March 16
is the 75th day of the year in the
Gregorian Calendar (76th in
Leap years). There are 290 days remaining.
*
597 BC -
Babylonians capture
Jerusalem, replace
Jehoiachin with
Zedekiah as king
*
1190 -
Crusaders start to massacre the
Jews of
York.
*
1521 -
Ferdinand Magellan reaches the
Philippines.
*
1621 -
Samoset, a
Mohegan, visits the settlers of
Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
*
1660 - The
Long Parliament disbands.
*
1689 - The 23rd Regiment of Foot or
Royal Welch Fusiliers is founded.
*
1792 - King
Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on
March 29.
*
1802 - The United States Military Academy
West Point is established.
*
1812 -
Battle of Badajoz (March 16 -
April 6) - British and Portuguese forces besiege and defeat French garrison during
Peninsular War.
*
1815 -
Prince Willem of the
House of Orange-Nassau proclaimed himself
King of the
United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first
constitutional monarch in the
Netherlands.
*
1818 -
Battle of Cancha Rayada - Spanish forces defeat Chileans under
José de San Martín.
*
1850 -
Nathaniel Hawthorne's novel
The Scarlet Letter is first published.
*
1855 -
Bates College in
Lewiston, Maine is founded.
*
1861 -
Edward Clark became
Governor of
Texas, replacing
Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the
Confederacy.
*
1867 - First publication of an article by
Joseph Lister outlining the discovery of
antiseptic surgery, in
The Lancet.
*
1872 - The
Wanderers F.C. won the first
FA Cup, the oldest
football competition in the world, beating
Royal Engineers A.F.C. 1-0 at
The Oval in
Kennington,
London.
*
1900 - Sir
Arthur Evans purchases the land around the ruins of
Knossos, the largest
Bronze Age archaeological site on
Crete.
*
1912 -
Lawrence Oates, ill member of
Scott's
South Pole expedition leaves the tent saying, "I am just going outside and may be some time."
*
1914 -
Henriette Caillaux, wife of French minister
Joseph Caillaux shoots Gaston Calmet, the editor of
Le Figaro.
*
1916 - 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under
John J. Pershing cross the border to join the hunt of
Pancho Villa.
*
1924 - The
free port of
Fiume formally annexed by
Mussolini's fascist regime.
*
1926 -
Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at
Auburn, Massachusetts.
*
1935 -
Adolf Hitler orders
Germany to rearm herself in violation of the
Versailles Treaty. Conscription was reintroduced to form the
Wehrmacht.
*
1939 - From
Prague Castle Hitler proclaimed
Bohemia and Moravia a German
protectorate.
* 1939 - Marriage of Princess
Fawzia of Egypt to Shah
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran*
1942 - First
V-2 rocket test launch (exploded at liftoff)
*
1945 -
World War II: The
Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
* 1945 -
Würzburg,
Germany is 90% destroyed, with 5,000 dead, in only 20 minutes by British bombers.
*
1952 - In
Cilaos,
Réunion, 73 inches (1,870mm) of
rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.
*
1956 - St. Urho's Day is first celebrated.
*
1962 - A
Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western
Pacific Ocean, with 107 people missing.
*
1963 -
Mount Agung erupts on
Bali - 11,000 dead
*
1966 - Launch of
Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the
Agena Target Vehicle.
*
1968 -
Vietnam War: In the
My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers are killed by American troops.
*
1969 - A Venezuelan Airlines
DC-9 crashes shortly after takeoff in
Maracaibo,
Venezuela killing 155
*
1970 - Publication of complete
New English Bible.
*
1971 - Government of
Trygve Bratteli in
Norway*
1972 - The first building of the
Pruitt-Igoe housing complex is demolished.
*
1976 - UK Prime Minister,
Harold Wilson resigns.
*
1978 -
Aldo Moro is kidnapped by left-wing urban guerrillas in
Italy and is later killed by his captors.
* 1978 - Supertanker the
Amoco Cadiz, split in two after running aground on Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of
Brittany, resulting in the 5th-largest
oil spill in history
*
1983 - Demolition of the
radio tower Ismaning, the last radio tower in Germany built of
wood.
