March 18......

March 18 is the 77th (78th in leap years) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 288 days remaining in the year on this date.

{Disclaimer: I have attempted to give credit to the many different sources that I get entries. Any failure to do so is unintentional. Any statement enclosed by brackets like these are the opinion of the blogger, A Proud Liberal.}

EVENTS

● 3952 BC - According to the Venerable Bede, the world was created.

● 37 - The Roman Senate annuls Tiberius' will and proclaims Caligula emperor.

● 417 - St Zosimus begins his reign as Catholic Pope

● 731 - Saint Gregory III begins his reign as a Catholic pope.

● 1123 - The First Lateran Council opened in Rome. It was the Ninth Ecumenical Council, and the first one to be held in the West. Lateran I settled the right of investiture (i.e., the right to choose replacement clergy) by a treaty between Pope Calixtus II and Holy Roman Emperor Henry V.

● 1167 - Battle of El-Babein, Egypt: Franks under Amalrik vs Syrians

● 1190 - Crusaders kill 57 Jews in Bury St Edmonds England

● 1229 - Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor declares himself King of Jerusalem during the Sixth Crusade.

● 1241 - Kraków ravaged by Mongols.

● 1314 - 39 French Knights Templars were burned at the stake, including Jacques de Molay, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar. Most church history experts agree that these and other hostilities shown against the Knights Templars were caused by the greed and cunning of Philip the Fair, who sought the great wealth this medieval military religious order had amassed in the enturies following the Crusades.

● 1438 - Albert II of Habsburg becomes King of Germany.

● 1509 - Emperor Maximilian I names Margaretha land guardians of Netherlands

● 1532 - English parliament bans payments by English church to Rome

● 1543(41?) - Hernan de Soto observes 1st recorded flood in America (Mississippi River)

● 1582 - Prince Willem of Orange injured in attack at Antwerp

● 1583 - Dutch States General & Anjou sign treaty

● 1608 - Susenyos formally crowned Emperor of Ethiopia

● 1673 - John Berkeley, 1st Baron Berkeley of Stratton sells his part of New Jersey to some Friends (Quakers).

● 1692 - William Penn was deprived of his governing powers.

● 1754 - Duke of Newcastle becomes English premier

● 1767 - Anglican clergyman and hymn writer John Newton wrote in a letter: 'The more you know him, the better you will trust him; the more you trust him, the better you will love him; the more you love him, the better you will serve him.'

● 1793 - The first republican state in Germany, the Republic of Mainz, is declared by Andreas Joseph Hofmann

● 1793 - 2nd Battle at Neerwinden: Austria army beats France

● 1813 - David Melville, Newport RI, patents apparatus for making coal gas used in the gas streetlight.

● 1818 - Congress approves 1st pensions for government service

● 1834 - 1st railroad tunnel in US completed, in Pennsylvania (275 meter long)

● 1835 - Charles Darwin departs Santiago Chile on his way to Portillo Pass

● 1837 - Grover Cleveland, the only U.S. president who served two non-concurrent terms, was born.

● 1847 - 1st Dutch public telegram

● 1840 - Birth of Marilla Ricker, lawyer and suffragette.

● 1850 - American Express is founded by Henry Wells & William Fargo.

● 1858 - Dutch Van der Brugghen government resigns

● 1859 - Vera Cruz besieged by Miramón (Cons) in Mexican War of Reform

● 1861 - The Metropolitan Tabernacle first opened in London. It was the church at which famed English Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon pastored.

● 1864 - Dale Dike on Humber River crumbles drowning some 240

● 1865 - Battle of Wilson's raid to Selma AL

● 1865 - American Civil War: The Congress of the Confederate States of America adjourns for the last time.

● 1870 - 1st US National Wildlife Preserve (Lake Meritt in Oakland CA)

● 1871 - One thousand women successfully blockade cannons in what becomes the "Paris Commune," Paris, France. Starts as resistance to occupying German troops and betrayal by big bourgeois. The Commune was the first real experiment in worker self-management, occurring with the sympathetic cooperation of the petty bourgeoisie. Groups of insurgents are spread throughout the city. Blanquistes propose a march on Versailles to get rid of the government, but unfortunately their proposal is not adopted. The uprising is suppressed two months later.

