Selected anniversaries / On this day archive
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| An archive of historical anniversaries that appeared on the Main Page 2026 day arrangement | ||||||
March 1: Disability Day of Mourning; Saint David's Day; Independence Day in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Yap Day in Yap State, Federated States of Micronesia
Dmitri Mendeleev
- 1562 – An attempt by François, Duke of Guise, to disperse a church service by Huguenots in Wassy, France, turned into a massacre, resulting in 50 dead, and starting the French Wars of Religion.
- 1869 – The Russian chemist Dmitri Mendeleev (pictured) finished his design of the first periodic table.
- 1921 – The Australian cricket team, led by Warwick Armstrong, became the first team to complete a whitewash in the Ashes, an achievement that would not be repeated for 86 years.
- 1992 – A Bosnian-Serb wedding procession was attacked in Sarajevo, resulting in what is widely considered the first casualty of the Bosnian War.
- Roger North (d. 1734)
- Deke Slayton (b. 1924)
- Nick Griffin (b. 1959)
- Mustafa Barzani (d. 1979)
More anniversaries:
March 2: Fast of Esther (Judaism, 2026); Adwa Victory Day in Ethiopia, Independence Day in Texas
Poster for The Sound of Music
- 1836 – Texas Revolution: At a convention of delegates in Washington-on-the-Brazos, the Mexican state of Texas adopted a declaration of independence, establishing the Republic of Texas.
- 1965 – The Sound of Music (poster pictured) was released in American theatres; it became the highest-grossing film of all time.
- 1970 – The Rhodesian monarchy was abolished by the government of Rhodesia, which declared the internationally unrecognised country to be a republic.
- 1995 – Researchers at Fermilab in Illinois announced the discovery of the top quark, the most massive of all observed elementary particles.
- 2014 – The Oscar selfie, considered to be one of the most influential photographs of all time, was taken at the 86th Academy Awards ceremony.
- Margaret Sibella Brown (b. 1866)
- James A. Gilmore (b. 1876)
- Grete Hermann (b. 1901)
- Bryce Dallas Howard (b. 1981)
March 3: Purim (Judaism, 2026); Lantern Festival in China (2026); Hinamatsuri in Japan
Metallica in 2024
- 1776 – American Revolutionary War: Samuel Nicholas and the Continental Marines successfully landed on New Providence in the Bahamas and began a raid of Nassau, capturing the port the next day.
- 1875 – The first indoor game of ice hockey was played at the Victoria Skating Rink in Montreal by James Creighton and students of McGill University.
- 1933 – The first Nazi concentration camp was opened in Nohra to reduce overcrowding in prisons from the arrest of German Communists.
- 1945 – A Polish Home Army unit massacred at least 150 Ukrainian civilians in Pawłokoma, Poland.
- 1986 – The American heavy band Metallica (pictured) released their third studio album, Master of Puppets, considered one of the greatest in the genre's history.
- Matthias de l'Obel (d. 1616)
- Michele Singer Reiner (b. 1955)
- Rebecca Lancefield (d. 1981)
- Maija Isola (d. 2001)
March 4: Feast day of Saint Casimir (Catholicism)
Władysław II Jagiełło
- 1386 – Jogaila, Grand Duke of Lithuania, was crowned King of Poland as Władysław II Jagiełło (pictured), beginning the Jagiellonian dynasty.
- 1773 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart departed Italy after the last of his three journeys there.
- 1899 – Cyclone Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Queensland, killing more than 300 people in one of the deadliest natural disasters in Australian history.
- 1918 – A case of influenza was recorded at Camp Funston, Kansas, conventionally marking the beginning of the Spanish flu pandemic.
- 2017 – Construction began on a 69-metre (226 ft) statue of the Buddha at Wat Paknam Bhasicharoen in Bangkok.
- Hindal Mirza (b. 1519)
- Rosalind Pitt-Rivers (b. 1907)
- Aribert Reimann (b. 1936)
- Gary Gygax (d. 2008)
March 5: Learn from Lei Feng Day in China; St Piran's Day in Cornwall, England
Prototype Spitfire K5054
- 1811 – Peninsular War: At the Battle of Barrosa, Anglo-Iberian forces trying to lift the Siege of Cádiz defeated a French attack but could not break the siege itself.
