March 18
is the
77th day of the year in the
Gregorian calendar (78th in
leap years). There are 288 days remaining in the year.
*
3952 BC - According to the
Venerable Bede , the world was created.
*
37 - The
Roman Senate annuls
Tiberius' will and proclaims
Caligula emperor.
*
731 - Saint
Gregory III begins his reign as a Catholic pope.
*
1229 -
Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor declares himself
King of Jerusalem during the
Sixth Crusade.
*
1241 -
Krakow ravaged by
Mongols.
*
1325 -
Tenochtitlan founded.
*
1438 -
Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of
Germany.
*
1608 -
Susenyos formally crowned Emperor of
Ethiopia*
1673 -
John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton sells his part of
New Jersey to some
Friends (Quakers).
*
1766 -
American Revolution: The
British Parliament repeals the
Stamp Act, which was very unpopular in the British colonies.
*
1850 -
American Express is founded by
Henry Wells &
William Fargo.
*
1865 -
American Civil War: The Congress of the
Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time.
*
1871 - President of the
French government
Thiers orders evacuation of
Paris, a
socialist government rules the city.
*
1874 -
Hawaii signs a treaty with the
United States granting exclusive
trading rights.
*
1900 -
AFC Ajax founded.
*
1906 -
Traian Vuia flew a self-propelled heavier-than-air aircraft which took off without any external means
*
1909 -
Einar Dessau uses a
short-wave radio transmitter becoming the first radio broadcaster.
*
1913 -
George I of Greece is
assassinated.
*
1915 -
World War I: Massive naval attack in
Battle of Gallipoli. Three
battleships are sunk during a failed
British &
French naval attack on the
Dardanelles.
*
1921 - The second
Peace of Riga between
Poland and
Soviet Union. Despite the recent Polish successes, Soviets annex
Ukraine and
Belarus. Government of
Ukraine emigrates to France. Famine kills millions of Russians.
*
1922 - In
India,
Mohandas Gandhi is sentenced to six years in
prison for
civil disobedience. He would serve only 2 years.
* 1922 - The first public celebration of
Bat mitzvah, for the daughter of Rabbi
Mordecai Kaplan, is held in
New York City.
*
1925 - The
Tri-State Tornado hits the Midwestern states of
Missouri,
Illinois, and
Indiana, killing 695 people.
*
1937 - The
New London School explosion kills three hundred, mostly children.
* 1937 -
Spanish Civil War:
Spanish Republican forces hand the
Italian forces a grave defeat at the
Battle of Guadalajara.
*
1938 -
Mexico nationalizes all foreign-owned
oil properties within its borders.
*
1940 -
World War II:
Axis Powers -
Adolf Hitler and
Benito Mussolini meet at
Brenner Pass in the
Alps and agree to form an alliance against
France and the
United Kingdom.
*
1945 - World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack
Berlin.
*
1953 - An
earthquake hits western
Turkey killing 250.
*
1959 - American President
Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law allowing for
Hawaiian statehood, which would become official on
August 21.
*
1961 - In
Cannes,
France,
Jean-Claude Pascal wins the sixth
Eurovision Song Contest for
Luxembourg singing "Nous les amoureux" (We the lovers).
*
1962 - The
Evian Accords put an end to the
Algerian War of Independence, which had began in 1954.
* 1962 - In
Luxembourg,
Isabelle Aubret wins the seventh
Eurovision Song Contest for
France singing "Un premier amour" (A first love).
*
1965 -
Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft
Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to
walk in space.
*
1967 -
Supertanker Torrey Canyon Runs aground off the Cornish coast.
*
1968 -
Gold standard: The
U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a
gold reserve to back US currency.
*
1970 -
Lon Nol ousts Prince
Norodom Sihanouk of
Cambodia.
*
1971 - A landslide at
Chungar,
Peru crashes into
Lake Yanahuani killing 200.
*
1974 -
Oil embargo crisis: Most
OPEC nations end a five-month oil
embargo against the
United States,
Europe and
Japan.
*
1980 - On
Plesetsk Cosmodrome in
Russia 50 persons were killed at an explosion of a
Vostok-2M rocket on its launch pad during a fueling operation.
*
1985 - The first episode of popular
soap Neighbours airs on Australian TV.
*
1989 - In
Egypt, a 4,400-year-old
mummy is found in the
Pyramid of Cheops.
*
1990 - 12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, are stolen from the
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in
Boston, Massachusetts. This is the largest
art theft in US history.
*
1992 -
Microsoft ships
Windows 3.1.
