Title: March 15 Content: In the Roman calendar March 15 was known as the Ides of March, and it was on this day that Julius Caesar was murdered. == Events == === Up to 1900 === * 44 BC – Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March. * 280 - Sun Hao of Eastern Wu surrenders to Sima Yan, beginning the Jin Dynasty. * 933 - After a 10-year truce, German King Henry I defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near the Unstrut River. * 1311 – Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece. * 1493 – Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas. * 1545 – First meeting of the Council of Trent. * 1672 – Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence. * 1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse – Near present-day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400. * 1781 - French astronomer Pierre Mechain discovers the spiral galaxies Messier 98, Messier 99 and Messier 100. * 1783 – In an emotional speech in Newburgh, New York, George Washington asks his officers not to support the Newburgh Conspiracy. The plea is successful and the threatened coup d'état never takes place. * 1820 – Maine becomes the 23rd U.S. state. * 1827 – The University of Toronto is chartered. * 1848 – Revolution breaks out in Pest in Hungary. The Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the Reform party. * 1867 - Hungary gains autonomy. * 1875 - Archbishop of New York John McCloskey becomes the first American cardinal. * 1877 – The first Test cricket match begins, between England and Australia. * 1888 - The Anglo-Tibetan War of 1888 begins. * 1892 – Liverpool FC is founded. === 1901 1950 === * 1906 – Rolls-Royce Ltd. is registered. * 1909 – Selfridges department store opens in London. * 1916 – President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the Mexican border to pursue Pancho Villa. * 1917 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates himself and his son from the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar. * 1919 – The American Legion forms in Paris. * 1922 – After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt. * 1926 - In Greece, Theodoros Pangalos is elected President without opposition. * 1931 - The ship SS Viking explodes off Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 147 people on board. * 1933 - Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss keeps members of the National Council from convening, starting an Austrofascist dictatorship. * 1939 – World War II: Nazi troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist. * 1941 - The first Philippine Airlines flight takes place, from Manila to Baguio City. * 1943 – World War II: Third Battle of Kharkov – the Germans retook the city of Kharkov from the Soviet armies in bitter street fighting. * 1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino – Allied aircraft bomb the Nazi-held monastery and stage an assault. * 1944 - First flight of a Philippines Airlines plane. It is the oldest airline in Asia to operate under its original name. * 1945 - World War II: Soviet forces begin an offensive to push Germans from Upper Silesia. === 1951 2000 === * 1952 – In Cilaos, Réunion, 73 inches (1,870mm) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record. * 1956 – The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City. * 1961 – South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth. * 1963 – Victor Feguer, a Federal prisoner, is put to death at the Fort Madison, Iowa prison. This would be the last execution of a Federal prisoner until the execution of Timothy McVeigh in 2001. * 1965 - Lyndon B. Johnson says "We Shall Overcome" in support of the Voting Rights Act. * 1970 – The Expo '70 world's fair opens in Osaka, Japan. * 1976 – KISS releases the legendary album Destroyer. * 1978 - Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethiopian-Somali War. * 1985 - The first internet domain name is registered - symbolics.com. * 1985 - Brazil's military dictatorship ends. * 1986 - The New World Hotel in Singapore