March 15

March 15 is the 74th day of the year (75th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 291 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

Up to 1900

44 BC – Julius Caesar, Dictator of the Roman Republic, is stabbed to death by Marcus Junius Brutus, Decimus Junius Brutus and several other Roman senators on the Ides of March.
280 – Sun Hao of Eastern Wu surrenders to Sima Yan, beginning the Jin Dynasty.
933 – After a 10–year truce, German King Henry I defeats a Hungarian army at the Battle of Riade near the Unstrut River.
1311 – Battle of Halmyros: The Catalan Company defeats Walter V of Brienne to take control of the Duchy of Athens, a Crusader state in Greece.
1493 – Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
1545 – First meeting of the Council of Trent.
1672 – Charles II of England issues the Royal Declaration of Indulgence.
1781 – American Revolutionary War: Battle of Guilford Courthouse – Near present–day Greensboro, North Carolina, 1,900 British troops under General Charles Cornwallis defeat an American force numbering 4,400.
1781 – French astronomer Pierre Mechain discovers the spiral galaxies Messier 98, Messier 99 and Messier 100.
1783 – In 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.
1820 – Maine becomes the 23rd U.S. state.
1827 – The University of Toronto is chartered.
1848 – Revolution breaks out in Pest in Hungary. The Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the Reform party.
1867 – Hungary gains autonomy.
1875 – Archbishop of New York John McCloskey becomes the first American cardinal.
1877 – The first Test cricket match begins, between England and Australia.
1888 – The Anglo-Tibetan War of 1888 begins.
1892 – Liverpool FC is founded.

1901 – 1950

1906 – Rolls-Royce Ltd. is registered.
1909 – Selfridges department store opens in London.
1916 – President Woodrow Wilson sends 12,000 United States troops over the Mexican border to pursue Pancho Villa.
1917 – Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates himself and his son from the Russian throne and his brother the Grand Duke becomes Tsar.
1919 – The American Legion forms in Paris.
1922 – After Egypt gains nominal independence from the United Kingdom, Fuad I becomes King of Egypt.
1926 – In Greece, Theodoros Pangalos is elected President without opposition.
1931 – The ship SS Viking explodes off Newfoundland, killing 27 of the 147 people on board.
1933 – Austrian Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss keeps members of the National Council from convening, starting an Austrofascist dictatorship.
1939 – World War II: Nazi troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist.
1941 – The first Philippine Airlines flight takes place, from Manila to Baguio City.
1943 – World War II: Third Battle of Kharkov – the Germans retook the city of Kharkov from the Soviet armies in bitter street fighting.
1944 – World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino – Allied aircraft bomb the Nazi–held monastery and stage an assault.
1944 – First flight of a Philippines Airlines plane. It is the oldest airline in Asia to operate under its original name.
1945 – World War II: Soviet forces begin an offensive to push Germans from Upper Silesia.

1951 – 2000

1952 – In Cilaos, Réunion, 73 inches (1,870mm) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.
1956 – The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
1961 – South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth.
1963 – Victor Feguer, a Federal prisoner, is put to death at the Fort Madison, Iowa prison. This would be the last execution of a Federal prisoner until the execution of Timothy McVeigh in 2001.
1965 – Lyndon B. Johnson says "We Shall Overcome" in support of the Voting Rights Act.
1970 – The Expo '70 world's fair opens in Osaka, Japan.
1976 – KISS releases the legendary album Destroyer.
1978 – Somalia and Ethiopia sign a truce to end the Ethiopian-Somali War.
1985 – The first internet domain name is registered – symbolics.com.
1985 – Brazil's military dictatorship ends.
1986 – The New World Hotel in Singapore collapses, killing 33 people.
1988 – Publication of Marvin Minsky's Society of Mind theory.
1988 – The Halabja poison gas attack of the Iran-Iraq War begins.
1989 – The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established.
1990 – Gulf War: Iraq hangs British journalist Farzad Bazoft for spying.
1990 – Mikhail Gorbachev is elected as the first executive president of the Soviet Union.
1990 – The Soviet Union announces that Lithuania's declaration of independence is invalid.
1990 – The ethnic clashes of Targu Mures begin on the anniversary of the Revolutions of 1848 in the Habsburg areas.
1991 – Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3, 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King during an arrest.
1991 – Germany formally regains complete independence after the four post–World War II occupying powers (France, the United Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union) relinquish all remaining rights.

