March 15

### 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.

### 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 writer 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 writer 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

### 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