● 1871 - President of the French government Thiers orders evacuation of Paris, a socialist government rules the city.

● 1874 - Hawaii signs a treaty with the United States granting exclusive trading rights.

● 1877 - President Hayes appoints Frederick Douglass marshal of Washington DC

● 1887 - Non-reservation Spokane Indians agree to give up their land claims and move to Coeur d'Alene and Flathead reservations.

● 1890 - 1st US state naval militia organized (Massachusetts)

● 1891 - Britain is linked to the continent by Telephone

● 1895 - 200 blacks leave Savannah GA for Liberia

● 1899 - Phoebe, a moon of Saturn is discovered by Pickering

● 1902 - In Turkey, the Sultan granted a German syndicate the first concession to access Baghdad by rail.

● 1903 - France dissolved the Catholic religious orders.

● 1906 - In Morocco, it was reported that France and Germany were in a deadlock at the Algeciras Conference.

● 1906 - Traian Vuia flew a self-propelled heavier-than-air aircraft which took off without any external means

● 1909 - Einar Dessau uses a short-wave radio transmitter becoming the first radio broadcaster.

● 1911 - Theodore Roosevelt opened the Roosevelt Dam north of Phoenix, AZ. It was the largest dam in the U.S. at the time.

● 1911 - North Dakota enacted a hail insurance law.

● 1913 - Greek King George I was killed by an assassin. Constantine I succeeded him.

● 1914 - White Wolf gang beats government army in Jingdezhen China

● 1915 - French battleship Bouvet explodes, 640 killed

● 1915 - Turkey's Canakkale (Trojan) Sea Victory against allied powers(USA, Australia, England, Italy) during First World War

● 1915 - World War I: Massive naval attack in Battle of Gallipoli. Three battleships are sunk during a failed British & French naval attack on the Dardanelles.

● 1916 - Russia countered the Verdun assault with an attack at Lake Naroch. The Russians lost 100,000 men and the Germans lost 20,000.

● 1917 - The Germans sank the U.S. ships, City of Memphis, Vigilante and the Illinois, without any warning.

● 1918 - First governmental plan for a 'League of Nations' proposed by U.K.

● 1918 - Socialist Youth AJC organizes in Amsterdam

● 1919 - Order of DeMolay is established in Kansas City

● 1920 - Greece adopts the Gregorian calendar

● 1921 - Steamer "Hong Kong" runs aground off Swatow China killing 1,000

● 1921 - The second Peace of Riga between Poland and Soviet Union. Despite the recent Polish successes, Soviets annex Ukraine and Belarus. Government of Ukraine emigrates to France. Famine kills millions of Russians.

● 1922 - Gandhi jailed for six years after "Great Trial" for writing seditious nonviolent articles, Ahmedabad, India. He would serve only 2 years.

● 1922 - The first public celebration of Bat mitzvah, for the daughter of Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, is held in New York City.

● 1925 - The Tri-State Tornadoes (8) hit the Midwestern states of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, killing 695 people.

● 1930 - Pluto discovered by Clyde Tombaugh (US)

● 1931 - 1st electric shavers go on sale in US (Schick)

● 1931 - Juan Bautista Aznar becomes premier of Spain

● 1933 - Radio Clube de Mocambique's, 1st radio transmission

● 1937 - Women clerks are evicted by police after occupying Woolworth's department store to demand 40-hour work week, New York NY.

● 1937 - The New London, Texas School gas explosion kills three hundred, mostly children.

● 1937 - Spanish Civil War: Spanish Republican forces hand the Italian forces a grave defeat at the Battle of Guadalajara.

● 1938 - New York 1st requires serological blood tests of pregnant women

● 1938 - Mexico’s Lazaro Cardenas expropriates 17 U.S. and British oil companies for failure to pay fair wages.

● 1939 - Georgia ratified the Bill of Rights amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

● 1940 - World War II: Axis Powers - Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini meet at Brenner Pass in the Alps and agree to form an alliance against France and the United Kingdom.

● 1942 - Illegal Free Netherlands announces boycott of theaters

● 1942 - The third military draft began in the U.S. because of World War II.

● 1943 - The Reich called off its offensive in Caucasus.

● 1943 - American forces took Gafsa in Tunisia.

