March 3



Events

Up to 1900 
 1284 – The Statute of Rhuddlan incorporates the Principality of Wales into England.
 1575 – Mughal Emperor Akbar defeats a Bengali army at the Battle of Tukaroi.
 1585 – The Olympic Theatre, designed by Andrea Palladio, is inaugurated in Vicenza, Italy.
 1776 - American Revolutionary War: The first amphibious landing of the United States Marine Corps begins in the Battle of Nassau.
 1779 – American Revolutionary War: The Continental Army is routed (heavily beaten) at the Battle of Brier Creek.
 1788 – Europen settlement begins on Norfolk Island.
 1799 - Russo-Ottoman Siege of Corfu ends with the surrender of the French garrison.
 1820 - United States Congress passes the Missouri Compromise.
 1836 - Texas declares independence from Mexico.
 1845 – Florida becomes the 27th State of the US.
 1849 - The Minnesota Territory is created.
 1857 – Second Opium War: France and the United Kingdom declare war on China.
 1861 – Tsar Alexander II of Russia signs the Emancipation Manifesto, freeing the Serfs.
 1875 – Georges Bizet's opera Carmen receives its premiere at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.
 1875 – The first-ever organised indoor ice hockey game is held in Montreal.
 1878 – The Russo-Turkish War ends, as Bulgaria regains its independence from the Ottoman Empire.
 1885 - The American Telephone and Telegraph Company is incorporated in New York.

1901  2000 
 1904 – Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany becomes the first ruler to make a sound recording of a political document, using the phonograph cylinder.
 1905 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia agrees to create an elected assembly, the Duma.
 1913 - Thousands of women march in a suffrage parade in Washington, DC.
 1915 – NACA, the predecessor of NASA, is founded.
 1918 – World War I: Germany, Austria and Russia sign the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk, ending Russia's involvement in the war.
 1923 – TIME magazine is first published.
 1924 – End of the Ottoman caliphate.
 1925 - The Mount Rushmore Monument is unveiled, having been created by Gutzon Borglum. Carved into rock are the faces of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.
 1931 - The United States adopts The Star-Spangled Banner as the national anthem.
 1933 – Ching Yun University is established.
 1938 – Oil is discovered in Saudi Arabia.
 1939 – Mahatma Gandhi begins a fast (a period without eating) in protest against autocratic rule in British colonial India.
 1942 – World War II: Ten Japanese war planes raid the town of Broome, in Western Australia, killing over 100 people.
 1943 – World War II: In London, 173 people are killed in a crush while trying to enter the air-raid shelter at Bethnal Green tube station.
 1945 – World War II: American and Filipino troops recapture Manila from Japanese forces.
 1945 – A former Armia Krajowa unit massacres at least 150 Ukrainian civilians in Pawlokoma, Poland.
 1945 – World War II: The Royal Air Force accidentally bombs the Bezuidenhout neighbourhood in The Hague, killing 511 people.
 1953 – A Canadian Pacific Airlines Comet aircraft crashes in Karachi, Pakistan, killing 11 people.
 1958 – Nuri as-Said becomes Prime Minister of Iraq for the 14th time.
 1961 – Hassan II becomes King of Morocco.
 1962 - The British Antarctic Territory is created.
 1969 – Apollo programme: NASA launches Apollo 9 to test the lunar module.
 1973 - Wasington Convention is signed.
 1974 – Turkish Airlines Flight 981 crashes at Ermenonville, near Paris, killing all 346 people on board.
 1978 – The body of movie actor Charles Chaplin is stolen from his grave in Switzerland.
 1985 – Arthur Scargill announces the decision by the National Mineworkers Union to end the longest-running industrial dispute in the United Kingdom without a peace agreement over pit closures.
 1985 – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake strikes the Valparaiso region of Chile, killing 177 people.
 1991 – Referendum votes in both Estonia and Latvia show overwhelming support for independence from the Soviet Union.
 1991 – United Airlines Flight 585 crashes at Colorado Springs, Colorado, killing 25 people on board.
 1991 – Rodney King is hit and kicked by the Los Angeles police, which leads to big riots.
 1992 – Kyrgyzstan starts to use its current flag.
 1992 - Alija Izetbegovic declares Bosnia and Herzegovina independent.
 1996 - The Partido Popular wins the Spanish parliamentary election, leading to Jose Maria Aznar becoming Prime Minister.
 1997 – The Sky Tower, the southern hemisphere's tallest free-standing structure at a height of 328 metres, opens in Auckland, New Zealand, following more than 2-and-a-half years of building work.

