. When he saw the American flag still flying in the morning, he wrote a poem that tells the story of his experience. More
1932, March 1 - Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., the 20-month-old son of the famous aviator and Anne Morrow Lindbergh, was kidnapped from the nursery on the second floor of the Lindbergh home near Hopewell, New Jersey. More
1933, March 4 - Franklin D. Roosevelt is inaugurated as the 32nd President of the United States and delivers his famous "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself" speech.
1935, March 16 - Adolf Hitler orders the rearmament of Germany including military conscription in violation of The Treaty of Versailles. More
1936, March 7 German troops re-occupied the Rhineland, a de-militarized zone in Germany according to the Treaty of Versailles that bordered on France. This action was directly against the terms which Germany had accepted after the First World War. Hitler argue that it was done in response to France and the USSR signing a treaty of friendship and mutual support, saying it was a hostile move against Germany, and the area of the Rhineland could in turn be used by France to invade Germany. More
1938, March 12 - Hitler orders the invasion of Austria to begin and German soldiers in tanks and armored vehicles crossed the border into Austria, encountering no resistance. Hitler joined the invaded forces as they rushed towards Viena and in Linz, where he had attended school, he called for an immediate Anschluss (Annexation). The next day, Austria’s parliament formally approved the annexation and Austria, no longer a nation became a province of Germany. More
1939, March 28 - The three year Spanish Civil War comes to an end as the Republican defenders of Madrid surrender and the victorious Nationalists entered the capital city. It is estimated that up million lives were lost in the most devastating conflict in Spanish history. General Francisco Franco went on to rule Spain as a ruthless dictator until his death in 1975 when Spain finally became a democracy, More
1941, March 11 - U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs the Lend-Lease Act, to provide military aid to Allied nations during World War II.
1945, March 7 - U.S. troops capture the strategic bridge of Remagen in Germany during World War II.
1945, March 9 - More than three hundred American bombers drop incendiary bombs on Tokyo during a three-hour raid A firestorm greater than that in Dresden erupts, killing 130,000 and displacing a million people. The raid was one of over a hundred such raids that eventually laid waste to sixty percent of the city's total area. More
1947, March 12 - President Harry S. Truman outlines the U.S. policy to contain Soviet expansion. n a speech to a joint session of Congress, The announcement is referred to as the "Truman Doctrine" and is considered to be the official start of the Cold War. More
1951, March 29 - Julius and Ethel Rosenberg (née Greenglass) are convicted of spying and passing secret information about the atomic bomb and other military information to the Soviet Union during and after World War II, The husband and wife were later sentenced to death and were executed in 1953 at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York. President Eisenhower had declined to grant executive clemency to the Rosenbergs, stating: "The nature of the crime for which they have been found guilty and sentenced far exceeds that of the taking of the life of another citizen; it involves the deliberate betrayal of the entire nation and could very well result in the death of many, many thousands of innocent citizens…" More
1952, March 20 - The United States Senate ratifies the peace treaty with Japan, officially ending World War II.
1953, March 26 - Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a U.S. national radio show that he has successfully tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the crippling disease of polio which is known as “infant paralysis” because it mainly affects children, The first Polio epidemic in the U.S, took place in Vermont in the summer of 1894 and thousands being affected annually by the 20th century. The number of cases is 1952 were 58,000. A massive Polio Vaccine Trial Begins in U.S. More
1955, March 6 - The Supreme Court rules that segregation on buses in Alabama is unconstitutional in the case of Browder v. Gayle.
1957, March 25 - The EEC is created by the signing of the Treaties of Rome. France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg . building on the success of the Coal and Steel Treaty, expand their cooperation to other economic sectors by signing two treaties, creating the European Economic Community (EEC), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). These bodies come into being on January 1, 1958. More
1959 May 10 - Tibetans rebel in Lhasa against the Chinese government which had invaded Tibet in1950. Chinese troops launched a counter-offensive against the Tibetans ,capturing Lhasa and resulting in the deaths of some 2,000 Tibetan rebels. The Chinese government dissolved the Tibetan government headed by the Dalai Lama and the Panchen Lama assumed control of the Tibetan government on April 5, 1959. The Dalai Lama and some 80 supporters fled into exile to India. Some 87,000 Tibetans and 2,000 Chinese government troops were killed, and some 100,000 Tibetans fled as refugees to India, Nepal, and Bhutan during the conflict.
1960, March 21 - The Sharpeville massacre in South Africa occurs as police open fire on a demonstration against apartheid, resulting in numerous deaths.