*
1984 -
William Buckley, the
CIA station chief in
Beirut,
Lebanon, is kidnapped by
Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
*
1985 -
Associated Press newsman
Terry Anderson is taken hostage in
Beirut. He would be released on
December 4,
1991.
*
1988 -
Iran-Contra Affair: Lieutenant Colonel
Oliver North and Vice Admiral
John Poindexter are indicted on charges of
conspiracy to defraud the
United States.
* 1988 -
Halabja poison gas attack: The
Kurdish town of
Halabjah in
Iraq was attacked with a mix of
poison gas and
nerve agents, killing thousands of people.
*
1993 - A
blizzard on the east coast of the
United States kills 184 (see
Great Blizzard of 1993).
*
1994 -
Tonya Harding pleads guilty to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for trying to cover-up an attack on
figure skating rival
Nancy Kerrigan.
*
1996 -
Göran Persson is elected leader of the
Swedish Social Democratic Party.
*
1997 -
Sandline affair - On
Bougainville, soldiers of commander
Jerry Singirok arrest
Tim Spicer and his mercenaries of the
Sandline International* 1997 -
Stuart Appleby wins the Honda Golf Classic.
*
1998 -
Pope John Paul II apologises for inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the
Holocaust.
*
2001 - The only day between
1993 and
2002 when nobody in the
United Kingdom killed themselves, according to a health
survey.
*
2002 - Closing ceremonies of the
Winter Paralympics in
Salt Lake City,
Utah,
USA.
*2002 -
Brittanie Cecil, age 13, is struck by a
hockey puck while watching an
NHL game in
Columbus, Ohio. She dies from her injuries two days later.
*
2003 - Largest coordinated worldwide vigil, as part of the global
protests against Iraq war.
*
2005 - Israel officially hands over
Jericho to Palestinian control
* 2005 - Ripudaman Singh Malik and Ajaib Singh Bagri, accused of the bombing of the
Air India Flight 182 in
1985, are found not guilty on all counts.
*
2006 - The
United Nations General Assembly votes overwhelmingly to establish the
UN Human Rights Council.
*
1338 -
Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick (d.
1401)
*
1445 -
Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss-born preacher (d.
1510)
*
1581 -
Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer (d.
1647)
*
1585 -
Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (d.
1618)
*
1631 -
René Le Bossu, French critic (d.
1680)
*
1654 -
Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (d.
1704)
*
1750 -
Caroline Herschel, German-born English astronomer (d.
1848)
*
1751 -
James Madison, 4th
President of the United States (d.
1836)
*
1773 -
Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (d.
1836)
*
1774 - Captain
Matthew Flinders, English explorer of the coasts of Australia (d.
1814)
*
1789 -
Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist (d.
1854)
*
1794 -
Ami Boué, Austrian geologist (d.
1881)
*
1800 -
Emperor Ninko of Japan, (d.
1846)
*
1805 -
Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (d.
1861)
*
1822 -
Rosa Bonheur, French realist painter and sculptor (d.
1899)
*
1834 -
James Hector, Scottish geologist (d.
1907)
*
1839 -
René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme, French writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1907)
* 1839 -
John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist (d.
1922)
*
1840 -
Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (d.
1931)
*
1851 -
Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (d.
1931)
*
1856 -
Napoléon Eugène Louis John Joseph, called Napoleon IV, the only child of
Emperor Napoleon III of France (d.
1879)
*
1857 -
Charles Harding Firth, British historian (d.
1936)
*
1865 -
Patsy Donovan, baseball player (d.
1953)
*
1877 -
Reza Pahlavi,
Shah of Iran (d.
1941)
*
1878 -
Clemens August Graf von Galen, German archbishop and cardinal (d.
1946)
*
1889 -
Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d.
1951)
*
1890 -
Solomon Mikhoels, Soviet actor and chairman of the
Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (d.
1948)
*
1892 -
César Vallejo, Peruvian poet (d.