From 2001

2001 – An explosion occurs on a Petrobras oil platform off Brazil, causing a major oil spill.
2003 – Hu Jintao becomes the leader of the People's Republic of China, with Wen Jiabao as Premier.
2003 – The Central African Republic's President Ange-Félix Patassé is removed in a coup by Francois Bozizé.
2004 – Announcement of the discovery of 90377 Sedna, the farthest natural object in the Solar system so far observed.
2008 – An explosion occurs at an Albanian Army and Munitions base, killing 26 people. It happens near the village of Gerdec.
2011 – Arab Spring: The currently still ongoing civil war in Syria begins.
2013 – A transition of power within the Communist Party of the People's Republic of China is completed, with Xi Jinping as President and Li Keqiang as Premier.
2019 – Two shootings happen in Christchurch, New Zealand during a white supremacist terrorist attack. They killed 50 people.

Births

Up to 1800

933 – Romanos II, Byzantine Emperor (d. 963)
1275 – Margaret of England, English princess (d. 1333)
1455 – Pietro Accotti, Italian cardinal (d. 1532)
1584 – Philip, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (d. 1663)
1591 – Alexandre de Rhodes, French missionary and lexicographer (d. 1660)
1611 – Jan Fyt, Flemish painter (d. 1661)
1638 – Shunzhi Emperor of China (d. 1661)
1660 – Olof Rudbeck the Younger, Swedish anatomist and botanist (d. 1740)
1684 – Francesco Durante, Italian composer (d. 1755)
1713 – Nicolas Louis de Lacaille, French astronomer (d. 1762)
1737 – Amarindra, Queen Consort of Siam (d. 1826)
1738 – Cesare Beccaria, Italian philosopher (d. 1794)
1754 – Archibald Menzies, Scottish naturalist and surgeon (d. 1842)
1767 – Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States (d. 1845)
1770 – Samuel Bell, Governor of New Hampshire (d. 1850)
1772 – Jozsef Ficzko, Burgenland Croatian writer (d. 1843)
1779 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1848)
1792 – Virginie Ancelot, French painter, writer and playwright (d. 1875)
1794 – Friedrich Christian Diez, German philologist (d. 1876)

1801 – 1900

1809 – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, first President of Liberia (d. 1876)
1809 – William Cannon, Governor of Delaware (d. 1865)
1813 – John Snow, English physician (d. 1858)
1818 – Mariano Alvarez, Filipino general (d. 1924)
1821 – Johann Josef Loschmidt, Austrian physicist and chemist (d. 1895)
1824 – Jules Chevalier, French priest (d. 1907)
1830 – Paul von Heyse, German writer (d. 1914)
1830 – Elisée Reclus, French geographer (d. 1905)
1831 – Daniel Comboni, Italian missionary and saint (d. 1881)
1835 – Eduard Strauss, Austrian composer (d. 1916)
1838 – Karl Davydov, Russian cellist (d. 1889)
1851 – William Mitchell Ramsay, Scottish archaeologist (d. 1939)
1852 – Augusta, Lady Gregory, Irish playwright (d. 1932)
1854 – Emil Adolf von Behring, German doctor, won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (1901) (d. 1917)
1857 – Christian Michelsen, Prime Minister of Norway (d. 1925)
1864 – Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer (d. 1935)
1865 – Manuk Abeghian, Armenian writer and scholar (d. 1944)
1866 – Johan Vaaler, Norwegian inventor (of the paperclip) (d. 1910)
1868 – Grace Chisholm Young, English mathematician (d. 1944)
1869 – Stanislaw Wojciechowski, President of Poland (d. 1953)
1874 – Eugene Fiset, Canadian physician and politician (d. 1951)
1874 – Harold L. Ickes, American politician (d. 1952)
1878 – Reza Shah Pahlavi of Persia (d. 1944)
1882 – James Lightbody, American middle–distance runner (d. 1953)
1887 – Marjorie Merriwether Post, American entrepreneur (d. 1973)
1890 – Boris Nikolaevich Delaunay, Russian mathematician (d. 1980)
1897 – Jackson Scholz, American runner (d. 1986)
1900 – Frances Partridge, English writer (d. 2004)