1962, March 18, The French - Algerian war or the the War of Algerian independence comes to an end with the signing of a peace agreement to end the seven-year Algerian War and bringing an end to 130 years of colonial French rule in Algeria. Between 500,000 and a million Algerians had been killed, out of an estimated population of just three million before the war. French losses were also high; between 150,000 and 200,000 French soldiers lost their lives, with the vast majority of them dying in hospitals. #War_chronology">More
1963, March 21 - Alcatraz Federal Penitentiary in San Francisco Bay closes.
1965, March 7 - Civil rights marchers, including John Lewis and Martin Luther King Jr., are attacked by police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in what becomes known as "Bloody Sunday."
1965, March 8 - The first American combat troops arrive in Vietnam - 3,500 Marines of the 9th Marine Expeditionary Brigade arrived in Da Nang to protect the U.S. airbase and to allow the Vietnamese troops then guarding the base from Viet Cong attacks to return to combat. More
1965, March 20 - President Lyndon B. Johnson places the Alabama National Guard under federal control to protect a civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery to the state capital. 2,500 U.S. Army troops and 1,900 Alabama National Guard troops, along with FBI agents and U.S. Marshals were dispatched to provide protection for the marchers. On March 7, demonstrators sought to march there to protest the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, a black man shot by a state trooper. State and local police had attacked them with billy clubs and tear gas. Televised scenes of “Bloody Sunday” outraged many Americans. More
1967, March 25 - Martin Luther King Jr. leads his first anti-war march in Chicago. Reinforcing the connection between war abroad and injustice at home: “The bombs in Vietnam explode at home—they destroy the dream and possibility for a decent America” the dream and possibility for a decent America” More
1968, March 12 - Mauritius achieves independence from British rule.
1968, March 16 - Vietnamese villagers including women and children are killed by U.S. soldiers in the village of My Lai by members of an army platoon commanded by Lt. William Calley. On September 1969, he was charged with the premeditated murder in the death of 109 Vietnamese civilians at My Lai. His court-martial began on November 1970 and he was convicted on March 1971 of the premeditated murder of twenty-two infants, children, women, and old men, and assault with intent to murder a child of about two years. He was sentenced to be dismissed from the Army and to be confined at hard labor for life. On August 1971, Lieutenant General Albert O. Connor, commanding general of Third U.S. Army, reduced Calley’s sentence to twenty years confinement. In April 1974, the Secretary of the Army, Howard H. Callaway, further reduced Calley’s sentence to ten years confinement, making Calley eligible for parole in 6 months. He was released in November 1974 having served three years of house arrest for the murders. More
1971, March 29 - Lt. William Calley is convicted of murder in the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War.
1972, March 2 - Pioneer 10 is launched to study Jupiter. It was NASA's first mission to the outer planets. The mission was a spectacular success and the spacecraft notched a series of firsts unmatched by any other robotic spacecraft to date. More
1974, March 3 - All 346 occupants of a Turkish Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC 10 were killed after the plane suffered an explosive decompression when an improperly secured hold door detached passing 12000ft in the climb shortly after departing Paris Orly airport. A similar DC10 explosive decompression in Canada two years earlier, had identified an identical fault in the door closure mechanism which had allowed it to indicate and appear secured. Non-mandated corrective actions promulgated after that investigation had not been completed on the aircraft at the time of the accident. More
1974, March 4 - The "People Power" revolution in Portugal ends 48 years of dictatorship and leads to democracy.
1979, March 26 - A peace treaty is signed between Israel and Egypt at the White House, ending 31 years of conflict between the two countries. The historic peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, was agreed to by Menachem Begin and Anwar Sadat and was based on the Camp David Accords mediated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter.
1979, March 28 - The Three Mile Island Unit 2 nuclear reactor, near Middletown, Pa., partially melts down. This was the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history. A combination of equipment malfunctions, design-related problems and worker errors led to TMI-2’s partial meltdown and very small off site releases of radioactivity. More
1981, March 30 - President Ronald Reagan is shot and wounded in an assassination attempt in Washington, D.C. More
1985, March 11 - Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.
1989, March 24 - The oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling 11 million gallons of oil and causing one of the largest environmental disasters in U.S. history. More
1990, March 15 - Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first President of the Soviet Union. He had served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1985 and additionally as head of state beginning in 1988 and as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet from 1988 to 1989. He was awarded the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize 1990. Gorbachev resigned form the presidency on December 25, 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated. More
1995, March 20 - Aum Shinrikyo, a Japanese doomsday cult, carries out a sarin gas attack by releasing several packages on the Tokyo subway system, killing 13 and injuring over 5000. The odorless, colorless, and highly toxic nerve gas was invented by the Nazis and is one of the most lethal nerve gases known to man.
