March 16

March 16 is the 75th day of the year (76th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. There are 290 days remaining until the end of the year.

Events

• 597 BC – Babylonians capture Jerusalem, replace Jehoiachin with Zedekiah as king.
• 37 – Caligula becomes Roman Emperor after the death of his great uncle, Tiberius.
• 1190 – Massacre of Jews at Clifford's Tower, York.
• 1322 – The Battle of Boroughbridge takes place in the Despenser Wars.
• 1521 – Ferdinand Magellan reaches the Philippines.
• 1621 – Samoset, a Mohegan, visits the settlers of Plymouth Colony and greets them, "Welcome, Englishmen! My name is Samoset."
• 1660 – The Long Parliament disbands.
• 1689 – The 23rd Regiment of Foot or Royal Welch Fusiliers is founded.
• 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.
• 1812 – Battle of Badajoz (March 16 – April 6) – British and Portuguese forces besiege and defeat French garrison during Peninsular War.
• 1815 – Prince Willem of the House of Orange-Nassau proclaims himself King of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, the first constitutional monarch in the Netherlands.
• 1818 – Second Battle of Cancha Rayada – Spanish forces defeat Chileans under José de San Martín.
• 1861 – Edward Clark becomes Governor of Texas, replacing Sam Houston, who was evicted from the office for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy.
• 1865 – American Civil War: The Battle of Averasborough begins as Confederate forces suffer irreplaceable casualties in the final months of the war.
• 1872 – The Wanderers F.C. wins 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.
• 1900 – Sir Arthur Evans purchases the land around the ruins of Knossos, the largest Bronze Age archaeological site on Crete.
• 1912 – Lawrence Oates, an ill member of Scott's South Pole expedition leaves the tent saying, "I am just going outside and may be some time."
• 1916 – The 7th and 10th US cavalry regiments under John J. Pershing cross the US-Mexico border to join the hunt for Pancho Villa.
• 1924 – In accordance with the Treaty of Rome, Fiume becomes annexed as part of Italy.
• 1926 – History of Rocketry: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, at Auburn, Massachusetts.
• 1935 – Adolf Hitler orders Germany to rearm herself in violation of the Versailles Treaty. Conscription is reintroduced to form the Wehrmacht.
• 1939 – From Prague Castle, Hitler proclaims Bohemia and Moravia a German protectorate.
• 1939 – Marriage of Princess Fawzia of Egypt to Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi of Iran.
• 1942 – The first V-2 rocket test launch. It explodes at lift-off.
• 1945 – World War II: The Battle of Iwo Jima ends but small pockets of Japanese resistance persist.
• 1945 – Ninety percent of Würzburg, Germany is destroyed in only 20 minutes by British bombers. 5,000 are killed.
• 1950 – Communist Czechoslovakia's ministry of foreign affairs asks nuncios of Vatican to leave the country.
• 1952 – In Cilaos, Réunion, 1,870 millimetres (74 in) of rain falls in one day, setting a new world record.
• 1958 – The Ford Motor Company produces its 50 millionth automobile, the Thunderbird, averaging almost a million cars a year since the company's founding.
• 1959 – EUROAVIA, the European Association of Aerospace students is founded, which is the very first initiative towards European cooperation in Aerospace.
• 1962 – A Flying Tiger Line Super Constellation disappears in the western Pacific Ocean, with 107 missing.
• 1963 – Mount Agung erupts on Bali killing 11,000.
• 1966 – Launch of Gemini 8, the 12th manned American space flight and first space docking with the Agena Target Vehicle.
• 1968 – Vietnam War: In the My Lai massacre, between 350 and 500 Vietnamese villagers (men, women, and children) are killed by American troops.
• 1968 – General Motors produces its 100 millionth automobile, the Oldsmobile Toronado.
• 1971 – Government of Trygve Bratteli in Norway.
• 1976 – British Prime Minister Harold Wilson resigns, citing personal reasons.
• 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 and is later killed by his captors.
• 1978 – Supertanker Amoco Cadiz splits in two after running aground on the Portsall Rocks, three miles off the coast of Brittany, resulting in the 5th-largest oil spill in history.
• 1983 – Demolition of the radio tower Ismaning, the last wooden radio tower in Germany.
• 1984 – William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, Lebanon, is kidnapped by Islamic fundamentalists and later dies in captivity.
• 1985 – Associated Press newsman Terry Anderson is taken hostage in Beirut. He is released on December 4, 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 poison gas attack: The Kurdish town of Halabjah in Iraq is attacked with a mix of poison gas and nerve agents, killing 5000 people and injuring about 10000 people.
• 1995 – Mississippi formally ratifies the Thirteenth Amendment, becoming the last state to approve the abolition of slavery. The Thirteenth Amendment was officially ratified in 1865.
• 1998 – Pope John Paul II asks God for forgiveness for the inactivity and silence of some Roman Catholics during the Holocaust.
• 2005 – Israel officially hands over Jericho to Palestinian control.

