Gundulf Royal Engineer
1077 Norman monk Gundulf consecrated as Bishop of Rochester - goes on to build Rochester Castle and the White Tower, Tower of London, as engineer of William the Conqueror
- 1227 Cardinal Ugolino di Conti is elected Pope Gregory IX
- 1279 Mongolian victory at the naval Battle of Yamen ends the Song Dynasty in China
- 1452 Frederick III of Hapsburg crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope Nicholas V at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome -last Holy Emperor crowned in Rome
- 1524 Giovanni de Varrazano, a Florentine explorer in the service of King Francis I of France, lands around area of Carolinas
- 1540 Court of Holland names Amsterdam sheriff John Hubrechtsz a "heretic"
- 1563 Peace of Amboise: Rights for Huguenots
- 1571 Spanish troops occupy Manila
Event of Interest
1644 Two hundred members of the Peking imperial family and court commit suicide out of loyalty to the last Ming Emperor, Chongzhen
- 1682 Assembly of the French clergy issues a declaration stating, among other things, that the power of the King is not subject to papal authority
- 1687 Explorer René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, searching for the mouth of the Mississippi River, is murdered by his own men
- 1740 British Parliament passes the Plantation Act, naturalizing foreign Protestants and others residing for seven years or more in any of Britain's American colonies
- 1775 Four people are buried by an avalanche for 37 days in Bergemoletto, Italy; three survive
- 1775 Poland and Prussia sign trade agreement
Die Schöpfung
1799 Joseph Haydn's oratorio "The Creation" ("Die Schöpfung") first public performance premieres at the Burgtheater in Vienna, Austria
- 1803 Friedrich Schiller's "Die Braut von Messina" premieres in Weimar
Charles IV Abdicates
1808 Charles IV, king of Spain, abdicates after riots and a popular revolt at the winter palace Aranjuez. His son, Ferdinand VII, takes the throne
- 1812 The first Spanish constitution is enacted, one of the earliest constitutions ever promulgated
Faust
1859 Charles Gounod's opera "Faust" premieres at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, France
- 1861 The First Taranaki War ends in New Zealand
- 1863 Confederate cruiser SS Georgiana is destroyed on her maiden voyage with a cargo of munitions and medicines valued at over $1,000,000. The wreck is discovered exactly 102 years later by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence.
- 1864 Charles Gounod's opera "Mireille" premieres at the Théâtre Lyrique in Paris, France
- 1865 Battle of Bentonville, Confederates retreat from Greenville North Carolina
- 1866 Immigrant ship Monarch of the Seas sinks in Liverpool; 738 die
- 1870 Antônio Carlos Gomes' opera "Il Guarany" premieres at La Scala Teatro in Milan, Kingdom of Italy
- 1877 Australia beat England by 45 runs in very first Test match
Sagrada Familia
1882 First stone is laid for the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Antoni Gaudí
Louis Riel's Return
1885 Louis Riel returns to Canada, proclaims provisional government in Saskatchewan
- 1892 3 brothers Hearne play in same Test Cricket England v South Africa (Cape Town)
- 1895 Los Angeles Railway is established to provide streetcar service
Music Premiere
1896 Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, premieres in London with English cellist Leo Stern as soloist
Quattro Rusteghi
1906 Ermanno Wolf-Ferrari's comic opera "Quattro Rusteghi" ("The Four Ruffians") premieres at the Hoftheater in Munich, Germany
- 1907 18.8 cm precipitation at Lewer's Ranch, Nevada (state record)
- 1911 1st International Women's Day sees over 1 million men and women attend rallies in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland. Issues discussed included women's right to vote and to hold public office, the right to work, to vocational training and an end to discrimination on the job.