From 2001 
 2002 – Switzerland votes to join the United Nations, breaking its long history of being neutral.
 2002 – The Hindu Kush in Afghanistan is hit by a magnitude 7.4 earthquake, killing 166 people.
 2005 – Steve Fossett becomes the first person to fly an airplane non-stop around the world without refuelling.
 2009 – An armed attack targets the Sri Lanka national cricket team in Lahore, Pakistan.
 2009 – The Historical Archives building in Cologne, Germany, collapses, killing 2 people. Many documents are either completely destroyed or badly damaged.

Births

Up to 1900 
 1455 – King John II of Portugal (d. 1495)
 1500 - Reginald Pole, Archbishop of Canterbury (d. 1558)
 1520 - Matthias Flacius, Croatian Protestant reformer (d. 1575)
 1589 - Gisbertus Voetius, Dutch theologian (d. 1676)
 1606 - Edmund Waller, English poet (d. 1687)
 1652 - Thomas Ottway, English dramatist (d. 1685)
 1678 - Madeleine de Vercheres, Canadian heroine (d. 1747)
 1756 - William Goodwin, English writer (d. 1836)
 1778 – Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Hanover (d. 1841)
 1788 - William Carroll, 6th and 9th Governor of Tennessee (d. 1844)
 1793 - Charles Sealsfield, Austrian-American journalist (d. 1864)
 1800 – Heinrich Georg Bronn, German geologist (d. 1862)
 1805 – Jonas Furrer, 1st President of the Swiss Confederation (d. 1861)
 1816 - William James Blacklock, English painter (d. 1858)
 1819 - Gustave de Molinari, Belgian economist (d. 1912)
 1823 – Gyula Andrassy, Hungarian regent (d. 1890)
 1831 - George Pullman, American inventor (d. 1897)
 1838 – George William Hill, American astronomer and mathematician (d. 1914)
 1839 – Jamsetji Tata, Indian industrialist (d. 1904)
 1841 - John Murray, Scottish oceanographer (d. 1914)
 1845 – Georg Cantor, German mathematician (d. 1918)
 1847 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish inventor (d. 1922)
 1860 - John Montgomery Ward, American baseball player (d. 1925)
 1861 - Racho Petrov, Bulgarian general and politician (d. 1942)
 1866 - Fred A. Busse, Mayor of Chicago (d. 1914)
 1869 – Henry Wood, English conductor (d. 1944)
 1869 – William M. Calder, United States Senator (d. 1945)
 1871 – Maurice Garin, French cyclist (d. 1957)
 1873 - William Green, American labor union leader (d. 1953)
 1877 – Jon Thorlaksson, Prime Minister of Iceland (d. 1935)
 1878 - Leopold Jessner, German producer and director (d. 1945)
 1879 - Jozsef Klekl, Slovenian writer (d. 1936)
 1880 – Yosuke Matsuoka, Japanese politician (d. 1946)
 1880 – Florence Auer, American actress (d. 1962)
 1882 - Charles Ponzi, Italian criminal, origin of the term Ponzi scheme (d. 1949)
 1886 – Tore Orjasaeter, Norwegian poet (d. 1968)
 1886 - Ezequiel Fernandez, 18th President of Panama (d. 1946)
 1890 – Norman Bethune, Canadian doctor and humanitarian (d. 1939)
 1891 – Damaskinos, Prime Minister of Greece (d. 1949)
 1891 – Arthur Drewry, British FIFA President (d. 1961)
 1893 – Beatrice Wood, American artist and ceramicist (d. 1998)
 1895 – Ragnar Frisch, Norwegian economist (d. 1973)

