Events Pre-1600 597 BC – The first siege of Jerusalem by the Neo-Babylonian Empire ends with the city surrendering to king Nebuchadnezzar II. 445 – Western Roman Emperor Valentinian III is assassinated while practising on the Campus Martius on behalf of Petronius Maximus. 1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York. 1244 – Over 200 Cathars who refuse to recant are burnt to death after the Fall of Montségur. 1355 – Amidst 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.
1601–1900 1621 – Samoset, an Abenaki, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset." 1660 – The Long Parliament of England is dissolved so as to prepare for the new Convention Parliament. 1696 – The Dutch bombard Givet during the Nine Years' War. 1792 – King Gustav III of Sweden is shot; he dies on March 29. 1802 – The Army Corps of Engineers is established to found and operate the United States Military Academy at West Point. 1815 – Prince Willem proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands. 1872 – The 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. 1898 – In Melbourne, the representatives of five colonies adopt a constitution, which would become the basis of the Commonwealth of Australia.
1901–present 1916 – The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US–Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa. 1918 – Finnish Civil War: Battle of Länkipohja is infamous for its bloody aftermath as the Whites execute 70–100 capitulated Reds. 1924 – In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy. 1925 – An earthquake (measuring around 7.0 magnitude) occurs in Dali, China, killing an estimated 5,000 people. 1926 – History of rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts. 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm itself in violation of the Treaty of Versailles. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht. 1936 – Warmer-than-normal temperatures rapidly melt snow and ice on the upper Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, leading to a major flood in Pittsburgh. 1939 – From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate. 1941 – Operation Appearance takes place to re-establish British Somaliland.Operations in the Red Sea 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends, but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist. 1945 – World War II: Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers, resulting in at least 4,000 deaths. 1962 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 disappears in the western Pacific Ocean with all 107 aboard missing and presumed dead. 1966 – Launch of Gemini 8 with astronauts Neil Armstrong and David Scott. It would perform the first docking of two spacecraft in orbit. 1968 – Vietnam War: My Lai massacre occurs; between 347 and 500 Vietnamese villagers are killed by American troops. 1969 – A Viasa McDonnell Douglas DC-9 crashes in Maracaibo, Venezuela, killing 155. 1977 – Assassination of Kamal Jumblatt, the main leader of the anti-government forces in the Lebanese Civil War. 1978 – Former Italian Prime Minister Aldo Moro is kidnapped; he is later murdered by his captors. 1978 – A Balkan Bulgarian Airlines Tupolev Tu-134 crashes near Gabare, Bulgaria, killing 73. 1978 – Supertanker 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. 1979 – Sino-Vietnamese War: The People's Liberation Army crosses the border back into China, ending the war. 1984 – William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Lebanon, is kidnapped by Hezbollah; he later dies in captivity. 1985 – Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut; he is not released until December 1991. 1988 – Iran–Contra affair: Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North and Vice Admiral John Poindexter are indicted on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States. 1988 – Halabja 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. 1988 – The 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. 1995 – Mississippi 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. 2001 – A 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. 2002 – Sofia 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. 2003 – American 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. 2005 – Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control. 2010 – The Kasubi Tombs, Uganda's only cultural World Heritage Site, are destroyed in a fire. 2012 – Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar becomes the first batter in history to score 100 centuries in international cricket. 2014 – Crimea votes in a controversial referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia. 2016 – A bomb detonates in a bus carrying government employees in Peshawar, Pakistan, killing 15 and injuring at least 30. 2016 – Two suicide bombers detonate their explosives at a mosque during morning prayer on the outskirts of Maiduguri, Nigeria, killing 24 and injuring 18. 2020 – The 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%. 2021 – Atlanta 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. 2022 – A 7.4-magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Fukushima, Japan, killing 4 people and injuring 225. 2022 – Mariupol theatre airstrike during the siege of Mariupol. 2025 – A fire breaks out in a nightclub in Kočani, North Macedonia, killing at least 59 people and injuring 155 others. 2026 – A series of Boko Haram bombings leave 26 dead and 146 injured in Maiduguri, Nigeria.
