March 8Birthdays & History

On this day: March 8 in history

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

1. 1010Ferdowsi completes his epic poem Shahnameh.Middle East
2. 1126Following the death of his mother, queen Urraca of León, Alfonso VII is proclaimed king of León.Europe
3. 1262Battle of Hausbergen between bourgeois militias and the army of the bishop of Strasbourg.Europe
4. 1558The city of Pori (Swedish: Björneborg) is founded by Duke John on the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia.Europe
5. 1658Treaty of Roskilde: After a devastating defeat in the Northern Wars (1655–1661), Frederick III, the King of Denmark–Norway is forced to give up nearly half his territory to Sweden.Europe
6. 1702Queen Anne, the younger sister of Mary II, becomes Queen regnant of England, Scotland, and Ireland.Europe
7. 1722The Safavid Empire of Iran is defeated by an army from Afghanistan at the Battle of Gulnabad.Middle EastAsia
8. 1736Nader Shah, founder of the Afsharid dynasty, is crowned Shah of Iran.Middle East
9. 1775An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.AfricaNorth America
10. 1782Gnadenhutten massacre: Ninety-six Native Americans in Gnadenhutten, Ohio, who had converted to Christianity, are killed by Pennsylvania militiamen in retaliation for raids carried out by other Indian tribes.North America
11. 1801War of the Second Coalition: At the Battle of Abukir, a British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby lands in Egypt with the aim of ending the French campaign in Egypt and Syria.EuropeMiddle East
12. 1844The Althing, the parliament of Iceland, is reopened after 45 years of closure.Europe
13. 1844King Oscar I ascends to the thrones of Sweden and Norway.Europe
14. 1868Sakai incident: Japanese samurai kill 11 French sailors in the port of Sakai, Osaka.AsiaEurope
15. 1910French aviatrix Raymonde de Laroche becomes the first woman to receive a pilot's license.Europe
16. 1916World War I: A British force unsuccessfully attempts to relieve the siege of Kut (present-day Iraq) in the Battle of Dujaila.EuropeMiddle East
17. 1917The United States Senate votes to limit filibusters by adopting the cloture rule.North America
18. 1917International Women's Day protests in Petrograd mark the beginning of the February Revolution (February 23 in the Julian calendar).Europe
19. 1921Spanish Prime Minister Eduardo Dato Iradier is assassinated while on his way home from the parliament building in Madrid.Europe
20. 1924A mine disaster kills 172 coal miners near Castle Gate, Utah.North America
21. 1936Daytona Beach and Road Course holds its first oval stock car race.North America
22. 1937Spanish Civil War: The Battle of Guadalajara begins.Europe
23. 1942World War II: The Dutch East Indies surrender Java to the Imperial Japanese Army.EuropeAsiaAsia
24. 1942World War II: Imperial Japanese Army forces capture Rangoon, Burma from the British.AsiaAsiaEurope
25. 1949President of France Vincent Auriol and ex-Vietnamese emperor Bảo Đại sign the Élysée Accords, giving Vietnam greater independence from France and creating the State of Vietnam to oppose Viet Minh-led Democratic Republic of Vietnam.EuropeAsia
26. 1950The iconic Volkswagen Type 2 "Bus" begins production.Europe
27. 1962A Turkish Airlines Fokker F27 Friendship crashes into Mount Medetsiz in the Taurus Mountains of Turkey, killing all 11 people on board.Middle East
28. 1963The Ba'ath Party comes to power in Syria in a coup d'état.Middle East
29. 1965Aeroflot Flight 513 crashes during takeoff from Kuybyshev Airport, killing 30 and injuring 9.Europe
30. 1965Vietnam War: US Marines arrive at Da Nang.AsiaNorth America
31. 1966Nelson's Pillar in Dublin, Ireland, is destroyed by a bomb.Europe
32. 1979Images taken by Voyager 1 prove the existence of volcanoes on Io, a moon of Jupiter.World
33. 1979Philips demonstrates the compact disc publicly for the first time.Europe
34. 1983Cold War: While addressing a convention of Evangelicals, U.S. President Ronald Reagan labels the Soviet Union an "evil empire".North AmericaEurope
35. 1985A supposed failed assassination attempt on Islamic cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah in Beirut, Lebanon kills 80 and injures 200 others.Middle East
36. 1988Aeroflot Flight 3379 is hijacked by the Ovechkin family and diverted to Veshchevo in the Soviet Union.Europe
37. 1994A collision at Indira Gandhi International Airport kills 9 people.Asia
38. 2001Space Shuttle Discovery launches on STS-102, carrying the Expedition 2 crew to the International Space Station.North America
39. 2004A new constitution is signed by Iraq's Governing Council.Middle East
40. 2010Headlined by Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, TNA Wrestling moves its flagship program, TNA Impact!, to Monday night. This effort to go "big time live" failed but is notable in the history of professional wrestling television.North America
41. 2014In one of aviation's greatest mysteries, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, carrying a total of 239 people, disappears en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The fate of the flight remains unknown.Asia
42. 2017The Azure Window, a natural arch on the Maltese island of Gozo, collapses in stormy weather.Europe
43. 2018The first Aurat March (social/political demonstration) is held on International Women's Day in Karachi, Pakistan, since then held annually across Pakistan, and the feminist slogan "Mera Jism Meri Marzi" (My body, my choice), in demand for women's right to bodily autonomy and against gender-based violence, came into vogue in Pakistan.Asia
44. 2021International Women's Day marches in Mexico become violent with 62 police officers and 19 civilians injured in Mexico City alone.Latin America
45. 2021Twenty-eight political institutions in Myanmar establish the National Unity Consultative Council, a historic alliance of ethnic armed organizations and democratically elected leaders, in response to the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état.Asia

Source: Wikipedia "March 8" / CC BY-SA 4.0