- 1825 – Roberto Cofresí, one of the last Caribbean pirates, was apprehended after his flagship sloop Anne was captured by authorities.
- 1936 – The prototype (pictured) of the Supermarine Spitfire flew for the first time.
- 1981 – The ZX81, a pioneering British home computer, was launched by Sinclair Research, and went on to sell more than 1.5 million units around the world.
- Edward Cornwallis (b. 1713)
- J. R. Kealoha (d. 1877)
- Anna Akhmatova (d. 1966)
- Ailsa McKay (d. 2014)
William Speirs Bruce
- 845 – The Abbasid Caliphate executed 42 Byzantine officials who had been captured in the sack of Amorium of 838 for refusing to convert to Islam.
- 1447 – Tommaso Parentucelli was elected as Pope Nicholas V in Rome.
- 1904 – Scottish National Antarctic Expedition: Led by William Speirs Bruce (pictured), the Antarctic region of Coats Land was discovered by the Scotia.
- 1988 – The Troubles: In Operation Flavius, the Special Air Service killed three volunteers of the Provisional Irish Republican Army conspiring to bomb a parade of British military bands in Gibraltar.
- 2000 – The Marine Parade Community Building, the mural cladding of which is the largest installation art in Singapore, was opened.
- Clark Shaughnessy (b. 1892)
- Joseph Berchtold (b. 1897)
- Shaukat Aziz (b. 1949)
- Zoi Sadowski-Synnott (b. 2001)
March 7: Feast day of Saints Perpetua and Felicity (Catholicism, Anglicanism, Lutheranism); Girls' Day in China
Daniel Webster
- 1850 – United States senator Daniel Webster delivered a speech advocating compromise on slavery, which proved to be unpopular with abolitionists in his home state.
- 1900 – The German ocean liner SS Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse became the first ship to send a wireless telegraph message to an onshore receiver.
- 1936 – Nazi German forces re-occupied the demilitarized Rhineland, violating both the Treaty of Versailles and the Locarno Treaties that were signed after World War I.
- 1945 – World War II: At the beginning of the Battle of Remagen, Allied forces unexpectedly captured the Ludendorff Bridge, which possibly hastened the war's conclusion.
- 1968 – Vietnam War: The United States and South Vietnam began Operation Truong Cong Dinh to sweep the area surrounding the Mekong Delta town of Mỹ Tho to root out Viet Cong forces in the area.
- Cuthbert Collingwood, 1st Baron Collingwood (d. 1880)
- Akseli Gallen-Kallela (d. 1931)
- Bryan Cranston (b. 1956)
- Amanda Gorman (b. 1998)
March 8: International Women's Day; Aurat March in Pakistan
Io with two volcanic plumes
- 1576 – A Spanish colonial officer wrote a letter to King Philip II containing the first mention of the Maya ruins of Copán in present-day Honduras.
- 1910 – French aviator Raymonde de Laroche became the first woman to receive a pilot's licence.
- 1963 – The Ba'ath Party came to power in a coup d'état by a clique of quasi-leftist Syrian Army officers calling themselves the National Council for the Revolutionary Command.
- 1966 – Nelson's Pillar, a large granite pillar topped by a statue of Lord Nelson in Dublin, Ireland, was severely damaged by a bomb.
- 1979 – Images taken by Voyager 1 proved the existence of volcanoes on Io (pictured), a moon of Jupiter.
- Adela of Normandy (d. 1137)
- Louie Nunn (b. 1924)
- Alfons Rebane (d. 1976)
- Haseeb Ahsan (d. 2013)
March 9: Commonwealth Day in the Commonwealth of Nations (2026); National Heroes and Benefactors Day in Belize (2026)
Kaʻiulani
- 1776 – Scottish philosopher Adam Smith publishes his book The Wealth of Nations, the first classical treatise on political economy.
- 1891 – Kaʻiulani (pictured) was appointed the heir apparent to the throne of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
- 1925 – The Royal Air Force began a bombardment and strafing campaign against the mountain strongholds of Mahsud tribesmen in South Waziristan, present-day Pakistan.