Births

• 1338 – Thomas de Beauchamp, 12th Earl of Warwick (d. 1401)
• 1445 – Johann Geiler von Kaisersberg, Swiss-born preacher (d. 1510)
• 1473 – Henry IV the Pious, Duke of Saxony (d. 1541)
• 1581 – Pieter Corneliszoon Hooft, Dutch historian and writer (d. 1647)
• 1585 – Gerbrand Adriaensz Bredero, Dutch writer (d. 1618)
• 1631 – René Le Bossu, French critic (d. 1680)
• 1654 – Andreas Acoluthus, German orientalist (d. 1704)
• 1687 – Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen consort in Prussia (d. 1757)
• 1750 – Caroline Herschel, German-born astronomer (d. 1848)
• 1751 – James Madison, 4th President of the United States (d. 1836)
• 1773 – Juan Ramón Balcarce, Argentine military leader and politician (d. 1836)
• 1774 – Captain Matthew Flinders, English explorer (d. 1814)
• 1789 – Georg Simon Ohm, German physicist (d. 1854)
• 1794 – Ami Boué, Austrian geologist (d. 1881)
• 1797 – Alaric Alexander Watts, English poet and journalist (d. 1864)
• 1800 – Emperor Ninko of Japan (d. 1846)
• 1805 – Peter Ernst von Lasaulx, German philosopher and writer (d. 1861)
• 1822 – Rosa Bonheur, French realist painter and sculptor (d. 1899)
• 1834 – James Hector, Scottish geologist (d. 1907)
• 1839 – René François Armand Sully-Prudhomme, French writer and Nobel laureate (d. 1907)
• 1839 – John Butler Yeats, Northern Irish artist (d. 1922)
• 1840 – Shibusawa Eiichi, Japanese industrialist (d. 1931)
• 1845 – Umegatani Tōtarō I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 15^th Yokozuna (d. 1928)
• 1846 – Gösta Mittag-Leffler, Swedish mathematician (d. 1927)
• 1846 – Jurgis Bielinis, Lithuanian book-smuggler (d. 1918)
• 1851 – Martinus Beijerinck, Dutch microbiologist and botanist (d. 1931)
• 1856 – Napoléon Eugène, Prince Imperial, only child of Emperor Napoleon III of France (d. 1879)
• 1857 – Charles Harding Firth, British historian (d. 1936)
• 1859 – Alexander Stepanovich Popov, Russian physicist (d. 1906)
• 1865 – Patsy Donovan, American baseball player (d. 1953)
• 1869 – F. A. Forbes, Scottish author (d. 1936)
• 1871 – Hans Merensky, South African geologist and philanthropist (d. 1951)
• 1877 – Reza Shah Pahlavi, Iranian shah (d. 1944)
• 1878 – Clemens August Graf von Galen, German archbishop and cardinal (d. 1946)
• 1889 – Reggie Walker, South African athlete (d. 1951)
• 1890 – Solomon Mikhoels, Soviet actor and chairman of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee (d. 1948)
• 1892 – James Petrillo, American president of the musicians union (d. 1984)
• 1892 – César Vallejo, Peruvian poet (d. 1938)
• 1897 – Conrad Nagel, American actor (d. 1970)
• 1883 – Ethel Anderson, Australian poet (d. 1958)
• 1901 – Edward Pawley, American actor (d. 1988)
• 1901 – Potti Sreeramulu, an Indian revolutionary (d. 1952)
• 1902 – Leon Roppolo, American jazz clarinetist (d. 1943)
• 1903 – Mike Mansfield, American politician, and diplomat (d. 2001)
• 1905 – Elisabeth Flickenschildt, German actress (d. 1977)
• 1905 – Marlin Perkins, American naturalist (d. 1986)
• 1906 – Francisco Ayala, Spanish writer (d. 2009)
• 1906 – Henny Youngman, American comedian (d. 1998)
• 1908 – René Daumal, French writer (d. 1944)
• 1908 – Robert Rossen, American film director, screenwriter and producer (d. 1966)