1938)
* 1892 -
James Petrillo, leader of the U.S. musicians union (d.
1984)
*
1897 -
Conrad Nagel, American actor (d.
1970)
*
1901 -
Edward Pawley, American actor (d.
1988)
*
1902 -
Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (d.
1943)
*
1903 -
Mike Mansfield, American politician, and diplomat (d.
2001)
*
1905 -
Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress (d.
1977)
* 1905 -
Marlin Perkins, American naturalist (d.
1986)
*
1906 -
Henny Youngman, American comedian (d.
1998)
*
1908 -
René Daumal, French Surrealist writer (d.
1944)
*
1911 -
Josef Mengele, Nazi war criminal (d.
1979)
* 1911 -
Pierre Harmel, Belgian politician
*
1912 -
Pat Nixon,
First Lady of the United States (d.
1993)
*
1916 -
Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d.
2004)
*
1917 -
Samael Aun Weor, Columbian writer (d.
1977)
*
1918 -
Frederick Reines, American physicist,
Nobel Prize laureate (d.
1998)
*
1920 -
Traudl Junge, Hitler's secretary (d.
2002)
* 1920 -
Leo McKern, British actor (d.
2002)
*
1922 -
Harding Lemay, television scriptwriter and playwright
*
1925 -
Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist, co-inventor of the
contraceptive pill (d.
2004).
*
1926 -
Charles Goodell, American politician, (d.
1987)
* 1926 -
Jerry Lewis, American comedian
*
1927 -
Vladimir Komarov, cosmonaut (d.
1967)
* 1927 -
Daniel Patrick Moynihan, U.S. Senator from New York (d.
2003)
* 1927 -
Olga San Juan, American comedian
*
1928 -
Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano
*
1932 -
Don Blasingame,
Major League Baseball and Japanese baseball manager (d.
2005)
* 1932 -
Walter Cunningham, astronaut
*
1933 -
Sandy Weill, American financier and philanthropist
*
1934 -
Ray Hnatyshyn,
Governor-General of Canada (d.
2002)
*
1936 -
Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter (d.
2001)
*
1937 -
Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (d.
1996)
*
1939 -
Carlos Bilardo, Argetinian football coach and player
*
1940 -
Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director
*
1941 -
Robert Guéï, military ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d.
2002)
* 1941 -
Chuck Woolery, American game show host
*
1942 -
James Soong, Taiwanese politician
* 1942 -
Jerry Jeff Walker, American musician
*
1948 -
Margaret Weis, American author
*
1949 -
Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
* 1949 -
Victor Garber, Canadian actor
*
1950 -
Kate Nelligan, Canadian actress
*
1952 -
Philippe Kahn, French-American entrepreneur
*
1953 -
Isabelle Huppert, French actress
* 1953 -
Richard Stallman, American free software activist
*
1954 -
Jimmy Nail, British actor and singer
* 1954 -
Nancy Wilson, American guitarist, singer, and actress (
Heart)
*
1955 -
Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
* 1955 -
Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
*
1958 -
Jorge Ramos, Mexican TV anchor
*
1959 -
Flavor Flav, American rapper
* 1959 -
Jens Stoltenberg,
Prime Minister of Norway*
1961 -
Todd McFarlane, Canadian cartoonist, comic book writer, artist, and media entrepreneur
* 1961 -
Brett Kenny, Australian
rugby league player
*
1963 -
Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (d.
2002)
*
1964 -
Patty Griffin, American singer and songwriter
* 1964 -
Gore Verbinski, American movie director
* 1964 -
Pascal Richard, Swiss cyclist
*
1967 -
Lauren Graham, American actress
*
1971 -
Alan Tudyk, American actor
*
1976 -
Abraham O. Nunez, baseball player
*
1979 -
Edison Méndez, Ecuadorian footballer
*
1980 -
Todd Heap, American football player
*
1981 -
Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
*
1985 -
Nicole Trunfio, Australian supermodel
*
1986 -
Ken Doane, American professional wrestler
*
1987 -
Tiiu Kuik, Estonian model
*
1989 -
Theo Walcott, English football player
*
37 -
Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar,
Roman Emperor (b.