collapses, killing 33 people. * 1988 – Publication of Marvin Minsky's Society of Mind theory. * 1988 – The Halabja poison gas attack of the Iran-Iraq War begins. * 1989 – The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established. * 1990 – Gulf War: Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying. * 1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union. * 1990 – The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid. * 1990 – The ethnic clashes of Targu Mures begin on the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas. * 1991 – Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3, 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King during an arrest. * 1991 – Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post-World War II occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) relinquish all remaining rights. === From 2001 === * 2001 - An explosion occurs on a Petrobras oil platform off Brazil, causing a major oil spill. * 2003 - Hu Jintao becomes the leader of the People's Republic of China, with Wen Jiabao as Premier. * 2003 - The Central African Republic's President Ange- Félix Patassé is removed in a coup by Francois Bozizé. * 2004 – Announcement of the discovery of 90377 Sedna, the farthest natural object in the Solar system so far observed. * 2008 - An explosion occurs at an Albanian Army and Munitions base, killing 26 people. It happens near the village of Gerdec. * 2011 - Arab Spring: The currently still ongoing civil war in Syria begins. * 2013 - A transition of power within the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China is completed, with Xi Jinping as President and Li Keqiang as Premier. * 2019 - Two shootings happen in Christchurch, New Zealand during a white supremacist terrorist attack. They killed 50 people. == Births == === Up to 1800 === * 933 – Romanos II, Byzantine Emperor (d. 963) * 1275 - Margaret of England, English princess (d. 1333) * 1455 - Pietro Accotti, Italian cardinal (d. 1532) * 1584 - Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg- Glücksburg (d. 1663) * 1591 - Alexandre de Rhodes, French missionary and lexicographer (d. 1660) * 1611 - Jan Fyt, Flemish painter (d. 1661) * 1638 – Shunzhi Emperor of China (d. 1661) * 1660 - Olof Rudbeck the Younger, Swedish anatomist and botanist (d. 1740) * 1684 - Francesco Durante, Italian composer (d. 1755) * 1713 - Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (d. 1762) * 1737 - Amarindra, Queen Consort of Siam (d. 1826) * 1738 - Cesare Beccaria, Italian philosopher (d. 1794) * 1754 - Archibald Menzies, Scottish naturalist and surgeon (d. 1842) * 1767 – Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (d. 1845) * 1770 - Samuel Bell, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1850) * 1772 - Jozsef Ficzko, Burgenland Croatian writer (d. 1843) * 1779 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1848) * 1792 - Virginie Ancelot, French painter, writer and playwright (d. 1875) * 1794 - Friedrich Christian Diez, German philologist (d. 1876) === 1801 1900 === * 1809 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first President of Liberia (d. 1876) * 1809 - William Cannon, Governor of Delaware (d. 1865) * 1813 - John Snow, English physician (d. 1858) * 1818 - Mariano Alvarez, Filipino general (d. 1924) * 1821 - Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian physicist and chemist (d. 1895) * 1824 - Jules Chevalier, French priest (d. 1907) * 1830 – Paul von Heyse, German writer (d. 1914) * 1830 - Elisée Reclus, French geographer (d. 1905) * 1831 - Daniel Comboni, Italian missionary and saint (d. 1881) * 1835 - Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (d. 1916) * 1838 - Karl Davydov, Russian cellist (d. 1889) * 1851 - William Mitchell Ramsay, Scottish archaeologist (d. 1939) * 1852 - Augusta, Lady Gregory, Irish playwright (d. 1932) * 1854 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German doctor, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1901) (d. 1917) * 1857 – Christian