• 1911 – Pierre Harmel, Belgian politician (d. 2009)
• 1911 – Josef Mengele, German physician and SS officer (d. 1979)
• 1912 – Pat Nixon, First Lady of the United States (d. 1993)
• 1916 – Mercedes McCambridge, American actress (d. 2004)
• 1916 – Tsutomu Yamaguchi, Japanese Businessman, and Survivor of Hiroshima and Nagasaki Atomic Bombings (d.2010)
• 1917 – Samael Aun Weor, Colombian writer (d. 1977)
• 1917 – Louis C. Wyman, American politician (d. 2002)
• 1918 – Frederick Reines, American physicist, Nobel laureate (d. 1998)
• 1920 – John Addison, British composer (d. 1998)
• 1920 – Dorothea Binz, Nazi war criminal (d. 1947)
• 1920 – Sid Fleischman, American author
• 1920 – Traudl Junge, German secretary to Adolf Hitler (d. 2002)
• 1920 – Leo McKern, Australian actor (d. 2002)
• 1922 – Harding Lemay, American television scriptwriter and playwright
• 1925 – Luis E. Miramontes, Mexican chemist (d. 2004)
• 1926 – Charles Goodell, American politician (d. 1987)
• 1926 – Jerry Lewis, American comedian
• 1927 – Vladimir Komarov, Soviet cosmonaut (d. 1967)
• 1927 – Daniel Patrick Moynihan, American senator (d. 2003)
• 1927 – Olga San Juan, American comedian (d. 2009)
• 1928 – Karlheinz Böhm, Austrian actor
• 1928 – Christa Ludwig, German mezzo-soprano
• 1928 – Wakanohana Kanji I, Japanese sumo wrestler, the 45^th Yokozuna (d. 2010)
• 1929 – Nadja Tiller, Austrian actress
• 1930 – Tommy Flanagan, American jazz pianist (d. 2001)
• 1931 – Betty Johnson, American singer
• 1932 – Don Blasingame, American baseball player and manager (d. 2005)
• 1932 – Walter Cunningham, American astronaut
• 1932 – Kurt Diemberger, Austrian mountaineer
• 1932 – Baruch Modan, Israeli scientist (d. 2001)
• 1933 – Sandy Weill, American financier and philanthropist
• 1934 – Ray Hnatyshyn, Governor-General of Canada (d. 2002)
• 1935 – Teresa Berganza, Spanish soprano
• 1936 – Fred Neil, American singer-songwriter (d. 2001)
• 1936 – Raymond Vahan Damadian, Armenian American practitioner of MRI
• 1937 – Amos Tversky, Israeli psychologist (d. 1996)
• 1939 – Carlos Bilardo, Argetinian football coach
• 1940 – Bernardo Bertolucci, Italian film director
• 1940 – Jan Pronk, Dutch politician
• 1940 – Keith Rowe, English painter and guitarist (AMM)
• 1941 – Robert Guéï, ruler of Côte d'Ivoire (d. 2002)
• 1941 – Chuck Woolery, American game show host
• 1942 – Roger Crozier, Canadian ice hockey player (d. 1996)
• 1942 – James Soong, Taiwanese politician
• 1942 – Jerry Jeff Walker, American musician
• 1943 – Ursula Goodenough, American biologist, zoologist, professor and author
• 1943 – Kim Mu-saeng, South Korean actor (d. 2005)
• 1944 – Andrew S. Tanenbaum, American Computer Science Professor, Author of MINIX OS
• 1946 – Michael Basman, English chess master
• 1946 – Hubert Soudant, Dutch conductor
• 1947 – Ramzan Paskayev, Chechen accordionist
• 1947 – Baek Yoon-sik, South Korean actor
• 1948 – Michael Bruce, American musician (Alice Cooper)
• 1948 – Richard Desjardins, Canadian singer, songwriter and film director
• 1948 – Margaret Weis, American author
• 1949 – Erik Estrada, Puerto Rican actor
• 1949 – Victor Garber, Canadian actor
• 1949 – Joe Pilato, Italian-American actor
• 1949 – Elliott Murphy, American Singer-Songwriter