- 1914 Stanley Cup, Arena Gardens, Toronto ON: Toronto HC (NHA) defeat Victoria Aristocrats (PCHA), 2-1 for a 3-0 series sweep; final series of the "challenge" era
- 1915 Pluto photographed for 1st time (although unknown at the time)
- 1915 VI Summer (Modern) Olympic Games: IOC President Pierre de Coubertin writes to Associated Press indicating 1916 Berlin Games won't take place because of WWI
- 1917 US Supreme Court uphoelds 8-hr work day for railroad employees
- 1917 Victor Herbert and Harry Blossom's operetta "Eileen", loosely based on a novel by Herbert's grandfather, premieres at Shubert Theater, New York City
- 1918 S Potter becomes 1st US pilot to shoot down a German seaplane
- 1918 US adopts Standard Time Act of 1918, also known as the Calder Act, a federal law implementing standard time (and daylight saving time) and defining five time zones for the United States
Littérature
1919 Literary Magazine "Littérature", edited by André Breton, Philippe Soupault, and Louis Aragon publishes its first issue
1920 US Senate rejects the Treaty of Versailles for the second time, refusing to ratify the League of Nations' covenant and maintaining a policy of isolation
- 1921 Italian Fascists shoot from the Parenzana train at a group of children in Strunjan (Slovenia): two children are killed, two mangled and three wounded
Roncalli Made Bishop
1925 Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (future Pope John XXIII) becomes a bishop, appointed as Apostolic Visitor to Bulgaria
- 1927 Bloody battles between communists & Nazis in Berlin
- 1928 "Amos & Andy" debuts on radio (NBC Blue Network-WMAQ Chicago)
- 1930 Nakagawa Soen accepted as a student of Katsube Keigaku Roshi
- 1931 Nevada legalizes gambling
- 1932 Sydney Harbour Bridge opens in Sydney, Australia
- 1937 Astronomer Fritz Zwicky publishes his research on stellar explosions, coining the term "supernova" and hypothesizing that they are the origin of cosmic rays
Divini Redemptoris
1937 Pope Pius XI publishes encyclical Divini redemptoris against communism
- 1938 NHL Toronto Maple Leafs and New York Americans combine to score 8 goals in just under 5 minutes; Toronto wins game 8-5
- 1940 Failed British air raid on German base at Sylt
- 1941 Jimmy Dorsey & his Orchestra record "Green Eyes" and "Maria Elena", with vocals by Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly, in New York City
Non-Military Duty
1942 FDR orders men between 45 & 64 to register for non-military duty
- 1942 Thoroughbred Racing Association of US formed in Chicago
- 1943 British 8th army opens assault on Mareth line, Tunisia
- 1943 Frank Nitti, the Chicago Outfit Boss after Al Capone, commits suicide at the Chicago Central Railyard
LaMotta Defeats Reeves
1943 In their third match, Jake LaMotta finally defeats Jimmy Reeves by knocking him out in the sixth round
- 1944 British composer Michael Tippett's oratorio "A Child of Our Time" premieres at the Adelphi Theatre in London, England
- 1945 800 killed as Kamikaze attacked USS Franklin off Japan
Nero Decree
1945 Adolf Hitler issues "Nero Decree" to destroy all German factories
- 1945 British 36th division conquers Mogok (ruby mine)
- 1945 US Task Force 58 attacks ships near Kobe/Kure
- 1946 French Guyana, Guadeloupe, Martinique & Reunion become overseas "departments" of France
- 1946 Nikolai Mikhailovich Schwernik succeeds Kalinin as Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR
- 1947 Belgian government of Paul-Henri Spaak (Belgium Socialist Party) forms
- 1947 Chinese Nationalist General Chiang Kai-shek conquers Jinan
- 1948 Lee Savold KOs Gino Buonvino in 54 seconds at Madison Square Garden, NYC
- 1949 1st museum devoted exclusively to atomic energy, Oak Ridge, Tennessee
- 1950 City College of NY defeats Bradley to win the NIT
- 1951 Herman Wouk's novel "The Caine Mutiny" published (Pulitzer Prize 1952)
- 1954 1st color telecast of a prize fight, Giardello vs Troy in Madison Square Garden, NYC
- 1954 1st rocket-driven sled on rails tested in Alamogordo, NM
- 1956 Biggest NBA margin of victory - Minn Lakers-133, St Louis Hawks-75
- 1957 MLB Cleveland Indians reject Boston Red Sox offer of $1 million for pitcher Herb Score
- 1962 Archbishop Suenens of Mechelen-Brussels appointed cardinal
Album Release
1962 Columbia Records releases the self-titled debut album of American folk singer Bob Dylan; quickly recorded collection of mostly cover tunes, with two original songs is largely ignored
Film & TV History
1964 Sean Connery's first day of shooting on the James Bond film "Goldfinger"
- 1965 Indonesia nationalizes all foreign oil companies
- 1965 Rembrandt's "Titus" sells for then record 7,770,000 guilders
- 1965 The wreck of the SS Georgiana, valued at over $50,000,000 and said to be the most powerful Confederate cruiser, is discovered by teenage diver and pioneer underwater archaeologist E. Lee Spence exactly 102 years after its destruction
- 1966 Belgium government of Vanden Boeynants begins
- 1967 French Somaliland (Djibouti) votes to continue association with France
- 1968 Howard University, Washington, D.C., students seize administration building
- 1969 British invade Anguilla
- 1969 Chicago 8 indicted in aftermath of Chicago Democratic convention
- 1969 The 385 metre tall TV-mast at Emley Moor, United Kingdom, collapses due to ice build- up.
