March 15 - Definition and Overview

March 15 is the 74th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (75th in Leap years). There are 291 days remaining.

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

Events

Up to 19th century

• 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.
• 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.
• 1820 - Maine becomes the 23rd U.S. state.
• 1827 - The University of Toronto is chartered
• 1848 - Revolution breaks out in Pest. The Habsburg rulers are compelled to meet the demands of the Reform party.
• 1877 - The first Test cricket match, between England and Australia

20th century

1900s-1980s

• 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.
• 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, was 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.
• 1970 - The Expo '70 world's fair opens in Osaka, Japan.
• 1988 - Publication of Marvin Minsky's Society of Mind theory
• 1989 - The United States Department of Veterans Affairs is established.

1990s

• 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.
• 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.

21st century

• 2004 - Announcement of the Discovery of 90377 Sedna

Births

Up to 19th century

• 1638 - Shunzhi Emperor of China
• 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)
• 1835 - Eduard Strauss, composer (d. 1916)
• 1854 - Emil Adolf von Behring, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901, (d. 1917)
• 1865 - Johan Halvorsen, Norwegian composer
• 1882 - Jim Lightbody, American middle-distance runner, (d. 1882)
• 1886 - Sergei Kirov, Soviet revolutionary, (d. 1886)
• 1890 - Boris Nikolaevich Delaunay, Russian mathematician, (d. 1980)
• 1897 - Jackson Scholz, American sprinter

20th century

1900s-1950s

• 1905 - Berthold Graf Schenk von Stauffenberg, lawyer 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)
• 1924 - Walter Gotell, actor (d. 1997)
• 1926 - Norm Van Brocklin, American football star
• 1933 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 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, musician
• 1944 - Elisabeth Plessen, writer
• 1945 - Mark J. Green, lawyer, author and public official
• 1947 - Ry Cooder, guitarist
• 1955 - Dee Snider, singer
• 1956 - Clay Matthews, American football player
• 1959 - Harold Baines, former Major League Baseball player

1960s-1970s

• 1961 - Fabio, model
• 1961 - Ervin Nemeth, educator, author, translator
• 1962 - Terence Trent D'Arby, singer
• 1967 - Naoko Takeuchi, manga artist
• 1971 - Mark McGrath, musician ("Sugar Ray")
• 1972 - Mark Hoppus, musician ("Blink 182")
• 1975 - Eva Longoria, actress (The Young and the Restless, Desperate Housewives)
• 1976 - Jennifer 8. Lee, journalist

1980s-1990s

• 1980 - Manuel Kayode Williams Inventor, Aeronautic Mathematician, Entrepreneur

Deaths

• 44 BC - Julius Caesar, (b. 100 BC)
• 493 - Odoacer, King of Italy (murdered by Theoderic the Great), (b. 435)
• 1849 - Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti, Cardinal and linguist
• 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)
• 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, (b. 1925)
• 1998 - Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, writer, Olympic gold-medal rower, (b. 1903)
• 2001 - Ann Sothern, actress, (b. 1909)
• 2002 - Sylvester Weaver, television executive
• 2003 - Dame Thora Hird, British actress (b. 1911)
• 2004 - Sir William Pickering, former head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, (b. 1910)
• 2004 - John Pople, (b. 1925) Theoretical chemist, Nobel laureate

Holidays and observances

• In the Roman calendar, the Ides of March.
• Turkey buzzards return to Hinkley, Ohio (http://www.roadmuseum.org/oh__7101.htm/).

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