• 1951 – Joe DeLamielleure, American football player
• 1951 – Kate Nelligan, Canadian actress
• 1952 – Philippe Kahn, French-born entrepreneur
• 1952 – Scott Simon, American journalist and radio personality
• 1953 – Isabelle Huppert, French actress
• 1953 – Richard Stallman, American free software activist
• 1954 – Jimmy Nail, British actor and singer
• 1954 – Nancy Wilson, American guitarist, singer and actress (Heart)
• 1955 – Bruno Barreto, Brazilian film director
• 1955 – Jiro Watanabe, Japanese boxer
• 1958 – Jorge Ramos, Mexican TV anchor
• 1958 – Kate Worley, American comic book writer (d. 2004)
• 1959 – Flavor Flav, American rapper, and reality tv star
• 1959 – Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway
• 1960 – Duane Sutter, Canadian ice hockey player
• 1961 – Brett Kenny, Australian rugby league footballer
• 1961 – Todd McFarlane, Canadian comic book artist, writer and media entrepreneur
• 1963 – Jimmy Degrasso, American musician (F5)
• 1963 – Kevin Smith, New Zealand actor (d. 2002)
• 1964 – Patty Griffin, American singer and songwriter
• 1964 – Pascal Richard, Swiss cyclist
• 1964 – Gore Verbinski, American movie director
• 1965 – Richard Daniel Roman, English songwriter and record producer
• 1965 – Belén Rueda, Spanish actress
• 1966 – Hans Peter Geerdes, German musician (Scooter)
• 1967 – Lauren Graham, American actress
• 1968 – Ananya Khare, Indian actress and teacher
• 1968 – Trevor Wilson, American basketball player
• 1969 – Aggelos Koronios, Greek basketball coach and retired player
• 1970 – Joakim Berg, Swedish singer (Kent)
• 1970 – Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson, Icelandic singer, songwriter and disc jockey
• 1970 – Reynolds Wolf, American TV meteorologist and journalist
• 1971 – Alan Tudyk, American actor
• 1972 – Velibor Radovic, Serbian basketball player
• 1973 – Brant Bjork, American musician (Kyuss)
• 1974 – Georgios Anatolakis, Greek footballer
• 1974 – Fotini Vavatsi, Greek archer
• 1975 – Sienna Guillory, British actress
• 1976 – Abraham Núñez, Dominican baseball player
• 1976 – Paul Schneider, American actor
• 1976 – Nick Spano, American actor
• 1977 – Donal Óg Cusack, Irish hurler
• 1978 – Brooke Burns, American actress
• 1979 – Edison Méndez, Ecuadorian footballer
• 1979 – Rashad Moore, National Football League player
• 1979 – Leena Peisa, Finnish musician (Lordi)
• 1980 – Todd Heap, American football player
• 1980 – Felipe Reyes, Spanish basketball player
• 1981 – Andrew Bree, Irish swimmer
• 1981 – Curtis Granderson, American baseball player
• 1981 – Yoav Ziv, Israeli footballer
• 1982 – Riley Cote, Canadian hockey player
• 1983 – Brandon League, American baseball player
• 1983 – Tramon Williams, American football player
• 1984 – Levi Brown, American football player
• 1985 – Eddy Lover, Panamanian singer
• 1986 – Joe Denly, English cricketer
• 1986 – Ken Doane, American wrestler
• 1986 – Toney Douglas, American basketball player
• 1986 – T. J. Jordan, American basketball player
• 1986 – Nicole Trunfio, Australian supermodel
• 1987 – Tiiu Kuik, Estonian model
• 1989 – Blake Griffin, American basketball player
• 1989 – Theo Walcott, English footballer
• 1991 – Wolfgang Van Halen, American musician