46 BC)
*
455 -
Valentinian III,
Roman Emperor (b.
419)
*
1037 -
Robert I,
Archbishop of Rouen*
1072 -
Adalbert of Hamburg, German archbishop
*
1322 -
Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b.
1276)
*
1410 -
John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (b.
1373)
*
1457 -
László Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman and warrior (b.
1433)
*
1485 -
Anne Neville, wife of
Richard III of England (b.
1456)
*
1559 -
Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b.
1496)
*
1649 -
Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (b.
1593)
*
1679 -
John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b.
1616)
*
1721 -
James Craggs the Elder, English politician (b.
1657)
*
1736 -
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (b.
1710)
*
1737 -
Benjamin Wadsworth, American President of Harvard University (b.
1670)
*
1738 -
George Bähr, German architect (b.
1666)
*
1747 -
Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of
Catherine II of Russia (b.
1690)
*
1888 -
Hippolyte Carnot, French statesman (b.
1801)
*
1890 -
Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (b.
1864)
*
1898 -
Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b.
1872)
*
1899 -
Joseph Medill business manager and managing editor of the
Chicago Tribune, mayor of
Chicago, Illinois, (b.
1823)
*
1903 - Judge
Roy Bean, American jurist and pioneer
*
1914 -
Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (b.
1843)
*
1926 -
Sergeant Stubby, Decorated war dog from World War I
*
1930 -
Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator (b.
1870)
*
1935 -
John James Richard Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1876)
* 1935 -
Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-born chess player (b.
1886)
*
1936 -
Marguerite Durand, French journalist and feminist leader (b.
1864)
*
1940 -
Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1858)
*
1945 -
Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b.
1874)
*
1955 -
Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (b.
1914)
*
1957 -
Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b.
1876)
*
1968 -
Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b.
1895)
*
1970 -
Tammi Terrell, American singer (b.
1946)
*
1971 -
Thomas Dewey, American presidential candidate (b.
1902)
*
1975 -
Richard W. DeKorte, American politician (b.
1936)
* 1975 -
T-Bone Walker, American musician (b.
1910)
*
1977 -
Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (b.
1917)
*
1979 -
Jean Monnet, French politician (b.
1888)
*
1980 -
Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (b.
1898)
*
1983 -
Arthur Godfrey, American actor and television host (b.
1903)
*
1984 -
John Hoagland, American photographer (b.
1947)
*
1992 -
Yves Rocard, French physicist (b.
1903)
*
1996 -
Charlie Barnett, American actor (b.
1954)
*
1998 -
Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1918)
*
2001 -
Norma MacMillan, American voice actress (b.
1921)
*
2003 -
Rachel Corrie, American political activist (b.
1979)
* 2003 - Major
Ronald Ferguson, father of
Sarah, Duchess of York, (b.
1931)
*
2004 -
Vilém Tauský, Czech conductor and composer (b.
1910)
*
2005 -
Todd Bell, American football player (b.
1958)
* 2005 -
Ralph Erskine, British architect (
Byker Wall) (b.
1914)
* 2005 -
Anthony George, American TV actor (b.
1921)
* 2005 -
Allan Hendrickse, South African politician (b.
1927)
* 2005 -
Dick Radatz, baseball player (b.
1937)
*
Latvia - The controversial
Latvia Legions are celebrated in
Latvia, where about 140,000 men joined the
Waffen SS National Legions during
World War II, trying to defend
Latvia. Since
February 23,
2000, this day is no longer an official celebration day.
* St. Urho's Day - the fictional patron saint of Finnish immigrants to the US, created by Richard Mattson in 1956
* The first day of the
Bacchanalia in
ancient RomeLiturgical feasts
*
Saint Heribert of Cologne (died 1021)
*
Saint Agapitus*
Saint Benedicta (+1260)
*
Saint Eusebia (+680)
*
On this day in Canada*
NY Times: On this day*
BBC: On This Day*
Today in History: March 16March 15 -
March 17 -
February 16 -
April 16 --
listing of all days 