- 1970 West German Chancellor Willy Brandt and East German Premier Willi Stoph meet in Erfurt, East Germany, for the first time since the division of Germany in 1949
- 1971 Philadelphia 76ers outscore Cincinnati Royals 90-80 in 2nd half enroute to a 147-127 victory
- 1972 1st AIAW Women's Basketball Tournament, Immaculata beats West Chester State 52-48 in Normal
- 1972 India & Bangladesh sign friendship treaty
- 1972 LA Lakers beat Golden State Warriors, 162-99, by then record 63 pts
- 1974 Jefferson Starship begins their 1st tour
- 1975 Pennsylvania is 1st state to allow girls to compete with boys in HS sports
- 1977 France performs nuclear test at Mururoa Atoll
- 1977 Jevgeni Kulikov skates world record 1000m (1:15.33)
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
1977 Last episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" premieres on CBS, with a group hug searching for a box tissues, then singing "It's a Long Way to Tipperary"
- 1978 50,000 demonstrate in Amsterdam against neutron bomb
- 1979 US House of Representatives begins live TV broadcasts via C-SPAN
- 1981 2 workers killed in space shuttle Columbia accident
- 1981 Buffalo Sabres beat Toronto Maple Leafs 14-4
- 1982 Falklands War: Argentinian forces land on South Georgia Island, precipitating war with the U.K.
- 1982 National Guard jet tanker crashes killing 27
Kate & Allie
1984 American sitcom "Kate & Allie" premieres on CBS TV starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin
- 1984 John J O'Connor named 8th archbishop of New York
- 1984 KSD-AM in St Louis MO changes call letters to KUSA
- 1984 Mobil oil tanker spills 200,000 gallons into Columbia River
- 1984 STS 41-C vehicle moves to launch pad
Sports History
1984 Two-time Cy Young Award winner Denny McLain is indicted on charges of drug trafficking, embezzlement and racketeering; 25 year sentence later quashed
- 1985 "Spin Magazine" begins publishing
- 1985 US Senate votes 55-45 to authorize production of the MX "Peacekeeper" intercontinental ballistic missile
Event of Interest
1987 American televangelist Jim Bakker resigns amid rape accusation by his secretary, Jessica Hahn
- 1987 Fred Currey acquires Greyhound Bus Company
- 1987 Hassanali inaugurated as president of Trinidad & Tobago
- 1988 Two British Army corporals are attacked during a funeral procession, beaten and shot dead by the Provisional IRA in Belfast, North Ireland
- 1988 Yvonne van Gennip skates un-official world record 10 km (15:25.25)
- 1989 Boeing V-22 Osprey VTOL aircraft makes maiden flight
- 1989 Ice Dance Championship at Paris won by M Klimova & S Ponomarenko (USSR)
- 1989 Ice Pairs World Championship at Paris won by Ekaterina Gordeeva & Sergei Grinkov (USSR)
- 1989 Worlds Ladies' Figure Skating Champ in Paris won by Midori Ito (Japan)
- 1990 1st world ice hockey tournament for women held (Ottawa)
Event of Interest
1991 Gorbachev says the Soviet Union will cut its oil exports by nearly half
Sports History
1991 MLB Kansas City Royals announce they are putting Bo Jackson on waivers
1991 NFL owners strip Phoenix of the 1993 Super Bowl game because Arizona does not recognize the federal holiday Martin Luther King Jr. Day
- 1991 Sacramento Kings set NBA record of 29 consecutive road losses
Sports History
1991 St Louis Blues Brett Hull is 3rd NHLer to score 80 goals in a season
- 1992 Britain's Prince Andrew & Sarah, Duchess of York, announce separation
- 1993 Ice Dance Championship in Prague won by M Usova & A Zhulin (RUS)
- 1993 Ice Pairs Championship in Prague won by I Brasseur & L Eisler (CAN)
- 1993 US Supreme Court Justice Byron R White announced plans to retire
- 1994 2,500 kilograms of cocaine intercepted in Zeewolde, Netherlands
Sports History
1994 Lara scores 167 for WI v England at Georgetown
- 1994 Largest omelette (1,383sq ft) made with 160,000 eggs in Yokohama, Japan
- 1994 NJ Devils club record 41st win of the season
- 1995 American Bonnie Blair skates female world record point total (156.450)
- 1995 Arizona begins using new telephone area code 520, outside of Phoenix
- 1995 Finnish Social Democratic Party wins parliamentary election
Sports History
1995 Michael Jordan rejoins NBA Chicago Bulls after 17 months trying a career in baseball; he scores 19 points in 103-96 loss to the Pacers in Indianapolis
- 1995 NBA NY Knicks beat NY Nets in 100th meeting (Knicks 53 Nets 47)
- 1995 Neil Marshall skates world record 3 km (3:54.08)
- 1997 Ice Pairs won by Mandy Woetzel & Ingo Steuer (GER)
- 1997 Major League Baseball announces 5 year/$50M deal with Pepsi
- 1997 US Supreme Court hears Internet indecency arguments
Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
2001 16th Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees: Aerosmith; Solomon Burke; The Flamingos; Michael Jackson; Queen; Paul Simon; Steely Dan; Ritchie Valens; James Burton; Johnnie Johnson; and Chris Blackwell
- 2001 Bank of Japan issues a monetary policy known as quantitative easing, which stimulates the Japanese economy after the burst of the dot-com bubble
- 2002 U.S. invasion of Afghanistan: Operation Anaconda ends (started on March 2) after killing 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters with 11 allied troop fatalities
2003 Airstrikes by an American and British-led coalition signal the beginning of the invasion of Iraq without United Nations support and in defiance of world opinion
- 2004 A Swedish DC-3 shot down by a Russian MiG-15 in the 1950s is finally recovered after years of work. The remains of the crew are left in place, pending further investigations.