- 1956 – In Tbilisi, Georgia, soldiers suppressed mass demonstrations against Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's policy of de-Stalinization.
- 1957 – The Andreanof Islands earthquake struck Hawaii and the Aleutian Islands, causing more than $5 million in damage from ground movement and a destructive tsunami.
- Abu Ma'shar al-Balkhi (d. 886)
- Catherine of Bologna (d. 1463)
- Friederike Caroline Neuber (b. 1697)
- Dick Walker (b. 1938)
March 10: Harriet Tubman Day in some parts of the United States
Eliot Spitzer
- 1695 – Nine Years' War: At the Battle of Sant Esteve d'en Bas, Catalan miquelets attacked a column of French regular infantry and caused them to surrender.
- 1959 – An anti-Chinese uprising began as thousands of Tibetans surrounded the Potala Palace in Lhasa to prevent the Dalai Lama from leaving or being removed by the Chinese army.
- 1968 – Vietnam War/Laotian Civil War: North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces overwhelmed the American, Laotian, Thai, and Hmong defenders of Lima Site 85.
- 1977 – Astronomers using NASA's Kuiper Airborne Observatory discovered a faint ring system around Uranus.
- 2008 – The New York Times revealed that Eliot Spitzer (pictured), Governor of New York, had patronized a prostitution ring.
- Tvrtko I of Bosnia (d. 1391)
- Lillian Wald (b. 1867)
- Marie-Eugénie de Jésus (d. 1898)
- Rupert Bruce-Mitford (d. 1994)
Premiere poster of Rigoletto
- 1851 – The first performance of Verdi's Rigoletto took place at La Fenice in Venice (poster pictured).
- 1864 – The Great Sheffield Flood killed at least 240 people and damaged more than 600 homes, after a crack in the dam holding the Dale Dike Reservoir caused it to fail.
- 1993 – The U.S. Senate unanimously confirmed Janet Reno as the first female United States attorney general.
- 2007 – Georgian authorities accused Russia of orchestrating a helicopter attack in the Kodori Valley, in the breakaway territory of Abkhazia.
- 2020 – The World Health Organization (WHO) declares the COVID-19 virus epidemic a pandemic.
- Mary of Woodstock (b. 1278)
- Stanisław Koniecpolski (d. 1646)
- Ralph Abernathy (b. 1926)
- Gladys Pearl Baker (d. 1984)
Süleyman Demirel
- 1088 – Odo of Châtillon was elected as the 159th Pope of the Catholic Church.
- 1940 – The Moscow Peace Treaty was signed, ending the Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union.
- 1971 – The Turkish Armed Forces executed a "coup by memorandum", forcing the resignation of Prime Minister Süleyman Demirel (pictured).
- 1993 – The Storm of the Century formed over the Gulf of Mexico; at its height its effects were directly experienced by nearly 40 percent of the United States' population.
- 2006 – U.S. Army soldiers gang-raped a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdered her along with her family members.
- Stefan Dragutin (d. 1316)
- William Lyon Mackenzie (b. 1795)
- Zhao Wei (b. 1976)
- Lazare Ponticelli (d. 2008)
British attack on Cartagena de Indias
- 1741 – War of Jenkins' Ear: The British began an assault against Spanish forts in the Caribbean in the Battle of Cartagena de Indias (pictured).
- 1848 – Klemens von Metternich was forced to resign as the foreign minister of Austria following student demonstrations in Vienna.
- 1964 – Kitty Genovese was murdered in New York City, prompting research into the bystander effect due to the false story that neighbors witnessed the killing and did nothing to help her.
- 1996 – A mass shooting at a primary school occurred in Dunblane, Scotland, killing 16 children and a teacher and prompting tighter gun control in the United Kingdom.
- John Griffin, 4th Baron Howard de Walden (b. 1719)
- Adolf Anderssen (d. 1879)
- Meinhard Michael Moser (b. 1924)
- Jan Howard (b. 1929)
March 14: Sikh New Year's Day; White Day in parts of East Asia; Pi Day
Gioachino Rossini
- 1309 – On Eid al-Fitr, the citizens of Granada stormed palaces in the city, deposing Sultan Muhammad III and placing his half-brother Nasr on the throne.