Births Pre-1600 1399 – The Xuande Emperor, ruler of Ming China (died 1435) 1445 – Johann Geiler von Kaysersberg, Swiss priest and theologian (died 1510) 1465 – Kunigunde of Austria, Duchess of Bavaria (died 1520) 1473 – Henry IV, Duke of Saxony (died 1541) 1559 – Amar Singh I, successor of Maharana Pratap of Mewar (died 1620) 1581 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and poet (died 1647) 1585 – Gerbrand Bredero, Dutch poet and playwright (died 1618) 1590 – Ii Naotaka, Japanese daimyō (died 1659) 1596 – Ebba Brahe, Swedish countess (died 1674)
1601–1900 1609 – Michael Franck, German poet and composer of hymns (died 1667) 1609 – Agostino Mitelli, Italian painter (died 1660) 1621 – Georg Neumark, German poet and composer of hymns (died 1681) 1631 – René Le Bossu, French literary critic (died 1680) 1638 – François Crépieul, Jesuit missionary (died 1702) 1654 – Andreas Acoluthus, German scholar (died 1704) 1670 – François de Franquetot de Coigny, French general (died 1759) 1673 – Jean Bouhier, French jurist and scholar (died 1746) 1687 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, queen consort of Frederick William I (died 1757) 1693 – Malhar Rao Holkar, Indian nobleman (died 1766) 1701 – Daniel Lorenz Salthenius, Swedish theologian (died 1750) 1729 – Maria Louise Albertine (died 1818) 1741 – Carlo Amoretti, Italian scientist (died 1816) 1744 – Nicolas-Germain Léonard, Guadeloupean poet and novelist (died 1793) 1750 – Caroline Herschel, German-English astronomer (died 1848) 1751 – James Madison, American academic and politician, 4th President of the United States (died 1836) 1753 – François Amédée Doppet, French general (died 1799) 1760 – Johann Heinrich Meyer, Swiss painter and writer (died 1832) 1766 – Jean-Frédéric Waldeck, French antiquarian, cartographer, artist and explorer (died 1875) 1771 – Antoine-Jean Gros, French painter (died 1835) 1773 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentinian general and politician, 6th Governor of Buenos Aires Province (died 1836) 1774 – Matthew Flinders, English navigator and cartographer (died 1814) 1776 – Johan Gijsbert Verstolk van Soelen, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs (died 1845) 1789 – Francis Rawdon Chesney, English general and explorer (died 1872) 1789 – Georg Ohm, German physicist and mathematician (died 1854) 1794 – Ami Boué, Austrian geologist and ethnographer (died 1881) 1797 – Alaric Alexander Watts, English poet and journalist (died 1864) 1799 – Anna Atkins, English botanist and photographer (died 1871) 1800 – Emperor Ninkō of Japan (died 1846) 1805 – Ernst von Lasaulx, German philologist and politician (died 1861) 1806 – Félix De Vigne, Belgian painter (died 1862) 1808 – Hannah T. King, British-born American writer and pioneer (died 1886) 1813 – Gaëtan de Rochebouët, French prime minister (died 1899) 1819 – José Paranhos, Brazilian politician (died 1880) 1820 – Enrico Tamberlik, Italian tenor (died 1889) 1821 – Eduard Heine, German mathematician and academic (died 1881) 1822 – Rosa Bonheur, French painter and sculptor (died 1899) 1822 – John Pope, American general (died 1892) 1823 – William Henry Monk, English organist and composer (died 1889) 1825 – Camilo Castelo Branco, Portuguese writer (died 1890) 1828 – Émile Deshayes de Marcère, French politician (died 1918) 1834 – James Hector, Scottish geologist and surgeon (died 1907) 1836 – Andrew Smith Hallidie, English-American engineer and inventor (died 1900) 1839 – Sully Prudhomme, French poet and critic, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1907) 1839 – John Butler Yeats, Irish painter (died 1922) 1840 – Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (died 1931) 1840 – Georg von der Gabelentz, German linguist and sinologist (died 1893) 1845 – Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15th Yokozuna (died 1928) 1846 – Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician and academic (died 1927) 1846 – Rebecca Cole, American physician and social reformer (died 1922) 1846 – Jurgis Bielinis, Lithuanian book smuggler (died 1918) 1848 – Axel Heiberg, Norwegian financier and diplomat (died 1932) 1851 – Otto Bardenhewer, German theologian (died 1935) 1851 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (died 1931) 1856 – Napoléon, Prince Imperial of France (died 1879) 1857 – Charles Harding Firth, English historian (died 1936) 1859 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist and inventor (died 1906) 1865 – Patsy Donovan, Irish-American baseball player and manager (died 1953) 1869 – Willy Burmester, German violinist (died 1933) 1871 – Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist (died 1951) 1871 – Frantz Reichel, French rugby player and hurdler (died 1932) 1874 – Frédéric François-Marsal, French prime minister (died 1958) 1877 – Léo-Ernest Ouimet, Canadian director and producer (died 1972) 1878 – Clemens August Graf von Galen, German cardinal (died 1946) 1878 – Paul Jouve, French painter (died 1973) 1881 – Fannie Charles Dillon, American composer (died 1947)