1901 – 1950

1902 – Hu Gwan-sun, South Korean activist (d. 1920)
1905 – Berthold Schenk von Stauffenberg, German lawyer (d. 1944)
1907 – Zarah Leander, Swedish singer and actress (d. 1981)
1910 – Tom Richards, Welsh runner (d. 1985)
1912 – Lightning Hopkins, American musician (d. 1982)
1913 – Rosita Contreras, Argentine actress (d. 1962)
1916 – Fadil Hoxha, Yugoslavian politician (d. 2001)
1916 – Harry James, American musician and bandleader (d. 1983)
1918 – Punch Imlach, Canadian ice hockey coach and manager (d. 1987)
1919 – Lawrence Tierney, American actor (d. 2002)
1920 – Lawrence Sanders, American writer (d. 1998)
1920 – E. Donnall Thomas, American physician (d. 2012)
1921 – Jean Freeman, Welsh actress
1924 – Yuri Bondarev, Russian writer
1924 – Walter Gotell, German–British actor (d. 1997)
1926 – Norm Van Brocklin, American football player and coach (d. 1983)
1927 – Maija Isola, Finnish designer (d. 2001)
1927 – Christian Marquand, French director and actor (d. 2000)
1928 – Bob Wilber, American clarinetist and saxophonist
1930 – Zhores Ivanovich Alferov, Russian physicist (d. 2019)
1930 – Martin Karplus, Austrian–American chemist
1931 – Bill Burlison, American politician (d. 2019)
1932 – Alan Bean, American astronaut (d. 2018)
1933 – Philippe de Broca, French movie director
1933 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice (d. 2020)
1934 – Aldo Giorgini, Italian artist (d. 1994)
1935 – Judd Hirsch, American actor
1935 – Jimmy Swaggart, American televangelist
1936 – David Andrews, Irish politician
1936 – Howard Greenfield, American songwriter (d. 1986)
1937 – Valentin Rasputin, Russian poet and writer (d. 2015)
1939 – Ted Kaufman, American politician
1940 – Frank Dobson, British politician
1940 – Phil Lesh, American musician (Grateful Dead)
1941 – Mike Love, American musician (The Beach Boys)
1942 – The Iron Sheik, Iranian–American professional wrestler
1943 – David Cronenberg, Canadian director
1943 – Lynda La Plante, English writer and screenwriter
1943 – Sly Stone, American singer-songwriter and producer
1944 – Chi Cheng, Taiwanese athlete and politician
1944 – Francis Mankiewicz, Canadian movie director and screenwriter (d. 1993)
1944 – Jacques Doillon, French movie director
1945 – Mark J. Green, American politician
1946 – Bobby Bonds, American baseball player
1947 – Ry Cooder, American guitarist
1948 – Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Brazilian diplomat (d. 2003)
1950 – Jorgen Olsen, Danish singer

1951 – 1975

1952 – Howard Koh, American politician
1952 – Philip Green, English businessman
1952 – Earl Ray Tomblin, Governor of West Virginia
1953 – Kumba Iala, former President of Guinea-Bissau (d. 2014)
1953 – Richard Bruton, Irish politician
1954 – Massimo Bubola, Italian singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer
1954 – Bob Budiansky, American comic book writer, illustrator and editor
1955 – Dee Snider, American singer
1955 – Roberto Maroni, Italian politician
1956 – Paramanga Ernest Yonli, Burkina Faso politician
1957 – Joaquim de Almeida, Portuguese–American actor
1957 – Juan José Ibarretxe, Basque politician
1957 – David Silverman, American animator
1959 – Harold Baines, baseball player
1959 – Ben Okri, Nigerian writer
1960 – Phil Walsh, Australian rules footballer and coach (d. 2015)
1961 – Terry Cummings, American basketball player
1961 – Craig Ludwig, American ice hockey player
1962 – Jimmy Baio, American actor
1962 – Markus Merk, German football referee
1962 – Terence Trent D'Arby, American singer
1963 – Bret Michaels, American musician
1964 – Fernando De Napoli, Italian footballer
1965 – Svetlana Medvedeva, former First Lady of Russia
1967 – Naoko Takeuchi, Japanese artist
1968 – Kahimi Karie, Japanese singer
1968 – Mark McGrath, American musician
1968 – Sabrina Salerno, Italian singer, actress and producer
1968 – Jon Schaffer, American musician
1969 – Rona Ambrose, Canadian politician
1971 – Penny Lancaster, English model and photographer
1972 – Mark Hoppus, American musician (+44 and blink-182)
1972 – Holger Stromberg, German chef
1973 – Robin Hunnicke, American video game designer and producer
1973 – Lee Jung-jae, South Korean actor
1973 – Masayuki Naruse, Japanese wrestler and mixed martial artist
1974 – Robert Fick, American baseball player
1974 – Anders Andersson, Swedish footballer
1975 – Eva Longoria, American actress
1975 – Will.i.am, American musician (Black Eyed Peas)