- 1864 – The Petite messe solennelle by Gioachino Rossini (pictured) was first performed in Paris, 34 years after his retirement as a composer.
- 1931 – Alam Ara, the first Indian sound film, premiered at the Majestic Cinema in Bombay.
- 1988 – China defeated Vietnam in a naval altercation while attempting to establish oceanographic observation posts on the Spratly Islands.
- 2021 – The Burmese military and police forces killed at least 65 civilians during the Hlaingthaya massacre in Yangon, including those protesting a recent coup d'état.
- Albert Einstein (b. 1879)
- Zita of Bourbon-Parma (d. 1989)
- Piri (b. 1999)
- Ieng Sary (d. 2013)
March 15: Ides of March; Night of Power (Shia Islam, 2026); Laetare Sunday (Western Christianity, 2026)
Julius Caesar
- 44 BC – Julius Caesar (bust pictured), the dictator of the Roman Republic, was stabbed to death by a group of senators led by Marcus Junius Brutus.
- 1823 – American sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reported the existence of New South Greenland, a phantom island, near Antarctica.
- 1916 – Six days after Pancho Villa and his cross-border raiders attacked Columbus, New Mexico, U.S. general John J. Pershing led a punitive expedition into Mexico to pursue him.
- 1917 – Russian Revolution: Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate in the February Revolution, ending three centuries of Romanov rule.
- 1943 – The deportation of 50,000 Jews from the Greek city of Thessaloniki began.
- 1951 – The Iranian oil industry was nationalized in a movement led by Mohammad Mosaddegh.
- Albert of Schwarzburg (d. 1327)
- Matthew Charlton (b. 1866)
- Ignace Tonené (d. 1916)
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg (b. 1933)
Cap badge of the Royal Welch Fusiliers
- 934 – Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period: Chinese general Meng Zhixiang proclaimed himself emperor and established Later Shu as a new state independent of Later Tang.
- 1689 – The Royal Welch Fusiliers (cap badge pictured), one of the oldest line-infantry regiments of the British Army, was founded.
- 1819 – The Bank for Savings in the City of New-York, the first savings bank in New York City, was incorporated.
- 1984 – William Buckley, the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, was kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists.
- 1988 – Michael Stone, an Ulster loyalist, attacked the funeral of three Provisional IRA members, killing three attendees and injuring at least sixty others.
- Alaric Alexander Watts (b. 1797)
- Don Blasingame (b. 1932)
- Douglas Ahlstedt (b. 1945)
- Virginia Randolph (d. 1958)
March 17: Saint Patrick's Day (Christianity); Anniversary of the Unification of Italy (1861)
Dorchester Heights Monument
- 1864 – Second Schleswig War: In an attempt to end a Danish blockade, Eduard von Jachmann led a Prussian squadron in an attack against a Danish fleet led by Edvard van Dockum.
- 1902 – The Dorchester Heights Monument (pictured), memorializing the siege of Boston during the American Revolutionary War, was dedicated.
- 1957 – A plane crash on the slopes of Mount Manunggal killed Philippine president Ramon Magsaysay and 24 others.
- 1979 – The Penmanshiel Tunnel in the Scottish Borders collapsed during refurbishing construction, killing two workers, and leading to the abandonment of the tunnel.
- 2004 – Unrest in Kosovo broke out, resulting in the deaths of 28, the wounding of more than 600 others, and the destruction of several Serb Orthodox churches and shrines.
- Jocelin of Glasgow (d. 1199)
- Menno van Coehoorn (d. 1704)
- Pattie Boyd (b. 1944)
- Shu Xiuwen (d. 1969)
March 18: Feast day of Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (Christianity)
Traian Vuia's monoplane
- 363 – A fire began in Rome that resulted in the destruction of the Temple of Apollo Palatinus.
- 1277 – Charles I of Anjou acquired a claim on the Kingdom of Jerusalem in exchange for a significant sum of money.
- 1906 – Romanian inventor Traian Vuia became the first person to fly a heavier-than-air monoplane (pictured) with an unassisted takeoff.