● 1943 - James Oglethorpe (US) & Terkolei (Netherlands), torpedoed & sinks

● 1943 - Red Army evacuates Belgorod

● 1944 - 2,500 women trample guards & floorwalkers to purchase 1,500 alarm clocks announced for sale in a Chicago IL department store

● 1944 - Nazi Germany occupies Hungary

● 1944 - The Russians reached the Rumanian border in the Balkans during World War II.

● 1945 - US Task Force 58 attacks targets on Kiushu

● 1945 - World War II: 1,250 American bombers attack Berlin.

● 1947 - Mikhael Guerdjikov (1877-1947) dies. Bulgarian anarchist involved in the Macedonian liberation movement, His burial was the last gathering of Bulgarian anarchists allowed for many years.

● 1948 - France & Great Britain & Benelux sign Treaty of Brussels

● 1948 - Philips begin experimental TV broadcasting

● 1949 - NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ratified

● 1950 - Government falls as Belgians vote for king; The Belgian government collapses over a referendum on the return from exile of King Leopold III.

● 1950 - Nationalist troops landed on the mainland of China and capture Communist held Sungmen.

● 1952 - 1st plastic lens for cataract patients fitted (Philadelphia)

● 1952 - Communist offensive in Korea

● 1953 - In response to an investigation by Sen. Joseph McCarthy, the State Department barred from its overseas information libraries the works of all authors whose loyalty to the U.S. was "suspect." Books by such writers as Franklin P. Adams, John Dewey, Edna Ferber, Dashiell Hammett, Theodore White, Edmund Wilson, & even Secretary Dulles' own cousin Foster were thus withdrawn; some were publicly burned.

● 1953 - An earthquake hits western Turkey killing 250.

● 1955 - I Hatojama recognized as premier of Japan

● 1959 - American President Dwight D. Eisenhower signs a bill into law allowing for Hawaiian statehood, which would become official on August 21.

● 1962 - The Evian Accords put an end to the Algerian War of Independence, which began in 1954.

● 1962 - Dmitri Shostakovich becomes member of Supreme Soviet of USSR

● 1963 - France performs underground nuclear test at Ecker Algeria

● 1963 - Supreme Court's Miranda Decision: defendants must have lawyers

● 1964 - Several Cocama tribal villages in Amazon Basin of Peru strafed and napalmed by government planes.

● 1965 - Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov, leaving his spacecraft Voskhod 2 for 12 minutes, becomes the first person to walk in space.

● 1966 - General Suharto forms government in Indonesia

● 1967 - The first big oil spill - U.S. supertanker "Torrey Canyon" runs aground off Land's End, England, releasing 119,000 tons of oil. 90,000 tons wash up on Devon, Cornwall.

● 1968 - At 3 AM, the staff of San Francisco's "progressive" rock station KMPX-FM walks out on strike citing a lack of control over programming and "hassles over the whole long-hair riff." Performers like the Rolling Stones, Joan Baez, the Jefferson Airplane, and the Grateful Dead request the station not play their music as long as the station is run by strikebreakers.

● 1968 - Gold standard: The U.S. Congress repeals the requirement for a gold reserve to back US currency.

● 1970 - U.S. President Nixon authorizes Operation Menue. It was the ‘secret’ bombing of Cambodia.

● 1970 - U.S. begins secret bombing of neutral Cambodia, escalating war in Southeast Asia.

● 1970 - U.S. postal workers begin wildcat strike. The first strike against the U.S. government and the first mass work stoppage in the 195-year history of the Post Office Department began with a walkout of letter carriers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, soon involving 210,000 of the nation's 750,000 postal employees. With mail service virtually paralyzed in New York, Detroit, and Philadelphia, Pres. Nixon declared a state of national emergency and assigned military units to New York City post offices. The stand-off ends one week later.

● 1970 - Country Joe McDonald is convicted for obscenity and fined $500 for leading a crowd in his infamous Fish Cheer ("Gimmie an F..!") at a concert in Massachusetts.

● 1970 - Trying to reclaim music from the (quote) "filthy, capitalist" record companies, a radical Madison newspaper called Kaleidoscope releases a bootleg album. Features Beatles cuts excluded from the album "Get Back" and Bob Dylan's "Isle of Wight" concert. Sells for three dollars, and all profits go to a local activist bail fund. The cover features a photo of John Sinclair, who founded the White Panthers and was doing 10-years for handing two joints to an undercover agent. Think what they could have done with the Internet.