*
1997 - The tail of a Russian
An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to
Turkey causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 on board. This leads to the grounding of all An-24s.
*
2005 - The first-ever Muslim Friday prayer led by a woman in a mixed-gender congregation was held in
New York City, marking a break with a 1426-year
Islamic tradition.
* 2005 -
Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is removed at the request of her husband, fueling a worldwide debate on
euthanasia.
*
1395 -
John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, English military leader (d.
1447)
*
1555 -
François, Duke of Anjou (d.
1584)
*
1590 -
Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (d.
1649)
*
1603 -
Simon Bradstreet, Massachusetts Bay colonist (d.
1693)
*
1634 -
Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette, French writer (d.
1693)
*
1640 -
Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d.
1719)
*
1657 -
Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (d.
1743)
*
1679 -
Matthew Decker, English merchant and writer (d.
1759)
*
1685 -
Ralph Ersine, Scottish minister (d.
1752)
*
1690 -
Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (d.
1764)
*
1701 -
Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish merchant and philanthropist (d.
1776)
*
1780 -
Milos Obrenovic, Leader of The Second Serbian Uprising and
Prince of
Serbia (d.
1860)
*
1782 -
John C. Calhoun,
Vice President of the United States (d.
1850)
*
1813 -
Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German writer (d.
1864)
*
1823 -
Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (d.
1883)
*
1828 -
William Randal Cremer, English politician and pacifist, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize (d.
1908)
*
1837 -
Grover Cleveland,
President of the United States (d.
1908)
*
1840 -
William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (d.
1901)
*
1842 -
Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet (d.
1898)
*
1844 -
Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (d.
1908)
*
1858 -
Rudolf Diesel, German inventor (d.
1913)
*
1869 -
Neville Chamberlain,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d.
1940)
*
1872 -
Anna Held, Polish actress and singer (d.
1918)
*
1877 -
Edgar Cayce, American psychic (d.
1945)
*
1882 -
Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer (d.
1973)
*
1886 -
Edward Everett Horton, American actor (d.
1970)
*
1898 -
Jake Swirbul, American aircraft manufacturer (d.
1960)
*
1893 -
Costante Girardengo, Italain cylist (d.
1978)
*
1899 -
Jean Goldkette, Greek-born jazz musician (d.
1962)
*
1904 -
Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (d.
1926)
*
1905 -
Robert Donat, English actor (d.
1958)
* 1905 -
Thomas Townsend Brown, American scientist (d.
1985)
*
1907 -
John Zachary Young, biologist (d.
1997)
*
1910 -
Chiang Ching-kuo,
President of the Republic of China (d.
1988)
*
1913 -
Werner Molders German WWII pilot (d.
1941)
*
1915 -
Richard Condon, American novelist (d.
1996)
*
1918 -
Al Benton, baseball player (d.
1968)
* 1918 -
Bob Broeg, American sports writer (d.
2005)
*
1922 -
Egon Bahr, German politician
*
1926 -
Peter Graves, American actor
* 1926 -
Dick Littlefield, baseball player (d.
1997)
*
1927 -
John Kander, American songwriter
* 1927 -
George Plimpton, American writer and actor (d.
2003)
*
1928 -
Julia Mullock, Princess of Korea
* 1928 -
Fidel V. Ramos,
President of the Philippines* 1928 -
Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist
*
1932 -
John Updike, American author
*
1936 -
Frederik Willem de Klerk,
President of South Africa, recipient of the
Nobel Peace Prize*
1937 -
Mark Donohue, American race car driver (d.
1975)
* 1937 -
Rudi Altig, German cyclist
*
1938 -
Charley Pride, American musician
*
1941 -
Wilson Pickett, American singer (d.
2006)
*
1943 -
Kevin Dobson, American actor
*
1949 -
Alex Higgins, Northern Irish snooker player
* 1949 -
Åse Kleveland, Norwegian singer and politician
*
1950 -
Brad Dourif, American actor
*
1951 -
Bill Frisell, American jazz musician
*
1952 -
Mike Webster, American football player (d.
2002)
*
1956 -
Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish skier
*
1959 -
Luc Besson, French producer, writer, and director
* 1959 -
Irene Cara, American actress and singer
*
1960 -
Richard Biggs, American actor (d.