Michelsen, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1925) * 1864 - Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (d. 1935) * 1865 - Manuk Abeghian, Armenian author and scholar (d. 1944) * 1866 - Johan Vaaler, Norwegian inventor (of the paperclip) (d. 1910) * 1868 - Grace Chisholm Young, English mathematician (d. 1944) * 1869 – Stanislaw Wojciechowski, President of Poland (d. 1953) * 1874 - Eugene Fiset, Canadian physician and politician (d. 1951) * 1874 - Harold L. Ickes, American politician (d. 1952) * 1878 - Reza Shah Pahlavi of Persia (d. 1944) * 1882 - James Lightbody, American middle- distance runner (d. 1953) * 1887 - Marjorie Merriwether Post, American entrepreneur (d. 1973) * 1890 - Boris Nikolaevich Delaunay, Russian mathematician (d. 1980) * 1897 - Jackson Scholz, American runner (d. 1986) * 1900 - Frances Partridge, English writer (d. 2004) === 1901 1950 === * 1902 - Hu Gwan-sun, South Korean activist (d. 1920) * 1905 - Berthold Schenk von Stauffenberg, German lawyer (d. 1944) * 1907 – Zarah Leander, Swedish singer and actress (d. 1981) * 1910 - Tom Richards, Welsh runner (d. 1985) * 1912 – Lightning Hopkins, American musician (d. 1982) * 1913 - Rosita Contreras, Argentine actress (d. 1962) * 1916 - Fadil Hoxha, Yugoslavian politician (d. 2001) * 1916 - Harry James, American musician and bandleader (d. 1983) * 1918 - Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey coach and manager (d. 1987) * 1919 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (d. 2002) * 1920 - Lawrence Sanders, American writer (d. 1998) * 1920 – E. Donnall Thomas, American physician (d. 2012) * 1921 - Jean Freeman, Welsh actress * 1924 - Yuri Bondarev, Russian writer * 1924 - Walter Gotell, German-British actor (d. 1997) * 1926 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football player and coach (d. 1983) * 1927 - Maija Isola, Finnish designer (d. 2001) * 1927 - Christian Marquand, French director and actor (d. 2000) * 1928 - Bob Wilber, American clarinetist and saxophonist * 1930 – Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Russian physicist (d. 2019) * 1930 - Martin Karplus, Austrian-American chemist * 1931 - Bill Burlison, American politician (d. 2019) * 1932 - Alan Bean, American astronaut (d. 2018) * 1933 - Philippe de Broca, French movie director * 1933 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 2020) * 1934 - Aldo Giorgini, Italian artist (d. 1994) * 1935 – Judd Hirsch, American actor * 1935 – Jimmy Swaggart, American televangelist * 1936 - David Andrews, Irish politician * 1936 - Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (d. 1986) * 1937 - Valentin Rasputin, Russian poet and writer (d. 2015) * 1939 - Ted Kaufman, American politician * 1940 - Frank Dobson, British politician * 1940 – Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead) * 1941 - Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys) * 1942 - The Iron Sheik, Iranian-American professional wrestler * 1943 – David Cronenberg, Canadian director * 1943 - Lynda La Plante, English author and screenwriter * 1943 - Sly Stone, American singer-songwriter and producer * 1944 - Chi Cheng, Taiwanese athlete and politician * 1944 - Francis Mankiewicz, Canadian movie director and screenwriter (d. 1993) * 1944 - Jacques Doillon, French movie director * 1945 - Mark J. Green, American politician * 1946 - Bobby Bonds, American baseball player * 1947 – Ry Cooder, American guitarist * 1948 - Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003) * 1950 - Jorgen Olsen, Danish singer === 1951 1975 === * 1952 - Howard Koh, American politician * 1952 - Philip Green, English businessman * 1952 - Earl Ray Tomblin, Governor of West Virginia * 1953 - Kumba Iala, former President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2014) * 1953 - Richard Bruton, Irish politician * 1954 - Massimo Bubola, Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer * 1954 - Bob Budiansky, American comic book writer, illustrator and editor * 1955 - Dee Snider, American singer * 1955 - Roberto Maroni, Italian politician * 1956 - Paramanga Ernest Yonli, Burkina Faso politician * 1957 – Joaquim de Almeida, Portuguese-American actor * 1957 - Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque politician * 1957 - David Silverman, American animator * 1959 - Harold Baines, baseball player * 1959 – Ben Okri, Nigerian writer * 1960 - Phil Walsh, Australian rules footballer and coach (d. 2015) * 1961 - Terry Cummings, American basketball player * 1961 - Craig Ludwig, American ice hockey player * 1962 - Jimmy Baio, American actor * 1962 – Markus Merk, German football referee * 1962 - Terence Trent D'Arby, American singer * 1963 - Bret Michaels, American musician * 1964 - Fernando De Napoli, Italian footballer * 1965 - Svetlana Medvedeva, former First Lady of Russia * 1967 – Naoko Takeuchi, Japanese artist * 1968 – Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer * 1968 – Mark McGrath, American musician * 1968 - Sabrina Salerno, Italian singer, actress and producer * 1968 - Jon Schaffer, American musician * 1969 - Rona Ambrose, Canadian politician * 1971 - Penny Lancaster, English model and photographer * 1972 – Mark Hoppus, American musician (+44 and blink-182) * 1972 - Holger Stromberg, German chef * 1973 - Robin Hunnicke, American video game designer and producer * 1973 - Lee Jung-jae, South Korean actor * 1973 - Masayuki Naruse, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist * 1974 - Robert Fick, American baseball player * 1974 - Anders Andersson, Swedish footballer * 1975 – Eva Longoria, American actress * 1975 – Will.i.am, American musician (Black Eyed Peas) === From 1976 === * 1976 - Katherine Brooks, American director, producer and screenwriter * 1977 - Joe Hahn, American musician (Linkin Park) * 1978 – Takeru Kobayashi, Japanese competitive eater * 1978 - Sid Wilson, American musician (Slipknot) * 1981 – Mikael Forssell, Finnish footballer * 1981 - Veronica Maggio, Swedish singer * 1982 - Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, Kenyan long jumper * 1982 - Jordan Hastings, Canadian drummer * 1984 - Yo Yo Honey Singh, Indian rapper, producer and actor * 1985 - Eva Amurri, American actress * 1985 - Tom Chilton, English racing driver * 1985 - Javier Garrido, Spanish footballer * 1985 – Curtis Davies, English footballer * 1985 - Cat Boyd, Scottish trade unionist * 1988 - James Reimer, Canadian ice hockey player * 1989 - Sandro Raniere, Brazilian footballer * 1990 - Siobhan Magnus, American singer-songwriter * 1991 - Xavier Henry, American basketball player * 1991 – Kii Kitano, Japanese actress * 1992 - Anna Shaffer, English actress * 1993 - Alia Bhatt, Indian actress and singer * 1993 - Paul Pogba, French footballer * 1993 – Alyssa Reid, Canadian singer * 1994 - Nijel Amos, Botswana athlete * 2000 - Kristian Kostov, Bulgarian-Russian singer == Deaths == === Up to 1900 === * 44 BC – Julius Caesar (b. 100 BC) * 220 – Cao Cao, King of Wei (b. 155) * 493 - Odoacer, King of Italy (b. 435) * 963 - Romanos II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 938) * 1145 - Pope Lucius II * 1311 - Battle of Halmyros: **Walter V of Brienne, Duke of Athens **Thomas d'Autrementcourt, Lord of Salona, Marshal of Achaea **Albert Pallavicini, Margrave of Bodonitza **Giorgio I Ghisi, Triarch of Euboea, Lord of Tinos, Mykonos, Serifos and Keos * 1346 - Shah Jalal of Bengal (b. 1271) * 1416 - John, Duke of Berry, son of John II of France (b. 1340) * 1575 - Annibale Padovano, Italian composer (b. 1527) * 1587 - Kaspar Olevianus, German theologian (b. 1536) * 1644 - Louise Juliana of Nassau, Regent of Bohemia (b. 1576) * 1670 - John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (b. 1597) * 1673 - Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet (b. 1615) * 1711 - Eusebio Kino, Italian priest and missionary (b. 1645) * 1820 - Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Patron Saint of Vienna (b. 1751) * 1842 – Luigi Cherubini, Italian composer (b. 1760) * 1849 - Giuseppe Caspar Mezzafanti, Italian cardinal and linguist (b. 1774) * 1886 - Michael Hahn, 19th Governor of Louisiana (b. 1830) * 