1901  1950 
 1901 – Claude Choules, British World War I veteran and supercentenarian (d. 2011)
 1903 - Vasily Kozlov, Soviet politician (d. 1987)
 1905 - Marie Glory, French actress (d. 2009)
 1906 - Artur Lundqvist, Swedish writer (d. 1991)
 1911 - Jean Harlow, American actress (d. 1937)
 1912 - Klaus Gysi, German politician (d. 1999)
 1914 – Asger Jorn, Danish painter (d. 1973)
 1916 – Paul Halmos, Hungarian-American mathematician (d. 2006)
 1918 – Arthur Kornberg, American biochemist (d. 2007)
 1918 - Peter O'Sullevan, British horse racing commentator (d. 2015)
 1918 - Fritz Thiedemann, German equestrian (d. 2000)
 1919 – Loki Schmidt, German environmentalist and wife of Helmut Schmidt (d. 2010)
 1919 – Peter Abrahams, South African writer (d. 2017)
 1920 – Ronald Searle, British cartoonist (d. 2011)
 1920 – Julius Boros, American golfer (d. 1994)
 1920 – James Doohan, Canadian actor (d. 2005)
 1921 - Diana Barrymore, American actress (d. 1960)
 1921 - Doc Paskowitz, American surfer and physician (d. 2014)
 1922 – Nandor Hidegkuti, Hungarian footballer (d. 2002)
 1923 - Doc Watson, American bluegrass musician (d. 2012)
 1924 – Tomiichi Murayama, Prime Minister of Japan
 1924 – Lys Assia, Swiss singer and actress (d. 2018)
 1928 - Howell Evans, Welsh actor, comedian and singer (d. 2014)
 1929 - Mithat Bayrak, Turkish wrestler (d. 2014)
 1930 – Heiner Geissler, German politician (d. 2017)
 1930 – Ion Iliescu, former President of Romania
 1933 – Lee Radziwill, American fashion executive (d. 2019)
 1933 - Alfredo Landa, Spanish actor (d. 2013)
 1934 - Jimmy Garrison, American jazz musician (d. 1976)
 1934 - Peter Brooke, Baron Brooke of Sutton Mandeville, English politician
 1934 - Yasuo Takamori, Japanese footballer
 1935 – Zhelyu Zhelev, former President of Bulgaria (d. 2015)
 1935 – Michael Walzer, American philosopher
 1935 - Malcolm Anderson, Australian tennis player
 1937 - Tsukasa Hosaka, Japanese footballer (d. 2018)
 1937 - Bobby Driscoll, American actor (d. 1968)
 1938 - Bruno Bozzetti, Italian animator and movie director
 1942 - Mike Pender, English singer and guitarist
 1945 - Ronald Mallett, American theoretical physicist
 1945 - George Miller, Australian director
 1946 - John Virgo, English snooker player
 1946 - James C. Adamson, American astronaut
 1947 – Oscar Tabarez, Uruguayan football manager
 1948 – Snowy White, British guitarist
 1949 - Bonnie J. Dunbar, American engineer, academic and astronaut