- 1925 – The deadliest tornado in U.S. history spawned in Missouri and traveled more than 219 miles (352 km) across Illinois and Indiana, leaving one of the longest continuous tornado tracks ever recorded.
- 1977 – The punk group the Clash released their first single, "White Riot", described as their "most controversial song" due to its lyrics about class economics and race.
- 2019 – Syrian civil war: The U.S. Air Force carried out an airstrike in al-Baghuz Fawqani, killing as many as 80, a disputed number of whom were civilians.
- Matthew III Csák (d. 1321)
- Clem Hill (b. 1877)
- Johnny Papalia (b. 1924)
- Wali Mohammad Itoo (d. 1994)
March 19: Saint Joseph's Day (Western Christianity)
Zhao Bing
- 1279 – Mongol conquest of Song China: Zhao Bing (pictured), the last Song emperor, drowned at the end of the Battle of Yamen, bringing the Song dynasty to an end after three centuries.
- 1824 – American explorer Benjamin Morrell departed Antarctica after a voyage later plagued by claims of fraud.
- 1944 – The secular oratorio A Child of Our Time by Michael Tippett premiered at the Adelphi Theatre in London.
- 1998 – An unscheduled Ariana Afghan Airlines flight crashed into a mountain on approach into Kabul, killing all 45 people aboard.
- 2011 – First Libyan Civil War: The French Air Force launched Opération Harmattan, beginning foreign military intervention in Libya.
- Lord Edmund Howard (d. 1539)
- Greville Wynne (b. 1919)
- Joe Gaetjens (b. 1924)
- Lise Østergaard (d. 1996)
March 20: Eid al-Fitr (Islam, 2026); Longtaitou Festival in China (2026); Nowruz (2026)
Chemical structure of zidovudine
- 1724 – Following the death of Pope Innocent XIII, a papal conclave convened in Rome to elect a new pope.
- 1861 – An earthquake occurred in the Argentine province of Mendoza, causing at least 6,000 deaths and destroying most of the buildings in the province's capital city.
- 1922 – The United States Navy commissioned its first aircraft carrier, USS Langley.
- 1944 – World War II: U.S. Marines made a landing on Emirau Island in the Bismarck Archipelago to develop an airbase as part of Operation Cartwheel.
- 1987 – The antiretroviral drug zidovudine (chemical structure pictured) became the first treatment approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for HIV/AIDS.
- 2014 – Taliban militants killed nine civilians in a mass shooting at the Kabul Serena Hotel in Afghanistan.
- Maud Menten (b. 1879)
- Willie Brown (b. 1934)
- Fernando Torres (b. 1984)
- Christel Boom (d. 2004)
March 21: Oltenia Day in Romania
Cover of L'enfant et les sortilèges
- 1913 – More than 360 were killed and 20,000 homes were destroyed in the Great Dayton Flood in Dayton, Ohio, U.S.
- 1925 – Ravel's opera L'enfant et les sortilèges (cover pictured), to a libretto by Colette, was premiered at the Opéra de Monte-Carlo.
- 1968 – War of Attrition: The Battle of Karameh took place between the Israel Defense Forces and allied troops of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Jordanian Armed Forces.
- 1980 – The American soap opera Dallas aired the episode "A House Divided", which led to eight months of international speculation on "Who shot J.R.?"
- 2019 – A major explosion at a chemical plant in Yancheng, China, killed 78 people and injured 640 others.
- Ælla of Northumbria and Osberht of Northumbria (d. 867)
- Alice Henry (b. 1857)
- Al Williamson (b. 1931)
- Chinua Achebe (d. 2013)
Charilaos Vasilakos (center) training for the marathon
- 106 – The Bostran era, the official era of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea, began.
- 1638 – Anne Hutchinson was expelled from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for her participation in the Antinomian Controversy.
- 1896 – Charilaos Vasilakos (pictured) won the first modern marathon in preparation for the inaugural Summer Olympics.
- 1913 – Phan Xích Long, the self-proclaimed emperor of Vietnam, was arrested for organising a revolt against the colonial rule of French Indochina, which was nevertheless carried out by his supporters the following day.
- 1995 – Russian cosmonaut Valeri Polyakov returned from the space station Mir aboard Soyuz TM-20 after 437 days in space, setting a record for the longest spaceflight.