Deaths

• 37 – Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar, Roman Emperor (b. 46 BC)
• 455 – Valentinian III, Western Roman Emperor (b. 419)
• 455 – Heraclius, Western Roman courtier
• 1021 – Heribert of Cologne, Archbishop of Cologne and Chancellor of Emperor Otto III
• 1037 – Robert I, Archbishop of Rouen
• 1072 – Adalbert of Hamburg, German archbishop
• 1322 – Humphrey de Bohun, 4th Earl of Hereford, English soldier (b. 1276)
• 1410 – John Beaufort, 1st Earl of Somerset (b. 1373)
• 1457 – László Hunyadi, Hungarian statesman and warrior (b. 1433)
• 1485 – Anne Neville, queen of Richard III of England (b. 1456)
• 1559 – Anthony St. Leger, Lord Deputy of Ireland (b. 1496)
• 1649 – St. Jean de Brébeuf, French Jesuit missionary (b. 1593)
• 1620 – St. John Sarkander, Moravian priest, died of injuries caused by torturing (b. 1576)
• 1679 – John Leverett, Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony (b. 1616)
• 1721 – James Craggs the Elder, English politician (b. 1657)
• 1736 – Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, Italian composer (b. 1710)
• 1737 – Benjamin Wadsworth, President of Harvard University (b. 1670)
• 1738 – George Bähr, German architect (b. 1666)
• 1747 – Christian Augustus of Anhalt-Zerbst, father of Catherine II of Russia (b. 1690)
• 1888 – Hippolyte Carnot, French statesman (b. 1801)
• 1890 – Zorka of Montenegro, Princess of Serbia (b. 1864)
• 1892 – Samuel F. Miller, American politician (b. 1827)
• 1898 – Aubrey Beardsley, British artist (b. 1872)
• 1899 – Joseph Medill, mayor of Chicago (b. 1823)
• 1903 – Roy Bean, American jurist
• 1914 – Charles Albert Gobat, Swiss politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (b. 1843)
• 1926 – Sergeant Stubby, decorated World War I dog
• 1930 – Miguel Primo de Rivera, Spanish dictator (b. 1870)
• 1935 – John James Richard Macleod, Scottish-born physician and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1876)
• 1935 – Aron Nimzowitsch, Latvian-born chess player (b. 1886)
• 1936 – Marguerite Durand, French journalist and feminist (b. 1864)
• 1940 – Selma Lagerlöf, Swedish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (b. 1858)
• 1945 – Börries von Münchhausen, German poet (b. 1874)
• 1955 – Nicolas de Staël, French-Russian painter (b. 1914)
• 1957 – Constantin Brancusi, Romanian sculptor (b. 1876)
• 1961 – Chen Geng, Chinese military leader (b. 1903)
• 1968 – Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Italian composer (b. 1895)
• 1968 – Gunnar Ekelöf, Swedish poet and writer (b. 1907)
• 1970 – Tammi Terrell, American singer (b. 1946)
• 1971 – Thomas E. Dewey, American presidential candidate (b. 1902)
• 1975 – Richard W. DeKorte, American politician (b. 1936)
• 1975 – T-Bone Walker, American musician (b. 1910)
• 1977 – Kamal Jumblatt, leader of the Lebanese Druze (b. 1917)
• 1979 – Jean Monnet, French politician (b. 1888)
• 1980 – Tamara de Lempicka, Polish-born painter (b. 1898)
• 1983 – Arthur Godfrey, American actor and television host (b. 1903)
• 1983 – Fred Rose, Canadian politician (b. 1907)
• 1984 – John Hoagland, American photographer (b. 1947)
• 1985 – Eddie Shore, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1902)
• 1992 – Yves Rocard, French physicist (b. 1903)
• 1992 – Roger Lemelin, Quebec novelist and television writer (b. 1919)
• 1993 – Johnny Cymbal, American singer and producer (b. 1945)
• 1996 – Charlie Barnett, American actor (b. 1954)
• 1998 – Derek Harold Richard Barton, British chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1918)
• 1999 – Gratien Gélinas, Quebec playwright and director (b. 1909)
• 2000 – Thomas Ferebee, Hiroshima bombardier (b. 1918)
• 2001 – Norma MacMillan, Canadian actress (b. 1921)
• 2001 – Bob Wollek, French race car driver (b. 1943)
• 2003 – Rachel Corrie, American political activist (b. 1979)
• 2003 – Ronald Ferguson, father of Sarah, Duchess of York (b. 1931)
• 2004 – Vilém Tauský, Czech conductor and composer (b. 1910)
• 2005 – Todd Bell, American football player (b. 1958)
• 2005 – Ralph Erskine, British architect (Byker Wall) (b. 1914)
• 2005 – Anthony George, American TV actor (b. 1921)
• 2005 – Allan Hendrickse, South African politician (b. 1927)
• 2005 – Dick Radatz, American baseball player (b. 1937)
• 2006 – David Feintuch, American sci-fi author (b. 1944)
• 2007 – Manjural Islam, Bangladeshi cricketer (b. 1984)
• 2008 – Bill Brown, Australian cricketer (b. 1912)
• 2008 – Ola Brunkert, Swedish session drummer for ABBA (b. 1946)
• 2008 – Gary Hart, American professional wrestling manager and wrestler (b. 1942)
• 2008 – G. David Low, American astronaut (b. 1956)
• 2008 – John Hewer, Actor famous for portraying Captain Birdseye in British commercials. (b. 1922)
• 2008 – Daniel MacMaster, Canadian singer (Bonham). (b. 1968)

Holidays and observances

• Christian Feast Day
  • Abbán
  • Agapitus
  • Heribert of Cologne
• Latvian Legion Day (Latvia)
• Saint Urho's Day (Finnish community in U.S. and Canada)
• The first day of the Bacchanalia (Roman Empire)

External links

• BBC: On This Day
• The New York Times: On This Day
• On This Day in Canada