1999, March 24 - NATO begins airstrikes against Yugoslavia, marking the start of the Kosovo War.
2001, March 20 - The Taliban destroy two ancient statues of Buddha in Afghanistan's Bamiyan Valley.
2003, March 20 - The United States and its allies invade Iraq, initiating the Iraq War.
2004, March 11 - Coordinated bombings in Madrid's commuter train system kill 191 people and wounding around 2,000 others. More
2005, March 16 - Israel officially withdraws from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation.
2008, March 14 - The riohttps://admiralcloudberg.mediu...ts and protests in Tibet against Chinese rule and for independence begin.
2011, March 11 - A massive earthquake and tsunami strike Japan, causing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.
2013, March 13 - Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio becomes Pope Francis, the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas.
2014, March 8 - Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, sparking one of the most extensive searches in aviation history.
2014, March 24 - The co-pilot of a German airliner deliberately flies the plane into the French Alps, killing himself and the other 149 people onboard. The Germanwings flight 9525 had been traveling from Barcelona, Spain, to Dusseldorf, Germany. More
2016, March 22 - Suicide bombings in Brussels, Belgium, at the airport and a metro station kill 32 people and injure more than 300 others.
2017, March 22 - A terrorist attack near the UK Parliament in London leaves five people dead, including the attacker.
2018, March 14 - Students worldwide participate in the "March for Our Lives" protest advocating for stricter gun control laws in the United States.
2019, March 15 - A terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, results in 51 deaths and dozens of injuries.
2020, March 11 - The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a global pandemic due to its rapid spread worldwide.
2021, March 16 - A gunman attacks massage parlors in the Atlanta area, killing eight people, including six Asian women.
2000, March 10 - NASDAQ Composite stock market index peaks at 5,048.62 during the dot-com bubble.
2001, March 4 - The BBC airs the first episode of "The Office," a British mockumentary sitcom created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant.
2002, March 1 - The International Criminal Court (ICC) is established to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and crimes of aggression.
2003, March 19 - President George W. Bush announces that U.S. forces have begun a military operation into Iraq. U.S. forces invaded Iraq vowing to destroy Iraqi weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and end the dictatorial rule of Saddam Hussein. When WMD intelligence proved illusory and a violent insurgency arose, the war lost public support. 4,700 U.S. and allied troop deaths, and more than one hundred thousand Iraqi civilians were killed and 31,994 U.S. troops wounded in action (WIA). More
2004, March 14 - The first episode of the social media platform Facebook is launched by Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates.
2005, March 14 - The People's Republic of China passes an anti-secession law, authorizing the use of force against Taiwan if it moves towards formal independence.
2006, March 24 - The UN Human Rights Council holds its first session in Geneva, replacing the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.
2007, March 12 - The seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," is announced by J.K. Rowling.
2008, March 14 - A nationwide protest in Tibet against Chinese rule and for independence begins.
2009, March 9 - The Kepler space observatory, designed to discover Earth-like planets orbiting other stars, is launched by NASA.
2010, March 11 - A magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami strike in Japan causing the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster and considerable damage in the region. The tsunami inundated about 560 km2 and resulted in a human death toll of about 19,500 and much damage to coastal ports and towns, with over a million buildings destroyed or partly collapsed. It was a rare and complex double quake giving a severe duration of about 3 minutes. An area of the seafloor extending 650 km north-south moved typically 10-20 meters horizontally. Japan moved a few metres east and the local coastline subsided half a meter. More
2011, March 15 - Civil unrest and protests erupt in Syria against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, marking the start of the Syrian Civil War.
2012, March 9 - "The Hunger Games" film adaptation, based on Suzanne Collins' novel, is released in theaters, becoming a box office success.
2013, March 13 - Pope Francis is elected as the 266th pope of the Catholic Church, becoming the first Jesuit pope and the first from the Americas.
2014, March 8 - Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappears in route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, sparking a large-scale international search effort. More
2015, March 20 - A total solar eclipse, visible across parts of Northern Europe and the Arctic occurs.
2016, March 22 - Terrorist attacks in Brussels, Belgium, at the airport and a metro station kill 32 people and injure more than 300 others.
2017, March 22 - A terrorist attack near the UK Parliament in London leaves five people dead, including the attacker.
2018, March 14 - Students worldwide participate in the "March for Our Lives" protest advocating for stricter gun control laws in the United States.
2019, March 15 - A terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, results in 51 deaths and dozens of injuries.
2020, March 11 - The World Health Organization declares COVID-19 a global pandemic due to its rapid spread worldwide.
2021, March 16 - A gunman attacks massage parlors in the Atlanta area, killing eight people, including six Asian women.
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