- John Kemp (d. 1454)
- Yayoi Kusama (b. 1929)
- Abolhassan Banisadr (b. 1933)
- Rob Ford (d. 2016)
Bhagat Singh
- 1888 – Chaired by William McGregor, a meeting of ten English football clubs was held in London, eventually resulting in the establishment of the Football League.
- 1931 – Bhagat Singh (pictured), one of the most influential revolutionaries of the Indian independence movement, and two others were executed by the British authorities for their murder of a police officer.
- 1989 – Two researchers announced the discovery of cold fusion, a claim that was later discredited.
- 1994 – Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed into a hillside in Russia's Kemerovo Oblast, killing all 75 people on board, after the pilot's 15-year-old son unknowingly disabled the autopilot while seated at the controls.
- 2005 – A fire and explosion at an oil refinery in Texas City, the third-largest in the United States, killed 15 workers.
- Henry of Grosmont (d. 1361)
- Pierre-Simon Laplace (b. 1749)
- Akira Kurosawa (b. 1910)
- Kangana Ranaut (b. 1986)
March 24: World Tuberculosis Day
Flag of Prince Edward Island
- 1387 – Hundred Years' War: An English fleet led by Richard Fitzalan attacked 250 to 360 French, Flemish and Castilian vessels in the Battle of Margate.
- 1934 – The Tydings–McDuffie Act came into effect, which provided for self-government of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from the United States after a period of ten years.
- 1939 – Members of the German National Movement in Liechtenstein attempted to overthrow the government and provoke Liechtenstein's annexation into Nazi Germany.
- 1964 – Royal assent was given to Prince Edward Island's Provincial Flag Act, which outlined the design of its provincial flag (pictured).
- 2006 – Hannah Montana, starring Miley Cyrus as an actress whose alter ego is the titular character, premiered.
- Wulfred (d. 832)
- Theodora Kroeber (b. 1897)
- John Millington Synge (d. 1909)
- Chris Bosh (b. 1984)
March 25: Feast of the Annunciation (Christianity); Bangladesh Genocide Remembrance Day
Enrico Fermi
- 1458 – Wars of the Roses: A formal reconciliation ceremony between the Lancastrians and Yorkists led to a brief period of peace.
- 1725 – Bach's chorale cantata Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern was first performed on the Feast of the Annunciation, which coincided that year with Palm Sunday.
- 1934 – Enrico Fermi (pictured) published his discovery of neutron-induced radioactivity, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 1949 – The Soviet Union began mass deportations of more than 90,000 "undesirable" people from the Baltic states to Siberia.
- Kō no Moronao (d. 1351)
- Melita Norwood (b. 1912)
- Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas (d. 1927)
- Russell Sherman (b. 1930)
Elbridge Gerry
- 1344 – Reconquista: The Muslim city of Algeciras surrendered after a 21-month siege and was incorporated into the Kingdom of Castile.
- 1651 – The Spanish ship San José ran aground onto coasts controlled by the indigenous Cunco people, who subsequently killed the crew.
- 1697 – The Safavid Empire began a four-year occupation of the Ottoman city of Basra on the Persian Gulf.
- 1812 – The Boston Gazette printed a cartoon coining the term "gerrymander", named after Governor Elbridge Gerry (pictured), who approved the legislation that created oddly shaped electoral districts.
- 1939 – Nationalist forces began their final offensive of the Spanish Civil War, at the end of which they controlled almost the entire country.
- 1999 – A jury began deliberations in the trial of Jack Kevorkian, an American practitioner of physician-assisted suicide who was charged with murder in the death of a terminally ill patient.
- 'Adud al-Dawla (d. 983)
- Julie-Victoire Daubié (b. 1824)
- Jörg Streli (b. 1940)
- D. M. Thomas (d. 2023)
March 27: Day of the Union of Bessarabia with Romania (1918)
Ball-and-stick model of sildenafil
- 1884 – Outraged by a jury's decision to convict a man of manslaughter instead of murder, a mob in Cincinnati, Ohio, began three days of rioting.
- 1899 – Philippine–American War: American forces defeated troops commanded by Philippine president Emilio Aguinaldo at the Battle of Marilao River.