1898 - Henry Bessemer, English engineer, inventor and businessman (b. 1813) === 1901 2000 === * 1907 - William D. Bloxham, Governor of Florida (b. 1835) * 1921 - Talaat Pasha, Ottoman politician (b. 1874) * 1937 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b. 1890) * 1938 - Nikolai Bukharin, Soviet-Russian revolutionary and politician (b. 1888) * 1941 - Alexei von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864) * 1951 - John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek- South African astronomer (b. 1889) * 1959 - Lester Young, American musician (b. 1909) * 1961 – Akiba Rubinstein, Polish chess player (b. 1882) * 1962 – Arthur Compton, American physicist (b. 1892) * 1966 - Abe Saperstein, American basketball player and coach (b. 1902) * 1969 - Musashiyama Takeshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1909) * 1971 - Jean-Pierre Monseré, Belgian cyclist (b. 1948) * 1972 - Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (b. 1910) * 1975 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (b. 1900) * 1981 - René Clair, French movie director (b. 1898) * 1983 – Rebecca West, English writer (b. 1892) * 1988 - Dmitri Polyakov, Soviet double-agent (b. 1926) * 1990 – Farzad Bazoft, Iranian-British journalist (b. 1958) * 1991 - Bud Freeman, American jazz musician (b. 1906) * 1993 – Karl Mai, German footballer (b. 1928) * 1998 – Benjamin Spock, American paediatrician and writer (b. 1903) === From 2001 === * 2003 - Thora Hird, British actress (b. 1911) * 2004 - William Pickering, New Zealand-born space scientist (b. 1910) * 2004 – John Pople, English chemist (b. 1925) * 2006 – George Rallis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1918) * 2009 – Ron Silver, American actor (b. 1946) * 2011 – Nate Dogg, American musician (b. 1969) * 2012 - Bernardino Gonzalez Ruiz, President of Panama (b. 1911) * 2013 - Booth Gardner, former Governor of Washington (b. 1936) * 2014 - David Brenner, American comedian (b. 1936) * 2014 - Scott Asheton, American musician (b. 1949) * 2014 - Clarissa Dickson Wright, English chef (b. 1947) * 2014 - Cees Veerman, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1943) * 2015 - Mike Porcaro, American musician (Toto) (b. 1955) * 2015 - Xu Caihou, Chinese army general (b. 1943) * 2015 - Narayan Desai, Indian writer (b. 1924) * 2015 - Sally Forrest, American singer and actress (b. 1928) * 2015 - Curtis Gans, American activist (b. 1937) * 2016 - Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs, British historian and codebreaker (b. 1921) * 2016 - Tamara Grigsby, American politician (b. 1974) * 2016 - Earline W. Parmon, American politician (b. 1943) * 2016 - Seru Rabeni, Fijian rugby player (b. 1978) * 2016 - Ralph C. Johnson, American politician (b. 1953) * 2016 - Lyubka Rondova, Bulgarian folk singer (b. 1936) * 2016 - Sylvia Anderson, British television producer and voice actress (b. 1927) * 2017 - Sok An, Cambodian politician (b. 1950) * 2017 - Enrique Morea, Argentine tennis player (b. 1924) * 2017 - Dave Stallworth, American basketball player (b. 1941) * 2018 - Tom Benson, American automobile dealer, philanthropist and sports team owner (b. 1927) * 2018 - Ed Charles, American baseball player (b. 1933) * 2018 - Augie Garrido, American baseball coach (b. 1939) * 2018 - Mohamed Sayah, Tunisian politician (b. 1933) * 2018 - Larry Kwong, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1923) * 2019 - Okwui Enwezor, Nigerian art critic and writer (b. 1963) * 2019 - Dave Hood Jr., American politician (b. 1954) * 2019 - W. S. Merwin, American poet (b. 1927) * 2020 - Vittorio Gregotti, Italian architect (b. 1927) == Observances == * National Day of Hungary - Revolution of 1848 * Holiday in Liberia - Birthday of the country's first President, Joseph Jenkins Roberts * Honen Matsuri (Japan) * Constitution Day (Belarus) * World Day for Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film * World Consumer Rights Day * World Contact Day *Anniversary of the 2019 New Zealand Christchurch Mosque Shooting Category:Days of the year