- 2004 A truck and a bus crash head-on in Äänekoski, Finland. 24 people are killed and 13 injured.
- 2004 Taiwanese president Chen Shui-bian is shot just before the country's presidential election on March 20.
Event of Interest
2006 On the weekend of his 84th birthday, Fred Shuttlesworth gives his final sermon in front of 300 people at the Greater New Light Baptist Church
- 2008 GRB 080319B: A cosmic burst that is the farthest object visible to the naked eye is briefly observed
- 2012 Wendy's overtakes Burger King to become the second best-selling hamburger chain
- 2013 16 people are killed by mudslides in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- 2013 27 people are killed and 14 are injured in a bus crash in Maharashtra, India
- 2013 3rd World Baseball Classic: Dominican Republic wins the international tournament with a 3-0 win over Puerto Rico at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California
- 2013 NASA's Mars rover Curiosity discovers further evidence of water-bearing minerals
- 2014 Israel sends airforce against Syrian military units involved in an attack yesterday on an Israeli patrol in the Golan Heights
- 2014 Russia captures the Ukrainian naval base in Sevastopol
- 2018 Mississippi signs into law the US's strictest abortion laws, no termination after 15 weeks
- 2018 World's last male northern white rhino, 45-year-old Sudan, dies in Kenya
- 2019 "Superbloom" of poppies in Walker Canyon, southern California visible from space, after high rainfall
- 2019 American Karen Uhlenbeck becomes the 1st woman to win mathematics Abel Prize
- 2019 Houston Rockets guard James Harden becomes first player in NBA history to score at least 30 points against all 29 opponents in a single season with 31 in a 121-105 win over the Atlanta Hawks
- 2019 Image of Australian rules footballer Tayla Harris attacked by internet trolls and controversially removed before being reinstated
Event of Interest
2019 Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev announces his resignation after nearly 30 years in office, the last soviet-era head of state
- 2019 Singer Sam Smith comes out as non-binary in interview on Jameela Jamil’s Instagram show
- 2020 Italian death toll from COVID-19 at 3,405 surpasses China's official total (3,245) making it then the worst-affected country in the world
- 2020 Professional football in England is further postponed until 'no earlier than 30 April' due to the COVID-19 pandemic
- 2020 State of California with 910 cases of COVID-19 locks down and orders people to "stay at home"
- 2021 Icelandic volcano Fagradalsfjall erupts for the first time in 800 years and after more than 50,000 earthquakes
- 2021 Vice-president of Tanzania Samia Suluhu Hassan (61) is sworn as president after the death of John Magufuli, becoming the country's first female chief executive
Sports History
2022 LeBron James moves past Karl Malone (36,909) into second on NBA's all-time scoring list with 38 points in LA Lakers' 127-119 loss to Washington Wizards; Kareem Abdul-Jabbar leads (38,387)
- 2023 UBS, Switzerland's largest bank agrees to buy its rival Credit Suisse (established 1856) for about $3.2 billion to help ease global financial panic, in deal brokered by Swiss government [1]
- 2024 China launches Queqiao-2 relay satellite for the far side of the moon to support its Chang’e-6 lunar sample return mission [1]
- 2024 Finland is ranked the happiest country in the world by the UN for the seventh year in a row, with Afghanistan the lowest ranked [1]
- 2024 Hong Kong parliament passes tough new security law Article 23 focusing on sentences for external interference and insurrection [1]
MacKenzie Scott Donates $640m
2024 Philanthropist MacKenzie Scott announces her organization Yield Giving is giving away $640 million to 361 nonprofits after an open call for applications [1]
- 2025 New data on dark energy from the DESI telescope further upends scientific belief that the universe is constantly expanding, its results show it has instead weakened over the last 4.5 million years [1]