- 1998 – The Food and Drug Administration approved the drug sildenafil (chemical structure pictured), better known by the trade name Viagra, as the first treatment approved in the United States for erectile dysfunction.
- 1999 – NATO bombing of Yugoslavia: A U.S. Air Force F-117 stealth aircraft was shot down by a Yugoslav Army unit.
- 2020 – North Macedonia became a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
- Jonathan Jennings (b. 1784)
- Doug Wilkerson (b. 1947)
- Elisheva Bikhovski (d. 1949)
- T. Sailo (d. 2015)
March 28: Earth Hour (20:30 local time, 2026)
HMS Campbeltown during the St Nazaire Raid
- 1802 – German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Matthias Olbers discovered Pallas, the second asteroid to be identified, but at the time considered to be a planet.
- 1935 – The Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will, directed by Leni Riefenstahl, premiered in Berlin.
- 1942 – Second World War: The port of Saint-Nazaire in German-occupied France was disabled by British naval forces (ship pictured).
- 1946 – The US Department of State released the Acheson–Lilienthal Report, a proposal for the international control of nuclear weapons.
- 1979 – British prime minister James Callaghan was defeated by one vote in a vote of no confidence after his government struggled to cope with widespread strikes during the Winter of Discontent.
- 1999 – Kosovo War: Serbian police and special forces killed around 93 Kosovo Albanians in the village of Izbica.
- Ernst Lindemann (b. 1894)
- Nasser Hussain (b. 1968)
- Lady Gaga (b. 1986)
- Charles Schepens (d. 2006)
March 29: Boganda Day in the Central African Republic (1959); Martyrs' Day in Madagascar (1947)
Mariner 10
- 1461 – Wars of the Roses: The Yorkists defeated the Lancastrian army at the Battle of Towton, allowing Edward IV to secure the English throne.
- 1882 – The Knights of Columbus, the world's largest Catholic fraternal service organization, was founded by Michael J. McGivney in New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.
- 1974 – NASA's Mariner 10 (pictured) became the first space probe to make a flyby of Mercury.
- 2014 – The first same-sex marriages in England and Wales took place following the passage of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013.
- Thomas Coram (d. 1751)
- Emilia Baeyertz (b. 1842)
- Sam Loxton (b. 1921)
- Ruth A. M. Schmidt (d. 2014)
March 30: Land Day in Palestinian communities (1976)
Signing of the Treaty of Fes
- 1822 – The United States merged East Florida and West Florida to create the Florida Territory.
- 1912 – Sultan Abd al-Hafid signed the Treaty of Fes (depicted), making Morocco a French protectorate.
- 1977 – Annie Hall had its first screening at the LA Film Festival; it was voted the funniest screenplay ever by members of the Writers Guild of America.
- 2009 – The Manawan Police Academy in Lahore, Pakistan, was attacked and held for several hours by 12 gunmen, resulting in 16 deaths and 95 injuries.
- Nicolae Rădescu (b. 1874)
- William Hoapili Kaʻauwai (d. 1874)
- Karl Berger (b. 1935)
- Chrisye (d. 2007)
March 31: Cesar Chavez Day in various U.S. states (1927); International Transgender Day of Visibility
Woodcut picture of Matthew C. Perry
- 1854 – U.S. Navy Commodore Matthew C. Perry (Japanese depiction pictured) and the Tokugawa shogunate signed the Convention of Kanagawa, forcing the opening of Japanese ports to American trade.
- 1959 – After a two-week escape journey from Tibet, the 14th Dalai Lama reached the Tawang Monastery in Arunachal Pradesh in India.
- 1964 – The Brazilian Armed Forces overthrew President João Goulart, establishing a military dictatorship that lasted 21 years.
- 2004 – The Old National Library Building in Singapore was closed to make way for a tunnel, despite widespread protests.
- Guru Angad (b. 1504)
- J. P. Morgan (d. 1913)
- Ewan McGregor (b. 1971)
- Ahmad Sayyed Javadi (d. 2013)
Selected anniversaries / On this day archive
It is now 21:02 on Sunday, March 1, 2026 (UTC)|Purge cache for this page