March 15

In the Roman calendar March 15 was known as the Ides of March.

Events

• 44 BC - Ides of March: Julius Caesar, General of the Roman Republic, was assassinated by a group of Roman senators.
• 1493 - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain after his first trip to the Americas.
• 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.
• 1820 - Maine becomes the 23nd U.S. state.
• 1827 - The University of Toronto is chartered
• 1877 - The first Test cricket match, between England and Australia
• 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.
• 1939 - World War II: Nazi troops occupy the remaining part of Bohemia and Moravia; Czechoslovakia ceases to exist.
• 1944 - World War II: Battle of Monte Cassino - Allied aircraft bomb Nazi-held monastery and stage an assault.
• 1956 - The Broadway musical My Fair Lady opens in New York City.
• 1961 - South Africa withdraws from the British Commonwealth
• 1989 - The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established.
• 1990 - Gulf War: Iraqis hang 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.
• 1991 - Four Los Angeles, California police officers are indicted for the videotaped March 3, 1991 beating of motorist Rodney King during an arrest.

Births

• 1767 - Andrew Jackson, 7th President of the United States, (d. 1845)
• 1779 - Lord Melbourne, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, (d. 1848)
• 1800 - Heinrich von Dechsen, geologist and mineralogist, (d. 1889)
• 1813 - John Snow, English physician who pioneered the use of ether as an anaesthetic, (d. 1858)
• 1830 - Paul Heyse, writer and winner of the Nobel Prize in literature 1910, (d. 1914)
• 1854 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901, (d. 1917)
• 1882 - Jim Lightbody, American middle-distance runner, (d. 1882)
• 1886 - Sergei Kirov, Soviet revolutionary, (d. 1886)
• 1897 - Jackson Scholz, American sprinter
• 1905 - Berthold Schenk von Stauffenberg, jurist and Nazi opponent, (d. 1944)
• 1907 - Zarah Leander, actress and singer, (d. 1981)
• 1912 - Lightnin Hopkins, musician, (d. 1982)
• 1916 - Harry James, musician, band leader, (d. 1983)
• 1919 - Lawrence Tierney, actor, (d. 2002)
• 1920 - Lawrence Sanders, novelist, (d. 1998)
• 1926 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football star
• 1933 - Ruth Bader Ginsberg, associate justice of the United States Supreme Court
• 1933 - Roy Clark, country musician
• 1935 - Jimmy Swaggart, televangelist
• 1935 - Judd Hirsch, actor
• 1940 - Phil Lesh of The Grateful Dead
• 1941 - Mike Love, musician ("The Beach Boys")
• 1943 - David Cronenberg, director
• 1944 - Sly Stone, singer
• 1944 - Elisabeth Plessen, writer
• 1947 - Ry Cooder, guitarist
• 1955 - Dee Snider, singer
• 1959 - Harold Baines, former Major League Baseball player
• 1961 - Fabio, model
• 1962 - Terence Trent D'Arby, singer
• 1972 - Mark Hoppus, musician ("Blink 182")

Deaths

• 44 BC - Julius Caesar, (b. 100 BC)
• 493 - Odoacer, King of Italy (murdered by Theoderic the Great), (b. 435)
• 1891 - Sir Joseph Bazalgette, civil engineer, (b. 1819)
• 1898 - Henry Bessemer, English metallurgist, (b. 1813)
• 1937 - H. P. Lovecraft, horror writer, (b. 1890)
• 1941 - Alexej von Jawlensky, Russian impressionist painter, (b. 1864)
• 1975 - Aristotle Onassis, shipping magnate, (b. 1906)
• 1983 - Rebecca West, writer, (b. 1892)
• 1984 - Tommy Cooper, English comedian, (b. 1922)
• 1990 - Farzad Barzoft, Iranian-born journalist working for the Observer, hanged as a spy in Iraq
• 1990 - Tom Harmon, American football star, broadcaster
• 1994 - Mai Zetterling, Swedish actress and director
• 1998 - Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, writer, Olympic gold-medal rower, (b. 1903)
• 2001 - Ann Sothern, actress
• 2002 - Sylvester Weaver, television executive

Holidays and observances

• In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March.

March 14 - March 16 - February 15 - April 15 -- listing of all days

January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

Referenced By