March 15Birthdays & History

On this day: March 15 in history

Oldest first. Tap a year to see it on the World Chronicle timeline.

1. 474 BCRoman consul Aulus Manlius Vulso celebrates an ovation for concluding the war against Veii and securing a forty years' truce.Europe
2. 200 BCThe Roman Republic under its new consuls Publius Sulpicius Galba and Gaius Aurelius Cotta declares war on Philip V of Macedon, starting the Second Macedonian War.Europe
3. 44 BCThe assassination of Julius Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Republic, by a group of senators takes place on the Ides of March.Europe
4. 351Constantius Gallus is elevated as Caesar and then sent to Antioch to govern the Roman East.Europe
5. 493Odoacer, the first barbarian King of Italy after the fall of the Western Roman Empire, is slain by Theoderic the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, while the two kings were feasting together.Europe
6. 856Michael III, emperor of the Byzantine Empire, overthrows the regency of his mother, empress Theodora (wife of Theophilos) with support of the Byzantine nobility.Europe
7. 897Al-Hadi ila'l-Haqq Yahya enters Sa'dah and founds the Zaydi Imamate of Yemen.Middle East
8. 933After a ten-year truce, German King Henry the Fowler defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near the Unstrut river.Europe
9. 1147Afonso I of Portugal captures in a surprise attack the city of Santarem from the Almoravids.Europe
10. 1311Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V, Count of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece.Europe
11. 1412Treaty of Lublowa: After the Peace of Thorn, Grand Master Heinrich von Plauen asks Sigismund of Hungary for economic aid. Sigismund agrees to mediate reduction to the third installment, demarcation of the Samogitian border, and other matters with a grand tournament. Hunts and lavish feasts were also organized. Sigismund invited, among others, polish king Wladyslaw Jagiello, Heinrich von Plauen and bosnian king Tvrtko II. There were people from 17 countries and languages - 40.000 nobles and 2000 knights were present from all over Europe, even England.Europe
12. 1564Mughal Emperor Akbar abolishes the jizya tax on non-Muslim subjects.Asia
13. 1626A dam failure causes the sudden flooding of the mining city of Potosí in present-day Bolivia leading to the death of thousands and the massive release of toxic mercury into the environment.Latin America
14. 1672King Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence, granting limited religious freedom to all Christians.Europe
15. 1781The British under Charles Cornwallis defeat American forces under Nathanael Greene in the battle of Guilford Court House.EuropeNorth America
16. 1783In 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.North America
17. 1820Maine is admitted as the twenty-third U.S. state.North America
18. 1823Sailor Benjamin Morrell erroneously reports the existence of the island of New South Greenland near Antarctica.North America
19. 1848A revolution breaks out in Hungary, and the Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the reform party.Europe
20. 1874France and Vietnam sign the Second Treaty of Saigon, further recognizing the full sovereignty of France over Cochinchina.EuropeAsia
21. 1875Archbishop of New York John McCloskey is named the first cardinal in the United States.North America
22. 1877First ever official cricket test match is played: Australia vs England at the MCG Stadium, in Melbourne, Australia.OceaniaEurope
23. 1888Start of the Anglo-Tibetan War of 1888.Asia
24. 1892The Lobau bombing is one of the first attacks of the Ère des attentats (1892-1894).Europe
25. 1894Madeleine bombing by Désiré Pauwels during the Ère des attentats.Europe
26. 1907The first parliamentary elections of Finland (at the time the Grand Duchy of Finland) are held.Europe
27. 1917Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates the Russian throne, ending the 304-year Romanov dynasty.Europe
28. 1918Finnish Civil War: The battle of Tampere begins.Europe
29. 1919Ukrainian War of Independence: The Kontrrazvedka is established as the counterintelligence division of the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine.Europe
30. 1919The American Legion is founded.North America
31. 1921Talaat Pasha, former Grand Vizir of the Ottoman Empire and chief architect of the Armenian genocide, is assassinated in Berlin by a 23-year-old Armenian, Soghomon Tehlirian.Middle EastEurope
32. 1922After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.Middle EastEurope
33. 1927The first Women's Boat Race between the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge takes place on The Isis in Oxford.Europe
34. 1939Carpatho-Ukraine declares itself an independent republic, but is annexed by Hungary the next day.Europe
35. 1939Germany occupies Czechoslovakia.Europe
36. 1943World War II: Third Battle of Kharkiv: The Germans retake the city of Kharkiv from the Soviet armies.Europe
37. 1951The Iranian oil industry is nationalized.Middle East
38. 1961At the 1961 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference, South Africa announces that it will withdraw from the Commonwealth when the South African Constitution of 1961 comes into effect.Africa
39. 1965President Lyndon B. Johnson, responding to the Selma crisis, tells the U.S. Congress "We shall overcome" while advocating the Voting Rights Act.North America
40. 1974Fifteen people are killed when Sterling Airways Flight 901, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, catches fire following a landing gear collapse at Mehrabad International Airport in Tehran, Iran.Middle East
41. 1978Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethio-Somali War.Africa
42. 1986Collapse of Hotel New World: Thirty-three people die when the Hotel New World in Singapore collapses.Asia
43. 1990Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first and only President of the Soviet Union.Europe
44. 1991Cold War: The Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany comes into effect, granting full sovereignty to the Federal Republic of Germany.Europe
45. 2008Stockpiles of obsolete ammunition explode at an ex-military ammunition depot in the village of Gërdec, Albania, killing 26 people.Europe
46. 2011Beginning of the Syrian revolution.Middle East
47. 2019Beginning of the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.Asia
48. 2019Approximately 1.4 million young people in 123 countries go on strike to protest climate change.World
49. 2019Fifty-one people are killed in the Christchurch mosque shootings, which remains the deadliest terror attack in New Zealand history.Oceania
50. 2022The 2022 Sri Lankan protests begins amidst Sri Lanka's economic collapse.Asia
51. 2026Four members of a Palestinian family are shot dead in Tammun by the Israeli military.Middle East

Source: Wikipedia "March 15" / CC BY-SA 4.0