● 1970 - Lon Nol ousts Prince Norodom Sihanouk of Cambodia.

● 1971 - A landslide at Chungar, Peru crashes into Lake Yanahuani killing 200.

● 1972 - A congressional study announces that the income gap in the U.S. between the richest 20% and the poorest 20% has doubled in the past twenty years (since 1952).

● 1972 - People's Republic of China performs nuclear test at Lop Nor People's Republic of China

● 1974 - Violent border clashes at Golan Heights; Two Israeli soldiers are killed and three others injured along the Golan Heights.

● 1974 - Oil embargo crisis: Most OPEC nations end a five-month oil embargo against the United States, Europe and Japan.

● 1975 - Saigon abandoned most of the Central Highlands of Vietnam to Hanoi.

● 1975 - The Kurds ended their fight against Iraq.

● 1976 - Police brutally attack students at Italy's University of Padua, where they have been holding a sit-in; five wounded by bullets.

● 1976 - New trial ordered for Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and John Artis for a 1967 triple murder in New Jersey.

● 1977 - US restricts citizens from visiting Cuba, Vietnam, N Korea & Cambodia

● 1977 - Vietnam hands over MIA to US

● 1978 - Pakistani former premier Ali Bhutto sentenced to death

● 1979 - Three die in Golborne mine blast; Three die and eight are seriously injured in an explosion at a colliery in Lancashire.

● 1979 - Battles between Kurds & Iranians break in Sananday Iran

● 1979 - Iranian authorities detained American feminist Kate Millett. The next day she was deported.

● 1980 - On Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia 50 people were killed at an explosion of a Vostok-2M rocket on its launch pad during a fueling operation.

● 1981 - The U.S. disclosed that there were biological weapons tested in Texas in 1966.

● 1982 - Judge halts 'obscenity' trial; Charges of gross indecency brought by Mary Whitehouse against a National Theatre director end today after intervention by the Attorney-General.

● 1986 - William F. Buckley Jr. suggests in the New York Times that everyone found to have AIDS "should be tattooed in the upper forearm to protect common-needle users, and on the buttocks, to prevent the victimization of other homosexuals. This really gets me hot!" Tellingly, he continues to be one of the most venerated of American political commentators.

● 1986 - The U.S. Treasury Department announced that a clear, polyester thread was to be woven into bills in an effort to thwart counterfeiters.

● 1987 - US performs nuclear test at Nevada Test Site

● 1989 - 27th space shuttle mission, STS-29 (Discovery 8), returns to Earth

● 1989 - In Egypt, a 4,400-year-old mummy is found in the Pyramid of Cheops.

● 1990 - 12 paintings, collectively worth $100 million, are stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. This is the largest art theft in US history.

● 1990 - 1st free elections in German Democratic Republic, Conservatives beat Communists

● 1992 - South Africa votes for change; White South Africans back an overwhelming mandate for political reforms to end apartheid.

● 1992 - Leona Helmsley sentence to 4 years for tax evasion

● 1994 - South Africa Goldstone committee reveals existence of secret police

● 1994 - Space shuttle STS-62 (Columbia 16), lands

● 1995 - Anti-choice gunman John Salvi convicted of murdering Brookline, MA clinic receptionists in 1994.

● 1995 - STS 67 (Endeavour 8) lands after 16½ days

● 1997 - The tail of a Russian Antonov An-24 charter plane breaks off while en-route to Turkey causing the plane to crash and killing all 50 on board. This leads to the grounding of all An-24s.

● 2000 - Taiwan ended more than a half century of Nationalist Party rule by electing opposition leader Chen Shui-bian president.

● 2003 - China's new president, Hu Jintao, announced that his country must deepen reforms and raise living standards of workers and farmers.

● 2003 - US enters war in Iraq. About $1 billion was taken from Iraq's Central Bank by Saddam Hussein and his family, just hours before the United States began bombing Iraq, biggest bank robbery in history.

● 2003 - FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company's top executives.

● 2003 - British Sign Language recognised as an official British language.