1951  1975 
 1951 - Tony Hall, British broadcasting executive, Director-General of the BBC
 1953 – Zico, Brazilian footballer
 1955 - Jorge Vergara, Mexican businessman
 1955 - Darnell Williams, English-American actor
 1956 - Zbigniew Boniek, Polish footballer
 1958 – Miranda Richardson, British actress
 1958 – Bob Bradley, American soccer coach
 1958 - Marc Silvestri, American comic book artist
 1960 - Neal Heaton, American baseball player and coach
 1961 – Fatima Whitbread, British javelin thrower
 1962 - Jackie Joyner-Kersee, American athlete
 1966 - Fernando Colunga, Mexican actor
 1966 - Timo Tolkki, Finnish musician
 1967 - Alexander Volkov, Russian tennis player
 1968 – Brian Cox, British physicist, television presenter and former musician
 1968 - Brian Leetch, American ice hockey player
 1970 – Inzamam ul-Haq, Pakistani cricketer
 1970 - James Purnell, British politician
 1970 - John Carter Cash, American country musician
 1971 – Charlie Brooker, British comedian, writer and broadcaster
 1971 - Christian Eigner, Austrian drummer and songwriter (Depeche Mode)
 1972 – Darren Anderton, English footballer
 1973 - Xavier Bettel, Prime Minister of Luxembourg
 1973 - Olafur Darri Olafsson, Icelandic actor
 1974 - David Faustino, American actor
 1975 - Aleksandr Abdulkhalikov, Russian footballer
 1975 - Aleksei Abdulkhalikov, Russian footballer

From 1976 
 1976 - Keit Pentus-Rosimannus, Estonian politician
 1977 – Ronan Keating, Irish singer
 1978 - Seo Moon-tak, South Korean singer
 1979 - Albert Jorquera, Spanish footballer
 1979 – Alex Zane, British comedian
 1981 - Eugene, South Korean singer and actress
 1981 – Lil' Flip, American rapper
 1981 – Julius Malema, South African politician and leader of Economic Freedom Fighters
 1981 – Emmanuel Pappoe, Ghanaian footballer
 1982 – Jessica Biel, American actress
 1983 - Ashley Hansen, Australian footballer
 1984 – Alexander Semin, Russian ice hockey player
 1985 - David Davies, Welsh swimmer
 1986 - Mehmet Topal, Turkish footballer
 1986 – Stacie Orrico, American singer
 1987 - Jesus Padilla, Mexican footballer
 1988 - Riccardo Bocchino, Italian rugby player
 1988 - Bella Heathcote, Australian actress
 1988 – Michael Morrison, English footballer
 1989 - Erwin Mulder, Dutch footballer
 1989 - Hayley Marie Norman, American actress, producer and screenwriter
 1989 - Shuichi Gonda, Japanese footballer
 1991 - Park Cho-rong, South Korean singer
 1992 - Jordy Lucas, Australian actress
 1994 - Umika Kawashima, Japanese actress
 1995 - Maine Mendoza, Filipina internet and television personality
 1997 - Camila Cabello, American singer

Deaths

Up to 1900 
 1033 - Cunigunde of Luxembourg, Holy Roman Empress (b. 960)
 1111 - Bohemund I, Prince of Antioch
 1239 - Vladimir III Rurikovich, Grand Prince of Kiev (b. 1187)
 1554 - John Frederick, Elector of Saxony (b. 1503)
 1605 – Pope Clement VIII (b. 1536)
 1606 – Nyaungyan Min, King of Burma (b. 1557)
 1703 – Robert Hooke, English scientist (b. 1635)
 1706 – Johann Pachelbel, German composer (b. 1653)
 1707 – Aurangzeb, Mughal Emperor (b. 1618)
 1792 – Robert Adam, Scottish architect (b. 1728)
 1824 - Giovanni Battista Viotti, Italian violinist and composer (b. 1755)
 1869 – William Lanney (King Billy), the last full blood aborigine in Tasmania.
 1899 - William P. Sprague, American politician (b. 1887)