2004)
*
1962 -
Thomas Ian Griffith, American actor
*
1963 -
Vanessa Lynn Williams, American beauty queen, actress, and singer
*
1964 -
Bonnie Blair, American speed skater
* 1964 -
Courtney Pine, British jazz saxophonist
* 1964 -
Rozalla, Zambian singer
*
1966 -
Jerry Cantrell, American musician (
Alice in Chains)
*
1968 -
Shinichiro Miki, Japanese
seiyu (voice actor)
*
1969 -
Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player
*
1969 -
Shaun Udal, English cricketer
*
1970 -
Queen Latifah, American singer and actress
*
1972 -
Dane Cook, American comedian
*
1973 -
Max Barry, Australian author
* 1973 -
Jason Beam, American artist
*
1975 -
Brian Griese, American football player
* 1975 -
Tomas Žvirgždauskas, Lithuanian footballer
* 1975 -
Sutton Foster, American actress, singer, and dancer
*
1976 -
Tomo Ohka, Baseball player
* 1976 -
Jovan Kirovski, American football (soccer) player
*
1977 -
Danny Murphy, English footballer
* 1977 -
Willy Sagnol, French international footballer
* 1977 -
Terrmel Sledge, Baseball player
*
1979 -
Adam Levine, American singer (
Maroon 5)
*
1980 -
Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater
* 1980 -
Sophia Myles, English actress
*
1982 -
Pedro Mantorras, Angolan footballer
* 1982 -
Chad Cordero, Baseball pitcher
*
978 - King
Edward the Martyr of England
*
1227 -
Pope Honorius III (b.
1148)
*
1583 - King
Magnus of Livonia (b.
1540)
*
1584 - Tsar
Ivan IV of Russia (b.
1530)
*
1675 -
Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (b.
1606)
*
1689 -
John Dixwell, English judge (b.
1607)
*
1696 -
Robert Charnock, English conspirator
*
1745 - Sir
Robert Walpole,
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b.
1676)
*
1746 -
Anna Leopoldovna, regent of Russia (b.
1718)
*
1768 -
Laurence Sterne, Irish writer (b.
1713)
*
1823 -
Jean-Baptiste Breval, French composer (b.
1753)
*
1835 -
Christian Gunther von Bernstorff, Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomat (b.
1769)
*
1871 -
Augustus De Morgan, Indian-born British mathematician and logician (b.
1806)
*
1898 -
Matilda Joslyn Gage, American suffragist (b.
1826)
*
1907 -
Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician (b.
1827)
*
1913 - King
George I of Greece (b.
1845)
*
1936 -
Eleutherios Venizelos, Former Prime minister of
Greece*
1939 -
Henry Simpson Lunn, English humanitarian and religious leader (b.
1859)
*
1941 -
Henri Cornet, French cyclist (b.
1884)
*
1947 -
William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (b.
1861)
*
1962 -
Walter W. Bacon, Governor of Delaware (b.
1880)
*
1963 -
Wanda Hawley, American actress (b.
1895)
*
1964 -
Sigfrid Edström, Swedish sports official (b.
1870)
*
1965 - King
Farouk I of Egypt (b.
1920)
*
1977 -
Marien Ngouabi, President of the Republic of the Congo (b.
1938)
*
1978 -
Leigh Brackett, American author (b.
1915)
*
1984 -
Charlie Lau, American baseball player (b.
1933)
*
1986 -
Bernard Malamud, American writer (b.
1914)
*
1990 -
Robin Harris, American actor and comedian (b.
1953)
*
1996 -
Odysseus Elytis, Greek writer,
Nobel Prize laureate (b.
1911)
*
2001 -
John Phillips, American musician (
The Mamas and the Papas) (b.
1935)
*
2002 -
R.A. Lafferty, American science fiction writer (b.
1914)
*
2003 -
Karl Kling, German race car driver (b.
1910)
*
2003 -
Adam Osborne, British computer pioneer (b.
1939)
*
2004 -
Harrison McCain, Canadian businessman (b.
1927)
*
2006 -
Bill Beutel, American journalist (b.
1930)
*
2006 -
Dan Gibson, musician (b.
1922)
*
Aruba -
Flag Day (
1976)
* Ancient
Latvia -
Bindus Diena*
United States - National
Biodiesel Day
*
Mexico -
Expropiación PetreoleraLiturgical feasts
*
Saint Cyril of Jerusalem (d.386)
*
Saint Alexander of Jerusalem*
Saint Anselm*
Saint Edward (d.978)
*
Saint Narcissus*
Saint Salvator*
BBC: On This Day*
The New York Times: On This Day*
On This Day in CanadaMarch 17 -
March 19 -
February 18 -
April 18 --
listing of all days