● 2005 - The first-ever Muslim Friday prayer led by a woman in a mixed-gender congregation was held in New York City, marking a break with a 1426-year Islamic tradition.

● 2005 - Former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland was sentenced to a year in prison and four months under house arrest for corruption.

● 2005 - Terri Schiavo's feeding tube is removed at the request of her husband, fueling a worldwide debate on euthanasia. (The brain-damaged woman died 13 days later.)

BIRTHS

● 1395 - John Holland, 2nd Duke of Exeter, English military leader (d. 1447)

● 1496 - Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII of England and queen consort of Louis XII of France (d. 1533)

● 1555 - François, Duke of Anjou (d. 1584)

● 1590 - Manuel de Faria e Sousa, Portuguese historian and poet (d. 1649)

● 1602 - Jacques de Billy, French mathematician (d. 1679)

● 1603 - Simon Bradstreet, Massachusetts Bay colonist (d. 1693)

● 1634 - Marie-Madeleine Pioche de la Vergne, comtesse de la Fayette, French writer (d. 1693)

● 1640 - Philippe de la Hire, French mathematician and astronomer (d. 1719)

● 1657 - Giuseppe Ottavio Pitoni, Italian composer (d. 1743)

● 1679 - Matthew Decker, English merchant and writer (d. 1759)

● 1685 - Ralph Ersine, Scottish minister (d. 1752)

● 1690 - Christian Goldbach, Prussian mathematician (d. 1764)

● 1701 - Niclas Sahlgren, Swedish merchant and philanthropist (d. 1776)

● 1733 - Friedrich Nicolai, German writer; a leader of the German Enlightenment (d. 1811)

● 1780 - Milos Obrenovic, Leader of The Second Serbian Uprising and Prince of Serbia (d. 1860)

● 1782 - John C. Calhoun, Vice President of the United States (d. 1850)

● 1798 - Francis Lieber, German-born American political philosopher and jurist (d. 1872)

● 1813 - Christian Friedrich Hebbel, German writer (d. 1864)

● 1816 - Antonio Salviati, Italian glass manufacturer (d. 1890)

● 1823 - Antoine Eugène Alfred Chanzy, French general (d. 1883)

● 1828 - William Randal Cremer, English politician and pacifist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (d. 1908)

● 1837 - Grover Cleveland, 22nd and 24th President of the United States (d. 1908)

● 1840 - William Cosmo Monkhouse, English poet and critic (d. 1901)

● 1842 - Stéphane Mallarmé, French poet (d. 1898)

● 1844 - Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Russian composer (d. 1908)

● 1848 - Nathanael Herreshoff, American naval architect and yacht designer (d. 1938)

● 1858 - Rudolf Diesel, German inventor (d. 1913)

● 1863 - William Sulzer, New York governor (1913); impeached and removed from office (d. 1941)

● 1869 - Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1940)

● 1872 - Anna Held, Polish actress and singer (d. 1918)

● 1874 - Nikolai Berdyaev, Russian philosopher (d. 1948)

● 1877 - Edgar Cayce, American psychic (d. 1945)

● 1877 - Clem Hill, Australian cricketer (d. 1945)

● 1882 - Gian Francesco Malipiero, Italian composer (d. 1973)

● 1886 - Edward Everett Horton, American actor (d. 1970)

● 1898 - Jake Swirbul, American aircraft manufacturer (d. 1960)

● 1893 - Costante Girardengo, Italian cylist (d. 1978)

● 1893 - Wilfred Owen, poet (d.1918)

● 1899 - Jean Goldkette, Greek-born jazz musician (d. 1962)

● 1904 - Srečko Kosovel, Slovenian poet (d. 1926)

● 1905 - Robert Donat, English actor (d. 1958)

● 1905 - Thomas Townsend Brown, American scientist (d. 1985)

● 1907 - John Zachary Young, biologist (d. 1997)

● 1910 - Chiang Ching-kuo, President of the Republic of China (d. 1988)

● 1913 - Werner Molders German WWII pilot (d. 1941)

● 1915 - Richard Condon, American novelist (d. 1996)

● 1918 - Al Benton, baseball player (d. 1968)

● 1918 - Bob Broeg, American sports writer (d. 2005)