1901  2000 
 1901 - George Gilman, American businessman (b. 1826)
 1920 - Theodor Philipsen, Danish painter (b. 1840)
 1927 - Mikhail Artsybashev, Ukrainian author and playwright (b. 1878)
 1932 – Eugen d'Albert, German composer (b. 1864)
 1932 - Joseph Mackey Brown, Governor of Georgia (b. 1851)
 1942 - Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, Italian governor and viceroy (b. 1898)
 1945 – William M. Calder, United States Senator (b. 1869)
 1953 – James J. Jeffries, American heavyweight boxer (b. 1875)
 1959 – Lou Costello, American actor and comedian (d. 1906)
 1961 – Paul Wittgenstein, Austrian-born pianist (b. 1887)
 1966 – Joseph Fields, American playwright, director and producer (b. 1895)
 1975 - Edward H. Griffith, American director (d. 1888)
 1979 - Mustafa Barzani, Kurdish politician (b. 1903)
 1983 – Hergé, Belgian comics creator (b. 1907)
 1987 – Danny Kaye, American actor, singer and comedian (b. 1911)
 1991 - William Penney, English mathematician (b. 1909)
 1993 - Carlos Montoya, Spanish flamenco guitarist (b. 1903)
 1993 – Albert Sabin, Polish-born medical researcher (b. 1906)
 1995 – Howard Hunter, American religious leader (b. 1907)
 1996 – Marguerite Durand, French writer (b. 1914)
 1996 - John Krol, American cardinal (b. 1910)
 1998 - Fred Friendly, American broadcast executive (b. 1915)
 1999 – Gerhard Herzberg, German-born Canadian chemist (b. 1904)

From 2001 
 2002 - G. M. C. Balayogi, Indian lawyer and politician (b. 1951)
 2003 – Horst Buchholz, German actor (b. 1933)
 2005 – Rinus Michels, Dutch footballer and coach (b. 1928)
 2008 – Giuseppe Di Stefano, Italian operatic tenor (b. 1921)
 2010 – Keith Alexander, British footballer and coach (b. 1956)
 2010 – Michael Foot, British politician (b. 1913)
 2011 – Allan Louisy, Prime Minister of Saint Lucia (b. 1914)
 2012 – Ralph McQuarrie, American conceptual designer and illustrator (b. 1929)
 2013 - Luis Cubilla, Uruguayan footballer (b. 1940)
 2014 - William R. Pogue, American astronaut (b. 1930)
 2015 - M. Stanton Evans, American journalist, author and educator (b. 1934)
 2015 - Lynn Borden, American actress (b. 1937)
 2015 - Ernest Braun, Austrian-British academic and author (b. 1925)
 2016 - Martin Crowe, New Zealand cricketer (b. 1962)
 2016 - Ashok Ghosh, Indian politician (b. 1921)
 2016 - Thanat Khoman, Thai politician (b. 1914)
 2016 - Natalia Krachkovskaya, Russian actress (b. 1938)
 2016 - Sophie Dessus, French politician (b. 1955)
 2016 - Hayabusa, Japanese professional wrestler (b. 1968)
 2017 - Raymond Kopa, French footballer (b. 1931)
 2017 - Misha Mengelberg, Dutch jazz pianist and composer (b. 1935)
 2017 - Tommy Page, American singer-songwriter (b. 1970)
 2017 - René Préval, President of Haiti (b. 1943)
 2017 - Anne Kristin Sydnes, Norwegian politician (b. 1956)
 2018 - Vanessa Goodwin, Australian politician (b. 1969)
 2018 - Roger Bannister, English athlete and neurologist (b. 1929)
 2018 - David Ogden Stiers, American actor (b. 1942)
 2018 - Lin Hu, Chinese air force general (b. 1927)
 2018 - Yvon Taillandier, French artist (b. 1926)
 2018 - Derek Saunders, English footballer (b. 1928)
 2018 - Billy Herrington, American pornographic actor (b. 1969)
 2018 - Jorge Wagensberg Lubinski, Spanish physicist, academic and writer (b. 1948)
 2018 - Franz Pacher, Austrian engineer (b. 1919)
 2019 - Peter Hurford, British organist and composer (b. 1930)

Observances 
 Hinamatsuri (Girls' Day) in Japan
 Liberation Day (Bulgaria)
 Mother's Day (Georgia)
 Sportsmen's Day (Egypt)
 Martyrs' Day (Malawi)
 World Wildlife Day 

March 03