From 1976

1976 – Katherine Brooks, American director, producer and screenwriter
1977 – Joe Hahn, American musician (Linkin Park)
1978 – Takeru Kobayashi, Japanese competitive eater
1978 – Sid Wilson, American musician (Slipknot)
1981 – Mikael Forssell, Finnish footballer
1981 – Veronica Maggio, Swedish singer
1982 – Wilson Kipsang Kiprotich, Kenyan long jumper
1982 – Jordan Hastings, Canadian drummer
1984 – Yo Yo Honey Singh, Indian rapper, producer and actor
1985 – Eva Amurri, American actress
1985 – Tom Chilton, English racing driver
1985 – Javier Garrido, Spanish footballer
1985 – Curtis Davies, English footballer
1985 – Cat Boyd, Scottish trade unionist
1988 – James Reimer, Canadian ice hockey player
1989 – Sandro Raniere, Brazilian footballer
1990 – Siobhan Magnus, American singer-songwriter
1991 – Xavier Henry, American basketball player
1991 – Kii Kitano, Japanese actress
1992 – Anna Shaffer, English actress
1993 – Alia Bhatt, Indian actress and singer
1993 – Paul Pogba, French footballer
1993 – Alyssa Reid, Canadian singer
1994 – Nijel Amos, Botswana athlete
2000 – Kristian Kostov, Bulgarian–Russian singer

Deaths

Up to 1900

44 BC – Julius Caesar (b. 100 BC)
220 – Cao Cao, King of Wei (b. 155)
493 – Odoacer, King of Italy (b. 435)
963 – Romanos II, Byzantine Emperor (b. 938)
1145 – Pope Lucius II
1311 – Battle of Halmyros:
- Walter V of Brienne, Duke of Athens
- Thomas d'Autrementcourt, Lord of Salona, Marshal of Achaea
- Albert Pallavicini, Margrave of Bodonitza
- Giorgio I Ghisi, Triarch of Euboea, Lord of Tinos, Mykonos, Serifos and Keos
1346 – Shah Jalal of Bengal (b. 1271)
1416 – John, Duke of Berry, son of John II of France (b. 1340)
1575 – Annibale Padovano, Italian composer (b. 1527)
1587 – Kaspar Olevianus, German theologian (b. 1536)
1644 – Louise Juliana of Nassau, Regent of Bohemia (b. 1576)
1670 – John Davenport, Connecticut pioneer (b. 1597)
1673 – Salvator Rosa, Italian painter and poet (b. 1615)
1711 – Eusebio Kino, Italian priest and missionary (b. 1645)
1820 – Clemens Maria Hofbauer, Patron Saint of Vienna (b. 1751)
1842 – Luigi Cherubini, Italian composer (b. 1760)
1849 – Giuseppe Caspar Mezzafanti, Italian cardinal and linguist (b. 1774)
1886 – Michael Hahn, 19th Governor of Louisiana (b. 1830)
1898 – Henry Bessemer, English engineer, inventor and businessman (b. 1813)