● 1922 - Egon Bahr, German politician

● 1926 - Peter Graves, American actor

● 1926 - Dick Littlefield, baseball player (d. 1997)

● 1927 - John Kander, American songwriter (''Chicago'')

● 1927 - George Plimpton, American writer and actor (d. 2003)

● 1928 - Julia Mullock, Princess of Korea

● 1928 - Fidel V. Ramos, President of the Philippines

● 1928 - Miguel Poblet, Spanish cyclist

● 1930 - Pat Halcox, British musician

● 1932 - John Updike, American author

● 1935 - Ole Barndorff-Nielsen, Danish mathematician

● 1936 - Frederik Willem de Klerk, President of South Africa, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize

● 1937 - Mark Donohue, American race car driver (d. 1975)

● 1937 - Rudi Altig, German cyclist

● 1938 - Charley Pride, American musician

● 1941 - Wilson Pickett, American singer (d. 2006)

● 1943 - Kevin Dobson, American actor

● 1947 - B.J. Wilson, English drummer (d. 1990)

● 1949 - Alex Higgins, Northern Irish snooker player

● 1949 - Åse Kleveland, Norwegian singer and politician

● 1950 - Brad Dourif, American actor (''Deadwood'')

● 1951 - Bill Frisell, American jazz musician

● 1951 - Ben Choen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry's ice cream

● 1952 - Mike Webster, American football player (d. 2002)

● 1956 - Ingemar Stenmark, Swedish skier

● 1959 - Luc Besson, French producer, writer, and director

● 1959 - Irene Cara, American actress and singer

● 1960 - Richard Biggs, American actor (d. 2004)

● 1962 - Thomas Ian Griffith, American actor

● 1962 - James McMurtry, American folk singer/songwriter

● 1963 - Vanessa Lynn Williams, American beauty queen, actress, and singer

● 1964 - Scott Saunders, Country musician (Sons of the Desert)

● 1964 - Bonnie Blair, American speed skater

● 1964 - Courtney Pine, British jazz saxophonist

● 1964 - Rozalla, Zambian singer

● 1966 - Jerry Cantrell, American musician (Alice in Chains)

● 1967 - Miki Berenyi, British singer (Lush)

● 1968 - Shinichiro Miki, Japanese seiyu (voice actor)

● 1969 - Vassily Ivanchuk, Ukrainian chess player

● 1969 - Shaun Udal, English cricketer

● 1970 - Queen Latifah, American singer and actress

● 1972 - Dane Cook, American comedian

● 1973 - Max Barry, Australian author

● 1974 - Stuart Zender, Rock musician (Jamiroquai)

● 1975 - Brian Griese, American football player

● 1975 - Tomas Žvirgždauskas, Lithuanian footballer

● 1975 - Sutton Foster, American actress, singer, and dancer

● 1976 - Tomo Ohka, baseball player

● 1976 - Jovan Kirovski, American football (soccer) player

● 1977 - Danny Murphy, English footballer

● 1977 - Willy Sagnol, French international footballer

● 1977 - Terrmel Sledge, baseball player

● 1977 - Devin Lima, American singer (LFO)

● 1978 - Khalilah Adams, American actress

● 1979 - Adam Levine, American singer (Maroon 5)

● 1980 - Alexei Yagudin, Russian figure skater

● 1980 - Sophia Myles, English actress

● 1981 - Jang Nara, Korean singer and actress

● 1982 - Pedro Mantorras, Angolan footballer

● 1982 - Chad Cordero, American baseball pitcher

● 1984 - Vonzell Solomon, American singer

DEATHS

● 978 - King Edward the Martyr of England

● 1227 - Pope Honorius III (b. 1148)

● 1314 - Jacques DeMolay, Frankish noble, the 23rd and the last Grand Master of the Knights Templar (b.1244)

● 1583 - King Magnus of Livonia (b. 1540)

● 1584 - Tsar Ivan IV of Russia (b. 1530)

● 1675 - Arthur Chichester, 1st Earl of Donegall, Irish soldier (b. 1606)

● 1689 - John Dixwell, English judge (b. 1607)

● 1696 - Robert Charnock, English conspirator

● 1745 - Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (b. 1676)

● 1746 - Anna Leopoldovna, regent of Russia (b. 1718)

● 1768 - Laurence Sterne, Irish writer (b. 1713)

