March 16Birthdays & History

On this day: March 16 in history

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

1. 597 BCThe first siege of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylonian Empire ends with the city surrendering to king Nebuchadnezzar II.Middle East
2. 445Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III is assassinated while practising on the Campus Martius on behalf of Petronius Maximus.Europe
3. 1190Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.Europe
4. 1244Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burnt to death after the Fall of Montségur.Europe
5. 1355Amidst the Red Turban Rebellions, Han Lin'er, a claimed descendant of Emperor Huizong of Song, is proclaimed emperor of the restored Song dynasty in Bozhou.Asia
6. 1621Samoset, an Abenaki, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."North America
7. 1660The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament.Europe
8. 1696The Dutch bombard Givet during the Nine Years' War.Europe
9. 1792King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29.Europe
10. 1802The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point.North America
11. 1815Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.Europe
12. 1872The Wanderers F.C. win 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.Europe
13. 1898In Melbourne, the representatives of five colonies adopt a constitution, which would become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.Oceania
14. 1916The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US–Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.North AmericaLatin America
15. 1918Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites execute 70–100 capitulated Reds.Europe
16. 1924In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.Europe
17. 1925An earthquake (measuring around 7.0 magnitude) occurs in Dali, China, killing an estimated 5,000 people.Asia
18. 1926History of rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.North America
19. 1935Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm itself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.Europe
20. 1936Warmer-than-normal temperatures rapidly melt snow and ice on the upper Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, leading to a major flood in Pittsburgh.North America
21. 1939From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.Europe
22. 1941Operation Appearance takes place to re-establish British Somaliland.EuropeAfrica
23. 1945World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.Asia
24. 1945World War II: Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers, resulting in at least 4,000 deaths.Europe
25. 1962Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 disappears in the western Pacific Ocean with all 107 aboard missing and presumed dead.World
26. 1966Launch of Gemini 8 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott. It would perform the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit.World
27. 1968Vietnam War: My Lai massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers are killed by American troops.AsiaNorth America
28. 1969A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155.Latin America
29. 1977Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War.Middle East
30. 1978A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing 73.Europe
31. 1978Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped; he is later murdered by his captors.Europe
32. 1978Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the largest oil spill in history at that time.Europe
33. 1979Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ending the war.Asia
34. 1984William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Lebanon, is kidnapped by Hezbollah; he later dies in captivity.Middle East
35. 1985Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he is not released until December 1991.Middle East
36. 1988Halabja chemical attack: The Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents on the orders of Saddam Hussein, killing 5,000 people and injuring about 10,000 people.Middle East
37. 1988The Troubles: Ulster loyalist militant Michael Stone attacks a Provisional IRA funeral in Belfast with pistols and grenades. Three persons, one of them a member of PIRA, are killed, and more than 60 others are wounded.Europe
38. 1988Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States.Middle EastNorth America
39. 1995Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.North America
40. 2001A series of bomb blasts in the city of Shijiazhuang, China kill 108 people and injure 38 others, the biggest mass murder in China in decades.Asia
41. 2002Sofia Gubaidulina's Johannes-Ostern is premiered, together with her earlier Johannes-Passion, at Hamburg's Michaeliskirche, performed by soloists, choir and orchestra from the Mariinsky Theatre combined with NDR choir and orchestra, conducted by Valery Gergiev.Europe
42. 2003American activist Rachel Corrie is killed in Rafah by being run over by an Israel Defense Forces bulldozer while trying to obstruct the demolition of a home.North AmericaMiddle East
43. 2005Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.Middle East
44. 2010The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda's only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed in a fire.Africa
45. 2012Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batter in history to score 100 centuries in international cricket.Asia
46. 2014Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia.Europe
47. 2016Two suicide bombers detonate their explosives at a mosque during morning prayer on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 24 and injuring 18.Africa
48. 2016A bomb detonates in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring at least 30.Asia
49. 2020The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls by 2,997.10, the single largest point drop in history and the second-largest percentage drop ever at 12.93%, an even greater crash than Black Monday (1929). This follows the U.S. Federal Reserve announcing that it will cut its target interest rate to 0–0.25%.North America
50. 2021Atlanta spa shootings: Eight people are killed and one is injured in a trio of shootings at spas in and near Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. A suspect is arrested the same day.North America
51. 2022A 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, killing 4 people and injuring 225.Asia
52. 2022Mariupol theatre airstrike during the siege of Mariupol.Europe
53. 2025A fire breaks out in a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killing at least 59 people and injuring 155 others.Europe
54. 2026A series of Boko Haram bombings leave 26 dead and 146 injured in Maiduguri, Nigeria.Africa

Source: Wikipedia "March 16" / CC BY-SA 4.0