1901 – 2000

1907 – William D. Bloxham, Governor of Florida (b. 1835)
1921 – Talaat Pasha, Ottoman politician (b. 1874)
1937 – H. P. Lovecraft, American writer (b. 1890)
1938 – Nikolai Bukharin, Soviet–Russian revolutionary and politician (b. 1888)
1941 – Alexei von Jawlensky, Russian painter (b. 1864)
1951 – John S. Paraskevopoulos, Greek–South African astronomer (b. 1889)
1959 – Lester Young, American musician (b. 1909)
1961 – Akiba Rubinstein, Polish chess player (b. 1882)
1962 – Arthur Compton, American physicist (b. 1892)
1966 – Abe Saperstein, American basketball player and coach (b. 1902)
1969 – Musashiyama Takeshi, Japanese sumo wrestler (b. 1909)
1971 – Jean-Pierre Monseré, Belgian cyclist (b. 1948)
1972 – Aleksandr Ivanovich Laktionov, Russian painter (b. 1910)
1975 – Aristotle Onassis, Greek shipping magnate (b. 1900)
1981 – René Clair, French movie director (b. 1898)
1983 – Rebecca West, English writer (b. 1892)
1988 – Dmitri Polyakov, Soviet double–agent (b. 1926)
1990 – Farzad Bazoft, Iranian–British journalist (b. 1958)
1991 – Bud Freeman, American jazz musician (b. 1906)
1993 – Karl Mai, German footballer (b. 1928)
1998 – Benjamin Spock, American paediatrician and writer (b. 1903)

From 2001

2003 – Thora Hird, British actress (b. 1911)
2004 – William Pickering, New Zealand–born space scientist (b. 1910)
2004 – John Pople, English chemist (b. 1925)
2006 – George Rallis, Prime Minister of Greece (b. 1918)
2009 – Ron Silver, American actor (b. 1946)
2011 – Nate Dogg, American musician (b. 1969)
2012 – Bernardino Gonzalez Ruiz, President of Panama (b. 1911)
2013 – Booth Gardner, former Governor of Washington (b. 1936)
2014 – David Brenner, American comedian (b. 1936)
2014 – Scott Asheton, American musician (b. 1949)
2014 – Clarissa Dickson Wright, English chef (b. 1947)
2014 – Cees Veerman, Dutch singer-songwriter and guitarist (b. 1943)
2015 – Mike Porcaro, American musician (Toto) (b. 1955)
2015 – Xu Caihou, Chinese army general (b. 1943)
2015 – Narayan Desai, Indian writer (b. 1924)
2015 – Sally Forrest, American singer and actress (b. 1928)
2015 – Curtis Gans, American activist (b. 1937)
2016 – Asa Briggs, Baron Briggs, British historian and codebreaker (b. 1921)
2016 – Tamara Grigsby, American politician (b. 1974)
2016 – Earline W. Parmon, American politician (b. 1943)
2016 – Seru Rabeni, Fijian rugby player (b. 1978)
2016 – Ralph C. Johnson, American politician (b. 1953)
2016 – Lyubka Rondova, Bulgarian folk singer (b. 1936)
2016 – Sylvia Anderson, British television producer and voice actress (b. 1927)
2017 – Sok An, Cambodian politician (b. 1950)
2017 – Enrique Morea, Argentine tennis player (b. 1924)
2017 – Dave Stallworth, American basketball player (b. 1941)
2018 – Tom Benson, American automobile dealer, philanthropist and sports team owner (b. 1927)
2018 – Ed Charles, American baseball player (b. 1933)
2018 – Augie Garrido, American baseball coach (b. 1939)
2018 – Mohamed Sayah, Tunisian politician (b. 1933)
2018 – Larry Kwong, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1923)
2019 – Okwui Enwezor, Nigerian art critic and writer (b. 1963)
2019 – Dave Hood Jr., American politician (b. 1954)
2019 – W. S. Merwin, American poet (b. 1927)
2020 – Vittorio Gregotti, Italian architect (b. 1927)

Observances

National Day of Hungary – Revolution of 1848
Holiday in Liberia – Birthday of the country's first President, Joseph Jenkins Roberts
Honen Matsuri (Japan)
Constitution Day (Belarus)
World Day for Muslim Culture, Peace, Dialogue and Film
World Consumer Rights Day
World Contact Day
Anniversary of the 2019 New Zealand Christchurch Mosque Shooting