● 1823 - Jean-Baptiste Breval, French composer (b. 1753)

● 1835 - Christian Gunther von Bernstorff, Danish and Prussian statesman and diplomat (b. 1769)

● 1871 - Augustus De Morgan, Indian-born British mathematician and logician (b. 1806)

● 1898 - Matilda Joslyn Gage, American suffragist (b. 1826)

● 1907 - Marcellin Berthelot, French chemist and politician (b. 1827)

● 1913 - King George I of Greece (b. 1845)

● 1936 - Eleutherios Venizelos, Former Prime minister of Greece

● 1939 - Henry Simpson Lunn, English humanitarian and religious leader (b. 1859)

● 1941 - Henri Cornet, French cyclist (b. 1884)

● 1947 - William C. Durant, American automobile pioneer (b. 1861)

● 1962 - Walter W. Bacon, Governor of Delaware (b. 1880)

● 1963 - Wanda Hawley, American actress (b. 1895)

● 1964 - Sigfrid Edström, Swedish sports official (b. 1870)

● 1965 - King Farouk I of Egypt (b. 1920)

● 1977 - Marien Ngouabi, President of the Republic of the Congo (b. 1938)

● 1978 - Leigh Brackett, American author (b. 1915)

● 1978 - Peggy Wood, American actress (b. 1892)

● 1984 - Charlie Lau, American baseball player (b. 1933)

● 1986 - Bernard Malamud, American writer (b. 1914)

● 1990 - Robin Harris, American actor and comedian (b. 1953)

● 1995 - Robin Jacques, illustrator of children's books (b. 1920)

● 1996 - Odysseus Elytis, Greek writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1911)

● 2001 - John Phillips, American musician (The Mamas and the Papas) (b. 1935)

● 2002 - R.A. Lafferty, American science fiction writer (b. 1914)

● 2003 - Karl Kling, German race car driver (b. 1910)

● 2003 - Adam Osborne, British computer pioneer (b. 1939)

● 2004 - Harrison McCain, Canadian businessman (b. 1927)

● 2006 - Bill Beutel, American journalist (b. 1930)

● 2006 - Dan Gibson, musician (b. 1922)

HOLIDAYS AND OBSERVANCES

● Roman Catholic:
● St. Alexander of Jerusalem
● St. Anselm of Lucca
● St. Cyril of Jerusalem (d.386)
● St. Edward the Martyr (d.978)
● St. Frediano
● Sts. Narcissus and Felix
● St. Salvator of Horta
● Sts. Trophimus & Eucarpius
● Bl. Christian

● Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar for March 5 (Civil Date: March 18)
● Martyr Conon of Isauria.
● Martyr Conon the Gardener of Pamphylia.
● Virgin Martyr Irais (Rhais) of Antinoe in Egypt.
● Martyr Eulogius of Palestine.
● Martyr Eulampius of Palestine.
● Martyr Onisius of Isauria.
● St. Hesychius the Faster of Bithynia.
● St. Mark the Faster of Egypt.
● Translation of the Relics of St. Theodore, prince of Smolensk and Yaroslav, and his children Saints David and Constantine.
● Martyr Archelaus and 152 Martyrs in Egypt.
● St. Adrian, monk of Poshekhonye and his fellow-ascetic, St. Leonidas.
● New-Martyr John the Bulgarian (Mt. Athos. at Constantinople.

● Anglican:
● St. Cyril of Jerusalem, bishop & doctor

● Christian:
● St. Anselm

● Aruba - Flag Day (1976)

● Ancient Latvia - Bindus Diena

● Haiti : Flag Day/National Holiday

● Haiti : University Day

● Ireland : Sheelah's Day

● Wilmington NC : Peanut Festival

● Masons : De Molay Day (1314)

● United States - National Biodiesel Day

● Mexico - Expropiación Petrolera


Click on this LINK to see original Wikipedia list with many having links with details.

Additional facts taken from:

On this day in the New York Times

The BBC’s Take on the day

On This Day Website

Geov Parrish's this Day in Radical History, things that happened on this day that you never had to memorize in school.

Scope Systems Any Day Website

Roman Catholic Saint of the Day

Russian Orthodox Christian Menaion Calendar

Permanent Backlink to Post